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American Folktales

At OldFolktales.com, we celebrate the rich oral traditions of countries across North, Central, South America, and the Caribbean, sharing timeless tales that continue to inspire generations. We feature folktales from: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. These stories include:. Native American legends. Caribbean trickster tales. Amazonian myths. Southern ghost stories. Moral tales and colonial-era fables

Rainbow Crow soars through the starry sky with a burning stick in his beak, his brilliant feathers blackening as he brings fire to a frozen world. A Lenape folktale illustration of courage, sacrifice, and the origin of warmth.

Why the Crow Turned Black: A Native American Story of Sacrifice and Fire

by Stella Ajayi

August 4, 2025

American Folktales

Long ago, the world was covered in thick white snow. The trees were bare, the rivers frozen, and the animals shivered with cold. This was the First Winter, and it had never happened before. All the creatures gathered to talk, their breath rising in the icy air like smoke. They needed warmth fire but no animal had ever seen it.

American Folktales

How Coyote Stole Fire.

Long ago, before the world had fire, the nights were cold and long. The animals huddled together in caves and hollows, shivering beneath the stars. The only fire in the world burned far away, guarded high on a rocky mountain by a group of fire beings, ancient women made of