ei:siinell] the CHOCTAW OF BAYOU LACOMB, LOtJISIAlSrA 31 



The child remains with the spirits three days, after which he returns to his home, 

 but does not tell where he has been or what he has seen and heard. Not until the child 

 has become a man will he make use of the knowledge gained from the spirits; but never 

 will he reveal to others how it was acquired. 



The Choctaw say that few children wait to accept the offering of the good herbs 

 from the third spirit, and hence there are comparatively few great doctors and other 

 men of influence among them. 



Kashehotapalo °- 



Kashehotapalo is neither man nor beast. His head is small and his face shriveled 

 and evil to look upon; his body is that of a man. His legs and feet are those of a 

 deer, the former being covered with hair and the latter having cloven hoofs, lie 

 lives in low, swampy places, away from the habitations of men. When hunters go 

 near his abiding place, he quietly slips up behind them and calls loudly, then turns 

 and runs swiftly away. He never attempts to harm the hunters, but delights in 

 frightening them. The sound uttered by Kashehotapalo resembles the cry of a 

 woman, and that is the reason for his name (kashcho, "woman;" tapalo, "call"). 



Okwa Naholo 



The Okwa naholo ("White People of the Water") dwell in deep pools in rivers and 

 bayous. There is said to be such a place in the Abita river; the pool is clear and cold 

 and it is easy to see far down into the depths, but the surrounding water of the river 

 is dark and muddy. Many of the Okwa naholo live in this pool, which is known to all 

 the Choctaw. 



As their name signifies, the Okwa naholo resemble white people more than they do 

 Choctaw; their skin is rather light in color, resembling the skin of a trout. 



When the Choctaw swim in the Abita near the pool, the Okwa naholo attempt to 

 seize them and to draw them down into the pool to their home,'^ where they live and 

 become Okwa naholo. After the third day their skin begins to change and soon 

 resembles the skin of a trout. They learn to live, eat, and swim in the same way 

 as fish. 



WTienever the friends of a person who has become one of the Okwa naholo gather 

 on the river bank near the pool and sing, he often rises to the surface and talks with 

 them, sometimes even joining in the singing.* But after living in the pool three days 

 the newly made Okwa naholo can not leave it for any length of time; if they should 

 go out of the water they would die after the manner of fish, for they can not live in 

 the air. 



a This myth was told by Ahojeobe at Bayou Laconib in March, 1900, and he assured the writer that 

 onl}- a few days before one of the boys, while hunting in a swamp not far from tlie bayou, had been 

 frightened by Kashehotapalo, whom he saw distinctly, and that he immediately ran home and related 

 his experience. 



The great similarity between the subject of this myth and the Faun of Latin mythology at first 

 glance would lead one to suspect that tlie conception had been acquired by the Choctaw after their con- 

 tact with Europeans. But such does not appear to have been its origin with the tribe. So firmly con- 

 vinced are they that such a ''spirit " exists that it is probable the tradition has been handed down through 

 many generations. 



ii Ileleema (Louisa), one of the women living at Bayou Lacoihb, claims that when a child, some forty 

 years ago, she had an experience with the Okwa naholo. She related it with the greatest sincerity. One 

 summer day, when she was seven or eight years of age, she was swimming in the Aljita with many other 

 Choctaw children. She was a short distance away from the others when suddenly she felt the Okwa naholo 

 drawing her down. The water seemed to rise aboi t her and she was struggling and endeavoring to free 

 herself when some of her friends, realizing her danger and the cause of it, went to herassistance and, seizing 

 her by the hair, drew her to the shore. Never again did the children go swimming near the pool where 

 this incident occurred. 



