Totkv Mocvse / New Fire
Creek Folktales by Earnest Gouge, edited and translated by Jack B. Martin, Margaret McKane Mauldin, and Juanita McGirt
Earnest Gouge was born in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Indian Territory, around 1865. In 1915 he was hired by John R. Swanton to write 29 traditional stories in the traditional Creek alphabet. > Read more about Gouge
In the 1990′s Martin came across the stories in the National Anthropological Archives and made photocopies of the stories for Margaret Mauldin, a Creek instructor at the University of Oklahoma. Martin, Mauldin, and Mauldin’s sister Juanita McGirt then set about editing and translating the stories. That work was published as a book in 2004:
Gouge, Earnest. 2004. Totkv Mocvse / New Fire: Creek Folktales. Edited and translated by Jack B. Martin, Margaret McKane Mauldin, and Juanita McGirt. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press
They published a DVD at the same time containing recordings of Mauldin reading the stories in Creek, with subtitles in English. The reference for the DVD is:
Gouge, Earnest. 2004. Creek Folktales. Read by Margaret McKane Mauldin. Edited and translated by Jack B. Martin, Margaret McKane Mauldin, and Juanita McGirt. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Proceeds from these titles have gone to Felix Gouge on behalf of the Gouge family.
The Creek stories of Earnest Gouge are presented here in more detail. Files labeled “Image” are scanned versions (PDF) of photocopies of Gouge’s original documents. We are grateful to the National Anthropological Archives for allowing us to reproduce these here. “Typescript” files are typed versions reflecting Gouge’s spelling and the original pagination. Files labeled “Analysis” contain multiple lines of information: (a) a normalized Creek spelling; (b) a phonemic transcription; (c) an analysis of each word in parts (in the first seven stories only); and, (d) a free translation in English.
The Stories
1. The three brothers and the spotted horse. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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2. The hunter and his dogs. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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3. Tug of war between the tie-snakes, tar baby. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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4. The hunters’ wives. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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5. The stork father. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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6. Rabbit steals fire. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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7. Turtle is beaten by three mothers. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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8. Rabbit rides Wolf. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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9. Turtle races Wolf. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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10. The young man who turned into a snake. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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11. Man defeats a giant lizard. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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12. Man challenges a racing snake. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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13. Rabbit traps Lion on the other side of the ocean. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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14. Rabbit seeks wisdom from God. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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15. Two boys become thunder. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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16. Tiger helps man defeat a giant lizard. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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17. Rabbit tries to straighten river beds. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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18. Twisted Horn steals man’s heart. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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19. Old dog saves master from Long Claws. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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20. Doe killed by hunter, becomes his wife. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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21. Buzzard doctors Rabbit. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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22. Cow wants a knife. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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23. Hunter captured by eagle. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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24. Whistling man helps hunter. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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25. Hunter taken to deer cave. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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26. Man races a lizard. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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27. Turtle tries to look up women’s dresses. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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28. Wolf wants to become spotted. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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29a. Girl abducted by lion. Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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29b. Girl abducted by lion (version missing p. 1). Image | Typescript | Analysis |
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Conventions for the typescripts
Notes on the typescripts
Abbreviations used in analysis files
