Limericks about Native American mythology

Before the arrival of the Catholic conquistadors and the runaway Puritans, the continents of the New World were abloom with colorful, magical, mystical traditions. Honoring all things on earth, both living and inanimate, as vessels of the Great Spirit, the native population lived in lofty harmony with nature.

Most indigenous people understood nature as a kind of pageantry in which they participated, rather than a nuisance to be dominated. Similarly, they did not see themselves as subjects to be ruled over by the gods, but as companions living in cooperation with the divine.

But these crude words are doomed to fall short of capturing the essence of Native American religion. Theirs was a belief system conveyed through the imagery of stories and legends, not through dialectical discourse. So without further exegesis, let’s enjoy a handful of those stories in limerick form.

     Of Man and Clam
     In a slippery mollusk, abandoned and feeble
     The Raven arrived and he found the First People
               Respecting this story
               They gave him the glory 
     Erecting a totem instead of a steeple

     Hiawatha
     Hiawatha he warned us with words for the clan 
     The prophecy spoken and thus it began
               A new day was coming
               With colonists drumming
     And paleface boding ill omens for man

     Spider Woman of the Hopi
     By Tawa, the Sun, all creatures were born
     And from Spider Grandmother came people and corn
               A goddess, protector
               And cosmic connector
     Who spins the fine web between darkness and morn

     Trickster of the Navajo
     A bag full of tricks and he can’t help but play them
     Aware of the rules but he cannot obey them
               His singular notion
               Creating commotion
     The wily coyote a master of mayhem

     Big Turtle
     The Iroquois people who speak of the tortoise
     Have told of a place in the sky so enormous
               The Great One descended
               With all things invented
     But only the turtle below can support us

Further Reading

If you liked these limericks about Native American mythology, you’ll be sure to enjoy:

• Limericks about Near Eastern Mythology
• Limericks about Norse and Irish Mythology
• Limericks about Greek Myths
• Limericks about Indian Philosophy
• What is a Limerick?