Walking the Choctaw road

Walking the Choctaw road / [sound recording] / [by Choctaw storyteller Tim Tingle; read by the author]. – [El Paso, TX] : Cinco Puntos Press, c2004.

4 sound discs : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

Statement of responsibility from container.

"Stories from Red People memory"--Container.

Contents: Disc one. Crossing Bok Chitto – The beating of wings – Trail of tears – Disc two. Bones on the Brazos – Caleb – The Choctaw way – Disc three. Brothers – Lizbeth and the madstone – Tony Byars – Disc four. Archie's war – Saltypie – We are a people of miracles.

1. Choctaw Indians – History – Anecdotes. 2. Choctaw Indians – Folklore. 3. Tales – Southern States. 4. Indians of North America – Folklore. 5. Folklore – Southern States.

398.2089973

This book comes in two editions, an audiobook on four compact discs (0938317822) and a 142-page print version (0938317741). The print version has a glossary of Choctaw words, lyrics for two hymns in Choctaw, a short bibliography, photographic illustrations, and some introductory material not included in the audio. The audio, however, has the voice, intonation, accent, and timing of a master storyteller. The print version is a handsome book, but compared to the audio it’s like reading a play of Shakespeare silently versus attending a performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It’s interesting supplementary material, but it might only be interesting to the reader who’s experienced the original mesmerizing performance.

The eleven tales and concluding poem are arranged chronologically and geographically beginning at the beginning of the nineteenth century in Mississippi and Alabama and moving with the Choctaw people on their Trail of Tears to Oklahoma to Mr. Tingle’s own childhood in Pasadena, Texas and on to the beginning of the twenty-first century. There are supernatural stories of shape shifters and Christianity, of good and bad people, pride and humiliation, history and miracles. It is a trail well worth taking.