Legend of the White Potato

Hitchiti-Mikasuki
  Oyea, Tau Natiaos, Guatiaos
  Here is story of the White Potato Clan

  The question regarding the status
of mixed-bloods in the
Indian community keeps coming up.
Both F.B.I. (Full Blood Indian)
and mixed bloods ask this
question, both of themselves
and the community. The
question is not a new
one; it has been asked
every since the first
mixed-blood child was born.
I offer no answer to
the question, only a
Mvskokee (Creek) story:

  When the 'others' invaded the
land of the People, they
settled in and made homes
and began to farm the
land. This first wave of
the invasion force gave the
appearance of coming in peace,
and so they were met
by the People in peace.

  For many years the People
and the 'others' lived side by
side in peace, and friendships
developed, and something as old
as time happened, people met and
fell in love. Some of
the People took 'others' for wives.

  These marriages produced children,
and a problem soon developed.
In the Mvskokee tradition,
clan is passed through the
mothers' family, but since the
'others' did not belong to
any Mvskokee clan the children
were clanless.

  This caused problems for the
children and the People. It
is a bad thing to be
clanless. You can never marry within
your own clan, so how
would future marriages for the
clanless children be handled? The
children were well loved by
their parents, but were not
completely accepted into the community.

  The mothers of the clanless
ones were very saddened by
what was happening to the
children so they went to
the Elders and asked for
advice. The Elders told them to
go out together and pray
to the Creator, and if
their hearts were pure the
Creator would hear their prayers.

  The women then departed from
the village and went out
to a place of prayer
and offered up their supplications
to the Creator. For many
days they prayed and the
Creator heard their prayers and
saw the sincerity in their hearts.

  The Creator told the women
to go to the place
of soft ground and black
waters and to stay there
and search until they found
a plant that would cry
out to them from under
the ground.

  The Creator told them that
if they found this plant
and did as the plant
instructed them, they would not
only find a clan name
for their children, but they
would also give the People
a gift that would feed
the People for ever.

  The women left the place
of prayer and went back
to the village. They said
good-bye to their husbands
and children and left for
the place of soft ground
and black waters. The place
of soft ground and black
waters is a place filled
with biting insects, snakes,
thorns, mud, spiders, the hungry
logs, and strange spirits.
This was a place that
would test the hearts of
the women.

  For many days they searched
and listened for the plant
that would call out to
them from under the ground.
Just as the women were
about to give up all hope
of finding the plant, they
prayed again to the Creator,
and then they heard the
voice of the plant calling
out to them.

  It was difficult to find
the plant because it was
hidden from view, but finally
they found it and dug
it up. The plant told
the women that even though
it was from under the
ground, the Creator had given
it the ability to see
in every direction at one time.

  This is what the women
were instructed to do, they
were to take the plant
to the village of the
People, once there they were
to take a knife and
cut out the eyes of
the plant, the eyes were
to be planted on a
small mound. If the women
followed these instructions the plant
promised to grow and it
would feed the People for ever.

  The women followed the instructions
of the plant, and the
clanless children became known as
the White Potato Clan, and
the plant has continued to
feed the People until this
very day.