Long ago, a Cherokee family had ground up some cornmeal and placed it in a basket outside their cabin. The next morning when the Father got up, he went over to the basket. He looked inside, and all of the cornmeal was gone. He did not know what had happened to the cornmeal. He woke up his family. They talked about what had happened.
That day, they ground up some more cornmeal, and that evening they left the cornmeal in the basket outside their cabin once again. But this time, when it grew dark, the Father hid in the bushes around the clearing. He sat down to wait. He waited until long after midnight, when a giant Dog appeared and came down out of the northern sky. The Dog landed on the ground, walked over to the basket of cornmeal and started eating. He stayed there until he had finished all the cornmeal. Then he walked to the bushes and disappeared.
Now the Father knew what had happened to the cornmeal. The next morning he woke up his family, gathered them around him and told them what had happened. They worked on a plan to stop this from happening again. Finally, they came up with a plan they thought would work. They ground up some more cornmeal, put it in the basket and left the basket outside their cabin once again. But this time, when it grew dark, everybody picked up drums or switches and hid themselves in the bushes around the clearing.
They waited and waited, until finally, out of the northern sky, the giant Dog again appeared. He came down out of the sky, landed and walked over to the cornmeal. He started eating. At the Father’s signal, everybody jumped out of the bushes. They started yelling at the top of their lungs, beating on the drums or rushing toward the Dog with their switches. They started hitting the Dog with their switches and yelling and drumming. The Dog was so stunned that he whirled around, gave a mighty leap and disappeared back into the northern sky. But because he had been eating cornmeal, cornmeal streamed out of his mouth as he leaped back into the sky. And instead of falling down to the earth, this cornmeal floated up into the sky. Today we know that cornmeal as the Milky Way.
WHY THE MINK SMELLS
Long ago, there was nobody here but the Animals. The Mink was a great thief. He would steal from everybody, and all of the Animals got tired of the Mink stealing all the time. So they decided to teach him a lesson. They built a fire and then grabbed the Mink and threw him into the fire. He would try to escape and the Animals would throw him back. Finally, they saw his coat had turned black and he smelled like roasted meat. They decided the Mink had learned his lesson and pulled him out of the fire. His coat is still black, and whenever he gets excited he smells like roasted meat. But the Mink did not learn his lesson, and he steals to this day.
PLEIADES AND THE PINE
There were seven young Boys who loved to play a game. They would roll a round stone along the ground and throw a curved stick after it trying to strike it. Their Mothers would scold them for playing the game all the time, but it didn’t do any good.
One day, all the Mothers gathered up stones and boiled them in the pot for dinner. The Boys came home hungry and their Mothers got the stones out of the pots and said, “Since you like to play better than come home, take the stones for your food.”
The Boys were angry. They left the cabins and went down to the townhouse. They began to dance around the townhouse.
At last, the Mothers went looking for the boys because they were afraid something was wrong. They found all of the Boys dancing around the townhouse. They noticed that the Boys were rising off the ground as they danced. Each time around, they rose higher and higher off the ground. The Mothers began jumping up to try and catch the Boys, but most of them were too high to reach. Only one of the Mothers was able to jump up and grab her son by the ankle and pull him down. But she pulled with such force that he struck the ground, sank into it and the ground closed up over him.
The others rose higher in the sky, until finally they were lost forever to the people. We see them now as the Pleiades, which the Cherokee call “The Boys.”
The Mother, whose son sank in the ground, came every morning and every afternoon to cry when he disappeared. Her tears were so many that they turned the ground wet, and finally a small sprout appeared out of the ground. This sprout grew taller and taller until it became a tree that we now call the Pine.
WHY THE POSSUM’S TAIL IS BARE
In the old days, the Possum had a long, beautiful tail, and he was always grooming his tail and telling everybody how beautiful his tail was. All the Animals got tired of listening to Possum brag about his tail.
The Animals’ council came together, and they decided to have a big dance at which everybody could sing their songs. The Rabbit was the messenger for the Animals’ council and he was sent out to tell all the Animals about the dance.
The Rabbit went around to all of the Animals’ homes. Finally, he came to the Possum’s home. He called to the Possum, and the Possum came out. The Possum was grooming his tail as usual and he asked the Rabbit, “Don’t you think my tail is beautiful today?”
The Rabbit agreed and he said, “Possum we’re going to have a great dance, and everybody will be singing their songs and doing their dances.”
The Possum said, “You will have a place of honor for me where everybody can see my tail as they dance by.”
The Rabbit agreed, and said, “Possum will have a place of honor there in the dance arena. And I brought the Crickets with me to comb and dress the fur on your tail.”
Now, the Cherokee know the Crickets are great haircutters, and the Rabbit had given these two Crickets very special instructions.
The Rabbit told the Possum, “They will comb and clean your hair, then wrap it with bark and tie it with vines to keep it clean. And you don’t untie the bark and the vines until it’s your turn to get up to dance.”
The Possum agreed. He walked over to a stump, sat down and the Crickets started working on his tail. The Crickets trimmed the fur next to the bottom of his tail and then they wrapped it with bark and tied it in vines all the way down to the end. Then the Crickets told Possum, “Now don’t untie it until it’s your turn to get up to dance.”
Possum agreed. He went down to the dance area on the appointed day. The Animals were all gathered around waiting to get started. The Possum called, “Rabbit, Rabbit!”
The Rabbit came bounding up to the Possum. The Possum said, “Where is my place of honor?”
The Rabbit replied, “We have rolled a rock right up here, and you can sit on this rock, and everybody will dance in front of you.”
The Possum agreed and sat down on the rock and put his tail, still wrapped in the bark with the vines, behind him. They started calling Animals up. Each, in turn, would dance around a circle in front of the Possum and sing his song.
Finally they called for the Possum to dance and sing. The Possum stood up, reached behind him, untied the vines and pulled the bark off his tail. And then he started dancing and singing his song, “I am the only one who has a tail like this.”
The Animals yelled, “Ah ha!”
And the Possum thought, “They like my song. This is good.”
He sang and danced some more, “I am the only one with a tail like this in the whole world.”
And the Animals again yelled, “Ah ha!”
The Possum thought, “This is a very good song.”
He sang and danced again, “Don’t you wish you had a tail like mine?”
This time the Animals were laughing. Some of them were lying on the ground and pointing at the Possum.
The Possum looked around. He didn’t know what they were laughing at. Finally he looked behind him and he saw that all of the hair had been cut off his tail. All that was left was the naked tail that he has to this very day. The Possum was so embarrassed that he fell over in a faint, which is what he does to this very day whenever he is frightened or embarrassed. And now you know the reason why.
THE RABBIT GOES DUCK HUNTING
The Rabbit was always bragging that whatever someone had done, he had done it better. On top of that, he claimed that whatever it was had been harder whe
n Rabbit had done it.
One day, the Mink was talking to some of the Animals and telling them what a great fisherman he was. The Rabbit said he was a great fisherman too. The Mink just looked at him. Then the Mink said, “I’m a great duck hunter too.”
“Well, I’m a great duck hunter too,” said the Rabbit.
The Mink had had enough of the Rabbit’s bragging so he turned to the Rabbit and said, “All right Rabbit. Why don’t you show us what a great duck hunter you are.”
The Rabbit said, “All right Mink! But, how can I show you with no ducks around here?”
Then the Mink said, “There’s a little pond on up the river where there are always ducks. We can go up there and you can show us all what a great duck hunter you are.”
The Rabbit was caught. He didn’t have any choice but to go with the Mink. So all the animals went up the riverbank, and soon they came to a pond. The Mink pointed to the ducks across the pond and said, “Rabbit, go show us what a great duck hunter you are.”
The Rabbit said, “Mink, go ahead and try it and then I’ll show you how it should be done.”
The Mink said, “OK,” and he slid off the bank into the water. He swam across the pond underwater and the ducks had no idea the Mink was approaching. He swam underneath the ducks and he grabbed one by the legs, jerking it underwater. It happened so fast that the other ducks didn’t see him disappear. The Mink swam back under the water, got out on the bank and held up his duck. “I’ve got mine, now you get yours.”
Well, while the Mink had been swimming underwater, the Rabbit had gone to a nearby tree and started stripping the bark off of the tree. He made a lasso out of the bark by weaving it together. By the time the Mink got back, the Rabbit had finished making a rope with a noose on the end of it. When the Mink showed his duck and asked Rabbit to go get his, Rabbit picked the lasso up and held it in his mouth. He walked down into the water and started trying to swim, but it was hard to swim with the bark in his mouth. Water kept getting in his mouth. He was splashing and making a big noise in the water. The ducks turned around to see what was making all the noise. They realized that it was just the Rabbit trying to swim and they didn’t pay any more attention to the noise.
The Rabbit started getting the idea of how he should swim, but Rabbits aren’t that good as swimmers. The Rabbit started getting a little bit better as he tried going underwater and discovered he had to keep his mouth closed to keep water from getting down his throat. He kept coming up and sputtering, but he was learning fast and finally he was able swim underwater for some distance. He kept getting closer to the ducks and still they were not paying any attention to him.
Finally, the Rabbit got close enough. He took a deep breath and swam along underneath the ducks with the noose in his paw. He came up in the middle of the ducks and threw the noose over the head of one of the ducks. All the ducks went flying wildly into the sky and the Rabbit managed to lasso of one of the biggest ducks in the group. As the ducks started flying off the water, the noose tightened up around the biggest duck’s neck and he started to pull the Rabbit out of the water. The Rabbit was hanging on to the rope until he looked down and saw how far below the Earth was. The Rabbit realized he was going to go even higher and he decided to turn the duck loose. He let go of the rope and fell. He fell down into the hollow stump of a sycamore tree.
The Rabbit was stunned for a while and then he was able to get up and move around. He looked around the bottom of the stump for a way out. He didn’t see any holes, so he looked higher around the stump and didn’t see any holes up high. Then he looked up to the top of the stump and there was a way out. But he couldn’t jump that high at a standstill, and there was no room to get a running start. He kept trying and trying to jump out, but he couldn’t even get halfway up the stump. He stayed there for long time, and he was starting to get hungry.
Finally, the Rabbit started eating his fur, which is what he does to this very day whenever he is starving. Then he heard some Children’s voices outside. He listened very closely, and knew that the Children were approaching the stump. The Rabbit started singing to them. He sang, “Come closer and see my beautiful fur.” The Children started looking around to see where the voice was coming from. They finally realized it was coming from the stump.
They surrounded the stump and said, “Who are you?”
And the Rabbit answered back, “Cut a hole in the stump, so you can see my beautiful fur.”
The Children didn’t have an axe with them. One of them was sent back to the village to bring an adult with an axe. The Child arrived back at the village, told his Father what they had heard coming from the stump and asked his Father to bring his axe. The Father was interested in this talking stump. He had never heard of anything like this. He picked up his axe and followed his Child into the forest.
When they reached the stump, the Father could hear the Rabbit singing to the Children. The Rabbit was still singing about how beautiful his fur was, and claiming that they should cut a hole in the stump so that they could see his beautiful fur. The Father started using his axe on the stump, cutting a hole in the side. The Rabbit told him to cut the hole larger so they could see all of him. The Father made the hole much bigger. Finally, the Rabbit said, “That’s big enough. Now stand back so you can see all of my fur.”
They moved away from the stump. The Rabbit jumped out of the stump and ran away into the forest. And that’s the story of the Rabbit that went duck hunting.
THE REMOVED TOWNHOUSES
Long ago, the Cherokee who lived on the Valley and Hiwassee Rivers heard voices in the air warning them of wars and bad things to come. The voices invited them to live with the Immortals under the mountains and waters. For many days the voices could be heard, and then they said, “If you would live with us, gather everyone in your townhouses and fast there for seven days and no one should raise a shout or a war whoop in all that time. Do this and we shall come and you will see us and we shall take you to live with us.”
The people were afraid of the bad things to come and they knew that the Immortals of the mountains and the waters were always happy. So they held a council meeting and decided to go with the Immortals. The people of one town came together in their townhouse. They fasted and prayed for six days. On the seventh day they heard a noise from far away in the mountains. It got closer and louder, until all the people could hear was thunder and the ground shook under their feet. They were frightened, and some screamed.
The Nunnehi lifted up the townhouse with its mound to carry it away. They were surprised by the screaming and let some of it drop to the ground. They recovered, and took the rest of the townhouse, with the people in it, to Lone Peak. Today, near the head of the Cheowa River, there is a huge rock. This is the townhouse with the people in it that was changed long ago into solid rock. The people are inside of it, invisible and immortal.
There was another town where the people also prayed and fasted. This was on the Hiwassee River, near where Shooting Creek flows into it. At the end of seven days the Nunnehi took the people down into the waters. It is said that on a summer’s day, when the wind blows across the water, if you have good hearing and listen quietly, you can hear the people talking under the water. When the Cherokee fish the deep water in this area, their lines will stop and they know it is their fellow tribesmen who are holding the line and do not want to be forgotten.
At the time of the Removal in 1838, the Cherokee who lived along the Valley and Hiwassee Rivers were especially grief-stricken, for they were also forced to leave their relatives who had gone to the Nunnehi.
SEQUOYAH
A long time ago, the Cherokee saw the white man doing many things that they had never seen before. They would see a white man open up what looked like a leaf. He would look at it and know what another white man far away had said. At first the Cherokee did not know what they were doing. We did not have a word for “letter.” The closest thing we had that looked like a letter was a leaf, and because whoever read the leaf kne
w what someone else far away had said, the “leaf” talked. We called letters “talking leaves.”
There was one man of our people who decided to try and duplicate the “talking leaves” of the white man. He was a skilled silversmith, but had suffered an injury that left him lame. He studied our language and found that we had eighty-six separate and distinct sounds. He started writing down symbols for each of the sounds. Using the English alphabet for symbols, he quickly ran out of letters to use.
His people made fun of him and told him he couldn’t make the things of the white man. His wife was always after him to do some silverwork to help bring in food for the family. It was a very difficult time for him. One day, after he had been working on the symbols for several years, he was out of the cabin and his wife took everything he had been working on and threw it in the fireplace. He came home, saw what his wife had done and said, “Gosh darn it! I wish you hadn’t done that!”
Since we don’t have any curse words in our language he was very limited in what he could say. Once again, he started working with the symbols.
Finally the alphabet was finished. He took it to his tribal council and showed them that it worked. The council adopted his alphabet as the official written language of the Cherokee. The man’s name was Sequoyah. If you spoke the Cherokee language, all you had to do was learn what symbol stood for what sound. In two to three weeks a person could read and write in Cherokee. It did not matter what came before the symbol or what came after; it was always pronounced the same. Because it is written, our language will never die out. Sequoyah could not read or write in any language. He took another culture’s model and made it a reality for his people.
THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS
Before Selfishness came into the world a long time ago, the Cherokee were happy using the same hunting and fishing lands as their neighbors. But all this changed when Selfishness came into the world and men began to quarrel.
Long-Ago Stories of the Eastern Cherokee Page 3