The ancient tale of land and water, darkness and light. This was how children in towns and villages across the Southeast learned who they were, where their ancestors had come from, how the world itself had come to be. There were different versions – probably as many as there were old people – but the heart of the story was the same. Around the home fires of a Cherokee town, it might have gone this way:
Long ago, before there were any people, the earth was a great island floating in a sea of water, suspended by four cords hanging down from the sky vault, which was made of solid rock. It was dark and the animals could not see, so they got the sun and sest it in a track to go across the island every day from east to west, just overhead.
The Creator told the animals and plants to stay awake for seven nights. But only a few of the animals were able to, including owls and panthers, and they were rewarded with the power to go about in the dark. Among the plants, only the cedars, pines spruces, and laurels stayed awake, so they were allowed to remain green year-round and to provide the best medicines. The Creator chided the other trees: “Because you have not endured to the end, you shall lose your hair every winter.”
People appeared last, after the animals, the sun, nad the plants, but they multiplied so quickly that they threatened to overrun the world. So it was decided that each woman would have only one child a year, and it been that way ever since.
Through Indian Eyes – The Untold Story of Native American Peoples by Reader’s Digest ©1995
