Reading Notes: Cherokee, Part A
The Journey to the Sunrise
Source: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900).
A long time ago there was a group of men who set our to see where the sun lives and find out what the sun is like. They packed corn and extra pairs of moccasins for their trip and began to walk east in order to find the sun. Along the journey they met tribes they knew, but as they got farther from home they started to meet tribes that they have never heard of before. They met tribes of all different beliefs and learned form them. They kept on traveling until finally they came to the place where the sky reaches down to the ground during the sunrise. They found that at the point where the sun lived there was an arch and a solid rock was always swinging through the door in which the sun comes out of every morning. One of the men tried to get into the door once the sun had passed through but he was struck by the rock. None of the other men were willing to try that after he was struck with the rock. The men then traveled all the way back home and by the time they reached home they were old men because the journey had taken them across the world and back.
The Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting
Source: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900).
The rabbit had a very trickster personality in which he would claim to do whatever he saw other animals do and everyone would believe him. In the past he had claimed to swim in the water like an otter and fixed up a plan to make the other animals believe him. When he encountered the otter again the otter informed the rabbit that he eats ducks. Right then the rabbit claimed that he also ate ducks. The otter challenged him to this because he was skeptical that the rabbit was lying to him. The rabbit told the otter to hunt the ducks first and he would follow. The rabbit made himself into a noose and swam through the water toward the ducks. When he was close enough to the ducks he threw the noose over one of them and caught it. The duck continued to fly even with the rabbit holding onto it. The rabbit got tired and let go and fell into a tall sycamore tree stump. There was no way for the rabbit to get out. He got very weak and tired because there was no food in the stump. However, soon he tricked a family into cutting into the sycamore tree and getting him out. He ran off once he was free.
Source: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900).
A long time ago there was a group of men who set our to see where the sun lives and find out what the sun is like. They packed corn and extra pairs of moccasins for their trip and began to walk east in order to find the sun. Along the journey they met tribes they knew, but as they got farther from home they started to meet tribes that they have never heard of before. They met tribes of all different beliefs and learned form them. They kept on traveling until finally they came to the place where the sky reaches down to the ground during the sunrise. They found that at the point where the sun lived there was an arch and a solid rock was always swinging through the door in which the sun comes out of every morning. One of the men tried to get into the door once the sun had passed through but he was struck by the rock. None of the other men were willing to try that after he was struck with the rock. The men then traveled all the way back home and by the time they reached home they were old men because the journey had taken them across the world and back.
(sunrise)
The Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting
Source: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900).
The rabbit had a very trickster personality in which he would claim to do whatever he saw other animals do and everyone would believe him. In the past he had claimed to swim in the water like an otter and fixed up a plan to make the other animals believe him. When he encountered the otter again the otter informed the rabbit that he eats ducks. Right then the rabbit claimed that he also ate ducks. The otter challenged him to this because he was skeptical that the rabbit was lying to him. The rabbit told the otter to hunt the ducks first and he would follow. The rabbit made himself into a noose and swam through the water toward the ducks. When he was close enough to the ducks he threw the noose over one of them and caught it. The duck continued to fly even with the rabbit holding onto it. The rabbit got tired and let go and fell into a tall sycamore tree stump. There was no way for the rabbit to get out. He got very weak and tired because there was no food in the stump. However, soon he tricked a family into cutting into the sycamore tree and getting him out. He ran off once he was free.
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