Butterflies

Now, one day the Creator was sitting and watching the children play. He saw the joy and the youthfulness they displayed. He saw the beauty of their surroundings, and the fresh fragrance of the Trees and the Flowers. He heard the happy songs of the Birds, and saw the blue of the Sky. He saw the women as they ground cornmeal. He saw their beauty, and the sunlight as it shone from their hair. These were wonderful things. But then Creator realized that all of these things would change. He knew that these children would all grow old and gray, and their skin would wrinkle. The beautiful women would someday grow fat and ugly, and their beautiful black hair will turn gray. The leaves would turn brown and die, and the beautiful flowers that smelled so fresh would fade. Creator's heart grew sad and troubled. It was Autumn, and Creator knew that the wild game would be scarce soon. The green leaves would be gone, and times would be hard. As Creator watched the women grind cornmeal, He decided to do something which would capture some of these wonderful things which He saw. He decided that He must make
something that everyone could enjoy, that would lift their hearts and spirits. So, He took out His bag of Creation and began to gather some things together.
He took some blue from the Sky, and some whiteness from the cornmeal. He gathered some spots of Sunlight, and the blackness of a beautiful woman's hair. He took the yellow of the falling leaves, and the green of the Pine needles. He gathered the red, the purple, and the orange from the flowers. As He gathered these things, He put them into His bag. And, last, He put the songs of the song birds in the bag.
When He had finished gathering these things together, He called the children together. He told them to open the bag and there would be a surprise for them. So they opened the bag, and out flew hundreds of beautiful Butterflies! They flew all around the gleeful children, and lit on their heads. They fluttered around, and sipped the nectar from the many flowers. The hearts of the children and the adults soared. Never before had they seen such wonderful, happy things. They began to sing their songs as they flew.
But a jealous song bird lit on Creator's Shoulder and scolded Him. He said, "It is not right to give our songs to these pretty things! You told us when you made us that each bird would have his own song. These pretty things have all of the colors of the rainbow already. Must they take our songs, too?"
Creator said, "You are right. I made one song for each bird, and I must not give them away to any other."
So butterflies were made silent, and they are still silent to this day. But their beauty brightens the day of all People, and brings out songs from their hearts.

The First Moccasins

There was once a great chief of the Plans who had very tender feet.
Other mighty chiefs laughed at him; little chiefs only smiled as he
hobbled past; and though they did not dare to smile, the people of the
tribe also enjoyed the big chief's discomfort. All of them were in the
same canoe, having no horses and only bare feet, but luckily very few of
them had tender feet. The unhappily medicine man who was advisor to the
Chief-of-the- Tender-Feet was afraid and troubled. Each time he was called
before the chief he was asked, 'What are you going to do about it?"
The 'it' meant the chief's tender feet.

Forced by fear, the medicine man at last hit upon a plan.
Though he knew that it was not the real answer to the chief's foot problem,
nevertheless it was a good makeshift. The medicine man had some women
of the tribe weave a long, narrow mat of reeds, and when the big chief had
to go anywhere, four braves unrolled the mat in front of him so that he walked
in comfort. One day, the braves were worn out from seeing that the chief's feet
were not worn out. They carelessly unrolled the mat over a place where flint
arrowheads had been chipped. The arrowheads had long ago taken flight,
but the needle-sharp chips remained. When the big Chief's tender feet were
wounded by these chips, he uttered a series of whoops which made the
nearby aspen tree leaves quiver so hard that they have been trembling ever since.
That night the poor medicine man was given an impossible task by the angry chief:
'Cover the whole earth with mats so thick that my feet will not suffer.
If you fail, you will die when the moon is round.'
The frightened maker of magic crept back to his lodge. He did not wish to
be put to death on the night of the full moon, but he could think of no way
to avoid it. Suddenly he saw the hide of an Elk which he had killed pegged
to the ground, with two women busily scraping the hair from the hide,
an idea flashed into his groping mind. He sent out many hunters; many
women were busy for many days; many braves with hunting knives cut,
and women sewed with bone needles and rawhide sinews.
On the day before the moon was round, the medicine man went to the chief
and told him that he had covered as much of the earth as was possible in so
short a time. When the chief looked from the door of his lodge, he saw many
paths of skin stretching as far as he could see.
Long strips which could be moved from place to place connected the
main leather paths. Even the chief thought that this time the magic of the
medicine man had solved tenderfoot transportation for all time - but this was
not to be !

One day, as the big chief was walking along one of his smooth,
tough leather paths, he saw a pretty maiden of the tribe gliding ahead
of him, walking on the hard earth on one side of the chief's pathway.
She glanced back when she heard the pitter- patter of his feet on the elk
hide pathway and seemed to smile. The chief set off on the run to catch up
with her, his eyes fixed on the back of She-Who-Smiled, and so his feet
strayed from the narrow path and landed in a bunch of needle-sharp thorns!
The girl ran for her life when she heard the hideous howls of the chief, and
Indians in the distant village thought that they were being attacked by wildcats.
Two suns later, when the chief was calm enough to speak again, he had his
medicine man brought before him and told the unhappy man that next day,
when the sun was high, he would be sent with all speed to the land of shadows.
That night, the medicine man climbed to the top of a high hill in search of
advice from friendly spirits on how to cover the entire earth with leather.
He slept, and in a dream vision he was shown the answer to his problem.
Amid vivid flashes of lightning, he tore down the steep hillside, howling
louder than the big chief at times, as jagged rocks wounded his bare feet and legs.
He did not stop until he was safely inside his lodge. He worked all night and
until the warriors who were to send him on the shadow trail came for him,
just before noon the next day. He was surrounded by the war-club armed guards.
He was clutching close to his heart something tightly rolled in a piece of deerskin.
His cheerful smile surprised those who saw him pass. 'Wah, he is brave!' said the
men of the tribe. 'He is very brave!' said the women of the tribe.
The big chief was waiting just outside his lodge. He gave the guards swift,
stern orders. Before the maker of magic could be led away, he asked leave to
say a few words to the chief. 'Speak!' said the chief, sorry to lose a clever
medicine man who was very good at most kinds of magic. Even the chief
knew that covering the entire earth with leather was an impossible task.
The medicine man quickly knelt beside the chief, unrolled the two objects which
he took from his bundle and slipped one of them on each foot of the chief.
The chief seemed to be wearing a pair of bear's hairless feet, instead of bare feet,
and he was puzzled at first as he looked at the elk hide handcraft of his medicine
man. 'Big chief,' the medicine man exclaimed joyfully, 'I have found the way to
cover the earth with leather! For you, O chief, from now on the earth will always
be covered with leather.' And so it was.

The Bear Man-Cherokee

One springtime morning a Cherokee named Whirlwind told his wife goodbye and left his village to go up in the Smoky Mountains to hunt for wild game. In the forest he saw a black bear and wounded it with an arrow. The bear turned and started to run away, but the hunter followed, shooting one arrow after another into the animal without bringing it down. Whirlwind did not know that this bear possessed secret powers, and could talk and read the thoughts of people.
At last the black bear stopped and pulled the arrows out of his body and gave them to Whirlwind. "It is of no use for you to shoot at me," he said. "You can't kill me. Come with me and I will show you how bears live."
"This bear may kill me," Whirlwind said to himself, but the bear read his thoughts and said, "No, I will not hurt you."
"How can I get anything to eat if I go with this bear," Whirlwind thought, and again the bear knew what the hunter was thinking, and said, "I have plenty of food."
Whirlwind decided to go with the bear. They walked until they came to a cave in the side of a mountain, and the bear said, "This is not where I live, but we are holding a council here and you can see what we do." They entered the cave, which widened as they went farther in until it was as large as a Cherokee long house. It was filled with bears, old and young, brown and black, and one large white bear, who was the chief. Whirlwind sat down in a corner beside the black bear who had brought him inside, but soon the other bears scented his presence.
"What is that bad smell of a man?" one asked, but the bear chief answered, "Don't talk so. It is only a stranger come to see us. Let him alone."
The bears began to talk among themselves, and Whirlwind was astonished that he could understand what they were saying. They were discussing the scarcity of food of all kinds in the mountains, and were trying to decide what to do about it. They had sent messengers in all directions, and two of them had returned to report on what they had found. In a valley to the south, they said, was a large stand of chestnuts and oaks, and the ground beneath them was covered with mast. Pleased at this news, a huge black bear named Long Hams announced he would lead them in a dance.
While they were dancing, the bears noticed Whirlwind's bow and arrows, and Long Hams stopped and said, "This is what men use to kill us. Let us see if we can use them. Maybe we can fight them with their own weapons."
Long Hams took the bow and arrows from Whirlwind. He fitted an arrow and drew back the sinew string, but when he let go, the string caught in his long claws and the arrow fell to the ground. He saw that he could not use the bow and arrows and gave them back to Whirlwind. By this time, the bears had finished their dance, and were leaving the cave to go to their separate homes.
Whirlwind went out with the black bear who had brought him there, and after a long walk they came to a smaller cave in the side of the mountain. "This is where I live," the bear said, and led the way inside. Whirlwind could see no food anywhere in the cave, and wondered how he was going to get something to satisfy his hunger. Reading his thoughts, the bear sat up on his hind legs and made a movement with his forepaws. When he held his paws out to Whirlwind they were filled with chestnuts. He repeated this magic and his paws were filled with huckleberries which he gave to Whirlwind. He then presented him with blackberries, and finally some acorns.
"I cannot eat acorns," Whirlwind said. "Besides, you have given me enough to eat already."
For many moons, through the summer and winter, Whirlwind lived in the cave with the bear. After a while he noticed that his hair was growing all over his body like that of a bear. He learned to eat acorns and act like a bear, but he still walked upright like a man.
On the first warm day of spring the bear told Whirlwind that he had dreamed of the Cherokee village down in the valley. In the dream he heard the Cherokees talking of a big hunt in the mountains.
"Is my wife still waiting there for me?" Whirlwind asked.
"She awaits your return," the bear replied. "But you have become a bear man. If you return you must shut yourself out of sight of your people for seven days without food or drink. At the end of that time you will become like a man again."
A few days later a party of Cherokee hunters came up into the mountains. The black bear and Whirlwind hid themselves in the cave, but the hunters' dogs found the entrance and began to bark furiously.
"I have lost my power against arrows," the bear said. "Your people will kill me and take my skin from me, but they will not harm you. They will take you home with them. Remember what I told you, if you wish to lose your bear nature and become a man again." The Cherokee hunters began throwing lighted pine knots inside the cave.
"They will kill me and drag me outside and cut me in pieces," the bear said. "Afterwards you must cover my blood with leaves. When they are taking you away, if you look back you will see something."
As the bear had foretold, the hunters killed him with arrows and dragged his body outside and took the skin from it and cut the meat into quarters to carry back to their village. Fearing that they might mistake him for another bear, Whirlwind remained in the cave, but the dogs continued barking at him. When the hunters looked inside, they saw a hairy man standing upright, and one of them recognized Whirlwind.
Believing that he had been a prisoner of the bear, they asked him if he would like to go home with them and try to rid himself of his bear nature. Whirlwind replied that he would go with them, but explained that he would have to stay alone in a house for seven days without food or water in order to become as a man again.
While the hunters were loading the meat on their backs, Whirlwind piled leaves over the place where they had killed the bear, carefully covering the drops of blood. After they had walked a short distance down the mountain, Whirlwind looked behind him. He saw a bear rise up out of the leaves, shake himself, and go back into the cave.
When the hunters reached their village, they took Whirlwind to an empty house, and obeying his wishes, barred the entrance door. Although he asked them to say nothing to anyone of his hairiness and his bear nature, one of the hunters must have told of his presence in the village because the very next morning Whirlwind's wife heard that he was there.
She hurried to see the hunters and begged them to let her see her long missing husband.
"You must wait for seven days," the hunters told her. "Come back after seven days, and Whirlwind will return to you as he was when he left the village twelve moons ago."
Bitterly disappointed, the woman went away, but she returned to the hunters each day, pleading with them to let her see her husband. She begged so hard that on the fifth day they took her to the house, unfastened the door, and told Whirlwind to come outside and let his wife see him.
Although he was still hairy and walked like a bear on hind legs, Whirlwind's wife was so pleased to see him again that she insisted he come home with her. Whirlwind went with her, but a few days later he died, and the Cherokees knew that the bears had claimed him because he still had a bear's nature and could not live like a man. If they had kept him shut up in the house without food until the end of the seven days he would have become like a man again. And that is why in that village on the first warm and misty nights of springtime, the ghosts of two bears -- one walking on all fours, the other walking upright -- are still seen to this day.