Cherokee A Collection of American Indian Legends, Stories and Fables

Book excerpt: Cherokee people like all other Native American Indian tribes possess a huge oral history. Before the time of written words, the history, customs and skills of a tribe were passed down through word-of-mouth and storytelling. Today, it is still an important part of Cherokee life. Elder tribe members use stories to teach morals and culture to children and others while keeping a rich history alive. Storytelling also allows people to get to know one another. The stories of the Cherokee people make us unique, but stories will be known only as long as they are told. When someone ceases to tell a story, part of our cultural knowledge is gone. Under old traditional law, these tales or stories were only told to fellow Cherokee or other Indian People. Many of these stories contained within this book were recorded by James Mooney who lived with the Cherokee in the 1800's. These include animal stories, creation myths, legends, and ghost stories, as well as, historical events such as the Trail of Tears. These stories have been passed from generation to generation and as with tradition, and have been left as much intact as possible. I learned many of these stories from my grandfather as a child, just as other Cherokee children did. As with tradition, these stories are now shared with you, to go forward and share with a future generation. In this collection, you will find such stories as Origin of the Pleiades and the Pine, What Became Of the Rabbit, The Rabbit Dines the Bear, The Rabbit Escapes from the Wolves, The Rattlesnake's Vengeance, The Red Man and the Uktena, The Eagle's Revenge, Agan-uni'tsi's Search for the Uktena, The Hunter and Selu, The Snake Boy, The First Fire, The Lost Cherokee and many, many more.