By traditional law, the tales or stories were only told to other Cherokee. they would have to be invited by the story teller to hear the stories.
They would first have to go the medicine man for preparation. The Medicine man would then perform a scratching ceremony on them.
He would scratch their arms from shoulder to wrist with a comb, made from the teeth of a rattle snake.
A red healing powder was blown over the marks that the comb made on their arms. Now, they were able to hear the stories of the myth keeper.
In a small dome shaped earthen covered hut. The stories would last all night and into the morning, until Sun appeared in the East.
Then they would go to the river. Each person would dip themselves seven times under the water while a Shaman would recite prayers from the bank of the river.
The stories were passed down from generation to generation. It is said that the true myth keeper can become the animal about whom they speak.
It is also said that myth keepers have to be actors, singers, dancers.
There are many roles to being a myth keeper
The bluebird is very blue, as blue as a brilliant lake. Many moons ago the bluebird used to be white. One day he was flying and came upon a lake and saw how blue and beautiful it was.
He stopped and asked Grandfather, "Grandfather, can I be as blue as that lake?" So Grandfather gave him a song to sing. He told him what to do. Every morning for five mornings the bluebird would dive down into the lake singing the song taught to him by Grandfather then come back up.
The whole time he was doing this the coyote was watching him. On the fifth day, the bluebird dove into the lake, and when he came back out, he was as blue as he is today.
The coyote saw this and thought to himself, "Hmmmm... I'd like to be as blue as that bluebird.
So he said to the bluebird, "Teach me your song." So every morning for the next five days the coyote would take a bath and sing the song from Grandfather. And on the fifth day the coyote came out and was just as blue as the bluebird.
The coyote looked at himself in the reflection of the water and thought, "My, I'm the prettiest coyote there is. There is none prettier than me.
So he strutted down the road, not unlike a peacock, looking around to make sure all the other animals could see him and see how truly beautiful was his color.
He was so intent on having everyone know how colorful and beautiful he was that he paid no attention to where he was going in the road.
He ran into a tree, fell down into a dirt road, rolled around and came up.
That's why, when you see him today, he's brown and dirty.
That's how he got the color of his fur.
Many, many moons ago, in the beginning of time, the earth was all water. There was no land. All the four-leggeds, all the animals, all the winged-ones, lived up in the sky on the clouds. They were waiting for the land to dry, but it would not dry.
They would send one animal to check, but he would come back unable to find dry land. The animals would regularly check the water below.
Finally, after a dog had looked and reported back that it was still wet, they sent the water beetle. The water beetle dove into the water, grabbed a handful of mud at the bottom, brought it up and placed it on top of the water; and it started to dry,He started to build land.
He brought more and more; and still they waited for it to dry, still it was wet and they waited and waited.
Finally, they sent grandfather buzzard, the mighty buzzard, He flew down and checked and the land was almost dry. As the buzzard flew, he'd fly down close to the land; and every time he would flap his mighty wings, he would form a mountain and a valley.
That's why the Cherokee land has mountains and valleys in it today. All the animals came down and settled on the earth.
After they did, they realized they had no light. So they called to Grandfather and asked if he would give them light, and he did.
He brought to them the sun. He put the sun down near the ground, and it was too hot for the animals. So they pushed and pushed, till finally they got it far enough up that it would not burn them all the time;
But it was still so hot that the crawfish was baked. That's why, if you look at him today, he is red from the sun being too close.
Finally, they got the sun far enough up so it would not burn and we would have night.
Grandfather told them, "Now that I have done this for you, I ask that all the animals, and all the plants stay awake for seven days and for seven nights.
This is why today, when a warrior goes to get his manhood, he fasts and sweats for seven days.
All the animals and all the plants fell asleep except for some.
The owl stayed awake, and that's why he has vision to hunt at night.
The plants, the Douglas fir, the cedar, the pine, and a few others stayed awake for seven nights and for seven days. That's why only these, among all the plants, are allowed to stay green all the year round.
The other plants fell asleep and so must sleep part of every year.
Such was the beginning of our lands as told by a
Cherokee grandmother.
For many moons we did not have fire. People on the other side of the earth, they had fire; and the four-leggeds knew it.
They held a council to determine how to obtain the fire. The first one to volunteer to go and bring back the fire was the great buzzard.
He flew halfway across the earth, swooped down into the other's camp and, with a mighty claw, grabbed up a handful of the fire.
As he was flying away, he hid it in the feathers on the back of his head. The fire was too hot and burned his feathers off.
That's why, when you see the buzzard today, you'll see he has no feathers there. That's why he's bald.
So the buzzard returned to camp.
Now the possum decided it was his turn to try. He would go and bring back the fire for his people.
I can sneak into camp," he thought. "I can get the fire.
So he traveled halfway across the earth, waited till nightfall, sneaked into the camp, grabbed some of the fire and hid it in his tail.
Before he could leave, the fire burned off all the fur on his tail.
That's why the possum has no fur on his tail now. He used to have such a beautiful furry tail!
He went back to camp, and they all thought that it was lost. They could not do this. They could not get the fire.
But all the while, the small grandmother spider kept saying, "I can do this. I know I can!" Everyone laughed at her, but still the small spider kept insisting that she could do it!
Still she wanted her chance to try! So they all agreed to let her try. First, she dug up some clay and made a pot, then began spinning her web.
Halfway around the world she traveled, spinning her web and carrying her pot, all the way to the other's camp.
She waited till night and sneaked into their camp. She took a bit of their fire, put it into the clay pot, then carried it back to their side of the earth to share with her people.
That's how we got fire, and that's also the beginning of how the Cherokee people learned pottery making.
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