The ancient tale of land and water, darkness and light was best told by the old people. This was how children in towns and villages across the Southeast learned who they were, where they came from, how the world itself came 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 homefires 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, suspened 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 set it in a track to go across the sky 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 darkness. 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, and the plants, but they have multiplied sp quickly that they threatened to overrun the world. So it was decided that each woman would have only one child a year, and it has been that way every since.
It was the turkey buzzard's flapping wings that scooped out all the hills and valleys. The water spider brought the fire from a hollow sycamore tree on a distant island.
There are great troubles yet to come. The world will grow old and worn out. The people will die and the four cords will break, and the earth will sink into the ocean.
Prophetic stories were meant to teach respect. To tell what could happen if we did not love "Mother Earth."
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