History of the Cherokee People
The story you are about to hear/read has gone through many changes over the long time span covered in the story. Traditionalists will claim that there is only one version that is correct; usually theirs, and any other expressions of the story are heretical. For myself, I can say that through research of as many documents as exist regarding these stories, and they are woefully few, it is clear that the stories have been changed and modified over time. An example would be the story of the first two Cherokee; in the John Howard Payne manuscript you find a version of the story that seems to bear only a superficial relationship to the same story recorded in two versions by James Mooney fifty years later. Keeping to the primary tenets of the Cherokee belief system wherein it is clear that “balance” is of primary importance and the fact that we Cherokee are a matrilineal and matriarchal society, even the most causal observer can’t help but notice the seeming bias of almost all the stories to the patriarchal or masculine perspective. I have attempted to return the stories, as much as reason allows to what I think was the original form. It is my firm opinion that when we look at history, no matter how it is presented, it is our responsibility to as much as possible remove outside influences and mine the intent of the story and present it as best we can to our posterity. Earnie L. Frost
In the beginning was a situation that is beyond our ability to comprehend; there was nothing, no space, no time, no light, absolutely nothing. In the midst of this nothing there occurred awareness, awareness of self and of another. This awareness evolved into recognition of self and of another. Awareness and recognition evolved into thought and still there was nothing. Awareness, recognition and thought of nothing could not be because awareness, recognition, and thought are something and something cannot be if there is nothing. Something in the midst of nothing causes possibility; the awareness considered this moment and then knowing occurred and the awareness’s joined together and the joining made sound, tones, and suddenly there was light expanding out in all directions at once. The light moved at blinding speed in all directions chasing the tones, catching the tones and carrying them along with it, filling the void of nothing with light and sound and time. Time came into being because with the sound came a beginning. The mingling of light, sound and time created vortexes and eddies that evolved into hot gases. Some of these gasses erupted into hot burning fires that we call suns, the burning suns created new tones and some of the hot gases cooled and formed solid masses; these solid masses created more tones and the tones were attracted to each other and they danced together forming planets, moons and solar systems and universes all connected by tones – vibrations. The planets as they cooled emitted new vibrations, new and different sounds and the vibrations began to take forms and the thing we called life appeared in this universe and evolved into all the forms that we recognize. It is for this reason that we say that words have immense power because it was with sound, the word, which The Creators, (that initial awareness,) created all that is! The Christian bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”(1 John: chapter 1 vs. 1) In that period no one had yet determined to divide time into sections, past, present and future, but now we just say that the initial creation took six epochs or days and we are now in the seventh epoch or day. Human beings, our sound, our tones formed and solidified in the sixth day. Now here is a mystery; The Creators assure us that we humans are created in the image of The Creators. Just what can that mean? If in the beginning there was nothing and then awareness, did the form evolve from the awareness or did the form come from the sound? Or did the form always exist
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History of the Cherokee People as a possibility and only become “real” with awareness? With the Creation all possibility came into being waiting anxiously to become probability through awareness of their existence, then manifest into being through the actions of the sounds, the words Elohi (the Earth) is a great island floating in a sea of water and is suspended at each of the four cardinal points (left, right, up, and down) by cords (gravity) attached to the sky vault, which is unbelievably dense rock. When the world grows old and worn out, the creatures and people will die, the cords will release and let the Earth sink down below the surface of the great ocean and all will be water again as it was in the beginning. When all was water the animals were in Galunlati (the place beyond the vault), but they were anxious to enter the creation, but all was water and they were not meant to live in water. They wondered if there was anything below the water that would afford them the opportunity to experience the Creation as a part of the Creation just as the fish were doing. The animals held a grand council and finally it was decided to allow Duhyunisi (beaver’s grandchild), the little water beetle to go and see what it could learn. The little beetle darted about in every direction over the surface of the water until it became almost exhausted because it could not find any place to rest for a time, so it could regain its’ energy. Finally it dove below the waters surface and found the bottom where it collected some soft mud and carried it to the surface. On the surface it began to grow and spread on every side until it became the island that we call Earth. At first the land was flat and muddy and not a suitable habitat for most of the animals, yet they were anxious to enter the world and experience it. They sent out different birds constantly to see if the earth was yet dry enough for them, but the birds were never able to find a place to land and returned each time with the sad news that it was not yet time. After much anxious waiting it seemed to them it should be time so they sent out the Great Buzzard, the mother of all buzzards we see now, to go and make the world ready for their arrival. The Great Buzzard flew all over the land, low to the ground. The ground though more solid than before was still soft. By the time the Great Buzzard reached what is now Cherokee country she was tired. Though she was chosen because she was able to soar without flapping her wings longer than anyone else could even she had to flap her wings occasionally to stay in the air. The earth was not yet secured in her permanent mooring and her travels around the sun were still a bit erratic and she would occasionally convulse in tremendous shudders and quakes. She experienced one of these great tremors and the land rose suddenly upward so fast the tired buzzard had to flap her wings frantically to rise above the land. To the animals watching it seemed that her flapping created the mountains and valleys, the watching animals became worried that the whole earth would be mountainous and they called her back to Galunti. When the earth was mostly dry the animals came to her and spread across the land finding and settling in places that suited their natures. At first the land was always dark or dim until the clouds finally dispersed and the sun shone through moving from east to west, just overhead. It was too hot this way and Jiska gili (the red crawfish), had his shell scorched bright red, so that his meat was spoiled; and the Cherokee do not eat it to this day. The earth was moved until the sun was another hand-width higher into the sky but it was still too hot. The earth moved again and again until the sun was seven hand-widths in the sky at midday, then it was just right and the earth anchored herself to this track so that her inhabitants had the ideal place to live and thrive. Some of the animals preferred the darkness that was present when they first arrived so they became the hunters of the night, the owls, the panthers, and several more. Of the trees only
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History of the Cherokee People
the cedar, the pine, the spruce, the holly and the laurel thrived in both light and dark so they never lose their leaves or go to sleep in the winter so they are the greatest for medicine. Humans came into the world after the animals and plants preferring to wait until all the other members of Creation were in place before they came to find a place for themselves in the Creation. At first there were only a brother and sister until they learned from the behaviors of the animals and they joined together as one and in seven days a child was born to her, and thereafter every seven days another. This continued until it became a possibility that the world could not provide for them all. Then they made it so that a woman could have only one child in a year, and it has been so ever since. The first humans were unlike us, as we are now. They were not solid though they existed in a solid world. We say they were more spirit form than they were solid form. They traveled the universe and did not find a place to call home. The Creators saw this and thought that this situation must be remedied, because though humans were in fact co-creators of the universes they were being observers of the creation but not engaging existence as part of the creation. It is written that The Creators took the dust of red clay and breathed the humans’ spirits into it and humans became more corporeal and became a part of the worlds on which they were living, and those worlds became their homes. Still though there was something that left humans incomplete, they had souls, they had spirits that were in bodies of clay, yet they were still not in the places where they resided. The Creators discussed this anomaly with the humans trying to understand what was incomplete about this aspect of the creation. It was determined that what humans, all of creation was lacking was life. All of creation was immortal in the beginning, yet it was proposed that existence was merely a state of being that did not of itself reveal anything more of The Creation. The universe was created on the concept of balance and it was finally understood that as light balanced darkness, as water balanced land, as worlds balanced suns, something must balance life! It was then determined that death would balance life thus making life a precious and holy state of being because death placed a limit on life. This had to be so that the fourth dimension of existence, time, had relevance to the Creation. This did not alter the immortality of the soul or spirit, only the material body. The Creators then put humans into a state of sleep and taking something from their own side, formed a new body for humans, a body of flesh and blood and bone. Awakening the humans, The Creators presented the humans to each other in their new bodies. They were told they would be wedded to their individual bodies until death came upon them. This is the reason that we say there is only one marriage; it begins at birth and ends at death, the marriage to our bodies. That is the only person we are married to until death do us part. What others call the holy state of marriage; we recognize as only a commitment of two or more people to walk the road of life together for a time with the understanding that the road has no end; that the journey is the destination. This is the reason also that we track our lineal descent through our mothers’ line, because we emerge into this world through our mothers’ body. So it is that our mothers and our uncles, our mothers’ brothers, are the primary persons in our life on earth. Our fathers are likely to be transient figures in our life. We had at that time and still have in this time the possibility, in fact the probability of a personal relationship with The Creators. The Creators are a triune: three separate but equal entities that function always as one. These three entities present three aspects of what is; the male aspect, the female aspect, and the united of the masculine and feminine, the offspring,
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History of the Cherokee People
which is we, human beings. So in a real sense we are endowed as both creators and creation. Our primary purpose is to explore and understand the creation, ourselves within that creation and evolve both the creation and ourselves to, who among us can know what levels. It may well be that there is no end to creation and the thing we know as time is nothing more than our companion on this journey and not a limiting factor at all. We understand that birth, life and death are cycles of experience within the creation, cyclical events that afford us all the opportunity to evolve the creation and ourselves. This is a mystery that requires understanding but not explanation. Understanding requires knowing, knowing is a thing that is beyond belief, beyond explanation. We all experience moments of knowing and understanding of things that we simply cannot explain to others regardless of how hard we try. For example we know that there is a force that holds us onto the planet, we call this force gravity. Yet to this day no one, not even the best scientific minds can explain it. It just is! The Creators have names. Those names are first, Uhalotega which means head of all power or literally Great beyond expression and is understood to be the masculine aspect: second is Ahtahnoti, meaning United or The Place of Uniting and is understood to be the feminine aspect and third is Usgohula the area just below the breast bone. In all humans there is one empty space, it is a small cavity just below the breastbone. That is where our spirit and soul reside. These beings created all things, know all things, are present everywhere and govern all things. They think, and act always in unison and together are known as Yehowah. This name must never be uttered in common speech, and spoken only by someone consecrated for the purpose and then only during hallowed occasions. Conversely the three can and are to be addressed in all prayer as individuals or together. You should understand as well as you can, we are Usgohula. When Uhalotega and Ahtahnoti became aware and achieved recognition of self and the other and united as one and the act of uniting made sound, the result of that uniting is Usgohula, us! Therefore it is understood that each and every one of us is a sacred and holy being and we greet each other with the sound or word, OSIYO. Osiyo is a combination of two words; osi, which means “good” and yo which is the contraction form of Yehowah. It is literally the recognition that the aspects of The Creators are visible within each other and an acknowledgement that this is a good thing. Therefore we greet each other with the word, OSIYO! It is indeed a term of respect. Greet each other with this term followed by their name and you will soon find that you gain respect and love for that person that you did not recognize before. Early on after humans became mortal beings they were able to travel easily through the different dimensions that exist. They knew that though their time in this dimension was limited, that their conscious being was still immortal and that they could come back and visit this dimension again and again. Their mortality though did create many new issues that did not exist when they were spiritual beings. Their bodies required food to sustain themselves in this realm. Without food the bodies would die prematurely. A great council was held in the seventh heaven. Some plant forms and many animal forms agreed to become food sources for the humans. To honor their action Uhalotega, Ahtahnoti and Usgohula, decreed that the humans should perform certain rituals whenever they harvested the plants or animals to eat them for food. So it was that when collecting plant foods, when sowing crops, or when hunting animals, prayers and rituals were said and practiced so that the plant and animal spirits were restored into another plant / body, and so that the humans understood the need to maintain honor and respect for all things. Other animals and plants said
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History of the Cherokee People
absolutely not, some animals expressed that they would be predators of humans if humans hunted them. Many plants said that they would poison humans rather than nourish them. The Creators accepted this as maintaining balance. This was the state of affairs that the first Cherokee man and the first Cherokee woman confronted. The first Cherokee woman was called Selu, which means corn; the first Cherokee man was called Gahnahcti, which means wizard/doctor, they had a girl child. Gahnahcti was known as a great hunter because when he went out to hunt he always came back with game. Selu had a storehouse where she had an inexhaustible supply of corn, beans, squash and other edible vegetables. When Gahnahcti brought game home Selu would take the meat to the river that flowed past their home and wash the blood off of it before preparing it for dinner. The little girl like all children was fascinated by water and played by the river every day. There is another world under this one that we dwell on and it is like ours in everything – animals, plants, and people – but the seasons there are reverse of ours. Streams and rivers that come down from the mountains are the trails by which we reach that underworld. The springheads that form the rivers are the doorways by which we enter that underworld. But to do this you must fast and “go to water” and have one of the underground people for a guide. “Going to water” requires that you perform a sweat lodge ceremony then at sunrise you go to a body of running water and immerse yourself seven times while praying. One morning Selu and Gahnahcti heard laughing and talking in the bushes near the riverbank as though there were two children playing there. When the girl came to the house later they asked her whom she had been playing with all day. The little girl told them it was a boy who came out of the water, and called himself elder brother. The boy told her that his mother was cruel to him and threw him into the river. This led Selu and Gahnahcti to believe that the mystery boy had arisen from the blood of the game which Selu had washed off at the rivers edge. Exactly why they came to this conclusion is not explained, but we can speculate that one or both of them had failed to perform the agreed upon rituals or prayers for this food; as the first people they would have been part of the council meeting that formulated the terms of the agreement. They knew that they had freewill, and were aware that freewill was meaningless if you did not have the right to not do, what is expected. Everyday when the little girl went out to play the boy would join her, but he always went back into the water Selu and Gahnahcti were never able to see him, let alone meet him. One evening Gahnahcti instructed his daughter to challenge her young friend to a wrestling match and to hold the boy and call for them, because they wanted to meet him. The girl agreed because she wanted her parents to meet her friend too. The next day as soon as her playmate appeared out of the river the young girl challenged him to a wrestling match. The river boy accepted at once and they tumbled into their match, as soon as the girl had the boy locked in her arms she screamed for her father. Selu and Gahnahcti had been waiting nearby for their daughters’ call and quickly arrived at the riverbank. As soon as the river boy saw them he struggled to free himself and cried out accusingly that Selu and Gahnahcti had thrown him away. The adults seized him and took him home with them. They kept him under guard in the house until they were sure he was not going to return to the water. Though he gradually quit trying to escape back to the water and accepted his situation he was always untamed and rambunctious in his disposition and was the leader of the other child in all manner of mischief. They soon discovered he had mysterious magical powers, and they called him Inuhge-ujasuhnhi (He who grew up wild). They adopted him as their son and their daughter was happy to have a brother and
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History of the Cherokee People
playmate in the home. They were under the absolute charge of their mother. When they grew to be old enough to observe, and began to reason for themselves they watched their parents behavior more intently. Whenever Gahnahcti went out into the mountains he always brought back a fat game animal or several for food for the family. Gahnahcti made bows and arrows for the young people and told them what particular birds they were to shoot when he was away so they would have meat for dinner. He added that during those times he was gone they were to remain within the bounds of their area around the lodge. One day they complained to their father that they could not find birds where he told them to range. He responded by telling them to stay within the limits he had set for them. Now and then, for four consecutive days, he would return without game, but would not explain why, but would prepare for them some mystical bitter tasting drinks, telling them to drink them and the game would be plentiful for them. This caused the wild boy mixed emotions, though he was thankful for the food he could not forget that he arose from the blood of this selfsame game. This strange behavior awakened their curiosity, so they eventually concocted a scheme’ they would follow Gahnahcti to see where he went and how he captured the animals the next time he went out on a hunt. Day after day they secretly stole off after their father gradually exceeding their bounds more and more. Finally one day as Ganahcti took a bow and some feathers in his hand and started off toward the west. The children waited for a few moments and then followed after him, keeping out of his sight. They saw him go into a swamp area where there were a great many of the small reeds that hunters use to make arrow shafts. The wild boy changed himself into a tuft of birds’ down, and rode the wind until he alighted on Gahnahctis’ shoulder just as he strode into the swamp. Gahnahcti cut some reeds, fitted the feathers he carried to them and attached heads to them and made a quiver full of arrows. When he completed his arrows Gahnahcti walked back out of the swamp and continued on his way. A breeze lifted the tuft of down off of his shoulder and it landed along the trail in the woods. When Gahnahcti was out of sight the wild boy resumed his human form and ran back and found his sister and told her what he had seen in the swamp. Staying out of sight they followed their father up the side of a mountain until he stopped at a large stone that stood at the foot of a precipice across the ridge from where they watched. Gahnahcti rolled the rock aside and stepped back drawing an arrow from his quiver and notching it into his bow. A large buck deer leaped out of a hole that the boulder had covered, Gahnahcti felled the buck with one arrow. He rolled the boulder back over the opening, dressed the deer, threw it across his shoulder and headed home. They were in great exultation at having, as they perceived, over-reached their father and possessed themselves of the secret source of his supply. They reasoned that they could now obtain all the venison as they might wish for. The children ran home and reached it before their father, so he did not know that they had followed him. A few days later they took their bows that Gahnahcti had made them, went back to the swamp, cut some reeds and made themselves seven arrows and then went up the mountain to where their father kept the game. They rolled the rock aside and a deer came running out. As they drew their bows back to shoot it another deer came running out, then another and another until the young boy and girl got frightened and confused and didn’t know what to do. The deer came running out until there were no more deer, then came herds of all the four footed animals, except for the bear because there were no bears in the world yet. Then came great flocks of turkeys, pigeons, and partridges that darkened the sky like a great cloud. Their wings made such a noise that Gahnahcti, sitting at home, heard the sound like distant thunder on the mountains. The sound alerted him that something was amiss on the mountain and he rushed to the mountain
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History of the Cherokee People
where the doorway to the animals was. He found the two young people standing at the open entrance and all the animals and birds gone. He was furious, without saying a word to them he went into the cave and kicked the covers off of four jars that sat next to the wall. Out of the jars swarmed bedbugs, fleas, lice and gnats that landed on the young people covering them from head to toes. The youngsters screamed in pain and fright and tried to swat the insects off of them. Thousands of vermin crawled over them and bit and stung them until they collapsed down to the ground almost dead. Finally Gahnahctis’ anger subsided and he felt compassion for them and rushed over and knocked the voracious insects off of them. After they had calmed down he chewed some tobacco and placed little dabs of the chewed tobacco on their bites and stings, the tobacco relieved the pain and they slowly recovered somewhat from their trauma. Gahnahcti explained to them that so far they had always had plenty to eat and did not have to work for their food because all he had needed to do was come to this enclosure and take a deer or turkey, or any other game and bring it home for their mother to cook. Now because of their act of letting all the animals escape, from now on they would have to hunt all over the land for game and then maybe not find any. He said to them; “Children, you have said in your hearts, we can do without our father; beware! Your father may leave you to yourselves.” He then took them home so that Selu could further tend their many bites and stings. Selu bathed their injuries and applied an herbal salve to their bodies and put them to bed as the bites and stings had made them quite ill. Gahnahcti told her about what had happened and they talked together long into the night about what had happened, why it had probably happened and what they should do about it. Selu was of the opinion that the children were suffering enough and nothing further needed to be done. The children had learned something, she and Gahnahcti had learned something and that was enough. Gahnahcti finding no change in their attitude the next night, he again chastised them for having trifled with the ample means he had provided for their support and told them he was resolved in his mind if they did not change their attitude, to punish their waywardness by leaving them alone to fend for themselves. The young people did not believe that their father was in earnest, but they felt no objection to being relieved from the burden of his restraining presence. Also since their father was an old man he could not see as well as they and the game they had set at large in the forest must always be suppler than them so the pursuit of them would keep them in good health and spirits. Several days later the young people had recovered from their injuries enough to feel hungry and they asked Selu for solid food since all they had been able to keep down since the attack was broth. Pleased that they were feeling better she told them there was no meat but she would go and get something to make them a meal. She picked up a basket and went out of the lodge to the storehouse. The storehouse stood in a dense forest away from the lodge and was a mysterious structure on tall poles standing high above the ground. There was a ladder that reached up to the door to the storehouse that was the only opening to the structure. Every time their provisions of vegetables ran out when Selu got ready to cook dinner she would go out to the storehouse with a basket and bring it back loaded with corn and beans or other vegetable foods. The children had never been inside the storehouse and had wondered where all the corn and beans came from since the storehouse was not large enough to contain all the food she brought from it. As soon as she had gone out of the house the wild boy persuaded his sister to go with him so they could see what their mother did to get the food. They followed her through the dense forest to the storehouse and climbed up the ladder after she had ducked inside and they peeked through the open door. They saw Selu standing in the middle of the room with the basket
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History of the Cherokee People
on the floor in front of her. She stood over the basket and rubbed her crotch and ears of corn fell into the basket, then she stepped back and leaned forward over the basket and rubbed her breasts and the basket filled to the top with beans. The children scrambled down the ladder and rushed back to their beds. Startled by what they had witnessed, they could not comprehend the power by which their mother was able to supply their food from her own body, the wild boy convinced his sister that what their mother had just done was witchcraft and that she was a witch because they could not expel food from their bodies like that; if they ate that food they would be poisoned so they had to kill her before she killed them. When Selu came back into the house she already knew what they had planned and confronted them about it. Though they were surprised the children admitted to what they were thinking, convinced even more that she was indeed a witch. She was saddened by the children’s admission and told them they were ignorant of what she was able to do because of her love for them, because their minds were bewildered by their incapacity to understand her power. She added that in spite of their terrible plot she would remain their mother even though they would kill her. She then informed them that though they would bear the guilt of her murder, they would not be able to destroy either her or her love for them; she would still be alive, both on earth and in the heavens; in the heavens she would rise up to the place from where she had descended on first coming to earth and there she would live forever. She added that her death by their wickedness would put upon them the necessity of earning their subsistence with the sweat of their brows, by overwhelming labor under hot suns. Still if they followed her instructions they would not labor in vain. The children were not swayed from their intent so Selu instructed them on what they were to do after they had killed her body, because she would no longer be there to look after and provide for them. She told them to clear a large area of land in front of the house, then to drag her body seven times in a counter clockwise circle around the cleared area. Then they were to stay up all night and watch and in the morning the circle would be filled with corn plants and they would have plenty to eat. She told them that she loved them in spite of what they planned to do; she added that she would be watching from her place in the heavens and she would know whether they had complied with her instructions. She said to them; “When you have discharged these duties and when you sing these songs I have given you, you will see me fully grown and I shall lift my head proudly. You will look on me and be glad, and be sure that you are careful to do as I direct you, for you will not find anywhere a food whose source is inexhaustible like mine. When you discover that my bosom is full of nourishment, and when my head towers so high that no foot can step over my crest, waving towards the heavens, then you are to set apart seven days and seven nights, and on the morning which shall follow, at the rising of the sun, you are to prepare for me a feast. When the feast is ready, you are to make your invocations, first toward the east, second to the north, third to the west and fourth to the south; then you are to stand in the center of the four points and call to me above; I shall be their and will hear you if you call; and when I hear you, I will take hold of your mind and bring it back to what it ought to be. As your numbers increase take heed that you observe these things; I will know if you observe them. If you do not, and you forget to think of me and of these things which I direct you to do but make use of me without remembering and obeying my words, I will fling among you the Desolater; I will do this, but you will not understand where this scourge comes from. It will be my work, and you will feel me when you will not know me.” Then she went outside the house and kneeled on the ground waiting for them to do their deed. The children beat her to death with clubs and Selu did not put up any resistance. They cut off her head and put it on the roof of the house with her face turned to the west, they mockingly
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History of the Cherokee People
told her to look for her husband. After the adrenaline rush of killing their mother wore off they realized the gravity of their action and realized they were still hungry and that without Selu the storehouse was empty. Then they went to work clearing the ground in front of the house, but instead of clearing the whole area they cleared only seven little spots. This is why corn now grows only in a few places instead of all over the world. They dragged her, Selus’, body around the circles, wherever her blood spilled onto the ground corn plants sprang up. They did not drag here corpse seven times around the circles as she had instructed, believing that in their cleverness of making seven small circles they could shortcut her directions, they dragged her body only twice. That is why the people can only work their cornfields twice in a growing season. The children stayed up all night and watched the corn plants grow and in the morning the plants were full grown and ripe When Gahnahcti returned home several days later, he was surprised Selu did not come out to greet him. He noticed the patches of corn plants in the area in front of the house, and he asked the children where their mother was. They told him that she was a witch and that they had killed her and pointed out her head on the roof. When he saw his wife’s head on the roof Gahnahcti exploded with anger. He was shocked at their perverseness in protesting that their mother was justly slain. He said to them; “In killing your mother you have filled yourselves with evil. By your mother you came into life, by your mother you continued to live and by your mother you continue to live. She could not be full of evil. The only business of her life was to sustain her children…”He was so angry he could not finish what he wanted to say he told them he was finished with them and was going to the wolf people and let them decide what to do with them. He turned and stormed away, but before he was gone out of sight the wild boy again turned himself into a tuft of down and settled on Gahnahctis’ shoulder. Gahnahcti arrived at the wolf peoples’ head town and went to the townhouse where they were holding a council and he sat down among the wolf people. The wolf chief recognized him and asked him the purpose of his visit. Gahnahcti told them of the events that had transpired at his home and he requested that in seven days the wolf people go to his lodge and kill the children. The chief promised Gahnahcti it would be done as he requested. Then the bird down floated off Gahnahctis’ shoulder and let the heat from the fire carry it out the smoke hole in the roof of the town house. When it landed on the ground the wild boy took his rightful form and ran back home and told his sister all that he had heard in the townhouse. They waited for Gahnahcti to return so they could kill him before the wolf people arrived, but Gahnahcti did not return home, he continued on away from there. The young people were now in fear for their lives having realized that their actions had consequences far beyond anything they had imagined. Prior to this time they had been very confident and arrogant in their thinking and behavior having been certain that they could have persuade their father to understand and accept their version of events. They knew that they could not hide from the wolf people because the wolves would sniff them out wherever they might try to hide. For the next six days they prepared themselves for their confrontation with the wolf people. The wild boy, the magician, again directed his sister in what to do. They ran back and forth around the house in a wide circle until they had trampled out a trail all around the house except for a small section on the side from which the wolf people would come, there they left a small untrammeled space. They then made four large bundles of arrows and hid them at four points around the outside of the circle, then on the evening of the sixth day they hid themselves in the woods and waited all night with trepidation for the wolf people. The next morning a war
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History of the Cherokee People
party of wolf people arrived silently and surrounded the quite lodge intending to kill the children. They saw the trail around the lodge but did not give it much thought as all lodges have a trail around them from people walking around them. When they were all inside the circle the trail suddenly turned into a high brush fence that they could not run through or jump over and they were corralled inside it. Then the young couple ran out of the woods to their arrow caches and began shooting through the brush catching the wolf warriors in a withering crossfire running around the outside of the circle so that the wolf warriors could not determine where the arrows were being fired from at any given moment. A few of the wolf warriors escaped from the circle through the opening that had been left where they had entered, the rest were killed in the circle. Those that escaped ran into the swamp and hid themselves. The youngsters pursued the escaped wolf warriors to the swamp and ran around the swamp setting a circle of fire around the swamp. As the circle of fire burned inward the natural gases of the swamp flared the fire into a raging inferno. Only several wolf warriors escaped that conflagration and from these survivors descend all the wolf people that are now in this world. The young man and woman were relieved and very glad that they had survived the attack of the wolf people and settled down and did not go out looking for any trouble because they realized that there were consequences for their actions from those whom their actions affected, and they might not perceive those acts through the same eyes as they did, both positive and negative. The fact that others could and would kill them for their actions sobered them up quickly and humbled them greatly. Some time later strangers came to the home of the young people from a great distance. They told them that they had heard that they had a wonderful grain that they could not only eat but could be used to make bread, and they wanted to obtain some of this marvelous grain. They brought goods to trade for some of magical grain. Up to this time only Selu and her family had known corn. The young people exchanged seven kernels of corn for the strangers goods and instructed them to plant the kernels the next night on their way home sitting up all night to watch the corn which would grow seven stalks with ripe ears in the morning. They were then to take those ears of corn and at the end of the next days journey they were to take some of the kernels from those ears and repeat the process in the same way and so on every night until they reached home. In this way they would have enough grain to feed all of the people with enough left over to plant more. The strangers thanked them and took the corn kernels and left. Following the instructions the young couple had given them they increased their bounty of corn, so much so that buy the sixth day of their travel the harvest of corn was burdensome to transport. But on the seventh night the last night before reaching their home they planted some of the kernels as before but not having slept the previous nights they all fell asleep and the next morning there were not even any sprouts where they had planted the corn. They brought with them what corn they had left, which was none-the-less a substantial amount, to their town and planted it. With care and attention they were able to raise a crop, enough for them and their neighbors. Ever since the corn must be watched and tended through half the year, when before it would grow and ripen in a night. Since Gahnahcti never returned, and the youngsters still worried that he might send others to kill them, they determined that the best course of action would be to go find him first. The wild boy took a “chunkey” wheel and rolled it toward the darkening land (the west). In a little while the wheel came rolling back so they knew their father was not there. [A chunkey wheel was a stone wheel with a hole in it that was part of a game that was used in gambling.
Page 10 of 60 By Earnie L. Frost
History of the Cherokee People
The wheel would be rolled and the participants would hurl spears trying to get closest to where the wheel would stop.] He rolled it to the south and north and each time the wheel returned so they knew their father was not there. He rolled the wheel to the Sunland (the east), and the wheel did not return. This indicated to them that their father was somewhere in that direction. They made preparations to travel, took up their traveling packs and went to the east. After weeks of travel they came upon Gahnahcti walking along with a little dog by his side. They caught up with him but he did not greet them kindly. They told him that they were there because they always accomplished what they set out to do, as they were now warriors. Unimpressed Gahnahcti informed them their dog had overtaken him four days previously. He told them since they had now found him that they may as well travel together but that he would be the leader. They agreed to this arrangement because otherwise they could not travel with him and be aware of his intentions toward them. In time they came to a swamp. Gahnahcti told them there was something dangerous in the swamp and that they had to stay away from it. He then went ahead of them moving so fast he was quickly out of their sight. As soon as he was out of sight the wild boy coerced his sister into going with him to see what was in the swamp that they must avoid. They crept in together and in the middle of the swamp they found a large panther asleep. The wild boy got out an arrow and shot the panther in the side of the head. The panther turned his head and his sister shot him on the other side. He turned his head back and both children shot together. The panther was not hurt by the arrows and paid no more attention to the young people than it would have to a couple of gnats. Bewildered and unnerved they hurried out of the swamp and ran into Gahnahcti who had been waiting for them. He asked them if they found it, and they answered that they had found it but it had not hurt them because they were warriors. Gahnahcti seemed somewhat surprised but said nothing further and they continued on their journey. Several days later on their journey Gahnahcti stopped and turned to them signaling them to be quite. He warned them they must be careful because they were entering the territory of a tribe of people known as the ani-daduhntaski (people who roast people; i.e. cannibals) and if they were captured they would be cooked and eaten. Then he went ahead of them and they quickly lost sight of him. They followed behind along the trail he took and came upon a tree that had been struck by lightening. The wild boy directed his sister to collect some splinters from the tree and coached her in how to prepare them in a special way and told her how to use them if the time came that they needed to. They then continued walking cautiously along the trail and sure enough walked right into the village of the cannibals around a bend in the trail. The anidaduhntaski scouts had been watching them since they had ventured onto the cannibals territory, they surrounded the young couple and with their spears they drove them into their townhouse. All the cannibals of the village came to the townhouse and they built a great fire, put water in a large pot and using large poles the lifted the pot and set it on the fire and brought the water to a violent boil. Some of the cannibals caught up the wild boy and threw him into the large boiling pot of water. The girl showed no fear and made no attempt to escape, she quietly kneeled down and began putting the splinters she had collected from the lightening struck tree into the fire. When the cannibals thought the wild boy should be ready to eat they lifted the pot from the fire using their long poles. As soon as they lifted the pot up off the fire a blinding light filled the townhouse with a loud crack and lightening darted all around the great room striking each of the cannibals until they were all killed. Then the lightening streaked up through the smoke hole in the roof and the next moment there were the young man and young woman
By Earnie L. Frost Page 11 of 60
History of the Cherokee People standing outside the townhouse and except for frayed nerves completely unscathed. They continued on and soon met up with Gahnahcti who was amused to see them. They told him that they had met the cannibals who took them to their town house but never hurt them, because they were recognized as great warriors. Gahnahcti just slowly shook his head and they continued their trek. Gahnahcti soon got out of sight of the couple again but they kept on following his trail until they came to the edge of the world where the sun comes out. The sky was just coming down when they got there so they waited until it went up again and then they went through and traveled up the other side. There they found Gahnahcti and Selu sitting together on two white seats waiting for them. They received the children kindly and were glad to see them telling them they could stay awhile but then they must go back and eventually live where the sun goes down. The children stayed with their parents for seven days telling their parents all that they had learned from their experience of life. They explained that they had learned that the meaning of life was to learn, that life was a learning process and would go on forever. It was at this time that Selu gave the wild boy his name; she named him Ewekahwaiskhi, which translates as “The Fearless.” Gahnactis’ heart was melted when he saw how earnestly his and Selus’ progeny had sought for them. He talked with them and gave them much good council to which they listened and heard. He told them that in consequence of their offenses against him and Selu, they must never again hope to be fed without hard and or anxious toil. They must now return to Ehlohi, but they were to remember when they were in want of game, the instructions they had learned; and if they should ever slight the animals or the plants, they were to purify themselves in the osi by the medicine they had been told of, and then strive afresh to do as they had been taught. He went on to tell them that they had offended both of their parents, but that if they heeded what they had been told here and if they were in need of help and comfort they could call on both he and Selu and they would discover that the ingratitude of the children to the parents, is forgotten in the love of the parents to their children. They returned to Ehlohi and after seventy years they went to the darkening land where they are now. We call them anidinilawi oohyuhdagwalosti (the thunder twins), and when they talk to each other we hear low rolling thunder in the west. From this story we learn that Selu and Gahnahcti are the Red Woman and Red Man of the east and that the Thunder Twins are the Black Woman and Black Man of the west. To anyone who listens to the story you cannot but notice some seeming glaring inconsistencies in the tale. If the principals of our tale were the first people, how do we account for the other people in the story? Remember we are talking about the first Cherokee, the Anijeelahgi (the People of The Light), which we regard as the first human beings. This was and is understood by the Cherokee people and it does not exclude the fact that there were other people in the universe at the time, but they were not Cherokee. The Cherokee are direct descendants of the sacred light and sound of The Creation; the lightening that resulted from the uniting of that initial awareness. You will also note that they adopted the Wild Boy as one of their own kind even though he was clearly “born” of another blood. This tells us clearly that Cherokee is something you can become even if you are not “born” Cherokee. The children express this when they tell their parents that they understand that the purpose of life is to learn and that learning is an endless process, thus life is an eternal learning process and even the Cherokee are learning what it is to
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History of the Cherokee People
be Cherokee; what it is to be the Living Sacred Fire and we, any of us can learn this! It is also notable in the story that except for Selu no one can be accused of being or acting “noble”. It seems inconsistent from what we know of human nature that Selu and Gahnahcti greet their children at the end of the story after the way the children acted towards their parents earlier; sabotaging their food sources and murdering their mother. This can only be understood from the context of life being an eternal learning process, and understanding that the universe is cyclical, thus demonstrating to us that like all cycles we, what we truly are, not just flesh and bone are eternal and we will go through the cycles of life many times because we are indeed created in the image of the Creators and we must learn all things and realize that the Creators learn of the Creation through each and every one of us. Like the Wild boy there is much that we already know, and there is much we still have to learn! The wild boy also shows us clearly that the members of the animal kingdom are equal to us in the aspects of having intelligence and emotions and curiosity and that we must never forget that, and that there are consequences for ignoring that fact. We must honor and respect all of creation and note also that the life came out of the water. The wild boys’ life came from the water, the river. Water is the source of all life and it seems that water like the Creators, was not created but just always was. Water has a form of intelligence in that it is aware of and will respond to intent as the work of Masuro Emoto clearly demonstrates in his books The Hidden Message in Water & The True Power of water. Early on the beasts, birds, fishes, insects and plants could all talk to each other and to the humans, and they and the people lived together in peace and friendship. But as time went on the people increased so rapidly their settlements spread over the whole earth and the animals found themselves losing their territories. To add to their woes humans had invented bows and arrows, knives, blowguns, spears and hooks, and began to slaughter the larger animals, birds, and fishes for their meat and skins, while the smaller creatures, such as frogs and worms and insects were trodden upon without thought, out of pure carelessness or contempt. The animals decided to council with each other and decide upon measures for their common safety. The council was held in the townhouse of the bears and the Great White Bear presided. Many bear spoke in turn and complained about the way humans killed their friends, ate their flesh and used their skins and claws for their own purposes, not offering prayers of thanks for the sacrifices of the bear. Many demanded that they declare war on the humans at once. After much counsel and deliberation it was determined that since they could not make or use the weapons that humans used on them that course of action was fruitless and was dismissed. No bear could think of any better plan so the Great White Bear dismissed them and the bears left the council and went to the forests and thickets without having agreed to a plan to prevent the increase of the human race. The deer then took over the council under their Great White chief, Little Deer and after much discussion they decided to send rheumatism to every hunter who should kill one of them unless he took care to ask for their pardon for the offense he was going to commit on them. They sent notice of their decision to the nearest settlement of humans and told them what to do when necessity forced them to kill one of the deer tribe. Whenever a hunter kills a deer, Little Deer, who is swifter than the wind and cannot be wounded, runs to the spot and speaking to the blood stains asks the spirit of the deer if it has heard the prayer of the hunter for pardon. If the answer is yes, then all is well and Little Deer goes on his way. If the answer is no, the Little Deer will track the hunter and strike him with rheumatism turning the hunter into a helpless cripple and a burden to the humans.
By Earnie L. Frost Page 13 of 60
History of the Cherokee People
Next came the fishes and reptiles, which had their own complaints against humans. They held their council together and decided that they would cause humans to dream of snakes twining around their bodies in slimy folds and blowing foul breath into their faces, or cause them to dream of eating raw decaying fish so that they would lose appetite, sicken and die. Finally the birds, insects and smaller animals entered into the council, and the Grub worm was chief of the council for them. It was decided that each present at the council would stand and give an opinion and it would be voted on at the time presented as to whether or not the humans were guilty of the charge or not. Seven yes votes would be enough to convict the humans. One after another stood and denounced the cruelty and injustice of humans toward the other animals and voted in favor of death. The ground squirrel alone ventured to say a good word for humans, who seldom hurt them because they were so small. This so angered the others at the council that they fell upon them and tore at them with their claws; the stripes are on their backs to this day. They began then to devise and name so many new diseases, one after another, that had their imaginations not failed them, not a single member of the human family would have survived. Grub worm was pleased with the decision and at the end of the list they created someone proposed that they make menstruation sometimes fatal to women. At the conclusion of the council, Grub worm thanked them all for their effort; happy that now more humans would die. The plants, that were for the most part friendly towards humans, heard what had been done by the animals and determined to defeat their evil designs. Each tree, shrub, and herb, down to the grasses and mosses, agreed to furnish a cure for at least one of the diseases named by the animals, and each took an oath saying; “I shall appear to help people when they call upon me in their need.” So medicine came into being, and the plants, everyone of them has its’ medical use if we only learn it, to counteract the evil wrought by the revengeful animals, with a cure. Even weeds are made for some good purpose, which we must find for ourselves. When the healer does not know what plant to use to treat a sick person, the spirit of the plant will tell them if they will but ask. There is assigned to every animal and plant a definite life term that cannot be curtailed by violent means. If it is killed before the expiration of the allotted time the death is only temporary and the body is resurrected in its proper shape and form from the blood drops of its former body, and the animal or plant continues its’ existence until the end of the predestined period, when the body is finally dissolved and the liberated spirit goes to join its’ kindred spirits in the Night-land. Humans being the paramount power, that hunt or slaughter and harvest the others as their own necessity or desire compel, are obliged to satisfy the animal tribes and plant tribes in every instance, very much as a murder is compensated for, according to the old system, by covering the bones of the dead with presents for the bereaved relatives accompanied by sincere prayers of contrition. Therefore the reincarnation of the animals allows the hunter and the gardener to receive pardon. Ewekahwaiskhi and his adopted sister had twelve children before they went to the Night- land in the west. He taught that it was Yehowahs’ order that humans build high places, on which to erect structures for devotion, where they might offer sacrifices for their transgressions, assemble for spiritual instruction and perform their dances and prayers. He also commanded that they were not to despise the lame, the blind or the deformed, nor to laugh at them, but to be kind
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History of the Cherokee People
to them and especially to be kind to strangers. If they had any kind of creatures, they must be kind to them and treat them well. Beside teaching and offering sacrifices, Ewekahwaiski and his sister also told future events and warned the people of the consequences of disobedience to the way of what we know to be “good On the earth the reptiles were particularly angry with humans and grew to giant sizes and hunted humans. A particular group developed high intelligence and took the war with humans to a higher level and the humans were losing the war and retreated in fear to remote mountain strongholds, since most reptiles could not tolerate the cold. Humans on Earth appealed for help. When messengers brought this appeal to the people the descendants of Ewekahwaiski and his sister immediately volunteered to go to the Earth and help. Others in their star system, the stars we now call the Pleiades, also volunteered and went to the Earth to help their fellow humans in the war with the reptiles. When they arrived they found a planet ruled by giant and terrible reptiles. They sent out envoys to try and negotiate terms of peace with the reptiles but the reptiles killed and ate the envoys. After many failed attempts they finally engaged in full-scale war with the great lizards. The earth humans were in awe of their brethren from the Pleiades, because they carried swords of light that could cut through any flesh, so they called them Anijeelahgi (the people who carry the fire). Finally a messenger came and told the Anijeelahgi to take all humans and animals under the ground, because a mighty rock was coming from the heavens and would smite the earth so powerfully that most everything on the surface would be annihilated. The Anijeelahgi had just gotten the last of the humans into underground caverns when the meteor hit the Earth. We know this time as the time when the dinosaurs went extinct. Humans had to remain in the bowels of the Earth for many years before they could come up out of the ground into the new world. When they came out, the Anijeelahgi surveyed the Earth and saw that almost none of the reptiles had survived the strike and that the balance between human and animals had been restored. They reported this to the Earthlings and made preparations to return to their homes. It was only then that they found that they could not return to their homes in the Pleiades. They settled in to life on Earth, sharing all the knowledge they brought with them and sharing the wisdom of their worlds. They took Earthlings as husbands and wives and their children became Earthlings. In spite of this in time the world became full of people who were very wicked. They disregarded all good instruction and would not listen to anything good that was said to them. When people increased and became very wicked, wantonly killing the animals and plants and each other Yehowah sent a messenger to a certain man, the messenger directed the man to go to a large town and warn the people to turn away from their wicked ways or a flood of water would come and destroy them all. The man did as he was instructed, but his warning had no effect. The messenger was sent again with the same message, but again the message was ignored. A third time the messenger was sent and a third time the message was ignored and the man became the focus of derision and abuse. The messenger was sent back to the man a fourth time and directed the man that he was to build a house that would float on water and prepare to go into it with his family and some of all the animals and birds. He told him a helper would come to him to help him with this task. A short time later, the man received instructions on how to build the vessel from his dog. The dog instructed him to prepare it for his family with provisions for the family and animals of all kinds for at least a year. He was also to gather seed to sow because the coming flood would
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History of the Cherokee People
destroy everything and everyone. The dog also instructed the man in a particular manner of prayer to Yehowah. At daybreak with his face looking east toward the rising sun, he was to lift his hands with the palms down as high as his head and then put his head to the ground. At night he was also to pray, but he could do that in his house without regard to which way he was facing. The man obeyed all the directions given to him and when the boat was prepared the dog went and brought at least two of every kind of animal and bird, a male and female of each kind, and when they were all inside rain began falling down. The man closed the doors. The downpour of rain lasted forty days and forty nights, while at the same time water gushed forth from the ground; as much water gushed up from the ground as fell from the heavens and soon the rivers and oceans spilled over their banks and shores and inundated the lands. Those people who had not listened to the warnings from Yehowahs’, messengers were all drowned in the great deluge. Not only did the water swallow the people but it also washed away the great civilizations that had arisen and now only vague memories of them remain as “fantastic” myths. Many religions accuse the Creators of engineering the flood as a punishment for the transgressions of the humans away from what was regarded as “the way’; you should note that in the Cherokee story the flood does not appear to have been engineered by the Creators but that the Creators were warning of the imminent arrival of the great deluge if the people did not change their ways. This indicates strongly to us that the deluge was the direct result of the general intent of the people in the world at the time. The survivors of the great flood were not any particularly “holy” people as much as they were people that just listened and followed the directions given to them by the Creators, who did not speak to them directly, but communicated through messengers; angels and animals. Some time after the rain had stopped the people went out on the deck of the great boat. Seeing nothing but water the man sent a raven out to search for land. Later that day the raven returned to the vessel, exhausted from its’ journey. Because of this some ignorant people say that the raven is the bearer of bad news, when in truth the raven was the brave soul who dared to venture forth into the realms of the unknown and return with the report. The raven told the people that in all of its’ flight that day it had not found any land, that all was water as far as the eye could see. The man thanked the raven and for his bravery and saw to it that raven got extra rations that evening. After another period of weeks the man asked for a volunteer to fly out and see what was to be found. The turtledove volunteered to go, since before the raven had exhausted itself on its search and should not have to go again so soon. The turtledove soon returned to the boat with a small leaf in its’ mouth and a ball of mud in its’ claw telling everyone on the great ship that land was beginning to appear above the waters. It told the man where to look and when he looked he saw a small piece of land on the horizon. He moved the great vessel in the direction of the land and in time they ran aground. By the next day it was revealed from the sinking water that they were resting on the top of a high mountain. They were all overcome with tremendous joy and thanked the Creators for having saved them from extinction in the great flood. Several weeks later there was enough land above water and it had dried out enough that they could all disembark from the ship. That day they prepared a great feast from their remaining stores and that evening sang and danced and gave thanksgiving to the Creators for the man who listened and obeyed. After this time of feasting and praise the animals returned to the lands and prepared their homes for the generations now to come.
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History of the Cherokee People
The land becoming dry and it being the proper time for agriculture the man and his family began to prepare the ground to plant the seeds that they had stored before the flood. They grew many crops and harvested more than enough for their needs so they were able to share their bounty with the animals and still have plenty for seed crop. This family that saved themselves and their animal neighbors were red, Indian, people and they continued to love the Creators as they did before the flood and soon multiplied, spreading across the new land and creating new settlements. The man at the head of that family is known as Atawehiyo, a prophet; one who knows the things of the past and of the future. It would be foolishness to presume that the Creators did not warn other people in other towns across the world so that other races would have the opportunity to save their relatives and animals too, otherwise it would put the Creators in the position of callousness that flees in the face of what we believe we know of them. Our story though concerns the Cherokee, the other peoples have their own history to tell. Before the flood all people and animals spoke the same language. Some long time after the flood some people resolved that humans should build a tower so high that they could reach heaven in case another great deluge should come their way. They were able to persuade almost everyone that this was a project worth doing. The descendents of Atawehiyo, the Cherokee, spoke against the scheme and did not participate, declaring that people should expend their efforts on more useful projects since the Creators had given assurance that the great deluge would not happen again and sealed that promise with the sign of the colored bow in the heavens, (the rainbow). That to pursue this course was to say to the Creators that people did not trust the words of the Creators. They asserted that there was proof enough that ignoring the words of the Creators was not a wise course of action for anyone, human or beast. Despite the sage counsel of the Cherokee the vast majority of people chose to do the project. They proceeded and built with wood and stone until they had ascended very high above the clouds. They saw something at that great height that so frightened them that they ceased any further work on the project. What they saw we do not know because before they could tell anyone, some strange enchantment occurred so that their languages were spoiled and no one could understand the other. Not only could humans no longer understand the animals, but also humans could no longer understand each other. Since the Cherokee were not involved in this work their language remained the same, but it made no difference because everyone else’s was different, so communication became extremely difficult and impossible if the speakers did not work with you to develop understanding. The animals separated from the humans, blaming them for the enchantment, people separated from each other, blaming each other for the debilitating confounding of speech and formed different groups and nations. These nations on account of not understanding each other soon were involved in quarrels that evolved into wars. Many religious people blame the Creators for having confounded the languages so that humans and animals could no longer communicate, nor humans communicate with each other. We Cherokee just say that it does not seem consistent with what we understand of the Creators that they would cause such a great confusion, however it does satisfy us that when regarding the history of the world as we understand it, that like the great deluge the Creators would not stop such a thing from happening after they gave their warnings. As co-creators of the world we do have a large degree of responsibility to each other and ourselves in this creation and must accept responsibility for our actions or inactions that have an effect on us all. It just may be that human consciousness evolved away from the balance and
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History of the Cherokee People
cooperative nature of the universe and exploited the resources for their own benefit disregarding everything else, so much that the universe itself rebelled against humankind in order to restore the evolutionary balance in the universe. Sometime later a man was born who became a great prophet. His name was Ekwahayelsti (Great knife), who had four wives, Leah and Rachel, who were sisters, Zilpah and Bilhah. They had twelve sons and one daughter Dinah, and from these four women came the twelve tribes or great families. When each of the sons eventually married the four women ensured that their wives understood what it was to be a Cherokee, and became Cherokee, to insure that their children would be Cherokee, since as Gahnahcti had said that the mother gave life and the mother was the life, so that descent is determined through the mothers blood. So in order for their grandchildren to be Cherokee then the wives of their sons, if they were not Cherokee, would have to be, like the wild boy was, adopted as one of the people. Of the children two of the sons get special attention in our story; Judahsuhsdi (smoke) and Yosijusduh (Gods light). Yosijusduh became a particularly great man in spite of betrayal by his brothers. Yosijusduh was the favorite of his father and this stirred jealousy in the hearts of his brothers. They sold him off into slavery and told their father that a lion had killed him. Through the strength his own character and the education he received from his mothers he became the prime minister of Egypt. As Grand Vizer he used his resources to find and reunite with his father and family, and forgave his brothers their transgression against him and had all of them moved to Egypt to be with him and share in his good fortune. He married Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, High priest of God in Egypt. Asenath bore him two sons, Manasseh, which means, “making to forget” in the Egyptian tongue and Ephraim, which means, “to be fruitful” in the Egyptian language. Judahsuhsdi married a woman of the Canaanite people who bore him three sons. The eldest was named Er, the second was named Onan and the third was named Shelah. When Er was old enough he took a wife named Tamar. Tamar quickly discovered that Er was an abusive and wicked man, but her suffering did not last long because he mysteriously died very soon after the wedding. At that time it was the law that if a woman was widowed then her husband's brother was obliged to take her and look after her; if she had no children by her husband then the brother was obliged to join with her and give her children so the family blood lines would be merged. Onan, the second brother took Tamar as a wife since he did not have a wife, but since he did not want any children to support since they would be considered his brothers children and not his, when he cohabited with her he used prophylactic devices and forced her to take contraceptive measures and herbs. This displeased his mother greatly when she learned of this from Tamar, because she was determined to unite these two families by blood for the overall good of all the people, but he suffered a stroke and died before she could confront him about his behavior. The circumstances were such that it fell to the third son Shelah to make this union final. Judah’ was particularly fond of his youngest son Shelah and after what had happened to his eldest and second son in relation to this woman he determined to prevent Shelah from having any form of contact with Tamar. He interrupted the plans of his wife and mother-in-law, by declaring that Shelah was too young to consider marriage to any woman. He sent Tamar back to her home, where her relatives looked upon her as shamed because the Creators had clearly shown their displeasure with her because of the loss of her first and second husband and denial of her third. Tamar essentially lived as an outcast in her own home; her father would not even
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History of the Cherokee People acknowledge her presence; only her mother regarded her welfare. Together they conspired to right the wrong done to their family by Judah’. Several years later, Ekwahayelsdi called for a council meeting of his family in the town where Tamars’ family lived. Tamars mother and mother-in-law saw this occasion as an opportunity to force Judah’ to “do right” by Tamar. Together the devised a plan wherein Judah’s arrogant nature would be used against him in order to make him act in regard to the situation of Tamar. He stubbornly refused to even so much as release her from the wedding bond to his family so that she could conceivably start a new life for herself and her family. He refused to do anything because he blamed her for the untimely deaths of his two elder sons and was determined to punish her and her family. He stopped short of accusing her of being a witch, but only because he thought it would have reflected poorly on his ability to perceive such things. Judahs’ habit was to leave for meetings several days early so he could enjoy the fruits that the towns offered, but he told his wife it was so he could conduct other business before the meeting. Tamar’s, mother purchased a pavilion that was colored as a shrine to the Mother Goddess and had it set up outside the town beside the main road. When the family servants informed them that Judah’ was approaching the town, Tamar put on the clothes of a temple prostitute that her mother had purchased for her and she went and opened the pavilion and sat before it waiting. Judah’, true to his habitual nature, stopped at Tamars’ pavilion and demanded that she have sexual intercourse with him. He did not recognize Tamar as his daughter-in-law because she wore a veil, as was the rule for all the temple virgins. Tamar named her price for the privilege of having sexual intercourse with her and it was more than Judah’ had on his person. After some haggling during which Tamar exercised the feminine wiles her mother had taught her, Judah’s lust was so inflamed that he finally agreed to her price promising to let her hold his staff of office as a priest and his gold signet ring as a promise to pay. Tamar accepted his promise and took him into to the pavilion where she had intercourse with him so violently that Judah’ passed out. While he was unconscious Tamar collected his staff and signet ring and left him there alone, sneaking out the back of the pavilion so that his servants did not see her. When he later recovered consciousness he looked about for the woman. Not finding her he searched frantically for his staff and signet ring. Though he found neither of them he assumed that the woman had returned to the temple and took the staff and ring as collateral until he paid the agreed upon price. Annoyed but not overly concerned he dressed himself and went on into the town and settled into an inn. He sent his personal servant to the temple of the goddess with the gold that he and the woman had agreed upon to ransom his staff and signet ring. The servant returned a while later without the gold, the staff or the ring. He informed Judah’ that the high priestess of the temple thanked him for the contribution but she had no idea what he was talking about. None of the virgins in this temple worked outside of the temple grounds. Angered at this perceived insolence Judah’ stormed to the temple himself. The high priestess repeated what she had told his servant, and ordered the temple guards to escort Judah’ out of the temple and not to let him return. Having lost his gold and symbols of office Judah’ was enraged; he offered a reward for his staff and signet ring. He attended the council without his symbols of office and was chastised publicly in council by Great knife for his foolishness at having lost these things and was warned to find them before they again met in council because until he did he would not be allowed to speak or vote in council. After the council, Judah’ returned to his home a humbled and angry man. His staff and signet were never found so every couple of weeks he raised the amount of
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History of the Cherokee People
the reward until the amount was so lucrative that people began bringing fraudulent items in order to claim the reward. After having all of these charlatans imprisoned even these sources ceased, which only made his temperament worse. Several months later an acquaintance of his told him over drinks that his daughter-in-law was very pregnant and the people were intrigued by how this happened since it was believed by everyone that Judah’ had so interfered so as to make this possibility impossible. Perhaps Shelah had ideas that conflicted with those of his father. Judah’ erupted with anger swearing and cursing he ordered his warriors to bring Tamar to him. While they were on their mission he went to Great Knife and demanded a council to render judgment on Tamar and to discover the identity of the man who was responsible so that he could execute them both for bringing such evil disgrace upon his family and making him the butt of vulgar jokes. Initially Great Knife was inclined to dismiss Judah’s demand as a personal problem that he, Judah’, needed to resolve without involving all of the people, but a quite inner voice compelled him to disregard his own inclination and agree to Judah’s demand. The next morning the warriors returned with Tamar and her mother and the council was convened with Great Knife sitting in charge and the other tribal chiefs, his sons, sitting on either side of him. Tamar and her mother were brought before the council and Judah was her accuser, charging adultery and whoredom saying that her obvious pregnancy was proof of her infidelity and demanding that she be burned alive. He went on to say that no woman could become pregnant without a man to impregnate her; he demanded that she identify her lover before the council so that he could be apprehended and burned along with her. The assembled people shouted their agreement with Judah’s words and obvious outrage. Great Knife, a wise and Godly man, demanded silence from the multitude and asked Tamar what she had to say in her defense. Tamar agreed to identify the man who had made her pregnant and brought this disgrace upon her family and the family of her father-in-law. She had her mother present to Great Knife a rug that was tied in a long bundle. She told the council members that the items inside the bundle would identify the man who had impregnated her. He had left them with her as a promise to make everything right with her situation. When the bundle was unwrapped and the staff and signet held up for all to see, the lodge was filled with startled gasps. Great Knife demanded an explanation from Judah’. Judah’ was emotionally devastated, he asked to speak with Great Knife in private. Great Knife denied the request and repeated his demand for an explanation from Judah’. Judah’ rose before the assembly of the people and proclaimed only that in this case Tamar was more correct than he had been because he had denied her rights as agreed to by the people, and kept her separate from her rightful mate, his remaining son, Shelah. The staff and signet was indeed his, and clearly he was the father of the child she carried. Great Knife could clearly see the emotional turmoil his son was in, but since Judah’ had demanded the council, it was up to Judah’ to end this fiasco. He asked Judah’ what he proposed to do now since he had demanded the death penalty as recompense for his accusations. Judah’ requested that all charges be dismissed and the entire affair be forgotten. Great Knife suggested that this entire situation could be resolved if Tamar and her family were compensated with gold, enough to provide for Tamar and Judahs’ son. He also recommended that Tamar go to reside with Yosijuhdusduh in Egypt, to become fully members of Yosis’ family in the royal court of Egypt. Judah and the council voted to accept this solution and Tamar and her family were escorted to Yosis’ home in a caravan provided by Judah. In Egypt it was realized that she was carrying twins. When her time came for delivery,
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History of the Cherokee People
during her labor throes one infants hand came out of his mother, the attending midwife tied a scarlet cord around his wrist to signify that this one was the first born. The hand however pulled back inside of Tamar’s body and the other child was born first. That child was named Tara and the other one who came out second was named Zara. They were accepted by Yosi and Asenath as members of their own family and were raised with Manasseh and Ephraim as equals receiving the same royal education and privilege. When Ekwahayelsdi, Great Knife, knew that his time on Earth was almost at an end he called for Yosi’ and his sons to come to his deathbed. In the presence of all of his sons he announced that he was adopting Yosis’ two sons as his own and to them he extended the rights of his office as the leader of the people. To Epraim and to Manasseh he gave the right to establish the priesthood of the people and found new tribes. He renamed them Rueben and Simeon the names of his own two eldest sons who had committed crimes so heinous that he could not forgive, so he decreed that their legacy should be given to his knew adopted son’, (Yosis’ sons). To Judah’ he gave the right to the leadership of the people until the day that the “Man of Peace” comes to claim it from his descendents. To Yosi’ and his descendents he gave the right to the “crown”, a term interpreted to mean the right to govern wisely. When the Pharaoh of Egypt died, Asenaths’ father and the other priests and priestess’ of Egypt appointed Yosi’ as Pharaoh Joseph. Joseph ruled Egypt wisely and in peace for the rest of his life. After Joseph died, since Manasseh and Ephraim, were no longer his sons and heirs, having been adopted by Great Knife on his deathbed, Zara and Tara inherited the rulership of Egypt as co-regents. Some time after Josephs’ death a people invaded and conquered the kingdom of Egypt. These people were called the Hyksos. The Hyksos leaders on the advice of their priest caste, recognized the special nature of Zara and Taras’ right to lead and rather than kill them they exiled them and their entire households. So it was that Zara and Tara left the land of Egypt in a great flotilla of ships with their entire households, including servants and their families. They stopped in Iberia and Zara, chose to settle there with his household. His capital city still thrives there in the country we now know as Spain; the city is Zaragosa (the city of Zara). Tara continued on to the “Tin Isles” and established a kingdom there, and like Zara, the capital was named in honor of him. The ancient capital of the country we now call Ireland is Tara, and the presidents of Ireland still take their oath of office at the ancient mount of Tara. In order to keep in contact and to trade they became a sea faring people. As descendents of Yosi’ and Asenath they brought the sacred fire from the Temple in Egypt with them and they were known as the Celti (keepers of The Fire). Many of the people journeyed on to the land beneath the evening star, Merika and established settlements there. This was a long journey of many weeks across the western ocean we now call the Atlantic. They traded with their relatives in Iberia and the Tin Isles (Ireland and Britain), exotic woods and furs; new food crops and copper; copper was particularly valued because when smelted with tin it made bronze, which was highly valued in the ancient world. In time, the Celti made the largest, most maneuverable sailing ships in the ancient world. The ships were not only capable of crossing the oceans with great loads, but also had a shallow enough draft that they could sail far up rivers and inland waterways. Years after the exile of Zara and Tara the descendents of the Hyksos rulers of Egypt put the aniJeelahgi that had remained in the land, under a reign of terror; confiscating their lands and
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History of the Cherokee People
homes, their herds, kidnapping their women and using them for violent sexual sport, hunting and killing their children as vermin, and numerous other violations of human rights. When survivors of this outrage reached the cities of Zara and Tara the citizens were incensed and ready to go to war. The High Priest of the Red Fire at that time was a man named Wasi. When the councils of both cities agreed that their relatives in Egypt were to be rescued, Wasi and the Red Chief, a man named Ahron, were put in charge of the rescue operation. Scouts were deployed into Egypt to assess the situation and report back. After months of the scouts reconnoitering and reporting Wasi formulated a plan. The scouts had reported that the Hyksos were a very superstitious people, especially their leadership and looked for “signs” everywhere and in everything. Wasi decided that if it was signs they wanted, and then signs they would have. Ahron was dispatched ahead with a small contingent of warriors, males and females, to prepare the way and to infiltrate the local anijeelahgi, to prepare them for action. They were also to start spreading rumors that the “God” of the Cherokee was sending a mighty magician to free his people. Three months later Wasi, with one hundred of his personally chosen warriors, men and women, sailed up the Nile river with small flotilla to Memphis, the Hyksos capital, decked out in the full regalia of the Celti. Wasi was greeted with a regal reception and was invited to dine with Pharoah and his court. Before dinner, scouts from Ahron came to Wasi and informed him that everything was in place and that they were ready. Wasi thanked them and sent back word that he too was ready and would be dining with Pharoahs court that very evening. Pharaoh’s palace overlooked the Nile River, and was brightly lit with oil lamps and torches and the dinner was lavish. Finally Pharaoh inquired as to the purpose of Wasi’s visit. Wasi deflected the question by inviting Pharaoh and his courtesans to first sample some marvelous mushrooms and a drink that came from Merika before they engaged in business. Wasi’s talk and manner were so elegant that neither Pharaoh nor any of his advisors suspected anything amiss and eagerly accepted Wasi’s invitation to sample these exotic foods and drinks. After Pharaoh and the courtesans had indulged themselves with the mushrooms and exotic wine, Wasi engaged them in small talk until the look in their eyes informed him they were ready, then using a low sonorous tone of voice he guided their hallucination so that Pharaoh and his advisers and courtesans all experienced the same delusions. As he guided the mental imaging his warriors disarmed the palace guards. By the end of the session Pharaoh was begging Wasi to take the Jeelahgi and go. So it was that Wasi was able to secure Egypts leaders permission to take the people and go, without raising arms or engaging in physical battle. He and his warriors left the palace and met Ahron and some of his warriors outside the palace. They loaded the elderly, infirm, and children onto the ships and the ships released their moorings and headed down the river for the sea. The rest of the people were waiting outside the gates with a large caravan and herds of sheep and goats, ready to travel. When Wasi and his warriors arrived the caravan moved into the desert away from the people that had so disenfranchised them from their humanity. Wasi, Ahron, and their warriors wanted to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the Hyksos before dawn, when they would recover from their drug induced sleep. They traveled east so that when the Hyksos army approached, which they were convinced it would, the sun would be in the eyes of the Hyksos army, an advantage in a fight. The scouts reported later in the day that the Hyksos army was approaching. Wasi, Ahron, and most of the warriors stayed
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History of the Cherokee People
back to fight, while the rest were meant to move the caravan along as fast as they could. Wasi, Ahron and the warriors prayed and focused their intent and storm clouds formed and a hailstorm struck the attacking army, destroying it. Everyone witnessed this, and the Hyksos no longer pursued them, taking this act as a sign from their gods to let the anijeelahgi go. When they camped for the night that first evening Wasi told them that they were going to have to cross three great rivers and a sea before their journey was complete. Wasi thrust his staff into a hillock of ground and told everyone that the next day and everyday they would travel in the direction that the light pointed out of the crystal on the top of his staff at sunrise. Some of the people came up and looked closely at the crystal; they saw that it was a clear crystal ball and imbedded in the center of it was a silver calf. On one side the calf was fat and wheat grew up from the ground above the calf’s head; on the reverse side the calf was scrawny, skeletal, and the ground beneath it was barren. The people immediately recognized the calf and crystal ball. When Yosi was first in Egypt he had ended up in prison on false accusations, but he had already gained a reputation as a dream interpreter. Pharaoh had been troubled by a recurring dream and his court magicians could not interpret the dream. Word of Yosi’s ability reached him and he sent for him. He told Yosi of his dream; he dreamed that seven fat calves rose out of the flooded Nile River and wheat grew in the fields along the Nile above the height of the calves. Then seven bony calves came up out of a shallow Nile and ate the fat calves and the wheat in the fields withered and died, only dust remained. Yosi told Pharaoh that the dream was a vision. There was to be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of drought and famine. But if Pharaoh heeded the vision then he would set aside stores of provisions during the years of plenty so that they could eat of these during the seven years of famine. It turned out that Yosi was right and that is how he got promoted to prime minister. To say that the court advisors were angry is to understate the matter considerably. They were in a murderous rage; they got together and conspired to set a trap for Yosi. They went to Pharaoh and challenged Yosi to a contest of magic. Pharaoh accepted on behalf of Yosi, and then sent a palace guard to go bring Yosi. When he arrived at the palace the court magicians demonstrated their skills as magicians, turning their staffs to serpents and other spectacular tricks. When they were through, Yosi complemented them on their mastery of the magic arts. He took from Manessah, his son who was a little boy at the time, a crystal marble that he had been playing with before he got engrossed in the magic show; in his other hand he picked up one of the commemorative statuettes that Pharaoh had ordered struck to honor Yosi’s interpreting Pharaoh’s dream. Clasping his hands together behind his back and pacing slowly across the room Yosi lectured everyone in the room on the difference between magic and illusion. When he had completed his lecture he held up the marble between his thumb and forefinger, the statuette was now in the center of the crystal. He gave the crystal ball to Pharaoh telling all present that illusion was for children and “magic” was best left to adults. It had been believed lost when Zara and Tara had left Egypt. It came to be known as the “eye of Wasi”. In traveling through the wilderness, the Ahguiua took the lead. Each tribe marched by itself and encamped separately, also each clan kept themselves distinct, not intermingling with other clans of the same tribe. The clans distinguished themselves by having feathers of different colors fastened to the rim of their ears. Each clan was composed of the descendents of one family and being of the same blood connections the members were forbidden to intermarry. Each clan set up camp in the evening by itself. This rule of keeping distinct was preserved to later times.
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History of the Cherokee People
It took them a great many years to get through the wilderness on their migration with Wasi guiding them all the way. On account of the great many dangers they encountered along the way a great part of the people died on the journey. Once a number of people were walking along single file and without warning the ground opened up and swallowed them. Another time the most poisonous snakes came among them and many died of the bites. Wasi w as the greatest priest the Anijeelahgi ever had. He was the greatest prophet; he told what had been from the beginning of the world and what would be. He gave an account of the creation, of events before the flood and so forth. He also gave the people directions in all things, what to do and how to do it. He appointed their feasts, their fasts, and all their ceremonies. He also told them how to consecrate their priests and priestesses, how to choose and appoint their chiefs and counseled perfect obedience to the Creators, the Great Yehowah, above and warned them of the misery that they would create for themselves as a result of disobedience. He said that when he died, another would come to take his place and give them the same kind of instructions and directions as he had done. The first laws given to the first people were given orally, but humans became wicked killing one another and the animals and plants with no regard or respect, lost those laws, even the intent of those laws. The Yehowah gave new laws to the people while they were following Wasi in the wilderness. They descended to the top of a high mountain and gave them to Wasi written on a long smooth stone. They also gave other instructions that were written on skins. They also gave the hymn Windeyah-ho that is sung at daybreak and in the evening. The Yehowah also gave them the directions for the construction of the great council houses. To the west were to be four white seats for the high priest, the high priestess and the chief and red woman. On the upright slats that formed the backs of these seats were carved the four phases of the moon; waxing, waning, full and new. Last, but not least the Yehowah gave Wasi the holy fire so that the people would have it always to remind them of who they are and what they are, those that have chosen the Creators. The laws handed to Wasi were; You must not have any other gods you place before or equal to Yehowaah: You must not make any images to worship: You will not use or repeat the name, Yehowaah in vain: Earnestly remember it is the seventh day and keep it holy: Regard with due obedience and honor Your Mother and Your Father, so that your days may be long in the land that the Creators give you: You must not commit murder: You must not commit adultery with man made religions: You must not steal: You must not witness falsely against your Neighbor: You must not covet your neighbor’s wife or anything that is your neighbors: You must love your Neighbor as you love yourself: You must not force your views and beliefs on others:
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History of the Cherokee People
These laws specified the personal relationship between ourselves as individuals and as a group with the Creators. As for the other instructions, you will learn them as you progress in your knowledge of Cherokee and they are not for review this night. On the journey they carried a standard that Wasi instructed them to make. It was known as the Askayuhguhstuega; it was a long pole with the bark stripped off and painted red with a red banner fastened to the top. It was taken down every morning and carried by two to four men every day. When they got to their land and made their towns, they were to make a Unikuhwiuhi. It is the same thing only painted white with an eagle tail attached to it. The Unikuhwiuhi signified a white fire town, and the Askayuhguhstuega signified a red fire town. Wasi taught the people the virtues of all kinds of roots and herbs, trees, shrubs and so forth and how to prepare and administer them as medicines. He also taught them all the charms, verses, and prayers to use when administering the medicines to amplify their healing qualities. At first there were twelve tribes on the journey, but after awhile one tribe violated the law against intermarrying. That tribe was disbanded and scattered among the other tribes. Four tribes fell out of the journey choosing to settle in lands that they came upon during the great trek. So it was that the number of tribes that completed the first great migration was seven. So only seven tribes arrived in the land that Wasi was leading them to. The town they established when they finally arrived they called Tahimitu. Tahimitu was built of stone and had a surrounding stonewall. Those seven tribes/clans are our seven clans. Now I will have them tell you their stories beginning with the Anigiloh;
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History of the Cherokee People
Ani~Giloh Longhair / Twister Clan
I am ______and I am going to tell all of you gathered here of the origin of the ani~Gilohi (Longhair / Twister) clan of the people of the Red Fire. In a place and time lost long ago to the mists of memory lived a warrior named Ganelide~Awdawe (lives with a holy woman), his wife Awjahta~Awgayuh (fish woman) and their three sons. With the people of their village, they lived well from the bounty provided by the northern wilderness. From their bark covered lodge they could see a grand mountain known as A-hoo-oh-dah-luh nuh- dah (mountain of the moon). The mountain loomed majestically against the turquoise sky, northwest of their village across a large lake that reflected the mountain and sky on its dark surface. Almost every day they saw two Tlanuwa (Giant hawks), soaring around the mountaintop above the clouds, as though they were patrolling, like guardians of a magical place. The Tlanuwah rarely hunted on the southeast side of the lake, so the people of the village though cautious, were not alarmed by their continual presence. Ganelide~Awadawe one day noticed that Awjahta~Awgayuh, was staring out across the lake at the mountain as if she was in a trance. When he questioned her about what was going on, he had to ask her several times, she finally responded and looked at him as if she had just noticed him and shrugged her shoulders and answered simply; “I just thought I heard something over there singing.” Then she shivered and returned to what she was doing before she got distracted. Her preoccupation with the mountain became so consuming that her family and friends began to get concerned. The eldest son, Ah-yay-tli o-wa-suh (self centered) a spoiled, cowardly and lazy lad, complained to Ganalide~Awdawe that his mother, Awjahta-Awgayuh, no longer took care of him. He whined that his moccasins had long since worn out and though his mother had started a new pair for him they were not yet completed, because she sat all day staring across the lake. Ganelide-Awdawe, annoyed at Ah-yay-tli o-ah-suhs complaining and whining angrily told him that since he was still at home and could find no woman that was willing to become his wife or one that would allow him to live with her and look after his domestic needs, he would have to finish his own moccasins. Never the less, Ganalide-Awdawe became irritated by his wife’s’ behavior and concerned that she might be under the spell of some dark enchantment. He finally decided that he would have to discover the source of this magic and break the spell himself. He called his three sons together near the lakeshore where no one would hear them and he told them; “We shall make a strong dugout canoe so we can safely cross the water and explore the great mountain.” The boys who all lived at home were reluctant to join in the proposed expedition worried about how they were to avoid being captured and eaten by the Tlanuwa, among other things. Ganelide~Awdawe was not about to let his sons excuse their way out of this mission. He reminded them that this journey was to help their mother and since they lived at home and not in
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History of the Cherokee People
the warriors lodge with other young men their age, he gave them an ultimatum, they could go with him or they could move into the warriors lodge immediately. Given their options the boys determined that a trip across the lake and a little mountain climbing was preferable to moving into the warriors lodge and joining the Gahdoogy (the town community service corps, manned by the warriors of the town). While the sons worked on the vessel, Ganelide~Awdawe went to visit some Nuhnehi* (immortals). He obtained a large crystal that would protect them if their thoughts and intentions (their minds and hearts) were honest and true. In the darkness it shone with the light of a great fire, and would light the way in the darkness when pointed in the direction you wished to go. It took them about a week and when they had finally finished the canoe Ganelide-Awdawe told his sons that he had decided they should cross the lake at night when the Tlanuwa would be more likely to be sleeping. Waiting until dark to launch the canoe and the sons not being used to strong exertion, it took them most of the night to get across the lake. Dawn was breaking when they beached their vessel at the foot of the looming mountain.. Ah-yay-tli o-ah-suh was by nature a cowardly individual and he was very afraid. He quickly volunteered to look after the crystal since his father had told them of its’ protective qualities, in truth he took the crystal to intending only to protect himself. Since it was almost daylight the crystal’s glow had diminished from the brilliant shaft of light it had beamed in the darkness. Ah- yay-tli o-ah-suh peered into the crystal trying to bring forth its protective shield, but in the crystal he saw a vision that showed him that he and his two younger brothers would die that day. He knew his father was determined to go on this venture and that he was not one to be swayed or put off by him, his brothers, or any possible dangers, or dire warnings that he, Ah-yay-tli o-ah- suh, might present to him. Ordered by his father to act as the rear guard Ah-yay-tli o-ah-suh waited until his father and brothers were scaling the mountain then he snuck away with the protective crystal and fled to the territory of the yunwi~Joonstiya** (Little People) he was never seen or heard of in the world of human people again. The Nuhnehi assure us that if they had remained together as a sacred unit of four and if Ganelide~Awdawe had kept possession of the crystal that the outcome might have been different, but Ah-yay-tli o-ah-suh was a person of fear and cowardice and because of this they were betrayed by a cowards deed. Ganelide and his other two son’s had started climbing the east face of mountain of the moon, unaware that their rear guard Ah-yay-tli o-ah-suh had abandoned them. They climbed as fast as their tired and sore arms would allow. The thought of what would happen to them if they did not find a hiding place before the sun rose and woke the fearsome Tlanuwah gave them energy they did not know they possessed. They had not found any safe place when the sun rose over the lake waking the dreaded Tlanuwa. The male Tlanuwa rose and stretched and began preening his enormous wings. He spied the three humans below him climbing wearily up the cliff face. “Who among you shall I eat?”; the Tlanuwa called sharply, his calling awakened his female partner. *The Nuhnehi- immortals, “people who live anywhere”; a race of spirit people, invisible except when they want to be seen; friendly. **The Yunwi Junsdi – little people, fairies, no larger in size than human children; great wonder workers; fond of music and dancing; helpful and kindhearted; some live in peoples houses; rarely seen yet so long as they are there, no witch can come near to do mischief. Do not like to be
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disturbed at home! Ganelide~Awdawe knowing that the success of his mission was in danger - and being like his eldest son Ah-yay-tli o-ah-suh, inclined to think of his own safety first - shouted back to the Tlanuwa; “Grandfather bird! Eat my youngest!” and he promptly shoved his youngest son away from the cliff face. As the boy plummeted toward the lake screaming, the great bird dove down the cliff wall like a giant arrow making a loud swooshing sound as it sped past Ganelide and snatched the boy out of the air before he hit the water and swooped up and away to eat his prey. Ganelide~Awdawe and his remaining son scrambled up the cliff searching frantically for a hiding place. The female Tlanuwa now called out; “Which of you shall I have for my breakfast?” Ganelide~Awdawe answered her; “You shall have my middle child to eat.” Not wanting to die like his brother the boy put up a panicked but brief struggle before he succeeded in sending the boy tumbling through the air toward the lake. Watching the struggle, the female Tlanuwa was too late when she plunged down the cliff face after the boy and he slammed into the water with a loud sickening smack, a giant fish quickly rose up from the depths of the dark water and gulped down the boy’s shattered body before she could snatch it out of the water. “How clumsy of you!” She screamed, soaring back to her perch. “I wasn’t ready!” But you have a problem now. I am still very hungry. Since I see no other person, are you going to provide me some sport and jump, or do I just swoop down and pluck you off the wall?” “Oh I will jump for you,” Ganelide~Awdawe shouted; “if you are quick enough to catch me before I go into the water then you shall have me for your breakfast!” He clawed his way higher looking desperately for a hiding place. Hoping to buy himself some time he shouted up; “But first I’ll climb higher so I’ll have a longer fall, then you’ll be more likely to have me.” Ganelide~Awdawe could not find a place that would provide him safety. He pulled himself a bit further up the cliff and he suddenly felt a warm breeze brush his face. It caught his attention because as he had climbed higher up the mountain the air had gotten colder. He thought it was because strange spirits lurked over the mountaintop turning away Grandmother Sun’s heat. He frantically studied the rock wall and detected what he thought was a slab of stone. He noticed that indeed a soft draft of warm air was streaming out from the base of the slab. In his desperation he imagined the slab might be a door to a cave where he might hide until nightfall. Ganelide~Awdawe clawed with strength born of near panic, and he managed to work the slab aside a little. His effort revealed that there was indeed an opening behind the rock slab, but he could not squeeze through the narrow gap. He noticed with some surprise that what he thought was an air current seemed to have transformed into what looked like waving strands of white hair coming from behind the rock. The hungry Tlanuwa had watched Ganelide~Awdawe anxiously. “Are you going to jump?” She screamed. “Stop your fooling around!” She spread her massive wings and leaned over her perch preparing to leap off. “Now I jump!” Ganelide~Awdawe cried and summoning strength born of fear and desperation, he hurled the stone slab from the cliff side, tossing it tumbling out toward the dark water below
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History of the Cherokee People
and he leaped into what turned out to be a cave. The Tlanuwah launched herself screaming loudly down after the tumbling rock believing it to be Ganelide~Awdawe. She dove beneath the tumbling stone and rolled over onto her back intending to catch him in her sharp talons. The rock hit her full on the breast driving her into the lake making a giant splash that looked like a geyser exploding out of the water. She was quickly set upon and eaten by school of fish that made the water churn as if it was boiling. Ganelide~ Awdawe fearing the male Tlanuwa might reappear at any moment because of all the commotion scrambled deeper into the cave. He decided to wait in the cave and recover his breath and strength. He believed that after nightfall, A-yay-tli o-ah-suh using the crystal to light his way would find him and they would continue on the quest.
Try not to judge Ganelide~Awdawe too harshly. You must take into account that in spite off his fear and despair at the loss of his two sons, he truly believed that A-yay-tli o-ah-suh was somewhere down the cliff still climbing, safe because of the crystal’s protective powers. The Nunehi had convinced him that nothing bad could come to his sons even though he had shoved them to their deaths, as long as they had that crystal and were four, together on that mountain. He believed that with the crystal’s power they were protected and would prevail even over death, even to resurrecting his two younger sons. What you and I believe is of no matter; if Ganelide~Awdawes’ belief failed, he probably would have abandoned his adventure and our story would end here. He waited in the cave trembling violently as the adrenaline in his bloodstream gradually diluted he slowly recovered his breath and his strength began to return to his aching muscles. He began to take stock of his situation, and reviewed the events of the day up to the present moment. Doubts began to creep into his mind and he wondered if dark forces were at play sabotaging his mission as his exhausted body fell into a troubled sleep. Sometime later, he did not know how long, he awoke with a start. In his sleep he had relived the horrific events of the day and his doubts had given him a feeling of gloom and doom. He did not entertain these doubts for too long. In his heart he knew that more often than not the fates favor those who continue on in the face of adversity, with or without magic objects and formulas. Looking out of the cave at dusk and seeing no sign of A-yay-tli o-ah-suh or the crystal he decided to venture further into the cave while he still had enough light to see. He quickly realized he was not in a cave at all, instead his “cave” was the mouth of a tunnel that seemed to wind into the mountain. As he traveled deeper into the mountain the darkness of the tunnel began to give way to light. Soon the light equaled that of a full moon. Ganelide~Awdawe wondered if the Grandmother Sun had a sister here that softly lit the underworld. Suddenly he heard a tremendous noise. Panic gripped his mind as he realized it was the sound of flapping wings. He searched frantically for a hiding place, afraid there were more monstrous Tlanuwa coming from the underworld to hunt and devour him. From behind a rock he saw above him, lights, a swarm of lights, moving like a swirling cloud above him. His panic subsided, and he realized the swarm seemed to have no intentions toward him, curiosity took control of his mind and he observed this wondrous sight with interest. He saw that the cloud was composed of bats - many, many, white bats. Each time a bat flapped its wings sparks flew, like tiny lightning bolts. As long as they fluttered about in mass they lit up
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History of the Cherokee People
the tunnel, illuminating the roof and walls in a soft light. Ganelide~Awdawe then noticed that the tunnel had opened into a massive cavern. It seemed as immense as the mountain itself. Since the light cloud did not seem to be pursuing him he stepped into the huge cavern. From somewhere he did not notice, a man appeared suddenly before him. The man had the white wings of the fluttering bats; they covered him like a white cloak. He introduced himself as the chief of the Bat People and told Ganelide~Awdawe that he was in their hometown, Oo-cah-tuh lunehi (face of the dark). He told Ganelide~Awdawe that they had many relatives that lived in many of the mountains and caverns in the land of Elohi (Earth). The Bat Chief told Ganelide~Awdawe that once they had neighbors, little people with long white hair that had lived near by. But the Tlanuwa had come chasing a monster that they kept confined in the mountain. The monster escaped from the mountain on many occasions and in time had destroyed all of the little people. He informed Ganelide~Adawe that the bat people survived because without them the monster was blind in the mountain’s interior. But they avoided the abusive terror as best they could. “Where is this monster?”; asked Ganelide~Awdawe. “I would look on it before I leave this world. I think it may have enchanted my wife.” “Follow the locks of hair waving in the wind. The hair will lead you to an Ahmy-quoeh (cave sea).” The Bat Chief explained. “That is where the monster sleeps when it hasn’t escaped and is flying free beyond the mountain.” Ganelide~Awdawe thanked the bat chief and gave him a gift from what little he had with him in his travel pack. The Bat Chief bade him farewell and had some bats escort him to light the way. Ganelide~Awdawe followed the streaming hair and in time it led him to the Ahmy-quoeh. The white strands of hair spread over the sea, billowing out in all directions like a massive cloud front. Then he saw coming toward him Ootanadu~oonowluh (giant angry wind) the largest of the storm dragons. It was a twisting, coiling, writhing serpentine body - smoky gray with a human face. Its white hair, now completely filled the sky above it like a roiling thunderhead with the twisting, writhing, undulating dragon body suspended beneath it. The ‘twister’ serpent was churning up the inland sea waters like a boiling pot over the fire in the Osi (the cooking area / kitchen). Ganelide~Adawe saw that it was longer than seven large war canoes linked end to end as terror swept in waves through his mind. The Ootahnadu-oonoluh, seeing a human in the mountain realized that a door had to be opened and it might escape out of the mountain. Ganelide~Awdawe stood frozen in fear as the monstrous serpent blew a mighty breath. The sudden blasting gust blew Ganelide~Awdawe through the cavern and out of the tunnel like a hunter expels a dart from a blowgun. Ganelide~Awdawe was propelled over the lake, and he hoped beyond all hope that A-yay-tli o- sa-duh and the crystal would suddenly appear and save him. His prayers turned to screams of pure terror as the male Tlanuwa seized him and tore him apart bite by bite as it ate him, floating lazily over the lake. The fish greedily devoured what bits the Tlanuwa dropped into the water. While the great bird took its time, relishing its revenge on the adventurer responsible for the
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History of the Cherokee People
death of its mate, Ootahnadu~oonoluh blew southeast across the lake to the village, home of its’ obsession, the woman it had dreamed of for almost 18 years. In its excitement and enthusiasm its twisting and undulating body knocked down many houses and lodges, tossing aside the fleeing humans with its mighty wind. As trees broke and crashed to the ground Ootahnadu~oonoluh saw a woman crawl out of the rubble of a fallen lodge and recognized its’ dream, it gathered in its’ wild excess and stood quietly before this woman as a man. Awjahtaw~Agayuh struggled to her feet and saw before her in the midst of the destruction, the face from her visions. She recognized in the howling wind the song she had heard coming from the mountain. “You are he that sang to me!” She gasped in awe. “Yes”; Ootahnadu~oonoluh whispered. “I have at last come to you. In my rush to escape my captors, I have caused your man’s death, but I tell you this; you are to become the mother of a new people.” She took him and led him into the forest and on a bed of soft moss she took him to her and he filled her with his magic semen. For the next seven years Awjahta~Awgayuh conceived a child every year even though he never visited her again her entire long and productive life. Shortly after he impregnated Awjahta~Awgayuh, Ootahnadu~oonoluh was driven back into his mountain prison by the great Tlanuwa. Occasionally he still escapes and wreaks havoc across the land. He knows that one day the lone Tlanuwa will be killed or will leave and Ootahnadu~oonowluh will play all over the world until all of the people are dead except his children. Awjahta~Awgayuh had four sons; Gagehusdi (strong love) - Gola.tooshi (Winter bird)- Gahwohili (Answer) - Kalseja.wahtaleh, (sweet penis) and three daughters; Nusohena (simple)- Oonewyalunheh (White wolf sister) and Awyokkahoonolay (Wolf Wind). They are the ancestors of the anigilohi. Priest / Priestesses [Nunehi] are born to Ootahnadu~Oonoluh and Awjahtaw~Awgayuhs’ daughters. This is the story of the beginning of the Anigilohi, the first clan of the Cherokee people. We are the first among equals.
Now the aniwyah;
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History of the Cherokee People
Ani~Wy~yah Wolf Clan Origin Story
I am ______and I am here to tell all you gathered here, the origin story of the ani~Wy~yah, the great Wolf clan, who stands here in the company of her sisters, the seven clans of the ani.Geelahgi. Greetings! Now holding the Deyohi-knunowa (the holy pipe) and the unega-diadela-yuni-wonigoi (the white wampum talking belt). We ask you to celebrate with us the memory of those heroes of our origin. These are the happenings from before this world where we dwell, became as it is now. Once, a very long time ago a man, Uluhsika~weysa (like a cat) awoke in the night. Seeing that his lodge fire was just glowing embers and there were no more logs to fuel the fire, he went out of the lodge to fetch an armload of wood from the woodpile. Outside in the cold crisp air he shivered slightly and paused to gaze at the moon. As he looked at the heavens, he witnessed a ball of fire moving from the northeast to the southwest. As it passed it made the sound of the rain-crow striking fear into his heart, since he had heard many times in his life that the call of the rain-crow was the announcement of your death. Still as he was still alive, he steadied his shaken nerves and overcoming his fear, he determined to seek out the meaning of this mysterious message. So he followed the trail of the fireball into the night. He followed the fiery orb to a valley at the base of a sacred mound to the west of his home village. The burning globe settled on top of the mound as if it was a huge bird of flames whose nest was there. As it settled its glowing fire vanished. He stood silent in respectful awe listening to the night. Again he heard the call of the rain-crow. Choking back his fear he listened intently waiting for his death. Then he realized that what he heard was in reality the voices of a company of men singing. He walked silently through the forest toward the sounds. Peering through the leaves of the foliage he spied a company of men. He was able to see that they were unarmed, had a small drum and wore hooded, what appeared to be wolf hide cloaks. Their hoods were pushed back off their heads and they were passing and drinking from a gourd of unega-amo (white water). To one side he saw ball-sticks (lacrosse sticks) stacked in a neat pile. Seeing that they were preparing for the Ball Game and not likely to harm him he decided he would approach these men and discuss with them what he had seen and heard this night. He called out startling the men but after showing himself to be unarmed and assuring them he met no harm the men beckoned him to join them. He told them of the events of the night that led to him being there. Their wise man told him the fireball foretold a war soon to come, that they all needed to be alert to such omens. Uluhsika~wesa was his town’s champion at the Ane~ja (stick ball) game and he was passionate about playing. He offered to join them in their game, which was scheduled to begin at sunrise. Their leader Guselita (Turkey Hunter) welcomed his aid as the events of the night had clearly guided Ulusika~wesa to them. He remarked that it was unusual that a human should want to befriend them since in the material world they were in reality wolves.
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History of the Cherokee People
He explained the magic of their wolf skins allowing them to transform between wolf form and human form so they would have hands to play the game. The team challenging them was also various animals with the same powers of metamorphosis. A wolf brave named Hayels~di usgi (The Knife) challenged Uluhsika~wesa to show his skill. He bet his wolf pelt against Uluhsika’s scalp. Uluhsika, confident in and eager to demonstrate his ability, accepted the challenge. The leader of the opposing team was Kutli (Raccoon). Kutli had decided to increase the odds in favor of his team. In council with Jees-du (Rabbit) and Jees-deji (Rat) they conspired to commit treachery against Guselita against whom they harbored a grudge. In the Nightland Rabbit and Rat are larger and far fiercer than their descendants in our solid world. They had conspired to attack the wolves in the night, just before sunrise, to kill or at least cripple their main players and not leave them enough time to call for replacement players and thus be forced to forfeit the game. As Uluhsika’ and the wolf Hayels~di usgi were choosing their lacrosse sticks the attack came. Watching from the cover of the dark forest, Raccoon saw that the wolves were distracted by this challenge and he chose this opportunity to launch his attack. Using a sharpened mussel shell as a knife he charged out of the darkness catching the wolves by surprise. As Hayelsdi~usgi, the wolf, stooped to pick up his sticks Raccoon slashed Hayelsdi~usgi’s throat. Hayelsdi-usgi’s last action was to drop his wolf hide at Uluhsika~wesas’ feet. Kutli, the raccoon, giving a victory whoop, ran his hands in Hayelsdi~usgi’s spilled blood and smeared it across his eyes. It dried black, since that time, his descendants wear this war mask. The man Uluhsika~wesa snatched up the wolf robe and his ball sticks. He yelled a war cry so terrible that Saloli (Squirrel) who had been right behind Raccoon dropped his weapons turned and ran up the nearest tree. Squirrel and his kinfolk, having lost their nerve remain in the trees to this day, fearful to be on the ground for more than a few moments. And though they sit in the trees barking their war cry, no one pays them any mind. Seeing the man not retreating and using the ball sticks as weapons, Rabbit and Rat ran blindly away screaming in fear. Combined with squirrel’s cowardly act, the other members of the raiding party hesitated, unsure they wanted to proceed with this attack. Uluhsika~wesa caught Guh~nah (Turkey) who was tucking the slain wolf’s scalp into his shirt collar (where it remains to this day). Guh~na pleaded with the man for his life. He offered the use of his tail feathers in ceremony, his banded wing feathers as symbols of bravery and power, and the use of his gobble as the battle cry of the his people. This bargain bought him his life and the Real People (the Cherokee) use the turkey feathers still and the gobble is still or war cry. The stunned wolves seeing the quick, brave actions of the man, and the fear and uncertainty of the attackers, recovered their senses and taking up their ball sticks as weapons they beat back the attackers and scattered them into the night. For the remainder of the night they mourned the treacherous death of their brother and friend Hayelsdi~usgi with mournful howls. As the daylight came they went to the river to purify
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History of the Cherokee People
themselves dunking themselves under the water seven times, sanctifying themselves for the coming day and the ballgame. Led by Guselita they took up the body of Hayelsdi~usgi and prayed for strength and guidance for the forthcoming game; as they marched to the ball field they chanted and clattered their ball sticks together rhythmically. At the ball field they were not met by their opponents but by Ugilis~ Iganuhdo (The Great Mother). “Give me the body of Hayelsdi~usgi and I will take him to the land of the fallen warriors.” She said. “I have ordered your challengers to forfeit the game.” she continued “Due to their cowardly acts, Jistu (Rabbit) and Jisdeji (Rat) shall bear forever the label of coward!” “As warriors you must not eat their flesh for seven days prior to waging war. I take away their great size and they will be meat for the wolf! For your friend, the man Uluhsika~wesa who fought beside you ~ now and forever you wolves and his kin will look upon each other with kindness.” Ugilisa-iganuhdo then vanished from their sight in a brilliant burst of light taking the body of Hayelsdi-usgi with her. Guselita invited Uluhstkita~wesa to stay with him for a time so that he could teach him the knowledge of the wolves and the use of the ball-game rather than war as a way to settle disputes between towns and peoples. Uluhstkita~wesa took Jula (Fox), from among the daughters of the wolves as his wife. Jula put aside her wolf robe and lived the rest of her life as a human of the Real People. Their children were called, Juslai (Lead Wolf), Dahnawa.wya (War Wolf), Saduh-disgi (Rabbit Catcher), Gadoga.wya (Standing wolf), Usdi.wya (Little Wolf), Gehida (Chased Away), Juselita (Raised hand), Jusdu dihi (Rabbit Killer), Ganelugie (Charges forward), Dagasi equa (Big Terrapin), Deunogisgi wya (Singing Wolf), Gunahgay wya (Black Wolf), Gigge wya (Red wolf), Aysdi-asgi (Searcher), Wya haqwaluhdasgi (Wolf Runner) and Edolidasgi (Traveler); these were the first born of the great warrior clan, the Wolves. Thus were the Wolf clans’ beginnings.
Now the aniawwy;
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History of the Cherokee People
Ani~Aw-wy Deer Clan Origin Story
I am ______and I will tell you of the origin of the ani~Aw-wy, the Deer clan, who stands among her sisters the seven clans, in peace. When Elo~hi (the Earth) was still young, Gigaygi~gawnuhgona, a warrior set out to hunt for deer to feed the elders and his family. Deep in the forest he spied a unehgah aw~wy (white deer). As he crept up on the doe he saw that she was fully aware of his presence and did not flee, so he quietly sang a prayer of honor to her. She stood calmly and allowed the hunter to shoot her with his arrow. He felled her with one shot and rushed to her fallen body. Seeing she was dead he offered tobacco and a prayer of thanksgiving to The Creators and the spirits of the forest. He hung the deer from a limb by her hind legs and slit the deer’s throat to drain the blood from her body so the life force in it would return to the earth and the spirit would be reincarnated into a new identical body. As the blood splashed onto the ground he suddenly was overcome by dizziness and he collapsed beneath the body and spiraled into unconscious. In a deep trancelike sleep, the hunter Gigaygi~gawnuhgona (Red Stag), experienced a vision. The slain white doe appeared to him as a young woman dressed in a white doeskin skirt. She told him to listen with his heart, and performed a dance and sang to him a song that she said honored and revived the spirits of slain deer. She instructed Red Stag that he must teach his people the dance and song, and have them do this after every successful hunt so that the game would always return. He regained consciousness and after shaking off the grogginess, he “dressed out” the doe’s carcass, cached the meat and brought the doe’s white hide home with him to show his brothers and sisters. He hurried home and told them of his successful hunt and the mystical encounter that happened after. To prove his tale he rolled out the pure white doe hide. As it spread out on the floor it became animated and before them stood the woman he had encountered in his vision wearing the doeskin as a skirt. “I am Oonehga aw~wy;” (White Deer) she said to Gigaygi~gawnuhgona. “I am to lead you and your brothers to Oole~googah~galaw~geh~nah (the Great Chief Stag). He requests you to come and council with him and our people.” The next morning, after having retrieved the cached deer meat the day before, Gigaygi~gahnuhgona (Red Stag) and his three brothers bade their sister’s farewell and set out into the forest with White Deer in the lead. She led them deep into the forest, to a place where they had never been. Eventually they came to a large tree that had an opening at its’ base as large as a doorway. The branches of the tree resembled enormous antlers and the leaves shimmered like the stars of the Milky Way above their heads. Before the door stood a dehjuh~nunlei (a dance guard). White Deer went to him and whispered in the guard’s ear, he nodded and stepped. After repeating the chiefs’ actions he passed the pipe to his brother. After they had all smoked from the pipe the Great Chief welcomed them and aside pulling his staff out of the doorway.
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History of the Cherokee People
White Deer beckoned them to follow her through the doorway. On the other side they stepped out onto a dance ground in the center of a village. The village appeared to be inhabited by deer that transformed into humans when they removed their deer pelts. White Deer led them to the lodge of Oole~googah~galaw~geh~nah the chief and presented them to the, the Great Chief of the Deer people. He gestured for them to sit on deerskin rugs and lit a pipe, after taking seven puffs he passed the pipe to Gigaygi~gahnuhgona then called for food to be served for the honored guests. They feasted on acorn bread and kanut~chi (a drink made from pounded hickory nuts and water). The deer chief told them of the Shadow Stag who rules their spirits. Afterwards he invited them to mingle with the people, which they did enthusiastically. Others among the deer people taught the brothers songs and dances and how to read the deer spore to know when not to hunt them. The brothers became so enamored by this people and land that they saw no reason to return to their own home. Everyday they danced at the dance ground and flirted with the maidens of the town. Every night they courted and made love with the deer women. After a time the sisters of the brothers became concerned because the brothers had not returned. Aw~wy~oosti (Little Deer), Aw~wy~ehlisi (Mother Deer) and Oonulad~ehyosti (Sacred Gift), the sisters, went about to their uncle’s telling what had happened at their lodge. The uncle’s, realizing that “magic” was at play here, consulted a Gah~nachti (shaman). He instructed them in a dance and songs to recover lost loved ones. The entire village gathered at their ceremonial dance ground and danced and sang as the shaman drummed and led the singing, to call the brothers home. The brothers had stayed so long in the land of the deer people they became like deer people themselves having taken wives fathering children and raising families Then they suddenly had an irresistible urge to go home. They told their families of their sudden unexplained longing. Suspecting that there was conjuring afoot, the great Gah~nachti of the deer people suggested to the deer chief that they accompany the brothers and their families to insure that all was well. The deer chief agreed to this suggestion and announced his intention. The whole town of the deer people prepared for travel So the brothers returned to their former home escorted by a caravan of their new relatives. Many, many deer people were in the company. When they arrived at the village they found the villagers dancing and singing as if they were all in a deep trance, unaware of the arrival of the brothers and the deer people. The great Ga-nachti of the deer people seeing that his suspicion was confirmed instructed the deer people to begin dancing and singing to break the spell the villagers were caught up in, then he went to the village shaman to break him out of his trance. The deer people stamped their hooves and surrounded the dancing villagers, stamping and singing louder and louder. As each villager broke out of their trance they collapsed exhausted onto the dance ground. The deer people danced so close to the entranced humans that the brothers began to fear that the fallen villagers might be trampled. Gigaygi ganuhgona persuaded the deer chief to pull his people back a little. Gradually each of the villagers regained their senses and when all the commotion and excitement subsided the villagers were rested and fed. That night the sisters explained to their brothers all that had
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History of the Cherokee People
occurred that led to the brothers and their deer relatives finding them in their trance state. Since Red Stag and his other brother remembered that they were human beings they now longed to return to their people. The great Deer chief felt that was good and as it should be. He made the remaining brothers swear to never lead anyone to the deer tree. He told the people to always honor the deer and never fail to dance back the souls of the slain deer people especially as now they were blood kin through the children of the brothers and their deer wives. The ani~Aw.wy, Deer Clan has done so since those days and they are visited in dreams and visions by younger brother and White Doe. After counseling with their deer and human relatives in joint council, three of the brothers chose to stay with their human tribe. The youngest brother decided that he would stay with the deer people. Oolawgoo~galaw~geh~nah (Deer Chief) agreed with this since he had adopted Chuja~eega (younger brother) as his own son. He decreed his new name would be Nahtrun~see~gah lohgeh hua (Deer Chiefs adopted brother). Now the anijeesqwah;
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History of the Cherokee People
Ani~jeesqwah Bird clan origin story
I am ______and I tell of the origin of the Ani Jeesqwa, the Bird clan of the Cherokee. It has been told by the generations of our people since the founding of Geeduwahgi [Keetoowah]. It was in the time before this world was separated from the other worlds by the beliefs we lived by. It is told a great warrior was born in a land far to the south. He was named Ahneda~soqwali [stays with horses]. He was the son of Wosi. Wosi and his brothers built a great gee~yew [boat], large enough to hold his family his brothers and their families, one hundred warriors and a large cargo of goods to trade in the northland. A land much farther north than were the white towns of the Cherokee People. Wosi and his people became a great seafaring people and for forty years they sailed the waters of the world journeying to distant lands and bringing back many wondrous and useful things to the Cherokee people and tales of other people and their ways. Sometimes they encountered seas that were more dangerous than the place where the water is sucked down in a massive whirlpool by the monster leetch, known as the great suck on the Tanasi river. They told of encounters with great fish that were twice as long as their great boat, and they told of how they survived a fire from the sky that set their sails and ship alight. Wosi, his son Ahneda~soqwali and their party overcame a great many obstacles delivering their precious cargo of trade goods that included spotted furs and brightly colored feathers, safely through the perils. Stories of Wosi’s travels are told to the people on nights other than this. You may have already heard these stories and told them to your children. The principal of our story is his son Ahneda~soqwali! The time came when Ahneda~soqwali chose to leave the maritime expeditions to live among the Cherokee People as a single warrior. One day the young warrior Ahneda~sogwali was out hunting and ventured into an area of land he had not explored before. He heard in the distance the sounds of unfamiliar drumming and rattling combined with cheerful voices that seem to be making birdcalls. He followed the sounds until he could tell that the sounds came from behind a stand of brush in front of him. He crept up cautiously and peered through the leaves of the brush and observed a group of people that he did not recognize. Their complexion was dark brown and they were dressed in feather shawls. They were doing a dance he had never seen before. It involved much bobbing up and down and twirling about energetically. In the center of the circle of dancers stood a large winged man. He heard the others call him Gedar Guhna Ekwa (Great Lead Turkey). He shook a rattle made from a crow’s skull and sang songs. The sound of the drumming was coming from a winged man who was stomping on a hollow log. Many women danced in a circle around the two men. A man with mighty goose wings- Gunigajust Sasa, and a man with great raven wings- Calona Ekwaya stood guard around the edges of the dance circle. A man with giant eagle wings Ahwaholi - Eagle - seemed to be their chief and stood spreading his wings. The second chief appeared to be a man with white snow
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History of the Cherokee People
Egret wings. A man with kestrel wings stood in the speaker’s place. Ahneda~soqwali watched from his hiding place for a long while and decided he would teach this dance to his wife and children when he married in one day. Soon the dance of the winged people ended and using their magic shawls and robes they transformed into birds and flew away to the west. Ahneda~soqwali hurried home and told his uncles what he had encountered in the forest. They “made” tobacco (a process whereby the tobacco is prepared for use in ritual) and after they had smoked some together discussed the nature of what he had witnessed. The old men told him that others had seen what he witnessed and told of it. Some had even followed them, the bird people. They told of finding, to the west, near the headwaters of the Koosa river, a high bluff called Guhaju~laskuhi. At that place grows a great tree that reaches right up to the sky, so high its leaves seem to be clouds themselves. Rain falls on the tree all the time and rivers of water cascade down its trunk making the tree impossible to climb. Slick moss covers the tree everywhere water touches it. No one can even see the tree without the use of a helper plant. It is told that the tree could be climbed from within because it is hollow. But none who said they were going to try had ever returned to tell of it and were presumed to be dead. Despite the warnings in the accounts given by the old men Ahneda~soqwali made up his mind to undertake a quest to find this tree and conquer its obstacles. He purified in the Osi (sweat lodge), fasting and praying for four days and nights, petitioning the spirit world for spirit guides and for a spirit helper. The spirit of a plant guide came to him in a vision, a mandrake, promised to guide and assist him. Then at sunrise of the fourth day he “went to water” in the Etowah river dunking himself seven times, then he went to an aunts house and prepared for his journey. His aunt gave him a new pair of moccasins to wear on his journey and a spare set to make sure he returned home. She prepared for him a bundle of hard tack so that he would have sustenance along the way if he could not find food. His uncles gathered at the aunts lodge and gave him a new knife and talismans to keep him safe on his quest and insure his safe return. Ahneda~soqwali and the spirit of the mandrake traveled down the Etowah and up the Koosa by canoe and after many days arrived at the bluff Guhajulaskuhi. At the bluff Ahneda~sogwali ate some mandrake and the spirit revealed the tree to him and led Ahneda~soqwali to a hole at its base. The spirit of mandrake sang a song, repeating it until Ahneda~soqwali could sing it without mistakes. Mandrake advised him that he would be successful only if he sang the song as he went up the inside of the tree. Ahneda~sogwali approached the entrance to the tree singing the song as he went and the waters moved aside to let him pass. Not even his hair got damp. The access was a narrow slit and he had to wriggle in sideways. The spirit of the mandrake revealed a stairway inside that spiraled up to the dark upper reaches of the tree, and gave him a crystal that cast a beam of light wherever he pointed it before him to light his way as he mounted the flight of stairs. Ahneda~soqwali began climbing, singing as he went up the winding stairway. He saw many frightening and mysterious things on his climb. Giant hungry spiders lurking in the darkness of sticky webs, centipedes and beetles, scorpions and grubs that were large enough to eat a man. As long as he sang the song the frightful visions
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History of the Cherokee People
did not approach him. After much climbing he reached the top of the stairway at another opening in the tree. He looked cautiously through the portal and saw that he was high above the clouds at a fork of the trees’ trunk. Built across the fork was a platform, a massive bird nest. Four women slept in the nest guarded by a Tlanuwa (giant Hawk). Ahneda~soqwali pondered what he observed before him, what he had been through to get here and what he should do next. Finally he settled on a course of action, taking a deep breath he bounded through the opening and threw a net over the sleeping women. Before the Tlanuwa could react he buried his tomahawk in the great birds head killing it instantly. The women awoke and entangled themselves as they struggled with the netting trying to get free. One by one he freed the women warning them to keep silent and tied their wrists together and bound them to a slave rope securing it to their necks. He told them that if they agreed to become his wives they would suffer no harm and he would be a good husband to them and honor the birds always. Three agreed, one refused, the youngest of the three. She fought and screamed so loud that Ahneda~soqwali fearing that she would alert other sky people, cut her lose from the rope and shoved her backward; she stumbled and fell over the nest and off the tree. Her hands were still tied so she could not spread her shawl into wings, her screams quickly faded as she plummeted to the ground far below. Later as they climbed out of the hole at the base of the tree they saw the fall had killed her. Ahneda~soqwali and his captives avoided any pursuers and returned to his town and told of the people of his adventure. The people were amazed that he had succeeded on his quest and celebrated his accomplishment with a feasting and dancing, and he and the captive women taught them knew song and dance. His uncles led him in “making peace” with the Bird People and helped him build a lodge for him and his wives. The Sky Women he captured Jee~Skwa~usdi (Little bird), Gay~gawge~julan~nuhi (Red Fox) and No~Edoa (There among the Stars), became his wives and our mothers! Their first daughter was Tuti (Snowbird), then Dujugaduhi (Truth), Jeeskwayi (Heron), Jeesqwaya (Egret), Tlanuwa (Hawk), Awahili (Hummingbird), Gigaygi Ugidatli (Red Feather], Ahla~wida (Flew away), Uguku (Owl), Dahlonige Uguku (Sun Owl] and Dalala (Woodpecker). Then last came Disti (Bunting) and Juguhjalala (Parakeet). Then came a boy who grew to be a great warrior equal to his ancestor Wosi! There were others, too many to list here. Such was the origin of the Bird clan, ani.Jeesqwa, who stand proudly in the midst of the seven clans. Now the anisakonige;
Page 40 of 60 By Earnie L. Frost
History of the Cherokee People
Ani~Sakonige Blue [Holly] clan origin story
Greetings, I am ______. I will recite for you the origin of our Blue Holly clan. A long, long time ago a warrior named Ahtchi~asula (wood finisher/carpenter) had a vision dream that he should go on a quest to find a wife, and so he decided to pursue this vision. His journey led him across the lands of many people leading him to what he determined to himself were the mountains at the western rim of the world. Though awed at the sheer size and height of the looming spires he climbed up into those rugged mountains. When he had climbed to the level of the fourth heaven* he encountered a mysterious blue wall made completely of blue shell blocking his path. The wall was taller than he could reach even with his walking stick. He saw eagles coming and going, seeming to pass right through the wall without slowing down or suffering any harm. He made his way to the place in the wall where they seemed to be passing through. He saw that they were flying through a curtain of feathers, white like the down feathers of the eagle. As he worked his way closer he realized it was a cloud, what he had thought was feathers was actually the vortices of turbulence caused by the eagle passing through it. Cautiously using his walking stick like a blind man’s staff he entered into the cloud and walked through it. On the other side of the cloud was a large door, as high as a tall pine tree. He believed that he had come to the rim of the sky. With Herculean effort he pushed open the door and walked through. Beyond the door he saw even more mountains rising higher still than he had already ascended. A path led away from the door into the mountains. With excitement born of insatiable curiosity he traveled the path for a considerable distance to where it ended at the entrance to a red lodge high in the mountains. The lodge like the doorway at the blue wall had a cloud for a door. He hesitated at the door as he considered whether or not to go in; a terrible rumbling sounded from behind the cloud and a Tlanuwa (Giant Hawk) burst out from the cloud. Spying the man it said; “Hide yourself quickly! Oohyuh-dahgwah-losti (Thunder) is coming.” The man hid in some cloudberry bushes beside the path just before Thunder came out of the lodge swinging his war axe from side to side. “Who is it that seeks my wife in secret?” Rumbled Thunder. Seeing no sign of anyone or anything Thunder threw a lightning bolt, splitting apart and shattering a honey locust tree. Branches from the splintered tree crashed onto Ahtchi-asula’s hiding place, bruising and scratching him badly. The troubled Thunder strode slowly off to the south swarmed by a flock of eagles circling around him like a cloud. When Thunder was out of sight and his rumbling could no longer be heard or felt echoing off the mountains, Atchi~asula crawled out of his hiding place. He cautiously entered the house through the cloud curtain. *In Cherokee cosmology there seven levels of Heaven; the first level begins at the tops of the trees. The seventh level is where The Creators and ultimately evolved humans dwell
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History of the Cherokee People
Inside the house he startled a beautiful young woman. Seeing his battered condition, she regained her composure and ushered him onto a sitting rug making a fuss over him. After tending to his cuts and bruises she sat him near the hearth fire and fed him cornbread, kanutchi* and honey and gave him a cup of persimmon wine to drink. Ahtchi~asula introduced himself to the young woman and explained that he was on a vision quest and that it had brought him to her lodge. He cleverly avoided telling her the purpose of his quest. The young woman told him that she came from a far off land and that she had been captured by Thunder for a wife and he had spirited her here to this place in the Seventh Heaven.* She got lonely because he was gone often and no one came here because people feared him. After many hours of enjoyable conversation and good food the beautiful young woman advised him to go before Thunder returned and found him there, because her husband she explained was a jealous God. She invited him coyly to return when her husband was not home so she could further tend to his wounds until they were healed. Ahtchi~asula determined he must have this woman for his wife even though she was the wife of The Creator Thunder, she was the woman he had seen in his vision. He camped in a glen nearby and since Thunder was frequently away from home he visited and wooed Thunder’s wife every time Thunder was gone. Those were good days for Atchi~asula because she returned his love and affection as fervently as he gave it, and he knew in his heart that his vision had been true.
One day as he waited for Thunder to depart, Thunder’s horse, a cloud Ooktehnah, (Dragon) clothed in shining feathers and mica, smelled the man nearby and spooked, becoming so unruly that Thunder was dismounted and he had to capture and calm his steed. Seeing nothing around that could have caused his mount to act so frantically, but suspecting something was amiss he set the brush ablaze. When the fire was about to engulf him, Athci~asula searched frantically for an escape route that would not expose him to Thunders’ view. He spied a large flat rock nearby and crawled quickly on his belly to it. He hoped that by shifting the rock aside, there would be a hole and he could escape back into his own world beneath the sky, but the hole was shallow and there was a rain toad sheltering under it. The smoke from the fire was thick and not detecting anything fleeing out of it Thunder was satisfied that whoever or whatever had been there had been consumed by the flames, so he mounted his steed and rode away to the northeast knocking over trees as he went. Ahtchi~asula’s eyes were watering from the thick choking smoke and his tears fell onto the sleeping toad. The toad awoke and seeing the approaching peril it magically caused the flames to leap to the surrounding pine trees, passing overhead leaving it and the man unharmed. One day her mortar and pestle rolled across the floor and struck him so violently that he had to retreat out of the house. Outside her hoe rose up and attacked him leaving him bruised cut and bleeding profusely. Realizing he could not match Thunder’s sorcery, Ahtchi~asula tried to persuade Thunder’s wife to come away with him. No matter how much he cajoled, pleaded and threatened, she refused to leave with him, arguing that Thunder would track them down and kill them both. *Kanutchi; a drink made by pounding hickory nuts into an oily mush, placing the mush in a sieve basket or cheese cloth and pouring boiling water over it. Though an acquired taste it is exceptionally nutritious.
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History of the Cherokee People
Broken hearted and convinced that she preferred being the wife of The Creator Thunder over his undying love for her, he left the young woman in the red lodge and journeyed for many weeks back to his home in Sunalei~nuya (Morning rock) a sad and humbled man. Several weeks after he had left Thunders wife became aware that she was pregnant with Atchi~asulas’ child. To her mind this changed everything and she decided to be with her lover for the birth of their child. She packed a few belongings and set out to find Atchi~ asula and make a new life for herself and her child with him. As the weeks passed into months and her pregnancy advanced her stomach grew, and her journey became labored and torturously slow. As she traveled in the land of the Real People (Cherokee) close to her quest’s end, the time of the babies birth arrived. The child would not wait to be born, so the young woman gave birth, alone, beside the road near Awaya~lunuhya(Wolf town of stone). The birthing of the child, a girl, left her joyful, yet exhausted and anxious about what would happen if Thunder found her. After cleaning and feeding the newborn, that she named Oosdasdi~sakonigi (Little Blue), she wrapped it in her shawl and placed it on a bed of moss beneath some pine trees. She then lay down on a small grassy knoll nearby to rest and quickly fell into the sleep of serene exhaustion. When Thunder arrived home from his most recent absence he found his lodge empty and his wife gone. A titmouse told him all that had transpired during his frequent long absences from home. The bird informed him that she, his wife, was journeying to Sunalei~nuhya, the home of her lover to be with him to give birth to her child. Thunder was enraged by this news of betrayal. He would’ve accepted the child as his own and loved his wife even more. She should have let him know that she no longer wished to be married to him. Anger aroused, he mounted his cloud dragon, and flew across the sky to find her, leaving a stormy trail of destruction behind him. He found her asleep on the knoll. He dismounted and landed beside her intending to confront her on her treacherous behavior. He boomed his displeasure at her the sound reverberating and echoing off the mountains, but she did not respond. He shook her angrily and it was then that he realized that the travails of her quest had resulted in her death. Immediately his anger subsided, the accompanying stormy weather ended and Thunder grieved for his lost love. In his grief he did not notice that she no longer carried a child and he no longer felt the need to confront her lover, since the object of both their affections was now deceased, he planted his spear on the knoll to mark it as a holy place to him. His eagle warriors covered her body with feathers and Thunder rode home leaving her there in the land of the Cherokee that she had struggled so hard to reach. The baby an enchanted being had hidden herself from Thunder. After Thunder and his helpers had left she called to her father in his dreams that night and showed him all that had transpired. “We are to be found near the road at Wolf town;” she instructed him. “You must come quickly and collect me and my mother’s body.” Ahtchi~asula rose straight away and hurried there finding the baby and his dead lover. Constructing a travois and a cradleboard he carried the baby and his dead lover’s body to Sunalei~nuhya. The enchanted infant spoke instructing the town’s people to remove the head of her mother - Thunder’s wife - so that her spirit would remain there with the people that she had journeyed so
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History of the Cherokee People far to be with. She further instructed that they remove the shinbones of her mother’s body. After completing the grisly task Ahtchi~asula and the villagers carried the remains to a funeral pyre atop the temple mound and burned her body, freeing it from this world. The baby, Little Blue, then instructed them to take Thunder’s spear and impale it into the center of the remnants of the funeral pyre. She instructed Ahtchi~asula to placed his deceased lover’s head and shinbones to the east of the shaft. On the seventh day Ahtchi~asula took the child to the site so they could bid a final farewell. Ahtchi~asula, despite his grief was amazed at what he saw. Thunder’s spear had transformed into a blooming Holly bush. The head of Thunder’s wife had transformed into a ceramic skull shaped cooking pot and her shinbones had become stickball racquets. The baby girl instructed her father and the people that they were to brew the Holly leaves in the “skull pot” for a purification sacrament and to take it and the ball sticks to the people. The ball game was to be used in place of warfare to settle disputes between the towns. Ever since that time the people use the brew of the Holly, Guh~nahge~awdiste (black drink) before the ball game and before all purification rituals. When Oosdasdi Sokonigi, (Thunder’s daughter) grew to womanhood she married a fine young warrior of the Twister People and bore seven daughters and four sons. They are the ancestors of the Blue Holly People, who all call her Grandmother. This was long ago in the north - by the sea. Now the aniwodi;
Page 44 of 60 By Earnie L. Frost
History of the Cherokee People
Aniwodi Paint Clan Origin Story
My friends, clans people, honored guests; I am ______, I am here to recite for you the origin of the Paint clan. The Paint clan, ani~Wodi, standing at the center of the seven clans, greets you! We would recall to you, those heroes of our origins. Try to recall in your spirits that time before time, in that high place before this place, when Oonela~nuhi(Lives in the heavens/The Creators), created the people. We must tell you two stories that are joined together as one because one cannot be told without the other. Guhnahge Ooktehna (Black Dragon) ruled in the waters of Elo~hi (the Earth), our world, and he would not allow the sun to shine its’ light upon the earth. Ogisi Gido (The Great Sister of humans), ordered Guhnhage Ooktehnah (Black Dragon) to allow Nuh~do~ee~gae~hi (Grandmother Sun) to visit the lower regions and Black Dragon refused to obey her command believing that his will was paramount over that of The Creators. After much debate Ogisi Gido finally became enraged by Black Dragons’ insolence and stopped arguing with him. Great Sister sent the mighty warrior Ji~ya Oonehga (White Otter) to persuade Black Dragon to allow The Grandmother Sun to visit and if he would not change his mind then White Otter was under orders to kill him. White Otter entered the world in a blazing star, plunging into the sea at its most eastern edge. He quickly discovered that the monster of chaos, Black Dragon, had trapped White Shell (Grandmother Sun) within her door, not letting her fly into the sky. When he saw White Otter approaching, Black Dragon called his Ekwa ani~Tlunduski (people of the black panther) to him to protect him. But they were too far away to respond to his call quickly. Black Dragon knew why White Otter was there and refused to listen to him, threatening to capture and enslave White Otter to his service. After a series of violent threats and disdain for the will of The Creators by Black Dragon, White Otter drew forth the Danah ahigalu~yesti awgahyuhli digahna waduhdu (the Axe of ancient authority) and engaged Black Dragon in battle. The fight was so fierce and protracted that both warriors were eventually breathless and exhausted barely able to raise their weapons against each other. In his agonizing, muscle aching tiredness White Otter was too slow to block a striking move and Black Dragon cut off White Otter’s left hand. The pain and shock caused White Otter to unleash a deep reservoir of strength, and wielding the great axe with a renewed surge of energy he struck off the Dragons’ scalp of antlers. The Ooktenah, Black Dragon, was blinded by the brilliant sparks of lightening coming off the head of the Axe of ancient authority and from his own blood pouring into his face. As he flailed about and writhed in agony, White Otter seized the advantage and pressed the attack felling Black Dragon and used the axe to hack out the monsters beating black heart. With his good hand he stuffed the still beating heart in a basket. Using his right hand and his teeth he tied a rope to the basket so he could carry it. He threw the basket over his shoulder where it settled on his back holding the rope between his
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History of the Cherokee People
teeth he quickly ran and freed the Grandmother Sun. She removed the burden strap from across her forehead and wrapped his wounded wrist to stem the flow of blood. With the blood flow stopped White Otter retreated quickly to the west carrying the dragons heart with him. Black Dragons’ soldiers, the people of the Black Panther, arrived to find their master dead and mutilated. Having believed Black Dragon was invincible; they stood in stunned silence at the sight before them. Then they roared in rage and rolled in his blood and devoured his body fanatically believing that they would absorb his strength and power. Working themselves into a killing frenzy and crying out for revenge upon their masters killer they found White Otters trail and followed it to the west, spreading darkness and destruction across the land as they pursued him. Ehlisi nuhda~igae (The Grandmother Sun) lit White Otter’s path as he struggled along as fast as his tired, battered and wounded body allowed. On a high ridge he stopped and looked back to see if he was being pursued. He saw darkness approaching from the east and four lights shining in that darkness. He was startled at how rapidly his pursuers had closed the distance between them. Wearied from his flight and weakened by his wounds he dropped the basket splashing some of the Ooktenahs’ powerful blood into a lake below where he stood; enchanting it’s waters with healing properties. White Otter reached for the upturned basket and working as fast as his battered body could manage he plunged his right hand and bandaged left stump into the basket and seized the still beating monsters’ heart and hurled it with all the strength he could muster into a deep hole atop a high mountain. To this day, the tribes in the far west say this mountain still rumbles and beats, occasionally spewing up quantities of dragons blood that cools to black stone that is good for making knife blades and arrowheads. Putting his stump into the blood in his basket caused his left hand to be restored complete and uninjured but he ad no time to marvel at this miracle. The fearsome horde of Black Panther people was upon him. Their leader grabbed Otters’ basket and shook it violently looking for their masters’ heart splashing the red blood all over the western clouds. Many evenings we can still see the blood stained clouds in the western sky. Seeing the basket did not contain the heart they were after, the Panther flung the basket at Otter. Wiping sweat from his eyes White Otter stood on the upended basket and raised the Ancient Axe of Authority over his head, prepared to send as many of the Black Panther people to the night land (death) before they overwhelmed him. To this day the descendants of Otter still wear the war paint in a streak across their eyes. At this moment The Great Sister intervened, causing the basket to grow high into the sky carrying Unetlanuh~ Ahji (The Great White Otter) to the fourth heaven where he roams heaven as Eco (Venus), the morning and evening star still challenging the onslaught of the overwhelming darkness. The Black Panther people clawed their way up the towering basket and leaped into the sky after him. Fearful of the brave and enchanted White Otter, they roam the night sky still searching for of the heart of their slain master. Each sleeps with one eye open. We see these eyes in the night sky and call them Dajawali (Jupiter) and Noski Liyesus~diga (Saturn) and other planets. The Great Cat watches them constantly, Ududuh Noski Tlunduji (The Great Lion/ the constellation Leo).
Page 46 of 60 By Earnie L. Frost
History of the Cherokee People
It is at this point the story of White Otter ends and the story of the Paint clan begins; Beneath those heavens, near the now enchanted lake, lived our ancestral grandfather, Unole~Sakonigagi [Blue Wind] and our most revered ancient clan mother, his wife Agila~Ginuha (Fire Bringer) and their ten children, the first ani~Wodi! Blue Wind and Fire Bringer witnessed all of these events and saw that the waters of the lake had turned red from the spilled blood of Black Dragons’ heart. They reasoned that such a transformation could only mean that the water of the lake was now magical water. They had seen the miraculous healing of Otters’ hand with their own eyes and saw that the dreaded people of The Black Panther who had oppressed them and all the people for years had leaped into the heavens and were gone out of the land. They came out of their hiding place into the light of the new world, crying prayers of thanksgiving to The Creators now that the world was in a new age. Filled with the hope of a new life they carried their starving sick children to the lake. Taking each child by their long hair they dipped and bathed each one seven times in the lake, each time immersing them deep into the water. The children were healed and made so strong they became a mighty clan, the ani~Wodi (the Paint Clan). The children were Agiga~gitlo (Strong Blood), who became war chief; Agiga~asenunu (Walks the Red Path), who was a potter of red clay; Ahu~jilisgi (Great Flower), a keeper of the herbs; Sakonti~sogwili (Great Blue Horse), a priest and scribe; Eeska~jua (Bright Sky), a chief of priests; Awo~hai Ata (Eagle Maiden), a beloved war woman; Ajina~Agayuh (Cedar Woman), a weaver of fine feathered shawls; Giga~Saloli (Red Squirrel), a prolific mother and great teacher of stories; Gigage~Selu (Red Corn), whose storehouses of many crops kept many villages from starvation during 113 cold times; then Gigage~Nuhnuhi (Red Path), she was the first chief of our people. Since these times, my assembled people, ani~Yuh~wiyah (the Real People), the ani~Wodi (Paint clan) has given birth to many warriors of wisdom, bravery and strength who do honor to White Otter. And now the anigodawegi;
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History of the Cherokee People
ani~Godawegi Wild Potato/Savannah Clan Origin Story
I am ______and I am going to tell of the founding of the ani~Godagewi (Wild Potato/Savannah clan). I have no long catalogue of names to try to impress you with. Our grandmothers have passed on and sadly in our Christian inspired ignorance that fostered disdain and ridicule for our history we did not listen to or remember the names of our early families; yet we know who we are, we have the story of our first mother and we know her name! Our story concerns a daughter Udo-utahni-agei (Elder sister) and her two younger brothers. Many years ago a Shawnee raiding party invaded the country of the Cherokee people and attacked an outlying village while the warriors were out hunting. The Shawnee warriors captured a number of women and children. They bound the women’s hands and tied them all to a slave rope and quickly force-marched them northward toward Shawnee country. They wanted to be well within the bounds of the Shawnee territory before the Cherokee warriors returned from their hunt and discovered the carnage the Shawnee had left behind Udo-utahni-agei’s, mother told her, in the Cherokee language, that each time that they had stopped along the route of their flight and she had been allowed to relieve herself, she had hidden small bags of corn in the bushes along the path they were being marched along. When the opportunity presented itself Elder Sister was to escape with the boys and return home, following the river that the raiding party was using as their escape route. The corn caches would help sustain them along the way. In the times before the arrival of the ani-Yonega (White people), children were left unbound to follow along with their mothers when they were taken captive. When they were far to the north in Shawnee territory the situation arose that would allow for the children’s release. The raid and subsequent march had occurred in the winter moons, the traditional hunting season. The youngest boy, had become exhausted and miserably cold by the forced winter march, and he became increasingly irritable and disobedient. One of the Shawnee warriors had finally lost his temper and grabbed the little boy by his hair and angrily demanded that they kill the boy because his incessant whining and misbehavior were slowing their march. He had drawn his wicked looking obsidian knife and put it to the kicking and screaming little boys throat intending to end the boys’ life on the spot. Udo-utahni-ageis’ terrified mother pleaded desperately with the leader of the Shawnee raiders to spare the life of her child. She spoke to him in the Mobilian trade language, the common language of all the tribes at that time. The leader, was a kinder man than his enraged warrior, and had already decided to make Udo- utahni-ageis’ mother his wife. The woman’s cries stirred compassion in him and he did not want to jeopardize his future plans so he ordered the warrior to release the boy unharmed. The angry warrior did not obey immediately but after a tense exchange in the Shawnee language, that Udo-utani-agei could not understand the insolent warrior took his knife away from her little brothers throat and shoved him to the ground, grunting something inaudible he sheathed his knife
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History of the Cherokee People
and stepped back away from the boy, glaring angrily at his leader. Udo-utahni-agei sensing a weakness in the unity of the group chose the moment to try a ploy by appealing to the Shawnee leader’s humanity. She dropped to her knees before the Shawnee and speaking in the Mobilian trade language pleaded her case. “Look at my face.” she said; “It is so badly burned, that no man can desire me. Even your own warriors do not come to me when we stop at night as they do to the others. Surely you have enough captives, more than enough to prove your skill as a warrior and even you must admit, my brothers and I slow you down considerably. Why not just release us here and leave us to the mercy of forest?” Seeing the desperate pleading look in her mothers face and worried that Cherokee warriors were in pursuit, he acknowledged the merit of her argument. He discussed his worries and presented the girls’ option with his men as an honorable way out of a difficult situation. The warrior who wanted to kill the boy was opposed to the idea wanting instead to watch the Cherokee cry out in pain as they were tortured and killed. The other warriors shouted him down, accusing him of not being a warrior but a murderer of the helpless. This silenced his objections shaming him into agreement to their will. Udo-utahni-agei’s mother insisted that she would kill herself at the first opportunity if her children were harmed. This confirmed to the Shawnee leader, that his decision was the correct one; he did not want to lose this woman he had grown especially fond of. He had Udo-utahni-agei and her brothers outfitted with enough cornbread to sustain them until they got to the Cherokee country. The law of the land in that time was, as it is today, that you do not knowingly allow anyone to starve to death on your land. He made certain that the warriors did not follow the children and continued the trek to their Shawnee town moving faster now that the children were not there to slow down their rapid pace. The frustrated insolent warrior had to satisfy himself with the thought that the children would die anyway, long before they could reach the country of the Cherokee, he was certain they would be food for the wolves and ravens. Udo-utahni-agei remembering her mother’s instructions, searched for the caches of corn as they hurried back along the river trail but she found very few; most of them had been found by hungry forest animals and had been eaten or carried off. The older boy was able to occasionally kill a small bird or frog with his short blowgun that he still had because the Shawnee did not use the blowgun and had mistaken it for a walking stick. Udo-utahni-agei sometimes found grubs and some occasional roots to supplement their cornbread diet. Since their ordeal took place in wintertime, there was little food available from the forest and now that they were no longer captives the boys demanded more of the cornbread; they had received little food from the Shawnee on the march north. The Shawnee had been rationing the food so that they could make it back to their town. Very soon they were desperately short on food and they were constantly cold, tired, often wet, and always hungry. At night Udo~utahni~agei would build a small fire in any area that provided some shelter from the cold wind and frequent rain and they would huddle next to it to keep warm and keep predatory animals at bay. Udo-utahni-agei encouraged the boys, and herself, by telling them stories of the kinfolk that were awaiting them, and assured them that their uncles and the other men of the town were coming to rescue them. After a time she no longer held any hope that the men of their home were looking for them; but she continued to tell the boys the stories every night so that they
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History of the Cherokee People
could find the strength and courage to go on another day. Eventually they were too weak and exhausted to travel any further. Udo-utahni-agei located an abandoned bear den and settled the boys inside. She built a small fire and covered them with dry oak leaves to warm them up. Uncertain of their situation and fearing that without food they would surely die here, far from home and alone. She went to search along the riverbank for something that she could make into some kind of food. It had been many days since Udo-utahni-agei had eaten, because she had been giving her meager bits of cornbread to the boys. She was famished and close to collapsing from exposure and despair. A soft melodious song, haunted her mind repeating over and over, like a beckoning chant. Before her in the frozen mud lay a withered vine with leaf stems bearing 7 to 9 dry leaves clinging to the dead vines. Not seeing anything that could be food there she started to stumble on to continue her desperate search. The song became louder, she did not recognize it, in her exhausted state she shivered fearing that it was her death song calling her, or it was just her imagination, neither option gave her any comfort. Then she fell onto her face, tripped by the withered vine. She wearily tried to shake her foot free, but the vine twisted itself around her foot. She jerked her foot, but the dry vine, that appeared too fragile to hold anything, let alone her foot, gripped tighter. She tried to unwind the dead vine but it would not release its hold on her foot. She tried to dig the vine out of the ground, but her fingers were too weak to break the frozen mud. On the verge of panic she collapsed into a heap wracked by tears of frustration and defeat. After what seemed to her an eternity of crying she calmed herself enough to get her emotions and thoughts back under some control. She saw what appeared to be a strong stick within her reach. Having no knife she despaired of getting a sharp enough point on the stick to make it useful, she noticed a rough rock nearby and after a brief struggle against the vine she was able to grasp and pull it to her. She used it to sharpen the blunt stick to a useful digging point. With renewed determination she used the sharpened stick to dig at the base of the clasping vine. The further down she dug, the louder the strange melody and song became and the more difficult it became to keep her growing panic under control. She desperately jabbed the ground at the root of the vine, and the song became louder, at about a hand widths depth she uncovered a tuber on the root about the size of her big toe; then another and another and another, all about the same size, and the song continued getting louder. Udo-utahni-agei plucked one of the tubers up and broke it open desperately hoping beyond hope that it was edible. She saw that it had a thin skin and white starchy meat. She tentatively tasted it taking a small bite and found it tasted good enough to eat. She took a bigger bite and chewed it hungrily relishing the taste of the root, even of the bits of dirt she had not wiped off the tuber. She waited awhile to see if she would get sick. Nothing unpleasant happened so she ate a whole tuber chewing the tough little root madly. The vine then suddenly released her foot and the song reached a loud crescendo then stopped. She dug up the rest of the tubers and took them to the river to clean them. When she returned to the den, she was laden with the Geyatehi~noonah (Wild potatoes). She woke the boys and they cooked the potatoes in the fire covering them in mud and baking them. They ate the now tender potatoes ravenously, making a meal of them, feeling full for the first time since they had been taken captive.
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History of the Cherokee People
Their hunger finally satisfied they all slept soundly and the food helped warm their cold bodies. Having slept well and regained their strength they continued their journey with a renewed sense of purpose and hope, and the wild potato plants fed them all along the way. At last Udo-utahni-agei began to recognize the land and knew they were near home. Feeling safe at last she was overcome with relief and joy. She collapsed and began to laugh and cry giving thanks to The Creators, and to the spirits of the plants. She prayed so fervently and passionately, that her tears flowed freely and fell onto the ground. Where her tears had watered the earth a woman materialized up out of the ground, clothed in the vines of the wild potato, green and in bloom. She gifted Udo~utahni~agei with more of her bounty, the wild potatoes, one with a green flowering stem with branches bearing 7 leaflets each growing out of it. “It is yet winter,” she said speaking softly; “show these to your mothers and chiefs, so they will know that you speak the truth. So long as the Real People (the Cherokee) honor you, your children, grandchildren and their descendants, I will be with them in times of scarcity to save them from famine. Call your descendants after my people and teach them the song we have given to you and sing it at your dances and you shall be our people!” Udo-utahni-agei’s descendents have always endeavored to do this. We stand as equals with any of the seven clans. This is the true account of the beginning of the Wild Potato/Savannah Clan.
And now the aniyona;
By Earnie L. Frost Page 51 of 60
History of the Cherokee People
Ani~Yona Bear clan
I am ______, I am here to tell you the origin story of our missing clan; the eighth clan of the Cherokee, the Bear clan, the ani~Yona. There have always been bears, but once not so long ago, the Cherokee had another clan; the eighth clan was known as the ani~Jaguhi. All the people of the Cherokee were gathered in the town of the ani~Jaguhi for the Great Medicine Ceremony. For the past seven years there had been a drought afflicting the land. During this time only the area where the ani~Jaguhi exerted influence had been untouched by the effects of the drought. Their river still flowed as if there had been plenty of rain; the annual floods had continued to bring fresh fertile soil onto their fields, and they tilled the land and the rains came for them and they grew enough crops that for the last five years their surplus had been feeding all of the Cherokee people, not just their town. Though they had to work hard they were humbled and honored that they were able to be of such great service to the people. The Great Medicine Ceremony was being conducted in their town because they had offered to host it since they had plenty of food and drinks. This ceremony was being combined with the Ookoo Dance. It had been seven years since the last Ookoo Dance should have been done. According to tradition, every seventh year the people could petition The Creators for special indulgence if they had been trying to live life as the best human beings they could be. The long drought had convinced the members of the priesthood that this had not been the case for the past seven years. In one family of that clan, the ani~Jaguhi, was a boy who one day went off into the forested mountains on his own and stayed out all day. His mother scolded him for going off alone, not letting anyone know where he was and not helping in the fields and gardens during this time when all help available was needed to feed all the people. The next day the boy went off again, and again the next day and every day after that. Eventually he started staying out longer and longer, no longer eating at home at all and staying away for days at a time. His uncles and his father added their words of displeasure to those of his mother, but he still did not change his behavior. After a time his family members noted that the boy had long brown hair beginning to grow all over his body. This caused a great deal of concern to his family members who feared that some form of dark magic was at work here. They confronted him as a family rather than individuals as they had all done before at one time or another. They asked him what was so fascinating in the woods that he could not help or even eat at home anymore. “I find plenty to eat there,” he answered, “and it is better than the corn and beans we have to grow in the settlements. Soon I am going into the woods to stay. It is better there than here and don’t you see? I am already different from every one else here; soon I will not be able to live among you any longer. Why don’t you come with me? If you come with me, you will see, there is plenty for all of us and you will never have to work for it like we have to do here. If you want to come with me you will have to fast for seven days. I can wait that long, but no longer.”
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History of the Cherokee People
His parents begged him to stay but nothing they said would change his mind. After talking long into the night they decided to take this matter to the clan. The next day they went to the clan mother and the clan chief and the town priest and told them the situation. The village leaders agreed that this was a matter for a general council and sent word to all the clan members of the town to gather at the temple/council house. In the council house/temple all manner of opinions on the situation were presented, debated, discussed and argued over until everyone in the clan came to the same conclusion. It was presented to the council that there was a reason the dreadful drought that was afflicting the land was not affecting them. They were aware that many in the priesthood were proclaiming that they alone were unaffected because they remained true to the way of being and conducted their ceremonies and rituals with sincere intent. Others complained that they were tired of doing so much extra work in the fields that they had needed to expand in order to feed all of the Cherokees with no obvious reward for their labors. Finally after a full day of emotional yet sincere debate they decided to go with the boy. They issued a proclamation and sent it to the heads of all the clans. It read: Here we must work hard and have not always enough; There, there is always plenty without work. To best serve, we shall go there, so that we can Provide all your needs! To say that this proclamation caused a bit of an uproar is to understate the matter considerably. The reactions from the other clans ranged from sadness to outrage and all emotions in between. Many people were concerned about what would happen if the ani~Jaguhi were not present next spring to sow and harvest the crops of corn, beans, squash and potatoes; where would they turn for food they worried. Others were angry about what would happen if entire towns were abandoned; who they demanded would protect this land from marauders or wandering Shawano (Shawnee)? The chiefs of the other towns, the clan mothers and clan chiefs of the other seven clans, the priests and priestesses called a national council to address the proclamation of the ani~Jaguhi. All of the people gathered at the council house but there were too many to fit inside so the council meeting was held outside on the dance ground so that everyone could speak and hear what was said and decided. It was the evening of the sixth day of fasting when the council was seated. The head people of all the other towns and clans pleaded with the ani~Jaguhi to reconsider their decision and stay with the Real People (Cherokee), explaining that it would be devastating to lose an entire clan and the only town that had not been affected by the drought. The chief of the ani~Jaguhi a wise and kind man spoke to the assembled multitude; when he finally sat back down the rest of the people understood that it was for the very reasons that were expressed so eloquently that they had chosen to follow this course of action. They were tired from working so hard to grow so many crops, to collect so much of the bounty of the mountain forests, from catching so many fish from their river and streams, that to be of any further service they had petitioned The Creators to be allowed to always be of service to The People, and that this was the sign their wise people received. In the morning they would know if The Creators had approved their petition. If so their town and crops were open for the people to move in and take possession of because they would not be returning. Seeing that their determination was fixed the high priest and high priestess got everyone to agree
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History of the Cherokee People to go to their camps and rest and wait and see what the morning brought to the people. Everyone dispersed to his or her camps and eventually all got some rest. At sunup everyone rushed to the town gate, and were surprised to see the townspeople, the ani~Jaguhi already on their way into the forest taking nothing with them. In spite of the pleas of the remaining seven clans peoples they would not come back into the town. Their beloved clan mother spoke; “We are going to where there is always plenty to eat. The Creators have answered our prayers, you have our former town, our former homes, our fields, and they are all yours with our love. From now on you will call us ani~Yona, and when you are hungry come into the woods and call us and we will come to you and give you our own flesh to eat. You need not be afraid to kill us because we will live forever.” Before they left they taught the remaining Cherokee the songs they were to use to call them, and then bidding a cheerful farewell they turned towards the woods. It is said that before they reached the trees the women, children and men of the ani~Jaguhi were no longer humans but had transformed into bears; it was a drove of bears that entered the woods. This event caused a tremendous amount of emotional turmoil among the rest of the people. Some saw it as a miraculous act of unselfish sacrifice, others saw it as a frightening act of sorcery and still others looked upon it as an extremely selfish act of self-preservation with no regard for the welfare of the rest of the people. The council was reconvened so that everyone could discuss this magical event and come to a consensus on what the meaning of all these unnatural events that were affecting the people signified. After much soul searching discussion it was finally understood and agreed that the probable cause of the devastating drought was that they as a people had been taking the creation for granted, expecting that the rains would come on schedule whether they did their ceremonial and ritual duties or not. It was agreed by everyone that though they had been conducting the ceremonies and rituals that with very few exceptions the people were just going through the motions without any focus of intent, and lacking the sincerity and joyfulness that are meant to be part of the experience of ceremony, but with the full expectation that The Creators would accept hollow ritual and fulfill the peoples expectations. This awareness that their misfortunes were not acts of punishment by the Creators or the spirit realm but the result of their own benign neglect was a very humbling experience for all of the people. It was the unanimous decision of the people that they would memorialize this act of the ani~Jaguhi so that they would forever remember the great sacrifice of their sister clan and to remind themselves of their duty to each other as human beings. To this day the arbor of the ani~Jaguhi now the ani~Yona (people of the bear) is the opening to the east, their place in the temple/council house is the speakers position at the east entrance and the bear is regarded as a sacred being since some were once humans. The bear is so sacred that those that understand the meaning of the bears sacrifice never waste any part of the animal. Its’ flesh is of course meat to nourish our bodies; its’ fat is rendered for cooking and making all manner of healing salves; its’ hide is made into robes or bed covers; its’ claws and teeth are worn as prestigious and spiritually powerful jewelry; and its’ bones are made into all manner of tools; no part of a bear is ever wasted so that the sacrifice of the ani~Jaguhi is not forgotten or dismissed as a foolish action. It is said that for now, the ani~Jaguhi/ani~Yona are sleeping; but will return to us as humans when we as humans awaken to our full potential as spiritual and human beings.
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History of the Cherokee People
Continuing the history There are many practical lessons that we must learn from the account of the Bear Clan. We must be careful not to take our sacred ceremonial responsibilities for granted. We want to be careful that we do not make our relatives in the spirit realms responsible for our lack of action to create what we need in the material realm. We must not expect that it is the duty of the members of the priesthood to do what it is our individual duty to do. We must be particularly careful that we do not make our welfare the responsibility of benevolent relatives, friends, or institutions because our inactions to do our parts for the greater good will make our benefactors too tired to continue. It is not our place to take everything from another to the point that they feel they need to sacrifice their own humanity to meet our needs. The members of the Bear Clan have already made that sacrifice and it does not bear repeating on an individual or group basis; nor should we use their example as an excuse to not help our fellows in any way that we can! The sacrifice of the people of the Bear Clan, though remembered and honored, is not an occasion for joy but a cause for serious reflection of us as individuals and as a people. As individuals and as a group we must be greater than the sum of our parts! This is a solemn account of our greatest failure as a people and we have no right to ignore it as many of our people now do. It is our absolute duty to insure that this ultimate act of love is never forgotten! The people were happy in their new home and Tahimitu, was the first of many towns they built as their numbers grew and they spread out across the land. Many went north and settled in two main/mother towns; Kanowogi and Nuhtahgi. Those that remained in the south became known as Ahguhnikuh, and were considered the grandmothers of all the Principal People. Tahimitu was eventually known as Kayuhli, the old town. In Kayuli was erected the great temple and in the temple was the Oohyusti Ahjeela (sacred fire); from the fire in Kayuli, embers were taken and transported to new towns to burn in their temples, all which were built according to the instructions set down by Wasi, with the seven sides and the central fire pit. The Ahjeela, (fire) was/is the most active and efficient agent appointed by the Creators to take care of humankind. When any special favor is needed it is made known to Fire, accompanied by an offering, usually tobacco. It is considered received when the offering had turned to smoke. Smoke is fire’s messenger, always ready to convey the petition to on high. The petition, whatever it is for is accompanied by a verbal prayer as instructed by Wasi. This is the prayer; Hoyannah to you, Oh Almighty One! Hear my prayer!; the prayer of one who is of the ani~(clan name). I have purified my feet from the dust of the earth on which I dwell, until they are white enough to bear me to high places, even above the treetops, where I may commune with you undisturbed by anything, which can interrupt my attention. There my mind encounters no obstruction caused by the things of the world, but can look directly at you, and understand your presence clearly. Do not turn away from our minds, Almighty One!; Our minds of the Seven Clans of the Red Clay. You have already driven off from me, who now supplicates before you, the power of evil, formed by inattentive hearts. In so doing, for my heart you have shown me love. Continue that guardian love, Almighty One, and do not allow my heart to fall away from its devotion to your ways!
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History of the Cherokee People
Earlier I spoke of the “Eye of Wasi”. Wasi instructed the people in the use of the crystal and crystals in general, for every occasion from solemn occasions to everyday life. The crystal formed and is a very essential part of the tools of the anijeelahgi; and though it is not necessarily an object of everyday dress it is indispensable to life. It is called Oohlungsahtah, which means “the light that pierces through”. “Light”, is simply called Eeda-dati, but Oohlungsahtah is more significant and implies both a light piercing through what ever it falls upon, and a light that is conveying through the substance it is composed of, instruction to the user/observer of the crystal. The physical size of the crystal is irrelevant, all sizes can be used with equal confidence and are to be equally respected or honored. All of the instructions are not for this night but will be given to you as you evolve yourself in “the way” of the Cherokee.
In time, the people gradually turned away from what they knew to be “the way” and started making their own laws and rules. This time they became so reprobate that they degenerated to the point that they were cutting out the hearts of people and sacrificing them so that the sun would rise the next day and sacrificing virgin young women so that the seasonal rainfall would occur. Seven warrior women, known today as the seven sisters, led a revolution against the leaders of this horror. Whether they were related by blood or not we do not know, probably they were not since there was a young warrior woman representing each clan. It is more likely that they were members of the same generation, which in the Cherokee relationship pattern makes all of those people of the same generation, brothers and sisters. The revolt apparently was so violent and the emotional damage so extreme that the survivors chose to abandon the land because of the pall of negative forces that hung over it, like a dark choking fog.
Once again the people migrated following the eye of Wasi as they had done generations before. This time the eye of Wasi led them north. In a wilderness the seven sisters announced that they were going no further. They had dreamed, and all had the same dream. In the dream they were to build a city on the lip of the ancient fire, in the mountains, in a wilderness, with natural alters for each one of the clans, to the north, as was the direction of the migration. Bordered by rivers on each side that flowed north, unlike most rivers do but these are to remind us to look within ourselves for what is truth. From the alters of the seven clans, you will see the spirit of the eighth clan, asleep for now. Though the people were sad that the heroes of the revolt would not finish the journey with them, they accepted that this was they way it must be, when the priestess among the seven sisters told them that the dream had insisted that they stay so they could prepare the return of the return of the red fire.
The eye of Wasi eventually led them to the area that is now known as the Ohio River valley. The people settled into the area, and built new towns; the town of Kituwaughi (Keetoowah) was the southernmost town. The people prospered in the land and all was well for many generations, then a time came when a new people migrating from the west came into the area as invaders. They came attacking the towns, killing the occupants of the villages and settlements, slaughtering the elderly, overwhelming the warriors and capturing the women and children. For reasons not known today, many relatives of the people joined with the invaders attacking and killing the Cherokee. The Cherokee fought fiercely to protect their people as they retreated into the smoking mountains, surrendering their homes in the Ohio Valley region. They all passed through Keetoowah on their retreat into the Great Smokey Mountains. These invaders were a tribe of the
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History of the Cherokee People
Athapascan invasion, known now as the Delaware. The High Priestess and Red Chief of Keetoowah, both women, determined that the Cherokee would make their stand at Keetoowah. It was bad enough that these barbarians who came to take our lands through violence acted as they did but the invasion was compounded when our cousins the people now known as Iroquois joined them in attacking and taking our lands and killing our people. The mother town of (Keetoowah) stood in the narrow part of the pass that led into the Smokey Mountains. All of the remaining warriors of the Cherokee met in council at the town of Keetoowah and formulated their plan to stop the invaders and punish their reprobate relatives who dared to raise their weapons in violence against us. Small groups of warriors volunteered to engage the invaders in minor skirmishes designed to annoy and anger and steer the marauders toward Keetoowah, while other small bands would hit and run along the flanks of the long winding caravan, forcing them to close their gaps to better defend themselves. The Athapascans came in a long trailing convoy bringing their women and children and herds, sheep, goats, cattle and all their belongings in wagons pulled by teams of cattle. The harassment from the Cherokee warriors had the desired effect and within several days the caravan was tightly bunched together in nervous groups, and the treacherous Iroquois were leading the Athapascans directly to Keetoowah. When the Delaware warriors at the head of the invading caravan entered the mouth of the pass into the mountains they were alert for an ambush. When nothing had happened to them when the got to the walled town of Keetoowah their courage and arrogance had returned. When they saw before them a line of women warriors stretching across the pass in front of the city they were encouraged. The Cherokee warrior women stood shoulder to shoulder and did not retreat not even one step. They looked at the invaders and whispered among themselves and giggled as though they saw something amusing. This behavior enraged the Delaware and Iroquois warriors; the Delaware, because they were a patriarchal society were not used to being challenged in any manner by women let alone being mocked derisively by armed women; the Iroquois were angered and enraged because they understood what the women warriors were shouting to them. Small bands of Cherokee warriors attacked the rear of the caravan causing them to surge forward into the caravan but the front of the caravan was stopped causing the caravan to spread out across the floor of the pass. The harassing bands also stampeded the herds of the caravans into the pass so that soon the mouth of the pass was extremely crowded. At the front of the caravan the war leaders of the Delaware and Iroquois warriors were beginning to lose control of their warriors. As the Cherokee women warriors continued taunting the Delaware and Iroquois warriors small groups of them would break ranks and charge at the line of women. As the charging warriors approached the women the women would step aside and let them rush past them; as they passed through the line Cherokee archers kneeling in front of the town stockade, out of sight of the Delaware and Iroquois, shot and killed them, then more women warriors drug the bodies back to the line and dumped them in full view of the enemy, shouting to the Delaware asking them where were the enemies warriors. This inevitably led to other small-enraged groups charging the women’s defensive line. Sensing a trap the war leaders of the Delaware and Iroquois ordered their warriors to fall back, but it was too late. The pass was clogged with the caravan, old men, women and children, panicked animals, wagons and retreating warriors. It is said that they became packed in so tight that the warriors could not even raise their arms to fight. When the Cherokee War Chief,
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History of the Cherokee People
observing from the stockade wall of Keetoowah saw this she sprung the trap. A flaming arrow arched into the sky from inside the town; instantly archers appeared on the mountainsides flanking the pass and rained showers of arrows down on the invaders in the pass. Chaos erupted in the pass as animals and people fell dead or dying. The Iroquois warriors under their war leader determined immediately to abandon the cause and attempted to escape, killing any Delaware who got in their way. The Delaware war chief and warriors seeing this turned on their Iroquois allies. The Cherokee war chief observing the chaos erupting in the Delaware army chose that moment to lead her army of Cherokee warriors, who had been waiting inside the town, through the Gate of Keetoowah and charged the enemies retreating front. As the charging warriors reached their line, the women warriors joined the attack; simultaneously an attack came from the behind the massed Delaware. The small harassing bands of Cherokee warriors who had been attacking the tail of the Delaware column and stampeded the herds formed into a large combined fighting force and attacked the rear elements of the Delaware train forcing them to surge further into the pass where they collided with the retreating front, packing the Delaware even tighter. When they saw the charge coming out of the town the archers who had been firing into the seething mass of Delaware drew their weapons and charged the flanks of the hapless invaders. Our ancestors tell us that it was a short-lived battle. They say that in less time than in takes to prepare a simple meal the pass was clogged with dead and dying animals, Delaware and Iroquois. The carnage was total! Some say the blood in the pass was ankle deep but none of it was Cherokee blood. There were some survivors; Delaware children and women of childbearing age were kept and adopted into the Cherokee clans to replace the Cherokee who had died at the hands of the invading Delaware. Any surviving Iroquois were sent home with the message that any Iroquois on Cherokee land would be killed on sight in the same way a mad-dog would be killed. Several surviving Delaware warriors were healed the sent back to the main body of Athapascans to deliver the message that they were to never enter Cherokee territory again or the next time there would be no survivors. After this battle the Cherokee became known by all of their neighbors as “The Warlords of the Mountains”. The animosity between the Cherokee and their cousins the Iroquois lasted into the twentieth century; the animosity between the Cherokee and the Delaware was settled in the nineteenth century. Keetoowah which had been the southern most town of the Cherokee became the northern most town, and the oldest Mother Town, as the Cherokee settled into the Great Smoky Mountains and rebuilt their civilization. Years later scouts reported a strange people had entered the southern regions of the territory. They had captive with them, the Red woman of a Creek town. The Cherokee had been receiving reports of these invaders from Natchez, Creek, and other survivors of towns where these people had passed through, killing and capturing people, making them act as slaves for them. They burned the towns and stole all the food. They rode sogwahli’s (horses) and dressed in armor that the arrows of the Creeks and other tribes could not penetrate. It appeared that the Creek Red Woman was leading the invaders deliberately into the Cherokee country. The reports all indicated that these invaders left devastation behind them everywhere they went, and were particularly brutal and sadistic in their temperament. A council of war chiefs and priests determined to send a war party of women from Keetoowah, to monitor and if necessary to harass the invasion force while they prepared a main war party to deal with the invaders if they came near any town or settlement. They knew from the reports of the survivors of the invaders who had come to them for protection, that the war
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History of the Cherokee People chief of the invaders was called Desoto. The women warriors from Keetowah intercepted the invading force in the southern mountains as they were about a days march from a settlement. Scouting the invading column they were able to determine that there was only a handful of fighting men and the rest was composed of Indian slaves captured in the towns they had already passed through. The Cherokee long bow was famed in all of Indian country for being exceptionally powerful and deadly. The best archer in the war party was told to choose a target and test how good the armor of the trespassers was. She sent her arrow straight through his metal armor into his heart, killing him instantly. The Spaniards panicked and formed into a defensive circle using the Indian slaves as human shields. The Cherokee warrior women retreated into the forest so they could council together and formulate a plan to deal with these unwelcome invaders. The fact that their armor was not impervious to the Cherokee arrows made them feel much more secure in their ability to deal with them since these were not some form of invincible men as the Natchez and Creek survivors had reported them to be. One of the warriors they had left behind to keep watch on the strangers came in and reported that the strangers were still in their defensive stance, but they were shouting into the surrounding forest and cutting the heads off of some of their captives and throwing the twitching bodies out before them. The Cherokee war leader and her second concluded, that not only were these armor clad men not invincible, but they were also afraid and cowards who hid behind children and slaves. Only the armor clad ones were armed, their vast numbers was composed of young Indians that they had enslaved. The war women planned an attack that would free the Indian slaves and the Creek Red Woman and reduce the strength of this enemy force. They attacked the following day, when it was the hottest time of day. They secured the freedom of the young slaves and the Creek Red Woman, and captured thirteen of the armor clad invaders. They retreated into the woods, leaving a small band to pursue and harass the core members of the invaders who were fleeing blindly to the west. The women warriors learned from the Creek Red Woman and a Young Natchez woman who was a relative of the Natchez leader, that these men called themselves Spanish and they claimed to be gods and were here to find “their gold”. Many of their people had believed them because their arrows, axes and knives could not penetrate their metal covering. Their chief Desoto had taken the Creek Red Woman captive, and he considered her his sex slave, raping her whenever the urge suited him. She had deliberately led them into Cherokee country, because she knew the Cherokee had driven the despised Delaware out of the country years before. Historically it is recorded that the chronicler of Desoto’s expedition, a catholic priest, recorded that amazons had attacked them. The survivors of the expedition confirmed the priests’ account.
The captives taken by the women warriors were tortured and killed in front of each other in creative ways. Because of the feathers in their helmets one was thrown off a cliff to “see if they were birds”. Because of heir breastplates one was cooked alive to “see if they were turtles”. Because of their chain mail suits one was held under water and drowned to “see if they were fish.” Because of the metal footplates they wore one was rode to death to “see if they were horses.” All but one of the remaining Spanish conquistadors were marched to Echota to be surrendered to the gathered war chiefs there. The remaining conquistador had the skin cut off of his arms and was scalped, then marched to a place in front of where Desoto and his men were
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History of the Cherokee People fleeing and tied to a tree where they would find him. After questioning him briefly the Spaniards killed him and continued their flight. The women harassed Desoto’s band until they crossed the Mississippi River.
The next contact with invading Europeans seems to have been when the English colonists came to the Americas, since I know of no other stories regarding contacts with Europeans before that.
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