Reading Diary Continued - Myths of the Cherokee

Myths of the Cherokee - By James Mooney

The Ball Game of the Birds and Animals: The animals were very confident that they could beat the birds, and the birds were a little nervous themselves. The birds even took in some of the small animals that the big animals wouldn’t let on their team. The birds made these animals wings so that they could be on their team. The bird team wins the game, and the animals didn’t even have a chance to touch the ball because it was up int he air the whole time.

(Squirrel with wings - Wikipedia)

The Owl Gets Married: Im not quite sure the purpose of this story. A woman marries a man who she thinks will be a good hunter. He turns out to not be a good hunter so she follows him one day. She finds out that her husband turns into an owl, and that he scares off all the fish. She kicks the man/owl out of her house and the owl plucks away all his flesh. 

The Huhu Gets Married: I don’t know what a Huhu is but this was another interesting story. This has a similar plot to the story above. The wife wants a good husband who can hunt, and she marries this man who turns out to be a Huhu. Once she finds out what he is she kicks him out. 

The Snake Boy: A grandmother loves her grandson a lot. One night he turns into a scary snake and everyone is afraid of him. The grandmother goes after the snake because she loves her grandson so much and lives in the river with him.

The Snake Man: This story a man eats a squirrel and turns into a snake. There is a legend that this would happen, but the man did not believe this legend and continued to eat the squirrel. This goes to show that people should believe legends.