Storytelling - Corn

At the beginning of time, animals were the only living creatures on earth. These animals were on land, in the sky and in the water. However, one day many many years ago the first man was created and placed on earth. This man roamed the earth and found companionship with the land animals. They showed him how to hunt fish and what plants to eat.

His best friend was a squirrel who followed him everywhere he went. This man roamed all the lands, except for one. There was one area of land that was under constant cover of crows, and he did not dare to venture over there. He had found that for the most part birds were mean animals, they would try to swoop down and take his land animal friends. He was also afraid of them because he did not understand how they were able to fly in the sky and he was not.

As this man got older and grew he became to feel more confident and hunting was an easy task for him. The animals started to follow him because they felt as if he was some sort of master and superior being. He was able to create shelter when rain came and protect the animals from hard downpours. They loved this man and would risk their lives for him. He was a gently master though, and prided himself on watching out for all the animals, small and big.

One year there was constant rain and the animals were not able to hunt in the rivers for fish because the water was to deep. They had to start rationing their food because they were limited to only plants and berries. One day the first man realized that they had not seen many birds for a long time, because they did not do well when it rained. He then started to lead the animals towards the area of land that he previously did not dare to go to. After a few days of traveling they finally reach this haunted land. As the man expected the crows were not there anymore guarding it. He saw this as a perfect opportunity to finally see why they were always swarming this area.

As they moved closer they could see that it was a field of some kind, but they had never seen the type of plant before. The man finally got close enough to touch the plant and grabbed a yellow cornstalk. All the animals were in awe and danced and cheered. But suddenly all the crows flew out of the fields and into the sky. They had been hiding under the shelter of the corn fields during the rain! The crows chased the man and animals for miles to scare them from coming back onto their territory. Finally, the crows grew tired and returned to their hiding ground.

This was the first time man ever found corn.

(Corn Field - Geograph)

Author's Note: This story is based on the Tobacco and Strawberry Cherokee story. The Strawberry story is about the first time a human ever finds a Strawberry. The Tobacco story is about the first tobacco plant. This plant gets stolen and the story is about trying to get the plant back. I thought it would be interesting to create my own story that is similar to the themes of these.

Bibliography: Myths of the Cherokee, Tobacco and Strawberries, By. James Mooney (1900)