For a time the man was very
happy on the earth. He roamed around and ate the fruits and berries and
he visited the animals and he saw all his homeland. There was much to learn
and the earth was beautiful. But before long the man grew discontented
and he became very unhappy. He didn't know what this disease was, but it
was a disease we still have, he was bored.
When he got bored, he used
his mind and strength differently. He shot arrows at the deer without really
needing to. He picked the plants and didn't use them. He tore up the animal's
dens just to see if he could do it. And soon the animals became concerned
about the new creature.
The animals called a council
meeting to try to determine what to do. They said they thought this creature
was supposed to have respect for other creatures, that he was given a mind.
A little insect said, "Wait, you haven't thought this out. The Great One
made him; let's ask him what to do." This seemed to be a good idea. They
called to the Great One to help them with the new "superior" creature.
The owl said, "You told
us the man had a mind and he is to respect us." The deer said, " I don't
want to be disrespectful, but you told us the man would need more of us
deer than any other animal. If he keeps killing us like he is now, very
soon there won't be any deer left."
"Oh," said the Great One,
"thank you, thank you. I had not thought about something I left out in
this man."
The bear said, "Look at
him right now. He's lying out in the sun with his face up. No animal will
sleep right out in the open. We all know to go into a private, guarded
place to rest."
The Great One said, "Yes,
there is something missing because I was in such an excited hurry to make
him. But I know now what is missing."
"Stand back" he said. He
made a green plant to grow up tall. The plant grew up right over the man's
heart, up toward Galunti. It was a plant with long, graceful leaves and
then an ear and a golden tassel. Above the tall plant was a woman, a beautiful,
tall, brown woman growing from the stalk of corn.
The man woke up and thought
he was dreaming. He rubbed his eyes and said, "This is not true. In a minute,
I'll wake up and be just as bored as I was before. Oh, I am so lonely."
The Great One sort of kicked
him in the behind. "Get up you lazy thing," the Great One said. "Be a man
for your lady." Now no one had any reason to think this man was a mannerly
individual. Recently he had certainly not been acting like a real gentleman.
But we don't have to be taught manners. We need someone to expect the best
from us and we use the manners the Great One has already given us. So the
man got up and brushed himself off and gallantly offered his hand to the
woman who came down from the stalk of corn.
The woman said, "No, wait
a minute." The man didn't argue or huff. He just waited until she asked.
She reached up and pulled two good ears of corn to take with her. Then
she said, "I'm ready." Do you know why she wanted the corn? She couldn't
have known yet that the corn would be an important food. She just knew
that she had sprung from the corn and she needed to take something of her
heritage with her.
The Great One remembered
that although each man will sometimes need to be alone, each man will also
need companionship to be his best.
Over a period of time, the
man and the woman built a home where they kept the corn for planting. The
next spring she planted her corn and it grew into a beautiful plant. It
was probably the next year that she noticed a large bird who became sacred
to the Cherokee, a large bird who stays usually on the ground. We call
this bird a turkey. The turkey became sacred to the Cherokee because the
could watch what he ate, and then they would know it was safe to eat.
One morning the woman noticed
the turkey eating the tender corn. She knew then the corn was food and
it was time to eat the corn. That evening she set a pottery pot of corn
in the middle of her cook fire. She covered the pot with a curve of chestnut
bark. When the man came in to eat his fish stew, she didn't tell him what
she had cooked. She just pulled an ear of corn from the pot and pealed
it back so he could smell it. He thought it was the best aroma he had ever
smelled and he began to eat the first corn of the spring.
NOTE: Cherokee women even
now never tell their men when they will serve the first corn of the season.
They believe if they say it, bad luck will happen.