ORIGIN OF STRAWBERRIES
When
the first man was created and a mate was given to him, they lived together very
happily for a time, but then began to quarrel, until at last the woman left her
husband and started off toward Nûñdâgûñ´yi, the Sun land, in the
east. The man followed alone and grieving, but the woman kept on steadily
ahead and never looked behind, until Une´'lanûñ´hi, the great Apportioner
(the Sun), took pity on him and asked him if he was still angry with his
wife. He said he was not, and Une´'lanûñ´hi then asked him if he
would like to have her back again, to which he eagerly answered yes.
So Une´'lanûñ´hi caused a patch of the finest ripe huckleberries to spring up
along the path in front of the woman, but she passed by without paying any
attention to them. Farther on he put a clump of blackberries, but these
also she refused to notice. Other fruits, one, two, and three, and then
some trees covered with beautiful red service berries, were placed beside the
path to tempt her, but she still went on until suddenly she saw in front a patch
of large ripe strawberries, the first ever known. She stooped to gather a
few to eat, and as she picked them she chanced to turn her face to the west, and
at once the memory of her husband came back to her and she found herself unable
to go on. She sat down, but the longer
she waited the stronger became her desire for her husband, and at last she
gathered a bunch of the finest berries and started back along the path to give
them to him. He met her kindly and they went home together.
From
"James Mooney's History, Myths and Sacred Formulas of the
Cherokees"
Published
by Bright Mountain Books, Inc.