WHAT THE STARS ARE LIKE
There
are different opinions about the stars. Some say they are balls of light,
others say they are human, but most people say they are living creatures covered
with luminous fur or feathers.
One
night a hunting party camping in the mountains noticed two lights like large
stars moving along the top of a distant ridge. They wondered and watched
until the light disappeared on the other side. The next night, and the
next, they saw the lights again moving along the ridge, and after talking over
the matter decided to go on the morrow and try to learn the cause. In the
morning they started out and they found two strange creatures about so large
(making a circle with outstretched arms), with round bodies covered with fine
fur or downy feathers, from which small heads stuck out like the heads of
terrapins. As the breeze played upon these feathers showers of sparks flew
out.
The
hunters carried the strange creatures back to the camp, intending to take them
home to the settlements on their return. They kept them several days and
noticed that every night they would grow bright and shine like great stars,
although by day they were only balls of gray fur, except when the wind stirred
and made the sparks fly out. They kept very quiet, and no on thought of
their trying to escape, when, on the seventh night, they suddenly rose from the
ground like balls of fire and were soon above the tops of the trees.
Higher and higher they went, while the wondering hunters watched, until at last
they were only two bright points of light in the dark sky, and then the hunters
knew that they were stars.
From
"James Mooney's History, Myths and Sacred Formulas of the
Cherokees"
Published
by Bright Mountain Books, Inc.