Contact with the white race seems to have produced very little
impression on the tribal mythology, and not more than three or four
stories current among the Cherokee can be assigned to a Caucasian
source. These have not been reproduced here, for the reason that they
are plainly European, and the author has chosen not to follow the
example of some collectors who have assumed that every tale told in
an Indian language is necessarily an Indian story. Scores recorded in
collections from the North and West are nothing more than variants from
the celebrated Hausmärchen, as told by French trappers and voyageurs
to their Indian campmates and halfbreed children. It might perhaps
be thought that missionary influence would be evident in the genesis
tradition, but such is not the case. The Bible story kills the Indian
tradition, and there is no amalgamation. It is hardly necessary to say
that stories of a great fish which swallows a man and of a great flood
which destroys a people are found the world over. The supposed Cherokee
hero-god, Wâsi, described by one writer as so remarkably resembling
the great Hebrew lawgiver is in fact that great teacher himself, Wâsi
being the Cherokee approximate for Moses, and the good missionary who
first recorded the story was simply listening to a chapter taken by
his convert from the Cherokee testament. The whole primitive pantheon
of the Cherokee is still preserved in their sacred formulas.
As compared with those from some other tribes the Cherokee myths are
clean. For picturesque imagination and wealth of detail they rank
high, and some of the wonder stories may challenge those of Europe
and India. The numerous parallels furnished will serve to indicate
their relation to the general Indian system. Unless otherwise noted,
every myth here given has been obtained directly from the Indians,
and in nearly every case has been verified from several sources.
"I know not how the truth may be,
I tell the tale as 'twas told to me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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