Reading Notes: Myths of the Cherokee: Reading A

Favorite Stories

How the World Was Made: I found the layout of the earth for the Cherokees very interesting and surreal, and I might use it for a setting for a story. The earth is an island prevented from sinking into the ocean by four cords hanging from the sky. The sky is a stone vault or arch, and all the animals used to live above it (though it is crowded up there). I especially like the world under the earth, which is exactly the same as the one above but different seasons and that humans can enter via springs and waterways. This reminded me of the world in the movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth," and I think it gives the story a lot of mystery. I might write an adventure story of people traveling to the world under the earth.

The Journey to Sunrise: I liked the sense of adventure this story had. The men who went to find the place the sun rose spent their entire lives on that journey, returning as old men. Stories of meeting different tribes and finding strange practices remind me of epics like the Iliad where travelers encounter many peoples, creatures, and obstacles along the way. The Sun seems like a mysterious character that could have an interesting backstory, since the travelers know it's shaped like a human but can't make out any details. I'm also curious about what's behind the door at the bottom of the sky vault where the sun enters every day—maybe that's another way to enter the world under the earth.

Origin of the Pleiades and the Pine: My favorite element of this story is how the boys did a magic dance that caused them to float up to the sky and become stars. If I retell this story, I'll probably change most of the other elements, like the reason the people started dancing in the first place. Maybe someone wants to learn to fly, but goes too far, or someone gets tricked into performing this dance.

Story Source: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900).

Image information:

1. Watercolor Earth from Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash.
2. Sun over mountain lake from Levi Bare on Unsplash.
3. Pleiades image from Milan Ihl on Unsplash.