Origin of Game and of Corn

Long ages ago, soon after the world was made,
Kenati, a Cherokee Indian hunter and his wife Selu,
lived on Looking-Glass Mountain in North Carolina.
They had a little son named Good Boy.
Whenever Kenati hunted in the woods,
he always brought back all the game his
family needed. His wife cut up the meat and
washed it in the river not far from their lodge.
Good Boy played near the river almost every day.
One day his parents thought they heard laughing
in the bushes, as if there were two children
playing there. That evening Kenati asked his son,
“Who were you playing with today down by the river?”
“He is a boy who comes out of the water
and calls himself my elder brother,” replied Good Boy.
When Selu washed game in the river again,
the parents thought the water boy must grow from
the animal blood. She never saw the water boy,
because as she approached he disappeared.
One evening, Kenati said to his son,
“Tomorrow when your playmate comes out of the water,
wrestle with him and hold him down and call me,
so we can come and see him.”
Good Boy promised to do as his father asked.
The next day a wrestling match took place
between the two boys. Kenati and Selu were
not far away, and at the first call from their son,
they ran to see the boy from the river.
Compared with Good boy, the other one looked wild.
“Let me go! Let me go!” he cried out.
Good Boy held him down until his parents arrived.
They took the water boy home with them.
The family kept the wild one in the house
for some time, trying to tame him.
But he was always disagreeable in his
disposition and tried to lead Good Boy
into mischief. The family discovered that
wild one possessed some magic powers,
so they decided to keep him.
They named him Wild Boy.
Always Kenati came home from hunting with a
large fat deer on his back. Always he was
lucky with game. One day Wild Boy said to his
brother, “I wonder where our father finds so much
g ame? Let’s follow him next time.”
In a few days, Kenati took his bow and arrows
and went hunting.
Shortly afterward the boys followed.
Staying out of sight, they saw their
father go into a swamp where some strong
reeds were growing. With these, hunters
usually made arrow shafts. Wild Boy changed
himself into a puff of bird’s down.
A little wind carried him up and onto Kenati’s
shoulder. There he watched where Kenati went
and what he did. The father was not aware of Wild
Boy’s presence on his shoulder as he gathered reeds
and fitted them with feathers.
“I wonder what those things are for?”
thought Wild Boy to himself. Kenati came
out of the swamp and went on his way into
the woods. The wind carried the down off
Kenati’s shoulders and soon Wild Boy was his
normal self again. Still keeping out of sight
of their father, the two brothers followed him
into the mountains.
When Kenati reached a certain place,
he stopped and lifted a large rock.
At once, a large buck deer came running out
of the hole. Kenati shot it and lifted it upon
his back, starting home with his prize.
“Oho!” said the boys. “He keeps the wild animals
shut up inside a cave until he needs them.
He then kills the game with those things he made
in the swamp.” They hurried to reach home before
their father arrived with his heavy load.
The very next day, the boys wanted to see
if they could do as their father had done.
First, they went to the swamp and made some arrows.
When they came to the big rock, they lifted
the cover and instantly a deer ran but, but they
forgot to replace the cover.
As they made ready to shoot the deer,
another deer came out of the hole, then another,
and another—the boys became so confused
they forgot what to do next.
Long ago, a deer’s tail stuck straight
out from his body. When Wild Boy struck at
a deer’s tail with an arrow, the tail stood
straight up. The boys thought it great fun.
As another deer ran by, Good Boy swung at it
with an arrow so hard that the tail curled over
the deer’s back. Since that time most deers’ tails
curl at the end.
All of the deer in the cave came out and
disappeared into the forest. Following them were
raccoons, rabbits, and all the other four-footed
animals. Last came turkeys, partridges, pigeons,
and other winged creatures. They darkened the air
as they flew away. Such a noise arose that Kenati
heard it at his lodge. To himself he said,
“I must go to see what trouble my boys
have stirred up.”
Kenati went to the mountain, to the
place of the large rock. There stood the
two boys, but all the animals and birds were gone.
Kenati was furious with them, but said nothing.
He went into the cave and kicked off the
covers of four large jars that stood in the
back corner.
Out of the jars swarmed bedbugs,
lice, and gnats that attacked the two boys.
They screamed from terror as they tried to beat
off the insects. Bitten and stung,
the boys dropped to the ground from exhaustion.
When Kenati thought they had learned their lesson,
he brushed away the pests. “Now you rascals,”
he scolded them. “You have always had
plenty to eat without working for it.
When we needed game, all I had to do was to
come up here and take home just what we needed.
Now you have let all of the game escape.
From now on when you are hungry, you will have
to hunt throughout the woods and mountains and
then not find enough game.”
The two boys went home and asked their mother
for something to eat. “There is no more meat,”
said Selu. “I will go to the storehouse and
try to find something.”
She took her basket and went to the two-story
provision house set upon poles high above the
ground, out of reach of most animals.
Every day before the evening meal,
Selu climbed the ladder to the one opening.
She always came back with her basket full of
beans and corn.
“Let’s go and see where she gets the corn
and beans,” urged Wild Boy to his brother.
They followed Selu and climbed up in back of
the storehouse. They removed a piece of mud from
between the logs and looked through the crack.
There stood Selu in the middle of the room with her
basket on the floor. When she rubbed her
stomach, the basket was half-filled with corn.
When she rubbed her legs, the basket was full
to the top with beans. Wild Boy said,
“Our mother is a witch. Maybe her food will
poison us.”
When Selu came back to the house,
she seemed to know what the boys were thinking.
“You think I am a witch?”
“Yes, we think you are a witch,”
Wild Boy replied.
“When I die, I want you boys to clear a
large piece of ground in front of our lodge.
Then drag all of my clothes seven times
around the inside of the circle. If you stay up
all night and watch, next morning you will be
rewarded with plenty of corn.”
Soon thereafter Selu became ill and died suddenly.
The boys set to work clearing the ground as she
had said. But instead of the whole piece
of ground in front of the lodge, they only cleared
seven small spots. This is why corn does
not grow everywhere in the world.
Instead of dragging Selu’s clothing seven times,
they only went around the circle twice, outside
and inside the circle. The brothers watched all night,
and in the morning there were fully grown beans and
corn, but only in the seven small spots.
Kenati came home from a long hunting trip.
He looked for Selu but could not find her.
When the boys came home, he asked them,
“Where is your mother?”
“She turned into a witch and then she died,”
they reported. Kenati was saddened by the news.
“I cannot stay here with you any longer.
I will go and live with the Wolf people,” he said.
He started on his journey. Wild Boy changed
himself into a tuft of bird’s down and settled upon
Kenati’s shoulder to learn where he was going.
When Kenati reached the settlement of the Wolf people,
they were having a council in their town-house.
He went in and sat down with the tuft upon his shoulder.
Wolf Chief asked Kenati what was his business.
“At home I have two bad boys.
In seven days, I want you to go and play
a game of ball with them.”
The Wolf people knew that Kenati wanted
them to punish the boys and promised to
go in seven days. At that moment the down
blew off of Kenati’s shoulder and the smoke
carried it up and through the smoke hole in the roof.
It came down to the ground outside, where Wild
Boy resumed his own shape and ran home fast
to tell his brother.
Kenati did not return but went on to visit another tribe.
The two brothers prepared for the coming of the
wolves. Wild Boy the magician told his brother what
to do. Together they made a path around
the house, leaving an opening on one side for the
wolves to enter.
Next, they made four large bundles of arrows.
These they placed at four different
points on the outside of the circle.
Then they hid themselves in the woods nearby and
waited for the wolves.
At the appointed time, a whole army of wolves
surrounded the house. They came in the entrance
the boys had made. When all were within,
Wild Boy magically made the pathway
become a high fence, trapping the wolves inside.
The two boys on the outside began
shooting arrows at the wolves. Since the fence was
too high for the wolves to jump over,
they were trapped and most were killed.
Only a few escaped through the entrance
and made their way into a nearby swamp.
Three or four wolves eventually survived.
These were the only wolves left alive in the world.
Soon thereafter, some strangers came
from a great distance to learn about the brothers’
good grain for eating and making bread.
Only Selu and her family had the corn secret.
The two brothers told the strangers
how to care for the corn and gave them seven kernels
to plant the next night on their way home.
They were advised that they must watch throughout
the night, then the following morning they
would have seven ears of corn.
This they should do each night,
and by the time they reached home, they should have
enough corn for all their people to plant.
The strangers lived seven days distance.
Each night they did as the brothers
had instructed them.
On the last night of the journey,
they were so tired that they
fell asleep and were unable to continue
the whole night’s watch.
The next morning, the corn had not
sprouted and grown as on the previous six nights.
Upon arriving in their own village,
they shared all the corn they still had
left with their people. They explained how
the two brothers told them the way to make
the corn prosper. They watched over the planting
with care and attention. A splendid crop of corn
resulted. Since then, however, the Cherokee Indians
needed to tend their corn only half the year
to supply their people.
Kenati never came back to his home. The two
brothers decided to search for him. Wild Boy
sailed a magic disk to the northwind and it returned.
He sailed it to the southwind and it returned,
but it did not return from the eastwind.
They knew that was where their father was living.
They walked a long, long time and finally came upon
Kenati with a dog walking by his side.
“You bad boys,” rebuked Kenati.
“Why have you followed me here?”
“We are men now,” they replied.
“We plan to accomplish what we set out to do.”
Wild Boy knew that the dog was the magic disk
that had not returned, and had become a dog only
a few days ago.
Kenati’s trail led to Selu, waiting for him
at the end of the world where the sun comes up.
All seemed glad to be reunited for the present.
Their parents told the two brothers that they must
go to live where the sun goes down.
In seven days, the two boys left for the Land of
the Setting-Sun. There they still live, overseeing
the planting and the care of corn.
The brothers still talk about how Selu brought
forth the first corn from her seed. Since that
time,
the Cherokee tribe refer to her as the
“Corn Woman.”