Legend of the Blowing Rock

It is said that a Chickasaw chieftain,
fearful of a white man's
admiration for his lovely daughter,
journeyed far from the plains to bring her to
The Blowing Rock and the care of a mother.
One day the maiden,
daydreaming on the craggy cliff,
spied a Cherokee brave wandering in the wilderness
far below and playfully
shot an arrow in his direction.
The flirtation worked because
soon he appeared before her wigwam,
courted her with songs of his land
and they became lovers,
wandering the pathless woodlands and
along crystal streams.
One day a strange reddening of the sky brought
the brave and the maiden to The Blowing Rock.
To him it was a sign of trouble commanding his
return to his tribe in the plains.
With the maiden's entreaties not to leave her,
the brave, torn by conflict of duty and heart,
leaped from The Rock into the wilderness far below.
The grief-stricken maiden prayed daily to
the Great Spirit until,
one evening with a reddening sky,
a gust of wind blew her lover back onto
The Rock and into her arms.
From that day a perpetual wind has blown up onto
The Rock from the valley below.
For people of other days, at least,
this was explanation enough for
The Blowing Rock's mysterious winds causing
even the snow to fall upside down.