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Cherokee Bear Legend
In the long ago time, there was a
Cherokee Clan called the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi
(Ahnee-Jah-goo-hee),
and in one family of this clan
was a boy who used to leave home
and be gone all day
in the mountains.
After a while he went oftener
and stayed longer,
until at last he would not eat in
the house at all,
but started off at daybreak
and did not come back
until night.
His parents scolded,
but that did no good,
and the boy still went every day
until they noticed that long brown hair
was beginning to grow out
all over his body.
Then they wondered and asked him
why it was that he wanted to be so
much in the woods that he would
not even eat at home.
Said the boy, "I find plenty
to eat there,
and it is better than the corn
and beans we have
in the settlements, and pretty
soon I am going into the woods
to say all the time."
His parents were worried
and begged him not
to leave them, but he said,
"It is better there than here,
and you see I am beginning
to be different already,
so that I can not live here any longer.
If you will come with me,
there is plenty for all
of us and you will never
have to work for it;
but if you want to come,
you must first fast seven days."
The father and mother talked
it over and then told the
headmen of the clan.
They held a council about the
matter and after everything had
been said they decided:
"Here we must work hard
and have not always enough.
There he says is always plenty
without work. We will
go with him."
So they fasted seven days,
and on the seventh morning all
the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi left the
settlement and started for the
mountains as the boy led the way.
When the people of the other
towns heard of it they were very sorry
and sent their headmen
to persuade the Ani Tsaguhi
to stay at home
and not go into the woods to live.
The messengers found them
already on the way,
and were surprised to notice
that their bodies were beginning
to be covered with hair like that
of animals, because for seven days
they had not taken human food
and their nature was changing.
The Ani Tsaguhi would not
come back, but said,
"We are going where there is
always plenty to eat."
Hereafter we shall be called
Yonv(a) (bears),
and when you
yourselves are hungry
come into the woods and call
us and we shall shall come
to give you our own flesh.
You need not be afraid to kill us,
for we shall live always."
Then they taught the messengers
the songs with which to call them
and bear hunters have
these songs still.
When they had finished the songs,
the Ani Tsaguhi started
on again and the messengers
turned back to the settlements,
but after going a little way
they looked back and saw
a drove of bears
going into the woods.
Aho! We are all Related!
