At one time, animals and people lived together
peaceably and talked with each other. But when
mankind began to multiply rapidly, the animals were
crowded into forests and deserts.
Man began to destroy animals wholesale for their
skins and furs, not just for needed food. Animals
became angry at such treatment by their former
friends, resolving they must punish mankind.
The bear tribe met in council, presided over by Old
White Bear, their Chief. After several bears had
spoken against mankind for their bloodthirsty ways,
war was unanimously agreed upon. But what kinds of
weapons should the bears use?
Chief Old White Bear suggested that man's weapon,
the bow and arrow, should be turned against him.
All of the council agreed. While the bears worked
and made bows and arrows, they wondered what to do
about bowstrings. One of the bears sacrificed
himself to provide the strings, while the others
searched for good arrow- wood.
When the first bow was completed and tried, the
bear's claws could not release the strings to shoot
the arrow. One bear offered to cut his claws, but
Chief Old White Bear would not allow him to do
that, because without claws he could not climb
trees for food and safety. He might starve.
The deer tribe called together its council led by
Chief Little Deer. They decided that any Indian
hunters, who killed deer without asking pardon in a
suitable manner, should be afflicted with painful
rheumatism in their joints.
After this decision, Chief Little Deer sent a
messenger to their nearest neighbours, the Cherokee
Indians.
"From now on, your hunters must first offer a
prayer to the deer before killing him," said the
messenger. "You must ask his pardon, stating you
are forced only by the hunger needs of your tribe
to kill the deer. Otherwise, a terrible disease
will come to the hunter."
When a deer is slain by an Indian hunter, Chief
Little Deer will run to the spot and ask the slain
deer's spirit, "Did you hear the hunter's prayer
for pardon?"
If the reply is yes, then all is well and Chief
Little Deer returns to his cave. But if the answer
is no, then the Chief tracks the hunter to his
lodge and strikes him with the terrible disease of
rheumatism, making him a helpless cripple unable to
hunt again.
All the fishes and reptiles then held a council and
decided they would haunt those Cherokee Indians,
who tormented them, by telling them hideous dreams
of serpents twining around them and eating them
alive. These snake and fish dreams occurred often
among the Cherokees. To get relief, the Cherokees
pleaded with their Shaman to banish their
frightening dreams if they no longer tormented the
snake and fish
Now when the friendly plants heard what the
animals had decided against mankind, they planned
a countermove of their own. Each tree, shrub, herb,
grass, and moss agreed to furnish a cure for one of
the diseases named by the animals and insects.
Thereafter, when the Cherokee Indians visited their
Shaman about their ailments and if the medicine
man was in doubt, he communed with the spirits of
the plants. They always suggested a proper remedy
for mankind's diseases.
This was the beginning of plant medicine from
nature among the Cherokee Indian nation a long,
long time ago.
