Living stories of the Cherokee / collected and edited by Barbara R. Duncan with stories told by Davey Arch ... [et al.]. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Duncan, Barbara R.

Arch, Davey.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cherokee Indians--Folklore.

Cherokee Indians.

Tales--North Carolina.

Tales.

Storytellers--North Carolina.

Storytellers.

Cherokee Indians--Folklore--North Carolina.

Genre:

Folklore.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 253 p. ) ill. ;

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, c1998.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book, the first major new collection of Cherokee stories published in nearly a hundred years, presents seventy-two traditional and contemporary tales from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. It features stories told by Davey Arch, Robert Bushyhead, Edna Chekelelee, Kathi Smith Littlejohn, and Freeman Owle - five Cherokee storytellers who learned their art and their stories from family and community. The collection also includes a story presented in the Cherokee language and syllabary, translated by tribal interpreter Marie Junaluska. The tales gathered here include animal stories, creation myths, legends, and ghost stories as well as family tales and stories about events in Cherokee history.

The stories in this collection not only reflect Cherokee beliefs and values, they also show that Cherokee culture is alive and strong in the hearts of the people.

Contents:

The origin of legends ; The bird with big feet ; Me-Li and the mud dauber ; How the world was made ; The origin of the pileated woodpecker ; The playing boys, the Pleiades ; Why the turtle's shell is cracked ; Why the mole lives underground ; How the possum lost his beautiful tail ; Getting fire ; First man and first woman ; The valley of the butterflies ; Spearfinger ; The birds and animals stickball game ; The Cherokee little people ; Nunnehi, the gentle people / Kathi Smith Littlejohn.

Grandpa and the turtle ; The rattlesnake in the corn ; Big snakes ; The old man and the birds ; The brave, the might warrior ; The strange husband (the owl man) ; Legends of the Uk'tena ; Removal ; War ; Women ; Cities of refuge ; The origin of strawberries ; How the possum lost his tail ; Growing up in Cherokee ; Jeannie and the booger ; Grandpa and grandma / Davey Arch.

Cherokee language ; The trees are alive ; Mother Earth's spring dress ; The deer ; Jesus before Columbus time ; The legend of the corn beads ; Santeetlah ghost story ; Storytelling ; Elders on the mountains ; The quail dance ; Feathers ; The Indian preacher ; The Trail of Tears basket / Edna Chekelelee.

The Cherokee language ; Medicine stories ; The first time I saw a whiter person, Mrs. Lee ; Yonder mountain ; Sequoyah ; Formula against screech owls and tskilis ; The hunter and thunder ; The little people and the Nunnehi / Robert Bushyhead.

The origin of the Milky Way / Marie Junaluska.

Introduction to the Nantahala Hiking Club gathering ; The Nikwasi mound ; Medicine and the Wolf Clan ; The Earth ; The magic lake ; Going to water ; The daughter of the sun ; How the possum lost his tail ; Storytelling ; The turtle and the beaver; The turtle and the raccoon, stealing beauty

The Trail of Tears ; The origin of strawberries ; Corn woman spirit ; Ganadi, the great hunter, and the wild boy ; The story of the bat ; The removed townhouses / Freeman Owle.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-248) and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

979-88-908697-3-9

0-8078-6647-4