Karahkwa - First Nation Tales From America’s Eastern States
These stories cover a broad range of nations and tribes from North Americas eastern and south-eastern regions. Many of the stories have been told as part of the Iroquois and Cherokee traditions.
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Table of Contents
How The World Was Made
Hi-Nuⁿ Destroying The Giant Animals
Gluskα̨bε The Transformer
Kana'ti And Selu: The Origin Of Game And Corn
The Daughter Of The Sun
Origin Of Strawberries
Tashka And Walo
The Stone Giant's Wife
The Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting
The Warrior Saved By Pigmies
How The Rabbit Stole The Otter's Coat
The Origin Of Fire
Koto And The Bird
Origin Of The Seneca Medicine
The Gifts Of The Sky God
How The Wildcat Caught The Gobbler
Origin Of The Human Race
Rabbit And The Tar Baby
How The Terrapin Beat The Rabbit
How The Bear Lost His Tail
Origin Of The Constellations
The Rabbit And The Possum After A Wife
Rabbit And Bear
How Rabbit Snared The Sun
Infant Nursed By Bears
The Rabbit Escapes From The Wolves
The Man And His Step-Son
The Ants And The Katydids
How The Deer Got His Horns
How A Hunter Encountered Bmule´, Visited His Country And Obtained A Boon
Why The Blackbird Has Red Wings
The Dead Hunter
Why The Mole Lives Underground
Why The Birds Have Sharp Tails
The Old Man's Lessons To His Nephew
The Groundhog's Head
The Wildcat And The Turkeys
The Charmed Suit
The Wolf's Revenge
The Brant And The Otter
The Boy And The Corn
The Ball Game Of The Birds And Animals
The Tiny Frog And The Panther
A Sure Revenge
How The Man Found His Mate
Why The Opossum Plays Dead
The Moon Person
Why The Turkey Gobbles
Kingfisher And His Nephew
How The Kingfisher Got His Bill
The Wild-Cat And The White Rabbit
How The Redbird Got His Colour
How The White Man Came
The Race Between The Crane And The Hummingbird
The West Wind
The Owl Gets Married
How A Boy Was Cured Of Boasting
The Adventures Of Wesakchak
The Hunter And The Buzzard
Why 'Possum Has A Large Mouth
The Uktena And The Ulûñsû'ti
What The Ash And The Maple Learned
Âgan-Uni'tsi's Search For The Uktena
How The Woman Overcame The Bear
The Red Man And The Uktena
Why The Ice Roof Fell
How Mice Overcame The Warriors
The Bullfrog Lover
Why Crows Are Poor
Ûñtsaiyi', The Gambler
Why Men Love Their Dogs
The Nest Of The Tla'nuwa
Greedy Fawn And The Porridge
The Hunter And The Tla'nuwa
Corn Plume And Bean Maiden
Nûñ'yunu'wi, The Stone Man
How Morning Star Lost Her Fish
The Hunter And The Alligator
Atagâ'hi, The Enchanted Lake
How The Fairies Worked Magic
The Ice Man
The Underground Panthers
The Bear Man
The Spirit Defenders Of Nikwasi'
The Man Who Married The Thunder's Sister
The Star Feathers
The Raven Mocker
About The Editor
THE RAVEN MOCKER
This adaptation is taken from a story collected by James Mooney in the book Myths of the Cherokee, which was originally published by the Bureau of American Ethnology as part of their Nineteenth Annual report, printed by the Washington Government Printing Office and dated 1902. This is a Cherokee tale.
A YOUNG MAN HAD BEEN OUT on a hunting trip and was on his way home when night came on while he was still a long distance from the settlement. He knew of a house not far off the trail where an old man and his wife lived, so he turned in that direction to look for a place to sleep until morning. When he got to the house there was nobody in it. He looked into the âsi and found no one there either. He thought maybe they had gone after water, and so stretched himself out in the farther corner to sleep.
Very soon he heard a raven cry outside, and in a little while afterwards the old man came into the âsi and sat down by the fire without noticing the young man, who kept still in the dark corner. Soon there was another raven cry outside, and the old man said to himself, "Now my wife is coming," and sure enough in a little while the old woman came in and sat down by her husband. Then the young man knew they were Raven Mockers and he was frightened and kept very quiet.
Said the old man to his wife, "Well, what luck did you have?"
"None," said the old woman, "there were too many doctors watching. What luck did you have?"
"I got what I went for," said the old man, "there is no reason to fail, but you never have luck. Take this and cook it and let's have something to eat."
She fixed the fire and then the young man smelled meat roasting and thought it smelled sweeter than any meat he had ever tasted. He peeped out from one eye, and it looked like a man's heart roasting on a stick.
Suddenly the old woman said to her husband, "Who is over in the corner?"
"Nobody," said the old man.
"Yes, there is," said the old woman, "I hear him snoring," and she stirred the fire until it blazed and lighted up the whole place, and there was the young man lying in the corner. He kept quiet and pretended to be asleep. The old man made a noise at the fire to wake him, but still he pretended to sleep. Then the old man came over and shook him, and he sat up and rubbed his eyes as if he had been asleep all the time.
Now it was near daylight and the old woman was out in the other house getting breakfast ready, but the hunter could hear her crying to herself.
"Why is your wife crying?" he asked the old man.
"Oh, she has lost some of her friends lately and feels lonesome," said her husband, but the young man knew that she was crying because he had heard them talking.
When they came out to breakfast the old man put a bowl of corn mush before him and said, "This is all we have. We have had no meat for a long time."
After breakfast the young man started on again, but when he had gone a little way the old man ran after him with a fine piece of beadwork and gave it to him, saying, "Take this, and don't tell anybody what you heard last night, because my wife and I are always quarrelling that way."
The young man took the piece, but when he came to the first creek he threw it into the water and then went on to the settlement. There he told the whole story, and a party of warriors started back with him to kill the Raven Mockers. When they reached the place it was seven days after the first night. They found the old man and his wife lying dead in the house, so they set fire to it and burned the house and the witches together.