Native American Legends
Cherokee Creation Story
A Cherokee Legend
When the Earth begun there was just water. All the animals lived
above it and the sky was beginning to become crowded. They were
all curious about what was beneath the water and one day Dayuni'si,
the water beetle, volunteered to explore it.
He went everywhere across the surface but he couldn't find any
solid ground. He then dived below the surface to the bottom and
all he found was mud.
This began to enlarge in size and spread outwards until it became
the Earth as we know it.
After all this had happened, one of the animals attached this new
land to the sky with four strings.
Just after the Earth was formed, it was flat and soft so the animals
decided to send a bird down to see if it had dried. They eventually
returned to the animals with a result.
The land was still to wet so they sent the great Buzzard from Galun'lati
to prepare it for them.
The buzzard flew down and by the time that he reached the Cherokee
land he was so tired that his wings began to hit the ground. Wherever
they hit the ground a mountain or valley formed. The Cherokee land
still remains the same today with all the land forms that the Buzzard
formed.
The animals then decided that it was too dark, so they made the
sun and put it on the path in which it still runs today.
The animals could then admire the newly created Earth around them.
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