Native American Legends
The Daughter of the Sun
A Cherokee Legend
The Sun lived on the other side of the sky vault, but her daughter
lived in the middle of the sky, directly above the Earth, and every
day as the Sun was climbing along the sky arch to the west she used
to stop at her daughter's house for dinner.
Now, the Sun hated the people on the Earth, because they could
never look straight at her without screwing up their faces. She
said to her brother, the Moon, "My grandchildren are ugly;
they grin all over their faces when they look at me." But the
Moon said, "I like my younger brothers; I think they are very
handsome "--because they always smiled pleasantly when they
saw him in the sky at night, for his rays were milder.
The Sun was jealous and planned to kill all the people, so every
day when she got near her daughter's house she sent down such sultry
rays that there was a great fever and the people died by hundreds,
until everyone had lost some friend and there was fear that no one
would be left. They went for help to the Little Men, who said the
only way to save themselves was to kill the Sun.
The Little Men made medicine and changed two men to snakes, the
Spreading-adder and the Copperhead, and sent them to watch near
the door of the daughter of the Sun to bite the old Sun when she
came next day. They went together and bid near the house until the
Sun came, but when the Spreading-adder was about to spring, the
bright light blinded him and he could only spit out yellow slime,
as he does to this day when he tries to bite. She called him a nasty
thing and went by into the house, and the Copperhead crawled off
without trying to do anything.
So the people still died from the heat, and they went to the Little
Men a second time for help. The Little Men made medicine again and
changed one man into the great Uktena and another into the Rattlesnake
and sent them to watch near the house and kill the old Sun when
she came for dinner.
They made the Uktena very large, with horns on his head, and everyone
thought he would be sure to do the work, but the Rattlesnake was
so quick and eager that he got ahead and coiled up just outside
the house, and when the Sun's daughter opened the door to look out
for her mother, he sprang up and bit her and she fell dead in the
doorway. He forgot to wait for the old Sun, but went back to the
people, and the Uktena was so very angry that he went back, too.
Since then we pray to the rattlesnake and do not kill him, because
he is kind and never tries to bite if we do not disturb him. The
Uktena grew angrier all the time and very dangerous, so that if
he even looked at a man, that man's family would die. After a long
time the people held a council and decided that he was too dangerous
to be with them, so they sent him up to Gälûñ'lätï,
and he is there now. The Spreading-adder, the Copperhead, the Rattlesnake,
and the Uktena were all men.
When the Sun found her daughter dead, she went into the house and
grieved, and the people did not die any more, but now the world
was dark all the time, because the Sun would not come out. They
went again to the Little Men, and these told them that if they wanted
the Sun to come out again they must bring back her daughter from
Tsûsginâ'ï, the Ghost country, in Us'ûñhi'yï,
the Darkening land in the west. They chose seven men to go, and
gave each a sour-wood rod a hand-breadth long.
The Little Men told them they must take a box with them, and when
they got to Tsûsginâ'ï they would find all the
ghosts at a dance. They must stand outside the circle, and when
the young woman passed in the dance they must strike her with the
rods and she would fall to the ground. Then they must put her into
the box and bring her back to her mother, but they must be very
sure not to open the box, even a little way, until they were home
again.
They took the rods and a box and traveled seven days to the west
until they came to the Darkening land. There were a great many people
there, and they were having a dance just as if they were at home
in the settlements. The young woman was in the outside circle, and
as she swung around to where the seven men were standing, one struck
her with his rod and she turned her head and saw him.
As she came around the second time another touched her with his
rod, and then another and another, until at the seventh round she
fell out of the ring, and they put her into the box and closed the
lid fast. The other ghosts seemed never to notice what had happened.
They took up the box and started home toward the east. In a little
while the girl came to life again and begged to be let out of the
box, but they made no answer and went on. Soon she called again
and said she was hungry, but still they made no answer and went
on.
After another while she spoke again and called for a drink and
pleaded so that it was very hard to listen to her, but the men who
carried the box said nothing and still went on. When at last they
were very near home, she called again and begged them to raise the
lid just a little, because she was smothering.
They were afraid she was really dying now, so they lifted the lid
a little to give her air, but as they did so there was a fluttering
sound inside and something flew past them into the thicket and they
heard a redbird cry, "kwish! kwish! kwish!" in the bushes.
They shut down the lid and went on again to the settlements, but
when they got there and opened the box it was empty.
So we know the Redbird is the daughter of the Sun, and if the men
had kept the box closed, as the Little Men told them to do, they
would have brought her home safely, and we could bring back our
other friends also from the Ghost country, but now when they die
we can never bring them back.
The Sun had been glad when they started to the Ghost country, but
when they came back without her daughter she grieved and cried,
"My daughter, my daughter," and wept until her tears made
a flood upon the Earth, and the people were afraid the world would
be drowned. They held another council, and sent their handsomest
young men and women to amuse her so that she would stop crying.
They danced before the Sun and sang their best songs, but for a
long time she kept her face covered and paid no attention, until
at last the drummer suddenly changed the song, when she lifted up
her face, and was so pleased at the sight that she forgot her grief
and smiled.
Sun And Her Daughter
Here is the same story as above, but told slightly differently.
As the Sun traveled across the sky she would stop in the middle
each day to have dinner at her daughter's house. Now the Sun hated
people because they would always squint when they looked at her.
"They screw up their faces at me!" she told her brother
the Moon.
"I like them," said the Moon, "they always smile
at me."
They Sun was jealous and decided she would kill the people by sending
a fever. Many people were dying and those remaining decided they
would have to kill the Sun. With some magic, one of the people was
turned into a rattlesnake and sent to wait by the daughter's door,
to bite the Sun when she stopped for dinner. But when the daughter
opened the door to look for her mother the snake bit her instead.
The snake returned to Earth with the Sun still alive and the daughter
dead. When the Sun discovered what had happened she shut herself
up in the house and grieved. The people no longer had the fever
but now it was cold and dark. So, seven people were chosen to visit
the land where ghosts dance to see if they could retrieve the daughter.
As she danced past them they struck her with rods so she fell down,
then they trapped her in a box.
On the trip home she complained of not being able to breath so
they opened the lid just a crack. She became a Redbird and escaped,
flying back to the land of ghosts. Seeing the seven people return
empty handed, the Sun began to cry. This caused a great flood. To
amuse the Sun and stop the flood, the people danced. This is why
the people do the Sun dance to this day.
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