Native American Legends
The Star Feathers
A Cherokee Legend
A long time ago a warrior of roving disposition went down into
the white settlements toward the east, where for the first time
he saw a peacock.
The beautiful long feathers surprised and delighted him, and by
trading some valuable Indian possession of his own he managed to
buy a few of them, which he took with him to the mountains and hid,
until he was ready to use them, in an old beaver lodge under the
river bank. To get into the beaver lodge he had to dive under the
water.
Then he set to work secretly and made himself a headdress, with
the long peacock feathers in the front and trailing out behind and
the shorter ones at the sides. At the next dance he wore the new
headdress, and asserted that he had been up to the sky and that
these were star feathers. He made a long speech also, which he pretended
was a message he had received from the star spirits to deliver to
the people.
Everyone wondered at the beautiful feathers, so different from
any they had ever seen before. They made no doubt that he had been
up to the sky and talked with spirits. He became a great prophet,
and used to keep himself hidden all day in the beaver hole, and
whenever there was a night gathering for a dance or a council he
would suddenly appear among them wearing his feather headdress and
give the people a new message from the sky. Then he would leave
them again, pretending that he went up to heaven.
He grew famous, and powerful among all the medicine men, until
at last it happened that another Cherokee went down among the white
settlements and saw there another peacock, and knew at once that
the prophet was a fraud. On his return he quietly told some of his
friends, and they decided to investigate.
When the next night dance came around the prophet was on hand as
usual with a new message fresh from the stars. The people listened
reverently, and promised to do all that he commanded. Then he left
them, saying that he must return at once to the sky, but as he went
out from the circle the spies followed him in the darkness, and
saw him go down to the river and dive under the water. They waited,
but he, did not come up again, and they went back and told the people.
The next morning a party went to the spot and discovered the beaver
lodge under the bank. One man dived and came up inside, and there
he found the prophet sitting with the peacock feathers by his side.
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