Native American Legends
What the stars are like
A Cherokee Legend
There are different opinions about the stars. Some say they are
balls of light, others say they are human, but most people say they
are living creatures covered with luminous fur or feathers.
One night a hunting party camping in the mountains noticed two
lights like large stars moving along the top of a distant ridge.
They wondered and watched until the light disappeared on the other
side. The next night, and the next, they saw the lights again moving
along the ridge, and after talking over the matter decided to go
on the morrow and try to learn the cause.
In the morning they started out and went until they came to the
ridge, where, after searching some time, they found two strange
creatures about so large (making a circle with outstretched arms),
with round bodies covered with fine fur or downy feathers, from
which small heads stuck out like the heads of terrapins. As the
breeze played upon these feathers showers of sparks flew out.
The hunters carried the strange creatures back to the camp, intending
to take them home to the settlements on their return. They kept
them several days and noticed that every night they would grow bright
and shine like great stars, although by day they were only balls
of gray fur, except when the wind stirred and made the sparks fly
out.
They kept very quiet, and no one thought of their trying to escape,
when, on the seventh night, they suddenly rose from the ground like
balls of fire and were soon above the tops of the trees. Higher
and higher they went, while the wondering hunters watched, until
at last they were only two bright points of light in the dark sky,
and then the hunters knew that they were stars.
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