Week 10 Reading Notes Part A: Tobacco and Strawberries

How They Brought Back the Tobacco

In the beginning of the world, there is a single tobacco plant that everyone took from until geese steal it.  Everyone's health deteriorates and one lady is about to die because she doesn't have her tobacco.  Many animals offered to help but every one that did got killed by the geese.  Finally, a hummingbird, who everyone thinks would be too small and weak, proves his abilities to get the plant by flying to a plant in a field and back without anyone even noticing.  He manages to steal the tobacco and seeds and saves the dying woman and the day is saved.

Tobacco Plant sourced via Wikipedia

Origin of Strawberries

The first man and woman are created and live in peace for a while, but eventually they start to fight and the woman goes off to the sun land.  The man follows behind her feeling sorrowful but the woman never looks back.  The sun then asks the man if he is still angry with her, to which he says no.  He is then asked if he would like her back and he eagerly says yes.  So, the sun forms a patch of the finest huckleberries and blackberries in front of the woman but she refuses to even look at either of these.  New plants were continually put in front of her until the red berries, the strawberries, caught her eye.  She stops to gather and eat them and is reminded of the good times she had with her husband.  She gathers more berries and comes back to them and they are happy again.

I really liked these stories because I love origin stories.  They really say a lot about culture and since I am part Muscogee Creek Indian I really like learning about how my ancestors thought.  I am leaning toward the tobacco story because I really liked the underdog feeling it gave and I feel like I could really take the opportunity to expand on such a short story.

Bibliography:

Cherokee: Tobacco and Strawberries by James Mooney