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Exploration
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CHEROKEE STORIES
Origin of Strawberries
(From Myths of the Cherokee, by James Mooney)
When the first man was created and a mate was given to him, they lived together very happily for a time, but then began to quarrel, until at last the woman left her husband and started off toward Nundagun'yi, the Sun land, in the east. The man followed alone and grieving, but the woman kept on steadily ahead and never looked behind, until Une'lanun'hi, the great Apportioner (the Sun), took pity on him and asked if he would like to have her back again, to which he eagerly answered yes.
So Une'lanun'hi caused a patch of the finest ripe huckleberries to spring up along the path in front of the woman, but she passed by without paying attention to them. Farther on he put a clump of blackberries, but these also she refused to notice. Other fruits, one, two, three, and then some covered with beautiful red service berries, were placed beside the path to tempt her, but she still went on until suddenly she saw in front a patch of large ripe strawberries, the first ever known. She stooped to gather a few to eat, and as she picked them she chanced to turn her face to the west, and at once the memory of her husband came back to her and she found herself unable to go on. She sat down, but the longer she waited the stronger became her desire for her husband, and at last she gathered a bunch of the finest berries and started back along the path to give them to him. He met her kindly and they went home together.
History, Myths and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, a compilation of Mooney's reports to the Bureau of American Ethnology, is available in the Native Nashville Online Book Store.
This story, and 20 others told by story teller Marion Ayuni Dunn are available on audio tape in the Native Nashville Online Store. Follow the link below for more details.
Stories
Told By the Cherokee of Old
Marion Ayuni Dunn
