A CHEROKEE FISH STORY
Manataka American Indian Council
A CHEROKEE
FISH STORY
We are
often told that the Cherokee man never does woman's work. But
this is not always true. One story tells how the man learned from
the fish to do the work of the home.
A man had been
hunting for many days and when he returned home, he found his family
very, very ill. They were so ill his wife could not cook and
she could not tell him what to do for her. He was afraid that his
wife and two children would die if he didn't find out what to do for
them. He knew his wife prepared herbs and plants when they
were sick and he knew a little about the cooking. So, he took
some of the meat he had brought from the hunt and made a simple stew
in the cooking pot. He offered a gourd full to his wife and
children.
His wife was too
sick to eat the stew and the children became sicker. He was very
worried. He had no close neighbors and he thought he had
very little time before something must be done.
That
night he could not sleep, so early in the dark morning he went
out to the river bank to think and worry. "What can I
do? What does she do for us? He worried and thought.
Down the river he heard a splash and he saw some bugs flying around.
He knew that meant there was fish in the water. Up the stream,
he saw a mother fish and some babies. Then he saw the father fish
bringing a bug for their breakfast. He watched the fish parents
taking care taking care of the babies. It was a calm and
pretty little scene.
He looked down
at the hands he had that the fish didn't have and he looked at the
legs that he had that the fish did not have. He remembered
that the Great Creator had given him a mind. So he said to
himself, "get up and do something."
He thought very
hard and tried to remember the medicine plants. He stepped on a
plant and recognized the smell as one his wife had used in their
stew when someone felt bad. He took the plant and put a bit of
it in the water with the meat. He fed the broth to his wife
and children and before night, they felt better. Then his wife could
tell him more about what could be used for
medicine.
The Cherokee
know that the water and land animals have much to teach people about
how to provide for their families.