Little Deer, www.cherokee.org
The two traveled onward through the brush. They reached buffalo valley and trotted across the fields.
"Ududu, when will the buffalo leave the valley?"
"They are about to leave soon, Morning-Dawn. Their time is almost near. They will move farther east and then we will go also."
"The skyvault is closing and the sun will go past the trees. Let us return home."
The two crossed the valley and headed towards the smoke on the hilltop. As they neared camp, they heard a great commotion in the woods.
A family of deer burst through the trees.
"Morning-Dawn, your bow, grab your bow!"
Morning-Dawn hurriedly grabbed an arrow and loaded his bow. Trying to steady his hand he let the arrow fly.
"Excellent, Morning-Dawn. That was a shot worthy of much praise. Let us grab this little deer and head to camp."
The two lifted the deer. It was just a small doe. They took some leather straps and bound the deer to a nearby tree limb that had been cast to the ground and carried it into the circle of teepees. The elders and young boys began to chant and cheer. This was Morning-Dawn's first kill. The tribe gathered around the two men.
"What is happening, grandfather? Why are the others chanting praises? Why are there feathers making the smoke drift off the sage?"
"We have to praise the Little Deer, Morning-Dawn. He is the little person in charge of the deer spirits. Each time one kills a deer we must praise him. If we do not praise him, then he will put an ailment onto us so fierce that you would not want to wander into the woods again."
"Come, Morning-Dawn, learn more of your people."
"Once, a man of the nearby village did not heed to the law of Little Deer. He painted himself with moss and crept into the nearby forest. He was hunting the deer in darkness and no one knew he was there. The deer slept quietly on the thicket. The evil one crawled on the ground like a snake until he was so close to the deer he could hear their breath. He jumped up and cried the most terrible war cry. The deer were taken by surprise and froze. He received a slaughter of deer on this eve but he forgot to ask Little Deer for pardon. Little Deer became very angry and when he heard about the man's spiteful deed he cursed him with red blisters all over his head. To this day, he is in so much pain from the red sores upon his head that he cries the same cry he did that night and has never entered the forest again."
Morning-Dawn's eyes became as big as a duck's egg and he began to dance around and join the chanting.
Author's note: This story is taken from the legends of Little Deer. He is a trickster in many hunting tales of the Cherokee. The Cherokee often chanted songs and played drums to spirits that provided them food. Cherokee often use burning sage as a cleansing tool for impurities of the flesh; they wave feathers to spread the sage's smoke around. I took the story and expanded greatly on it. The story that I found is more of a statement than a story. So I added more of the frametale to help incorporate the story. I also added the tale about the man from a nearby tribe that disobeyed the act of asking Little Deer for pardon. You can find the story at Cherokee.org.
This tale was told to me by Bunch, Oklahoma resident, Christopher Columbus Cochrum, as he was told the same story when he was a boy and his grandmother told his father as she carried twin boys down the Trail of Tears.
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