The Cherokee nation originally inhabited the Appalachian
region of the United States, but a relocation
effort begun by the U.S. government in 1838
removed huge numbers of Cherokee to Oklahoma
via a route called the “Trail of Tears.”Currently, the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma comprises a little
over half the total Cherokee living in the United
States. The folktales of the Oklahoma Cherokee
preserve the beliefs, customs, and spiritual resiliency
of a culture that has managed to survive
enormous obstacles while maintaining its native
dignity and strength.
The tales of the Oklahoma Cherokee are inherited,
in many ways, from older myths of shared ancestry
with the Eastern Band Cherokee. One
example is the story of Selu, the corn goddess, and
her husband Kana’ti. These two, who were among
the first humans on earth, established the division
of labor that would subsequently be practiced in
the Cherokee tribe. Kana’ti (whose name means
“hunter” in Cherokee) established that men would
be responsible for bringing home animals to provide
meat, while Selu (whose name means “corn”)
was able to produce corn by shaking it out of her
body and established that women would take care
of planting, harvesting, and food preparation.
Other folktales describe the origin of natural phenomenon.
For instance, “How the Deer Got His
Horns” explains how Deer competed in a race with
Rabbit in which a pair of antlers was the prize. As
James Mooney tells the story in Myths of the Cherokee,
the judges discovered that Rabbit had cheated by
gnawing a shortcut through the bushes. Therefore:
They agreed that such a trickster had no right
to enter the race at all, so they gave the horns to
the Deer, who was admitted to be the best runner,
and he has worn them ever since. They
told the Rabbit that as he was so fond of cutting
down bushes he might do that for a living
hereafter, and so he does to this day.
Some of the Oklahoma Cherokee folktales are
what Mooney calls “wonder tales,” stories of magic
and enchantment that might include spirits, giants,
personified elements like Thunder, or similar
supernatural events. Other folktales serve as
records of historical traditions, preserving accounts
of trade, interaction with other tribes, wars,
and the first contacts with Europeans. Some tales
provide a simple moral lesson.
Though they may simply appear to be entertaining
stories, these Cherokee folktales act as valuable
cultural records, preserving and communicating
Cherokee ways of life and modes of thought. Aside
from offering information about diet, economics,
social structures, and tribal etiquette, the folktales
preserve sacred religious teachings and offer myths
that explain how the Cherokee understood and interpreted
the world.Many of the folktales incorporate
the foundational Cherokee understanding of
the nature of the world as a union of the Upper
World, and Lower World, and the earth world
(called in the creation tales the “Ball of Mud”),
which must be kept in a state of balance.
Moreover, despite their age and the fact that
they have survived a centuries-long oral tradition
(see ORAL LITERATURE/TRADITION), these tales offer a
perspective on the world that can benefit presentday
readers. In Marilou Awiakta’s Selu: Seeking the
Corn-Mother’s Wisdom,Wilma Mankiller, the principal
chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma,
reminds readers that these old folktales teach lessons
that still have currency in contemporary life.
She writes:
We human beings are sometimes so oriented
toward scientific explanations for everything
that we seldom are able to suspend that analytical
state of mind. . . .We have never really
understood that we are one small part of a very
large family that includes the plant world, the
animal world and our other living relations.
In addition to being entertaining stories that
audiences of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy
and appreciate, the folktales of the Oklahoma
Cherokee remind readers of the subtle balance that
must be maintained in all things as well as the connection
to the larger world for which each individual
is responsible.
English Versions of Oklahoma
Cherokee Folktales
Cherokee Folk Tales & Myths. Translated by Agnes
Cowen. Park Hill, Okla.: Cross-Cultural Education
Center, 1984.
Kilpatrick, Jack F. and Anna G. Friends of Thunder:
Folktales of the Oklahoma Cherokees. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.
Living Stories of the Cherokee. Edited by Barbara R.
Duncan and Davey Arch. Raleigh: University of
North Carolina Press, 1998.
Mooney, James. Cherokee Animal Tales. Edited by
George F. Scheer.New York: Holiday House, 1968.
Works about Oklahoma Cherokee Folktales
Mooney, James. History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas
of the Cherokees. Asheville, N.C.: Bright Mountain
Books, 1992.
———.Myths of the Cherokee. New York: Dover Publications,
1995.