So people came to the earth. They came so rapidly that for a time it seemed as though the earth could not hold them all.
Also interesting they spent so much time explaining lots of other things, but they chose to just have people arrive and then rapidly expand.
He hit her with a fish. In seven days a little child came down to the earth.
For all of the explanation of life, norms, and traditions they sure did just skip over the birds and the bees.
At first there was only one man and one woman.
Finally, people have arrived. There is real mention as to how or why though.
Even some of the trees went to sleep. Only the cedar, the pine, the spruce, the holly, and the laurel were awake all seven nights. Therefore they are always green. They are also sacred trees. But to the other trees it was said, “Because you did not stay awake, therefore you shall lose your hair every winter.”
This goes along with the last example. They're able to make sense of different natural phenomena they've seen, and by linking it to one of their own practices it sticks. Panthers, owls, and a few others are nocturnal animals. While pine, spruce, holly, and laurels are "evergreen". (I don't think all of those are evergreen, but I'm using that synonymously with trees that don't drop leaves)
But when they were first made, they were told to watch and keep awake for seven nights. This is the way young men do now when they fast and pray to their medicine. They tried to do this. The first night, nearly all the animals stayed awake. The next night several of them dropped asleep. The third night still more went to sleep. At last, on the seventh night, only the owl, the panther, and one or two more were still awake. Therefore, to these were given the power to see in the dark, to go about as if it were day, and to kill and eat the birds and animals which must sleep during the night.
Once again they're able to explain things they've observed via their origin story.
We do not know who made the first plants and animals.
Again they allude to a more powerful but unknown creator.
We know that the seasons in the underground world are different, because the water in the spring is always warmer in winter than the air in this world; and in summer the water is cooler.
This is one of my favorite parts of this story. A very interesting way to explain natural phenomena they have observed.
There is another world under this earth. It is like this one in every way. The animals, the plants, and the people are the same, but the seasons are different. The streams that come down from the mountains are the trails by which we reach this underworld. The springs at their head are the doorways by which we enter it.
This seems very whimsical, but also reasonable given lack of knowledge/science.
But in order to enter the other world, one must fast and then go to the water, and have one of the underground people for a guide.
This almost seems like one must die to enter the underground world.
at last they had raised it seven handsbreadths so that it was just under the sky arch. Then it was right and they left it so. That is why the medicine men called the high place “the seventh height.”
Another part of the origin story that corresponds with a norm/tradition. This gives an explanation of what they would consider heaven.
Then the medicine men raised the sun a handsbreadth in the air
Medicine men probably held great importance to the Cherokee people, but I wonder as to why medicine men existed before mention of people.
Red Crawfish had his shell scorched a bright red, so that his meat was spoiled. Therefore the Cherokees do not eat it.
This is a good example of how part of the origin story affects a norm/tradition they follow.
set it in a track to go every day across the island from east to west, just overhead.
A second example of something they experience everyday.
Therefore they got the sun and set it in a track to go every day across the island from east to west, just overhead.
Again the animals act as "creators".
When the animals above saw this, they were afraid that the whole world would be mountains, so they called him back,
Again the animals communicate and cooperate.
his wings began to flap and strike the ground. Wherever they struck the earth there was a valley; whenever the wings turned upwards again, there was a mountain.
Once again an animal acts as a "creator". This is also an example of something happening in the story that has later effected their everyday life.
The animals were anxious to get down, and they sent out different birds to see if it was yet dry, but there was no place to alight; so the birds came back to Galun’lati.
Once again animals are personified to be able to make decisions and cooperate.
Galun’lati,
This could be heaven or space potentially.
Afterwards this earth was fastened to the sky with four cords, but no one remembers who did this.
This line seems to allude to a more powerful creator. This could potentially be a good like entity. I see this as not done by an animal for if it was the other animals would remember this.
Then Water Beetle dived to the bottom of the water and brought up some soft mud.
Animals in this story can be seen as "creators".
There was no land at all.
Before the animals took action Earth was not what we know it to be today.
The animals began to wonder what was below the water and at last Beaver’s grandchild, little Water Beetle, offered to go and find out.
Animals are also personified in this story. They have the ability to question there world and take action based on this.
In the long time ago, when everything was all water, all the animals lived up above in Galun’lati, beyond the stone arch that made the sky.
Animals were in existence before humans.
When the world grows old and worn out, the cords will break, and then the earth will sink down into the ocean. Everything will be water again. All the people will be dead. The Indians are much afraid of this.
This story while being a creation story also includes how the world will end.
The earth is a great floating island in a sea of water. At each of the four corners there is a cord hanging down from the sky. The sky is of solid rock.
In this story the Earth is already a pre-existing entity.