HOW THE DEER GOT HIS HORNS
In the beginning the Deer had no horns, but his
head was smooth just like a doe's. He was a great runner and the Rabbit
was a great jumper, and the animals were all curious to know which could go
farther in the same time. They talked about it a good deal, and at last
arranged a match between the two, and made a nice large pair of antlers for a
prize to the winner.
On the day fixed all the animals were there,
with the antlers put down on the ground at the edge of the thicket to mark the
starting point. While
everybody was admiring the horns the Rabbit said:
"I don't know this part of the country; I want to take a look through the
bushes where I am to run." They thought that all right, so the Rabbit
went into the thicket, but he was gone so long that at last the animals
suspected he must be up to one of his tricks. They sent a messenger to
look for him, and away in the middle of the thicket he found the Rabbit gnawing
down the bushes and pulling them away until he had a road cleared nearly to the
other side.
The messenger turned
around quietly and came back and told the other animals. When the Rabbit came
out at last they accused him of cheating, but he denied it until they went into
the thicket and found the cleared road. 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.
From
"James Mooney's History, Myths and Sacred Formulas of the
Cherokees"
Published
by Bright Mountain Books, Inc.