Reading Post: Cherokee Myths (Part B)

Image: Owl

Reading through the Cherokee Myths, I began to fall in love with my ancestors' people.  These stories are rich with imagination and you can easily picture them being told around campfires or to small children as they fall asleep.  My favorite story from this section was The Owl Gets Married from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900),

In The Owl Gets Married, a young woman's mother tells her only to marry a good hunter.  When a suitor comes along asking for the girl, the mother inquires if he is a good hunter and he says he is.  The mother allows her daughter to marry him.  As the days go by, the man leaves each morning to hunt and fish and is gone all day, but only brings a few fish or scraps home each night, saying that he didn't have any luck.  The mother is suspicious and tells her daughter to follow him.  When the young woman follows the man the next day as he leaves to hunt, she sees him turn into an owl and grab food from the river, then transform to a man and return home.  This is where I expected the story to end with her being wonderfully excited that her lover was an owl. Owls are known as being very good hunters and are sacred in many cultures.  Instead, she confronts him and banishes him.  The story ends with the owl grieving his love.  I think that this story would be fun to rewrite, but maybe change the ending to be a happier one.  The owl could be bringing home loads of small kills each night or maybe change the owl to a different animal that is also a good hunter, but one that can kill larger animals.