Essay: Cherokee Stories

I really enjoyed reading this unit on Cherokee Stories. There was a lot of good insight into the Cherokee culture as well as some really cool stories. I thought the stories kept the reader interested and were very unique. Most of the stories involved animals. These animals had giant personalities and brought a lot of character into each story. Some stories talk about things on earth and where they came from. For example a story about where the moon came from or where strawberries came from.

My favorite story involved the tobacco plant. The setting of the story was when the world was first created and there was only one tobacco plant of the earth. In the story, animals and humans took turns smoking the tobacco until some dangerous geese stole it. When an old woman is about to die because she no longer has tobacco, the animals come together to try and get the plant back. After failure time and time again, a little hummingbird wants to try and get it. The humming bird is so fast that he successfully get the plant and brings it back to the sick old woman. She smokes the tobacco and is healthy again. Happy endings are always the best!

I thought the style of the writing was pretty cool in these stories. It was traditional and made the reader get a good feel for the setting. There are not a lot of notes for these stories, but they aren't really needed. The stories themselves provide enough detail and insight for the reader to understand what is going on.

I enjoyed reading these stories because I took Cherokee as my foreign language for two years in college. It is a very cool and interesting culture that played a significant role in Oklahoma history. I haven't taken Cherokee since last year, so it was good to get to read more stories from the Cherokee again. I would suggest this unit to other students in the course as well!

Tobacco Plant.

Photo Cred: PixGood