I decided to go ahead and post this traditional Cherokee story here. Seemed the apropriate place. I hope you all enjoy it.....SH ^i^
THE ORIGIN of MEDICINE
This is what I was told as a boy.... In the begining, animals and people lived together peaceably and talked with each other. But as man does, he began to multiply rapidly, and the animals were crowded into the forests and deserts. Man began to kill animals in great numbers, for their skins and furs, not just for needed food. The animals became angry at such treatment by their former freinds and decided they must punish man.
The Bear tribe met in council, presided over by Old White Bear, their chief. After many bears had spoke out against mankind for his bloodthirsty ways, all agreed there must be war. But what kinds of weapons should the bears use?
Chief Old White Bear sugested useing man's own weapon against him, the bow and arrow. All the council agreed. So the bears set to making bows and arrows, but they soon discovered a problem. What to use as bow strings they wondered, as others searched for good arrow wood. One of the bears decided to sacrifice himself to provide the strings, which was made from the sinew in his body.
When the first bow was finished and tried, the bears claws could not release the string to shoot the arrow. One bear volunteered to cut his claws, but Old White Bear would not allow that, because without claws he could not climb trees for food and safety. Surely he would starve. Their bows were useless.
So the deer tribe called together it's council led by Chief Little Deer. They decided that any Indian who killed a deer without asking pardon, in a suitible manner, should be aflicted with rheumatism in thier joints as punishment. After this decision, Chief Little Deer sent a messanger to thier nearest human neighbors, the Aniyuhnwiya ( Cherokee ).
" From this day forth, your hunters must first offer prayer to the deer before killing him," said the messenger. " You must ask his pardon, stating that you are forced only by your hunger and the needs of your tribe before you take a deers life. Otherwise a terrible disease will befall the hunter. When a deer is slain by an Indian hunter, Chief Little Deer will run to the spot and ask the slain deers spirit, "Did you hear the hunter's prayer for pardon?" If the reply is yes, then all is well and Chief Little Deer will return to his cave. But, if the answer is no, then the Chief will track the hunter to his lodge and strike him with the terible disease of rheumatism, making him a helpless cripple and unable to ever hunt again.
All the fishes and reptiles then held a council and haunt those Aniyuhnwiya, who tormented them, by giving them dreams of hideous serpents twining around them and eating them alive. These snake and fish dreams often tormented the Aniyuhnwiya. To get relief, the Aniyuhnwiya's pleaded with their shaman to banish these frightening dreams if they would no longer torment the snakes and fish.
Now when the friendly plants heard what the animals had decided against mankind, they planned a counter move of their own. Each tree, shrub, herb, grass, and moss agreed to furnish a cure for each disease named by the animals and insects.
Thereafter, when the Aniyuhnwiya visited their shaman about their ailments and if the medicine man was in doubt, he comunicated with the spirits of the plants. They always suggested a proper remedy for mankind's diseases.
And so this was the begining of plant medicine from nature among the Aniyuhnwiya Nation a long, long time ago..... So says, Spirit Hawk ^i^
