Reading Diary B: Cherokee Stories

So in continuing the second half of the Cherokee Stories unit, I just want to focus on a couple stories that I liked.

I found The Race Between the Crane and Hummingbird particularly amusing. In it, a crane and hummingbird are both in love with the same woman. She says whoever flies around the world back to her can marry her. She did this because she preferred the hummingbird and figured he could fly the fastest so he would surely win. The hummingbird is fast, but the crane can fly all night. The hummingbird takes the lead at the beginning a few other times, but ultimately the crane wins the race since he doesn't have to rest for a night.

Now you're probably thinking, "What's so special about this story? The crane marries the woman, the end."

Right?

Wrong. The woman decides she would just rather be single. THAT'S the end. I love stories like this that have an ending that's just so atypical from what you expect!

Although, I don't know, that's a good looking crane.

I also liked Red Man and Uktena. The Uktena is a giant snake that had previously been a man. But anyways, two brothers go hunting. One went to go find deer to hunt, and came upon a man being choked by Uktena. The hunter shot and killed the beast. It rolled down the hill, dead. The man who he had saved was the Red Man of Lightning. He promised to give the hunter a medicine so that he can always find something to hunt. He made a fire using wood from a tree that had been struck by lightning, and gave the medicine to the hunter.

He told him that the hunter's brother would be sick when the uktena scale was near, but gave him a cure for the sickness as well. The next day, the brothers went hunting and had no trouble finding game at all. 

I liked this one because of the oppositeness of the other story. In the first one I discussed, there is a twist ending. In this one the story ends how you expect. Both make for good stories!