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. They were to start together from one side of a thicket
and go through it, then turn and come back, and the one who came out first was to get the horns.
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 thereafter, and so he does to this day.
-----Excerpt from “History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees” by James Mooney
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. They were to start together from one side of a thicket
and go through it, then turn and come back, and the one who came out first was to get the horns.
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 thereafter, and so he does to this day.
-----Excerpt from “History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees” by James Mooney
