NORTHERN CHEROKEE NATION
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    • How the Deer Got His Horns
    • WHY THE DEER’S TEETH ARE BLUNT
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    • THE LEGEND OF THE FIRST WOMEN
    • How the Rabbit stole the Otter's coat
    • How the Honey Bee got their Stinger
    • BOY AND THE RATTLESNAKE STORY
    • LEGEND OF THE TLANUHWA AND THE UHKTENA
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    • Why Rabbit Has A Short Tail
    • Why the Opossum’s Tail is Bare
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WHY THE DEER’S TEETH ARE BLUNT
​

The Rabbit felt sore because the Deer had won the horns
(See the story of how the Deer got his horns), and resolved to get even.
One day soon after the race he stretched a large grapevine across the trail and gnawed it
nearly in two in the middle. Then he went back a piece, took a good run, and jumped up at the vine.
He kept on running and jumping up at the vine until the Deer came along and asked him what he was doing?

"Don't you see?" says the Rabbit. "I'm so strong that I can bite through that grapevine at one jump."

The Deer could hardly believe this, and wanted to see it done. So the Rabbit ran back,
made a tremendous spring, and bit through the vine where he had gnawed it before.
The Deer when he saw that, said “Well, I can do it if you can.” So the Rabbit
stretched a larger grapevine across the trail, but without gnawing it in the middle. The Deer ran
back as he had seen the Rabbit do, made a spring, and struck the grapevine right in the center,
but it only flew back and threw him over on his head. He tried again and again,
until he was all bruised and bleeding.

“Let me see your teeth,” at last said the Rabbit. So the Deer showed him his teeth,
which were long like a wolf’s teeth, but not very sharp.

“No wonder you can’t do it” says the Rabbit; “your teeth are to blunt to bite anything.
Let me sharpen them for you like mine.My teeth are so sharp I can cut
through a stick just like a knife.”

And he showed him a black locust twig, of which rabbits gnaw the young shoots, which he
had shaved off as well as a knife could do it, in regular rabbit fashion.
The Deer thought that just the thing.
So the Rabbit got a hard stone with rough edges and filed and filed away at the
Deer’s teeth until they were worn down almost to the gums.
“It hurts,” said the Deer; but the Rabbit said it always hurts a little when they began
to get sharp; so the Deer kept quiet.

“Now try it,” at last said the Rabbit. So the Deer tried again, but this time he could not bite at all.

“Now you have paid for your horns, “said the Rabbit, as he jumped away through the bushes.
​Ever since then the Deer’s teeth are so blunt that he cannot chew anything but grass and leaves.


(By James Mooney)
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  • Home
  • Contact
  • Council Members
  • Events
  • PowWow
    • Vendor Information
    • Booklet Memorials & Ads
  • Photos
    • PowWows Past
    • Warsaw Heritage Days
    • Old Glory Days Parade
    • Fourth of July Weekend
    • Tribal Headquarters Improvements
    • Council Meetings
    • Darkening of the Sun
  • History
    • Children Massacre at Ywahoo Falls
    • Wampum Belt
    • Leaving our homeland
    • Spanish Treaty
    • Natural Disasters
    • Forced Removal
    • States against Indians
    • New Hope
    • Legal Genocide
    • Federal Recognition
    • Bringing the Children Home
    • Historical Cherokee marriage
    • In Ancient Times I
    • The Early Times II
    • The Colonial Period III
    • Sequoyah IV
    • The Cherokee Removal V
    • The Cherokee Today VI
  • Stories
    • How the Deer Got His Horns
    • WHY THE DEER’S TEETH ARE BLUNT
    • What Became Of The Rabbit
    • The Legend of the Cherokee Rose
    • Origin of the Bear
    • Why The Mink Smells
    • Life Lesson for All Cherokee
    • How the Partridge Got His Whistle
    • How The Redbird Got His Color
    • The First Fire
    • The Cherokee Legend of the First Strawberry
    • The Sixth Sun Has Risen
    • Young Harold Mayo and the Witch Woman
    • ORIGIN OF DISEASE AND MEDICINE
    • THE LEGEND OF THE FIRST WOMEN
    • How the Rabbit stole the Otter's coat
    • How the Honey Bee got their Stinger
    • BOY AND THE RATTLESNAKE STORY
    • LEGEND OF THE TLANUHWA AND THE UHKTENA
    • Yahula
    • Bears Race with Turtle
    • Why the Owl has a Spotted Coat
    • Why the Trees Lose Their Leaves
    • Why Rabbit Has A Short Tail
    • Why the Opossum’s Tail is Bare
  • Culture
    • Cherokee Adoption, past and present
    • Roles of extended family
    • Cherokee Clan System
    • Sacred Colors
    • Entering the Circle
    • Fall Cultivation
    • Dances
    • Straight Dancing
    • The Stomp Dance
  • Artist Showcase
  • Council Minutes