An Old Cherokee
Legend
As the Sun
traveled across the sky she stopped in the middle each day to have dinner at
her daughter's house. Now the Sun hated people because they would always squint
when they looked at her. "They screw up their faces at me!" she told
her brother the Moon. "I like them," said the Moon, "they always
smile at me." The Sun was jealous and decided she would kill the people by
sending a fever. Many people died and those who remained decided they would
have to kill the Sun. With some magic, one of the people was turned into a
rattlesnake and sent to wait by the daughter's door, to bite the Sun when she
stopped for dinner. But when the daughter opened the door to look for her
mother, the snake bit her instead. The snake returned to Earth with the Sun
still alive and the daughter dead. When the Sun discovered what had happened
she shut herself up in the house and grieved. The people no longer had the
fever but now it was cold and dark. So, seven people were chosen to visit the
land where ghosts dance to see if they could retrieve the daughter. As she
danced past them they struck her with rods so she fell down, then they trapped
her in a box. On the trip home she complained of not being able to breathe so
they opened the lid just a crack. She became a redbird and escaped, flying back
to the land of ghosts. Seeing the seven people return empty handed, the Sun
began to cry. This caused a great flood. To amuse the Sun and stop the flood,
the people danced.This is why
the people do the Sun dance to this very day.