Reading Notes: Cherokee Part A
The Rabbit and the Deer story has two stories in one.
The first story, "How the Deer Got His Horns" is about a deer and rabbit that both have exceptional agility. The deer can run fast and the rabbit can jump high. The animals in the forest wanted to see the two race. All the animals decided upon rules and made the prize a pair of horns (antlers). The animals gathered to watch this prestigious race.
The rabbit tried to trick the animals and cheat the race by "looking at the race track," but instead he was creating a path way so that he could finish faster.
After reading this story, I wondered why the rabbit is always the trickster in stories. For example, in the tortoise and the hare, the hare was once again the trickster that was overly confident about winning,
The next story is honestly quite sad. The rabbit, being a sore loser, tries to trick the deer into making a decision that ultimately hurts his lifestyle. Once again, the rabbit is a cheater and gnawed on a vine to make it thin, then he jumps on the vine and snaps it. The deer thinks that if the rabbit can do it, then he can too. The rabbit instead grabs the deer a larger vine, and watches him attempt it. The deer cannot break the vine and so the rabbit tells the deer to gnaw at it. Since the deer has specific teeth, he is not able to do the job. The rabbit tricks the deer into letting it sharpen his teeth. The rabbit grinds them down so much that the deer is in pain and is unwilling to eat anything except grass and leaves now. The rabbit is not only a sore loser, but also a bully.
Bibliography: The Deer and the Rabbit from the Cherokee Unit by James Mooney
The first story, "How the Deer Got His Horns" is about a deer and rabbit that both have exceptional agility. The deer can run fast and the rabbit can jump high. The animals in the forest wanted to see the two race. All the animals decided upon rules and made the prize a pair of horns (antlers). The animals gathered to watch this prestigious race.
The rabbit tried to trick the animals and cheat the race by "looking at the race track," but instead he was creating a path way so that he could finish faster.
After reading this story, I wondered why the rabbit is always the trickster in stories. For example, in the tortoise and the hare, the hare was once again the trickster that was overly confident about winning,
The next story is honestly quite sad. The rabbit, being a sore loser, tries to trick the deer into making a decision that ultimately hurts his lifestyle. Once again, the rabbit is a cheater and gnawed on a vine to make it thin, then he jumps on the vine and snaps it. The deer thinks that if the rabbit can do it, then he can too. The rabbit instead grabs the deer a larger vine, and watches him attempt it. The deer cannot break the vine and so the rabbit tells the deer to gnaw at it. Since the deer has specific teeth, he is not able to do the job. The rabbit tricks the deer into letting it sharpen his teeth. The rabbit grinds them down so much that the deer is in pain and is unwilling to eat anything except grass and leaves now. The rabbit is not only a sore loser, but also a bully.
A deer with horns (antlers)
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