The Moon and the Thunders
an old Cherokee tale
In a realm where the sky blazed with brilliance, the Sun was a vibrant young woman who resided in the embrace of the East, while her brother, the enigmatic Moon, lingered in the shadows of the West. Each month, in the cloak of night that the dark moon cast, a mysterious lover would steal away to court her. He whispered sweet nothings under the stars, his face concealed in the depths of darkness, sharing nothing but silence where his name should be, leaving her heart yearning for knowledge of his true identity.
Driven by an insatiable curiosity, she devised a clever scheme to unveil his secrets. The next time their souls entwined in the night’s embrace, she stealthily dipped her hand into the warm cinders of the fireplace, painting her fingers with soot. Sighing with feigned concern, she remarked, “Your face is cold; the wind must have tormented you,” her tone laced with faux sympathy. Unbeknownst to him, the ashes danced upon his skin, a secret marking of her cunning.
As the night waned, he took his leave, slipping away once more into the darkness, while she remained, her heart racing with the thrill of her daring reveal.
The next night, when the Moon came up in the sky, his face was covered with
spots, and then his sister knew he was the one who had been coming to see her.
He was so much ashamed to have her know it that he kept as far away as he
could at the other end of the sky all the night. Ever since he tries to keep a long
way behind the Sun, and when he does sometimes have to come near her in the
west, he makes himself as thin as a ribbon so that he can hardly be seen.
Some old people say that the moon is a ball that was thrown up against the sky.
In a game a long time ago. They say that two towns were playing against each other.
the other, but one of them had the best runners and had almost won the game, when
The leader of the other side picked up the ball with his hand—a thing that is not
allowed in the game—and tried to throw it to the goal, but it struck against the
The solid sky vault was fastened there to remind players never to cheat. When
The moon looks small and pale because someone has handled the ball
unfairly, and for this reason, they formerly played only at the time of a full moon.
When the sun or moon is eclipsed, it is because a great frog up in the sky is trying
to swallow it. Everybody knows this, even the Creeks and the other tribes, and in
the olden times, eighty or a hundred years ago, before the great medicine men
They were all dead. Whenever they saw the sun grow dark, the people would come
together and fire guns and beat the drum, and in a little while, this would frighten
off the great frog, and the sun would be all right again.
The common people call both Sun and Moon Nûñdă, one being “Nûñdă thatdwells in the day.”
and the other “Nûñdă that dwells in the night,” but the priests
call the Sun Su′tălidihĭ′, “Six-killer,” and the Moon Ge′ʻyăgu′ga, though nobody
knows now what this word means or why these names are used. Sometimes
People ask the Moon not to let it rain or snow.
The great Thunder and his sons, the two Thunder boys, live far in the west above
the sky vault. The lightning and the rainbow are their beautiful dress. The priests
pray to the Thunder and call him the Red Man, because that is the brightest color
of his dress. There are other Thunders that live lower down, in the cliffs and
mountains, and under waterfalls, and travel on invisible bridges from one high
peak to another, where they have their townhouses.
The great Thunderers above
the sky are kind and helpful when we pray to them, but these others are always
plotting mischief.
One must not point at the rainbow, or one’s finger will swell at
the lower joint.