Long ago a mighty race of Indians lived near the sunrise, and they called themselves Wawaniki:-Children of Light. Glooskap was their master. He was kind to his people and did many great deeds for them.
Once in Glooskap's day it grew extremely cold. Snow and ice covered everything. Fires would not give enough warmth. The corn would not grow. His people were perishing from cold and famine.
Glooskap set forth the far north where all was ice to find the cause of the cold. Here in a wigwam he found the great giant Winter. It was Winter's icy breath that had frozen the land. Glooskap entered the wigwam and sat down. Winter gave him a pipe, and as they smoked the giant told tales of olden times when he reigned everywhere and all the land was silent, white, and beautiful. His frost charm fell upon Glooskap and as the giant talked on, Glooskap fell asleep. For six months he slept like a bear, then the charm left him. He was too strong for it and awoke.
Soon now Glooskap's talebearer, the Loon, a wild bird who lived on the lakeshores, brought him strange news. He described a country far to the south where it was always warm. There lived the all-powerful Summer who could easily overcome the giant Winter. To save his people from cold and famine and death, Glooskap decided to find her.
Far off to the southern reaches he traveled. Each day the air grew warmer, softer, and sweeter. After many, many days, in the forest he came upon a beautiful woman, dancing in the center of a group of young girls. Her long brown hair was crowned with flowers and her arms filled with blossoms. She was Summer. Glooskap knew that here at last was the one who by her charms could melt old Winter's heart. He leaped to catch her and would not let her go. Together they journeyed the long way back to the lodge of old Winter.
Winter welcomed Glooskap but he planned to freeze him to sleep again. This time, however, Glooskap did the talking. His charm proved the stronger one and soon sweat began to run down Winter's face. He knew that his power was gone and the charm of Frost broken. His icy tent melted away.
Summer now used her own special power and everything awoke. The grass grew green and the snow ran down the rivers, carrying away the dead leaves. Old Winter wept to see his power taken away.
But Summer said, 'Now that I have proved I am more powerful than you, I give you all the country to the far north for your own, and there I shall never disturb you. Six months of every year you may return to Glooskap's country and reign as before, but you are to be less severe with your power. During the other six months, I will come back from the South and rule the land.'
Old Winter could do nothing but accept this. So it is that he appears in Glooskap's country each year to reign for six months, but with a softer rule. When he comes, Summer runs home to her warm south land. When at the end of six months she returns to drive old Winter away, she awakens the north and gives it the joys that only she can bestow.
Grandmother Spider Steals Light Story
In the beginning there was only blackness, and nobody could see anything. People kept bumping into each other and groping blindly. They said: 'What this world needs is light.'
Fox said he knew some people on the other side of the world who had plenty of light, but they were too greedy to share it with others. Possum said he would be glad to steal a little of it. 'I have a bushy tail,' he siad. 'I can hide the light inside all that fur.' Then he set out for the other side of the world.
There he found the sun hanging in a tree and lighting everything up. He sneaked over to the sun, picked out a tiny piece of light, and stuffed it into his tail. But the light was hot and burned all the fur off. The people discovered his theft and took back the light, and ever since, Possoum's tail has been bald.
'Let me try,' said Buzzard. 'I know better than to hide a piece of stolen light in my tail. I'll put it on my head.' He flew to the other side of the world and, diving straight into the sun, seized it with his claws. He put it on his head, but it burned his head feathers off. The people grabbed the sun away from him, and ever since that time Buzzard's head has remained bald.
Grandmother Spider said, 'Let me try!' First she made a thickwalled pot out of clay. Next she spun a web reaching all the way to the other side of the world. She was so small that none of the people there noticed her coming. Quickly Grandmother Spider snatched up the sun, put it in the bowl of clay, and scrambled back home along one of the strands of her web. Now her side of the world had light, and everyone rejoiced.
Spider brought not only the sun to the Cherokee, but fire with it. And besides that, she taught the Cherokee people the art of pottery making.
Hitch Hiking Ghost Story
I earned my driver license when I was 14. In Idaho, kids could have a daytime license until they turned 16. This was so farm kids could drive on the farm, but anyone could go through Drivers Ed. and get a license.
So, I drove during the day until my 16th birthday when I got my nighttime license. I took my girlfriend, Marsha, out for a drive to celebrate. We drove about 40 miles to the next town, enjoying the wind and music and seeing no other cars or people. We turned around to head home and had gone about 5 miles when I saw a girl walking towards us along the side of the road. I thought it was strange that I had not seen her on the way out.
Normally, its not a good idea to pick up strangers but it was dark and she was all alone on this stretch of road with at least another 5 miles to town. Marsha said we should give the poor girl a lift so I pulled over, asked if she'd like a ride, and she hopped in the back seat. She was dressed nicely, in a sweater and skirt, but it looked like she was going to a '50s sock-hop. She was also carrying some basket.
She said she was on her way into town to dance at Midge's but she first needed to stop at her aunt's house to deliver her dinner since her aunt was sick. I'd heard that Midge's is an old bar that has dancing on weekends, but its a pretty sleezy, run-down place.
She told me her aunt's address and we turned around and set off back to the town. Marsha chatted with her a couple minutes and then we just listened to the music.
Then, I asked her what she had made for supper, but she didn't answer. I looked in the mirror, but didn't see anyone in the back seat. Marsha turned around and looked, and the girl had disappeared!
Obviously, this really freaked us both out. We didn't know what to do. I turned around and drove a couple miles back down the road looking to see if she had somehow jumped out the door or something weird. Nothing!
Marsha said maybe we should go to the address she had given us and check it out. Sounded good to me so we went there.
When I knocked on the door, a very old lady opened the door. I explained that we had picked up a girl planning to bring her here, but she vanished. The old lady smiled and asked us to have a seat on her front porch with her.
She then explained that she grew up on a farm outside of town but moved into the town with her husband. Then, in 1957 she had been very sick with pnemonia and her sister had cared for her. Her sister would often send her daughter (the girl we picked up) in to town with meals. Back in those days, Midge's was a hot spot with big dances every Friday night and her niece loved to dance.
One night, while driving in to town, the girl's car was hit by a drunk driver and she was killed instantly. Since then, many people have seen her walking the road into town, still trying to deliver that last meal so she can get to the dance. Anyone that has picked her up has had the same story to tell.
