A long time ago a warrior of roving disposition
went down into the white settlements toward the east, where for the
first time he saw a peacock. The beautiful long feathers surprised and
delighted him, and by trading some valuable Indian possession of his
own he managed to buy a few of them, which he took with him to the
mountains and hid, until he was ready to use them, in an old beaver
lodge under the river bank. To get into the beaver lodge he had to
dive under the water.
Then he set to work secretly and made himself a headdress, with the
long peacock feathers in the front and trailing out behind and the
shorter ones at the sides. At the next dance he wore the new
headdress, and asserted that he had been up to the sky and that these
were star feathers (see number 9, "What the stars are like"). He made
a long speech also, which he pretended was a message he had received
from the star spirits to deliver to the people.
Everyone wondered at the beautiful feathers, so different from any
they had ever seen before. They made no doubt that he had been up to
the sky and talked with spirits. He became a great prophet, and used
to keep himself hidden all day in the beaver hole, and whenever there
was a night gathering for a dance or a council he would suddenly
appear among them wearing his feather headdress and give the people a
new message from the sky. Then he would leave them again, pretending
that he went up to heaven.
He grew famous, and powerful among all the medicine men, until at last
it happened that another Cherokee went down among the white
settlements and saw there another peacock, and knew at once that the
prophet was a fraud. On his return he quietly told some of his
friends, and they decided to investigate. When the next night dance
came around the prophet was on hand as usual with a new message fresh
from the stars. The people listened reverently, and promised to do all
that he commanded. Then he left them, saying that he must return at
once to the sky, but as he went out from the circle the spies followed
him in the darkness, and saw him go down to the river and dive under
the water. They waited, but he, did not come up again, and they went
back and told the people. The next morning a party went to the spot
and discovered the beaver lodge under the bank. One man dived and came
up inside, and there he found the prophet sitting with the peacock
feathers by his side.
