THE JOURNEY

THE JOURNEY

A story handed down by my great grandfather, Running Fox, went like this. A very long time ago, long before the white man came to our lands and before the great village of our forefathers, the mount builder. The Creeks and the Cherokee made a journey to the land of the dead. They sent three from each tribe, three of their best braves. The Creeks and the Cherokees gave thanks to the great spirits so that the Great Spirit would look after these young braves on their journey. After days of giving thanks, these six young braves set out on their journey. Moving west towards the great river, it took many moons to reach the river; they came to the bank of the river. The darkest was getting near, the Great Spirit of the sun was going to rest, so the young Creeks and Cherokee braves said, "We will make camp, when the spirit of the sun returns, we will cross the great river and see what is in this land".

All night the young braves could hear these sounds coming from across the great river. The sound of drums, the sound of drums they had never heard before, these sounds would put fear into the spirit of your soul. The young braves did not get too much sleep that night but the next morning, when the spirit of the sun came up, the young braves were up. A young Creek brave said, "We come to see and now we will cross the great river and find out what is on their land."

They crossed over the river, the water in the river moved very fast and strong but in time all six of the braves had made it to the west bank. They moved west, away from the great river and the further they went from the great river the deader the trees, the grass was brown and the only birds in the sky were the birds of death, they were everywhere. They just went around and around as if to say that death was waiting for them. They were so taken back with the birds of death that they had not looked around very well. When one of the young Cherokee braves said, "Look at the dark people". They looked around very fast but did not see them. They said, "What did you see?" and the young brave said, "They were standing right there, as dark as the night".

When the great sun had gone to rest, one of the other young Cherokee braves said, "Are you sure?" The young Creek said, "Our brother, the Cherokee, said he saw this, so it must be. It is getting late and we must make camp before the spirit of the great sun goes to rest". They made camp and they all agreed to keep a big fire going all night as to light up the camp. In the morning hours, the fire had begun to die down, so one of the young Cherokee braves said, "I will get more wood" and he went into the dark to get it. They heard the cries coming from the dark, so loud were these cries, you could hear the pain. As the young Cherokee brave cried for help to his friends, fear was all over the camp and the fire died and the chill of the cold came upon them. No man had known fear as these young men.

The spirit of the great sun was coming up, so the young braves went to look for their friend, but he was not to be found. There was no sign that he was ever there. About that time, a spear hit one of the Creek braves in the back, he next