The First Strawberry
: CHEROKEE TALES: Indian Legends Retold
It is told that the first man and woman quarreled, and the woman left
her husband. He followed her sorrowfully, but she never once looked
back. At last the Sun took pity on the man.
"Do you still love her?" asked the Sun, and the man said he did, and
prayed to the Sun to help him win her back again.
Then the Sun caused all manner of delicious fruits to spring up in her
path. The woman saw luscious purple huckleberries, but she went right
on over them. A service tree laden with sweet red fruit stood in front
of her, and she passed it by. Finally she came upon a patch of scarlet
strawberries, the first that ever grew, and these she could not
resist.
She stooped to taste one, and at once the thought of her husband came
into her mind. All the sweetness of their love enfolded her, and she
stood quite still in the strawberry patch until he came up with her,
and embraced her, and they went back together.
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