Story of the Day: The Milky Way

Here is today's story: The Milky Way. This is a Cherokee legend collected by james Mooney. You can read more Cherokee stories here, including more aetiology stories.




THE MILKY WAY

Some people in the south had a corn mill, in which they pounded the corn into meal, and several mornings when they came to fill it they noticed that some of the meal had been stolen during the night.

They examined the ground and found the tracks of a dog, so the next night they watched, and when the dog came from the north and began to eat the meal out of the bowl they sprang out and whipped him.

He ran off howling to his home in the north, with the meal dropping from his mouth as he ran, and leaving behind a white trail where now we see the Milky Way, which the Cherokee call to this day Gi`lï'-utsûñ'stänûñ'yï, "Where the dog ran."



Story Title: The Milky Way
Book Title: Myths of the Cherokee
Author: James Mooney
Published: 1900
Rights: CC0 Public Domain
Online Source: Sacred Texts
Process: Light editing for paragraphing.