The Handsome Stranger, Part 1
Shell Carrier stayed among us for a few days and made many friends. He also made a gift of wampum beads to the Holy Men to use in the keeping of sacred records. These wampum belts still exist and are even today in the keeping of those chosen for that duty.
But the time soon came for Shell Carrier and Old Man Otter to go on a trading trip down the coast to trade among the peoples of the Creek Federation, the Apalachee and the Taino people further south.
Life carried on in the Cherokee country. Plantings and harvests, celebrations and ceremonies came and went. Trade went on as before, but with a preference for the wampum trade. Shell Carrier passed through regularly and was always a welcome guest.
And then, one early spring moon, there came among us a very handsome stranger. We did not know it then but this handsome stranger would change both our history and our traditions.
At that time, there lived in our town a very beautiful young woman everyone called Wind. Not wind as in a violent storm (that was her mother), but more like the breeze that rustles the treetops on a calm evening. Anyway, as I said, she was very beautiful and the object of affection from every eligible warrior for miles around. But she was not the available type.
While she did on occasion favor us with her presence at Rabbit’s place, she was always in the company of one of her brothers. And her brothers, all of them, were accomplished and decorated warriors who walked the Red Path with zealous glee.
So, you can imagine our surprise, indeed our amazement, when she walked into Rabbit’s place dressed to the nines in the company of The Handsome Stranger.
The whole place went quiet for a minute or two, and then a low murmur went through the crowd as everyone nudged his neighbor and nodded towards the door. Rabbit, ever the polite host and grinning trickster, led them to a reserved table in the middle of everything where the crowd could look them over without appearing impolite.
Finally, Wolf walked up, bid Miss Wind a good evening and introduced himself to The Handsome Stranger. After a polite period of time, the rest of us did likewise.
The Handsome Stranger spoke Cherokee fluently, but he was very circumspect with regard to who he was and where he was from. When pressed on the matter, he nodded towards the west and said only that he was from “over the mountain.” It soon became clear that to pursue the matter would be most impolite and would violate our tradition of hospitality. More especially since he was the guest of a woman whose family was very well respected among our people.
As the evening began to wind down, Miss Wind bid us all a good evening, took the stranger by the hand and headed for the door.
As they walked out into the evening, all of us began to speculate and gossip. Copperhead, known for his sneaky nature, allowed that he would follow them and see where they went. All of us were curious to the point of obsession, but none of us wanted to get caught spying, so we were all perfectly willing to let Copperhead, whose reputation was questionable anyway, do the dirty work of satisfying our collective nosiness.
The next evening Copperhead was at Rabbit’s place the minute the doors opened. He was quite taken with his newfound popularity. For the first time he did not have to pay his bar tab, as we all wanted to know what he observed on his mission of espionage.
Copperhead told it all in lurid detail. How he followed the couple to a place in the river near Miss Wind’s house, there the couple bathed together in the moonlight. Copperhead added such details to his story as he thought would enhance the telling of it, which we will not rehash here. At any rate, as the moon went down, Miss Wind took the stranger by the hand, took him into her house and closed the door.
Join us here next week for part two of “The Handsome Stranger.”