I get by with a little help from my cousins
Traditional Cherokee culture is a culture of oral histories and stories. The Cherokee were not alone in this of course, most Native cultures have a rich oral tradition, serving the twin purposes of education and edification.
Many people today have been told these great old Cherokee stories but are unaware of it due to the wholesale plagiarizing perpetrated by one Joel Chandler Harris.
By now, most people know that the stories attributed to the fictional Uncle Remus were in fact, Cherokee folk tales repackaged by Mr. Harris and sold to a public far more willing to accept a kindly old ex slave than they were to accept any shred of Native American culture.
One of the most well-known is the story of the race between the rabbit and the tortoise. Many folks have heard this tale as an Uncle Remus story, but it is a Cherokee story illustrating Cherokee cultural principles.
The Rabbit is a trickster and hustler in Cherokee lore, a gambler with a reputation for cheating, and outright stealing on occasion. He is also a vain and egotistical sort with a reputation for loud and obnoxious bragging, the kind of character who thinks he is smarter than everybody else and tries to take advantage of those he thinks are not as sharp as he is. There are a number of these race stories, with Fox and Crayfish, or Wolf and Snail, playing the roles, but the one with Tortoise and Rabbit is the most well-known.
In the Cherokee story, Rabbit is strutting around town bragging about how swift and smart he is. He keeps going on and on, trying everyone’s patience until Tortoise has finally had enough and tells Rabbit that he is being a nuisance. Rabbit, like a modern-day cable news host, takes this as an invitation to try folks’ patience with even more obnoxious strutting and bragging. Finally, as a last resort for peace and quiet, Tortoise challenges Rabbit to a race. The idea is ridiculous of course, and Rabbit thinks it is very funny. It is at this point where we see the Cherokee lesson.
Cherokee culture prizes community action and communal solutions to very difficult problems. Following the principle of community action (called “Gadugi” in the Cherokee language), we find that the community, through collective action, can solve a problem which would be insurmountable for one individual. This is the lesson we learn from the story on the race between Rabbit and Tortoise. Rabbit knows perfectly well that Tortoise cannot outrun him, therefore he assumes that the outcome is a forgone conclusion. He never bothers to ask himself what Tortoise was thinking when he challenged Rabbit in the first place.
Tortoise for his part (and everyone else in town), was tired of Rabbit’s constant preening and bragging. Rabbit was being very obnoxious and making people miserable with his constant twittering, somebody had to do something to bring him down a peg or two so that the people could have some peace.
Tortoise was the man to do it. Tortoise did have one advantage; he had a lot of cousins who looked just like him. In fact, it was said that they all looked alike, it was an insult that Rabbit and Fox would throw at members of the Turtle Clan, “they all look alike.”
In this case it was an advantage for Tortoise. Following the principle of community action, Tortoise went to his cousins and laid out his plan…
On the day of the race, Tortoise and Rabbit lined up at the starting line. The race was set out over seven hills. Bear was the starting official and set them on their way. As Rabbit went down the first hill, he saw Tortoise going over the next hill. This happened over the course of the entire race, until finally Rabbit arrived at the finish line and Tortoise was there waiting for him, not even breathing hard.
They say Rabbit never did figure out how Tortoise outsmarted him, but one thing is for sure, he was never quite so obnoxious again. The people had some peace, at least for a while. They say Fox once asked Tortoise how he outsmarted Rabbit. They say Tortoise just said, “I get by with a little help from my cousins.”
Maybe as we go into this new year, we can learn a little something from Tortoise about co-operation and community. We have had enough vitriol and division over the last couple of years. But a new year can also be a new start, let’s make the most of it.