Occoneechee, the Maid of the Mystic Lake

by Robert Frank Jarrett

The Pheasant once saw a woman beating corn in a wooden mortar in front of the house. “I can do that, too,” said he, but the woman would not believe it, so the Pheasant went into the woods and got upon a hollow log and “drummed” with his wings, as a Pheasant does, until the people in the house heard him and thought he was really beating corn.

In the Pheasant dance, a part of the Green-Corn dance, the instrument used is a drum, and the dancers beat the ground with their feet in imitation of the drumming sound made by the Pheasant.

They form two concentric circles, the men beginning on the inside, facing the women in the outer circle; each in turn advancing and retreating at the signal of the drummer, who sits at one side and sings the Pheasant songs. According to the story, there was once a winter famine among the birds and animals. No mast could be found in the woods, and they were near starvation when a Pheasant discovered a holly tree, loaded with red berries, which the Pheasant is very fond of. He called his companions, and they formed a circle about the tree, singing, dancing and drumming with their wings in token of their joy, and thus originated the Pheasant dance.

MYTH FIFTEEN.

The Race Between the Crane and the Humming-Bird.

The Humming-Bird and the Crane were both in love with a pretty woman. She preferred the Humming-bird, who was as handsome as the Crane was awkward, but the Crane was so persistent that in order to get rid of him she finally told him he must challenge the other to a race and she would marry the winner. The Humming-bird was so swift—almost like a flash of lightning—and the Crane so slow and heavy, that she felt sure that the Humming-bird would win. She did not know that the Crane could fly all night.

They agreed to start from her house and fly around the circle of the world to the beginning, and the one who came in first would marry the woman. At the word the Humming-bird darted off like an arrow and was out of sight in a moment, leaving his rival to follow heavily behind. He flew all day, and when evening came and he stopped to roost for the night he was far ahead. But the Crane flew steadily all night, passing the humming-bird soon after midnight, and going on until he came to a creek and stopped to rest about daybreak. The Humming-bird woke up in the morning and flew on again, thinking how easily he would win the race, until he reached the creek, and there found the Crane spearing tadpoles, with his long bill, for breakfast.

He was very much surprised and wondered how this could have happened, but he flew swiftly by and soon left the Crane out of sight again. The Crane finished his breakfast and started on, and when evening came he kept on as before.

This time it was hardly midnight when he passed the Humming-bird asleep on a limb, and in the morning he had finished his breakfast before the other came up. The next day he gained a little more, and on the fourth day he was spearing tadpoles for dinner when the Humming-bird passed him. On the fifth and sixth days it was late in the afternoon before the Humming-bird came up, and, on the morning of the seventh day the Crane was a whole night’s travel ahead.