Directions: Read the Cherokee myth below. When you finish reading, use your creative writing skills to create your own ending for the couple in the myth.
 
 

When the first man was created and a mate was given to him, they lived together very happily for a time but then began to quarrel, until at last the woman left her husband and started off toward the Sun Land, in the east. The man followed, alone and grieving, but the woman kept on steadily ahead and never looked behind, until the Sun took pity on the man and asked him if he was still angry with his wife. The man said he was not, and the Sun then asked him if he would like to have her back again, to which the man eagerly answered “Yes.”

So the Sun caused a patch of the finest ripe huckleberries to spring up along the path in front of the woman, but she passed by without paying any attention to them. Farther on the Sun put a clump of blackberries, but these also the woman refused to notice. Other fruits, one, two, and three, and then some trees covered with beautiful red serviceberries, were placed beside the path to tempt her, but still she went on, until suddenly she came upon a patch of large ripe strawberries, the first ever known. She stooped to gather a few to eat, and as she picked them, she chanced to turn her face to the west. At once the memory of her husband came back to her, and she found herself unable to go on. She sat down, but the longer she waited, the stronger became her desire for her husband, and at last she gathered a bunch of the finest berries and started back along the path to give them to him. He met her kindly, and they went home together.

Back to A Cherokee Myth: The Origin of Strawberries Lesson Plan