The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story

This Cherokee creation tale tells the story of a quarrel between the first man and woman. When the woman walks away from her husband’s harsh words, he follows, but is not able to catch up. The Sun sees how sorry the man is and tries to help by causing various berries to grow in her path. Only the sweetness of strawberries, however, has the power to stop her and allow her husband a chance to ask for forgiveness. This is how strawberries came to be, and now whenever Cherokee people eat strawberries they are reminded to be kind to one another.