A long time ago a warrior of roving disposition went down into the
white settlements toward the east, where for the first time he saw
a peacock. The beautiful long feathers surprised and delighted him,
and by trading some valuable Indian possession of his own he managed
to buy a few of them, which he took with him to the mountains and hid,
until he was ready to use them, in an old beaver lodge under the river
bank. To get into the beaver lodge he had to dive under the water.
Then he set to work secretly and made himself a headdress, with the
long peacock feathers in the front and trailing out behind and the
shorter ones at the sides. At the next dance he wore the new headdress,
and asserted that he had been up to the sky and that these were star
feathers (see number 9, "What the stars are like"). He made a long
speech also, which he pretended was a message he had received from
the star spirits to deliver to the people.
Everyone wondered at the beautiful feathers, so different from any
they had ever seen before. They made no doubt that he had been up
to the sky and talked with spirits. He became a great prophet, and
used to keep himself hidden all day in the beaver hole, and whenever
there was a night gathering for a dance or a council he would suddenly
appear among them wearing his feather headdress and give the people a
new message from the sky. Then he would leave them again, pretending
that he went up to heaven.
He grew famous and powerful among all the medicine men, until at
last it happened that another Cherokee went down among the white
settlements and saw there another peacock, and knew at once that the
prophet was a fraud. On his return he quietly told some of his friends,
and they decided to investigate. When the next night dance came around
the prophet was on hand as usual with a new message fresh from the
stars. The people listened reverently, and promised to do all that
he commanded. Then he left them, saying that he must return at once
to the sky, but as he went out from the circle the spies followed him
in the darkness, and saw him go down to the river and dive under the
water. They waited, but he did not come up again, and they went back
and told the people. The next morning a party went to the spot and
discovered the beaver lodge under the bank. One man dived and came
up inside, and there he found the prophet sitting with the peacock
feathers by his side.