Legend of the Deer Woman
Catori ran through the woods, her arms and legs pumping as hard as her sixteen-year-old muscles could move. She could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears, and her lungs burned with the effort to suck in more air. The young Cherokee girl stifled a cry as another branch slapped against her face, scratching her tan skin and drawing thin lines of blood.
Tears of frustration filled Catori’s eyes. Her mother had warned her to stay away from the river; the white men who often stopped along the river’s edge to water their horses were often a rough and cruel lot. They had shot Cherokees on sight just for sport or done worse to the women when they captured them. Catori had heard all of the stories; she had even overheard her father and the other men telling the worst of them as they sat around the fires at night and believed her and the other children sleeping.
Catori knew better, but the sunflowers that grew by the river had grown so large and full of seeds.
She had been humming to herself and smiling up at the beautiful sunshine. The deerskin pouch her grandmother made was overflowing with seeds when the men had come up behind her. She had smelled them before she heard them, a foul stench of whiskey, tobacco, and body odor that stained the air with the smell of onions.
There were four of them, large men with long, dark, tangled beards. Their faces were unwashed, and their hair was greasy and unkempt. Their buckskin shirts and pants were dirty and stained. These men were trappers, and from their looks, they were returning from weeks of hunting wolf, beaver, antelope, and the gentle creatures of the forest.
The men had fanned out into a semi-circle as they closed on her, cutting off any avenue of escape. They laughed when she turned and gave a startled cry at the sight of them. Rough cruel laughter that belied their malicious intent. All four men gave her feral grins full of discolored teeth as they edged closer to her. They spoke in a language she did not understand, but the leering looks they gave her left no question about their lustful desires. Three men had long knives tucked into their belts, and the man closest to her had a short, bloodstained club in his hand. Catori’s heart ached for the animals that shed their lifeblood on that cruel instrument.
Her eyes darted about, looking for a means of escape. She could leap into the river, but the current was strong this time of year, and she was never a good swimmer. The men were close now, little more than two arm lengths away from her. She looked left toward the river, and the men shifted their feet to block her escape in that direction. So, she bolted to her right, running for the safety of the woods.
The men yelled as she began to run, and she felt rough hands grabbing her. One grabbed the deerskin pouch full of seed, and she let loose a little sob as she felt it tear from her belt. Another man grabbed her long dark hair and yanked hard on her head, but she sank the small deer bone knife she carried into the man’s shoulder, and he grunted in pain as he loosed his grip on her. The knife slipped from her hand as the man batted her hand away. Catori staggered as the man with the club struck her hard on the knee; another punched her back, causing the air to whoosh from her lungs. She cried out through clenched teeth but kept her footing and ran for the forest.
Her father always said she could run with the antelope, but the pain from the man’s blow to her knee sent lightning bolts of pain from her foot to her hip with every step. She wanted to curl up on the ground and weep, but she heard the men’s ragged breaths behind her as they pursued.
She wanted to run towards her people; even if she could not outrun the men, she could get close enough to the village where they would hear her cries for help and come running. However, Catori feared these men could hurt her father and her brothers. Even if the other Cherokee warriors from the village came and injured or killed these men, she knew more white men would come looking for them with guns and horses to seek revenge on her people. So Catori ran away from her village toward a part of the forest that was unfamiliar to her.
The men behind her crashed through the woods like wild beasts in pursuit of her. Some cried out harsh words that she figured were curses in their language, but others laughed and hooted as if they enjoyed hunting the young Cherokee girl. Tears of pain and fear welled up in her eyes as she ran. Sweat poured down her face and back, soaking her deerskin tunic.
Catori burst through the woods into a clearing, and she let out a sob of despair. The clearing ended in a vast chasm, high above the jagged rocks of the river below. A large, white mountain goat stared at her from the other side, standing on a rock lazily chewing grass. The distance was too far to leap across. Catori’s heart sank as she heard the men approaching the clearing.
She turned to face them. The men were moving slower now, not wanting to scare her into jumping off the cliff. Wary that their quarry would elude them by choosing death over torment at their hands. They gestured for her to come toward them, speaking in a faux soothing tone.
Over the beating of her heart, she heard a distant tapping noise alternating between loud and soft.
TAP-tap-TAP–tap-TAP-tap-TAP–tap
Catori stared out across the chasm at the mountain goat. The white fur of the goat shone in the bright sunlight, its short horns appearing as twin shoots growing upward from its head. The goat’s dark eyes stared directly into hers as it stomped its hoof against the rock.
TAP-tap-TAP–tap-TAP-tap-TAP–tap
Then a thumping sound reached her ears, and she looked down toward the riverbed, where a beaver perched on a rock beside the rushing waters. The beaver, too, looked directly into her eyes, its flat tail beating against the rock.
THUMP-thump-THUMP–thump-THUMP -thump-THUMP–thump
She turned back towards the men who continued to slowly advance on her, oblivious to the sounds of the forest. In the branches of an oak tree above the men, a crow stared directly at Catori and began to caw.
CAW-caw-CAW–caw-CAW-caw-CAW–caw
The sounds stirred something deep in her memory and resonated within the core of her being. Catori’s mind searched desperately for understanding as the men drew closer.
TAP-tap-TAP–tap-TAP-tap-TAP–tap
THUMP-thump-THUMP–thump-THUMP -thump-THUMP–thump
CAW-caw-CAW–caw-CAW-caw-CAW–caw
In the back of her mind, Catori’s grandfather’s voice echoed in her head, and her eyes opened wide in realization. She had sat with her grandfather by the fire one night and watched the warriors dancing, his aged legs were too old to dance any longer, but his mind was keen and sharp. He had explained the warriors danced with the beatings of the drums, following the heartbeat of Mother Earth.
BUM-bum-BUM–bum-BUM-bum-BUM–bum
BUM-bum-BUM–bum-BUM-bum-BUM–bum
In her mind’s eye, she watched the warriors dance to the beat of the drums as the licks of fire rose toward the night sky. The rhythmic rise and fall of their legs match the Earth’s heartbeat. As she listened to the goat, the beaver, and the crow, she heard the drums loud and clear in her spirit.
BUM-bum-BUM–bum-BUM-bum-BUM–bum
Catori gave herself over to the pulse of Mother Earth, her legs rising and falling to the beat. Her long dark hair and slim arms moved to the rhythm of the drums that echoed through the core of her being.
BUM-bum-BUM–bum-BUM-bum-BUM–bum
Her body swayed like a reed in the wind as her knees rose and brought her feet down to the soft earth. Catori’s lithe body was pirouetting like the Earth orbiting the sun. She opened herself up to Mother Earth, channeling her despair and fear into the beat of the dance, calling out to the Great Mother for protection.
BUM-bum-BUM–bum-BUM-bum-BUM–bum
The men stared at the dancing Cherokee girl in disbelief, looking from one to another uncertainly as she stomped and whirled in the clearing. Then one by one, the men began to smile and laugh, raucous laughs that were cruel and mocking. Then the man with the club stepped forward and swung his arm in a wide arc, the hardwood of the club connecting with the side of Catori’s head with a loud thud.
The drumming in her mind ceased suddenly, and Catori felt the world swoon. The clearing turned into a blur, and the sounds of the forest became distant as she fell backward. The ground felt soft and welcoming as her body hit the ground, her limbs seemingly deep asleep and unresponsive.
The men closed around her, and she saw their malevolent, bearded faces leering down at her. The one with the club knelt beside her and roughly jerked her head to face him. The movement felt distant, and she had difficulty focusing her eyes on his face. He said something in his rough language and then laughed; the other men laughed with him, a feral mirthless sound.
A strange look crossed the man’s dirty face, and he quickly became alarmed. He looked down at his hand and began to pull at the grass around it. The other men started to back away from the man as his bearded mouth contorted as he began to shout and then scream. Catori’s eyes lazily looked over at the man’s hand, his screaming a distant sound in her ears. The grass had wrapped itself around his hand, covering it entirely and speeding its way up his arm. The man frantically pulled at the grass with his free hand, but the faster he tore at it, the faster it grew.
There was another scream off to Catori’s left, and it was only with great effort that she could turn her head to look toward the sound. She blinked her dark eyes to clear the fog that seemed to hamper her thoughts. One of the other men swayed like a sunflower blowing in the wind. Thick tree roots were spiraling up from the ground, holding him in place. Catori could see roots as thick as a man’s arm wholly entwined about his feet and legs below the knee. The man drew his knife and frantically slashed at the roots, cutting deep gashes into the thick wood. He started crying as two more roots burst from the ground and entangled each of his hands. There was a sound like cracking branches as the roots pulled taunt around his arms and legs, and the man began to scream.
The other two men ran toward the forest, leaving behind the ensnared men and wounded Cherokee girl. She watched as a large dark shape, nearly twice the size and girth of the largest man, stepped from the forest. It was not until the form had let out a rib-rattling roar and swung a head-sized paw at the first man did Catori realize it was a bear of immense size. The bear’s massive paw struck the man’s head and sent him tumbling through the clearing like a leaf in the wind. His body sprawled in a heap, lifeless eyes peering skyward from a head that lay at an unnatural angle. Immediately, the grass started to rise and cover his shattered body.
The last man ran back towards the clearing, intent on taking his chances with the fall to the riverbed over the bear that stood baring his path to the woods. Two large gray wolves raced out of the woods from either side of the bear and bounded after the fleeing man. The man looked back in terror as he ran, the wolves quickly closing the distance. The wolves leaped into the air, one tangling in the man’s legs, the other landing on his back and sinking sharp teeth into his bearded neck. Catori heard the shattering of bone and the tearing of flesh and sinew as the wolves tore into the man, his dying screams still a distant murmur in her ears.
She looked over at the man who had lost his fight with the encircling tree roots, his bent and twisted form now wholly encased in roots and vines. He appeared to be little more than an overgrown tree stump in the clearing as the crow flew down from the tree branches to land on the newly formed stump.
Catori turned her head towards the man beside her. Only his face remained uncovered by the grass that had formed a complete mound over his body. A whimpering noise emanated from the man’s grass-covered mouth, and he stared at her with wide, terrified eyes. She smiled weakly as the man’s brutish face disappeared beneath the sea of beautiful green grass. The only sound that remained in the clearing was the great bear’s heavy breathing and the wolves’ wet-sounding chewing.
A woman appeared in the woods and walked towards Catori. She had long, flowing dark hair with a small set of white antlers that rose on either side of her head. The woman wore a tunic made of interwoven leaves and flowers that covered her down to her legs, which were deer-like with sleek brown fur that ended in dark hooves. As she passed into the clearing, the bear bowed its head in respect, and so did the crow and the two wolves.
She knelt beside Catori; her tan face and dark eyes were as serene and beautiful as any Catori had ever seen. When the Deer Woman smiled at her, Catori felt a warmth spread through her body, and the pain of her injuries faded.
The Deer Woman slipped two thin arms under Catori and eased her off the ground without effort. The young Cherokee girl curled her head against the Deer Woman’s tunic and breathed in the smell of springtime flowers. She felt the fog in her head clear as she breathed in the beautiful aroma. As the Deer woman carried her into the woods, Catori saw the crow fly off, and the bear and wolves ambled back into the darkness of the woods. The clearing looked as she had first seen it, although now there was a tree stump and three grass-covered mounds where there had been none before.
The trees began moving quickly, and Catori realized that the Deer Woman was running through the forest. Her hooved feet traversed the woods with such nimbleness and ease that Catori felt like she was floating down a river. She stared at the canopy of trees and smiled at the Deer Woman, who returned a smile that reached her deep brown eyes.
Catori felt a profound sadness when the Deer Woman finally laid her back on the warm forest floor. The sound of a nearby village rang through the trees, and the smell of cookfires burning filled Catori’s nose. She knew she was near her home. The Deer Woman smiled one last time at Catori and placed something soft and smooth in her hand. Without a word, the Deer Woman turned and vanished into the woods in three long strides.
Catori looked down at her hand and saw her grandmother’s pouch, brimming with sunflower seeds resting in her palm. She clutched it close to her heart and silently thanked the Great Mother. Standing on unsteady legs, Catori gave one final look in the direction the Deer Woman had vanished and smiled. As she walked toward her home, Catori could feel the drumbeat of Mother Earth beating through her spirit, as she would for the rest of her days.
BUM-bum-BUM–bum-BUM-bum-BUM–bum
Jack Finn (TWITTER: @THEREALJACKFINN )
