The Doe and the Raven



There was a young girl who lived with an old woman in a small cabin deep in
the mountains of the Virginias. Her parents were shot by rogue soldiers
when she was a baby, after they were discovered hiding in a small cabin deep
in the woods, to escape the forced removals from their homeland.

The old woman told the young girl her parents were killed because they were
Cherokee and that she must never tell anyone she was Indian.



"What is an Indian?" she often asked the old woman. "What is a Cherokee?"
The old woman replied, "Don't ask me that girl," the old woman said with
anger. "Are you a fool? Being an Indian, being a Cherokee, is what got
your Mother and Father killed. Do you want to die too?"



She would cry when the old woman said this. "Stop crying girl. You're
alive ain't ya now? And it's because I took you in. Just be happy you ain't
rotting in some grave. Now do your chores and earn your keep."



The girl could not understand the old woman's anger, or why she seemed to
hate her so. She would often ask herself why did she take me in if she
hates me so much? Why didn't she let me die with my Mother and Father? She
was sad and lonely and very unhappy but she had no where else to go. She
was afraid to venture too far from the cabin, for she feared these people
the old woman called soldiers.



But she had a special secret place in a small clearing not too far from the
cabin. When she could, she would go there, and sit on the soft blanket of
pine needles that covered the earth and listen to the birds and she sat so
quietly, often she saw deer pass or a black bear and sometimes even a
wildcat.



There was a raven that always seemed to be close by when she went to find
comfort in her secret place. He would always greet her when she came, with
his loud, squawking cry, cawing several times before he would land on top a
large pine tree and then he would be quiet and stay until it was time for
her to return to the cabin and her chores.



There was also a beautiful doe the young girl would see pass by. She knew
her well by the beautiful color of her coat and a special white marking she
had near her large eyes. The doe would stop so close to where the young
girl sat, that if she tried, she could have easily reached out and touched
her.



The young girl always felt safe and at peace when the raven and doe were
near, although she didn't quite understand why she felt that way.



Her days were long and hard. The old woman made her do all the work that
needed to be done, while she sat in her rocking chair, either by the fire
during winter, or on the small porch outside the cabin in the summer. The
old woman only spoke to her, demanding this or that be done, or to tell her
what she had done wrong. She gave her no comfort, no love, no attention and
the young girl often wished she too, had died along with her Mother and
Father, for death had to be better than to suffer the life she lived with
the old woman. But she was alive, and somehow the young girl knew that
despite the unhappy life she lived with the old woman, her life was special
and there was a reason her life had been spared. She would often think of
the reason why, and knew that someday the answer would come to her and when
it did, she would be free of the old woman, as free as the raven who could
fly to the top of the tallest pine and as free as the doe who passed by her
secret place.



She was growing into a young woman now and hungered for life beyond the
cabin and away from the old woman. It seemed as she grew older, the old
woman treated her more harshly, telling her she was worthless and ugly and
she had a good mind to turn her out into the woods. "Let the wild cats or
bears get ya girl, because you're nothing but trouble for me."



One afternoon, as the young girl was weeding in the vegetable garden, she
heard someone approaching and fearful; she hid behind the small chicken
coop. It was a man. A stranger. She knew he was man, because over the
years, from time to time, an old man would come by the cabin and visit the
old woman. That was the only time she ever heard the old woman laugh, but
even though she talked and laughed with her visitor she never permitted the
young girl to be around the cabin when he stopped by and she never told the
young girl who he was or why he came.



The young girl peeked around the corner of the chicken coop and saw that the
stranger was not alone. The old man was with him and they were talking and
laughing as they approached the cabin door.



"You got a special visitor!" the old man shouted with a big grin on his
face, and the old woman opened the door and it was the first time in her
memory the young girl saw the old woman smile with such happiness. To the
young girl's shock, the old woman began to laugh and cry at the same time
and she grabbed the strange man and pulled him close hugging him tightly and
saying over and over again, "James you're home! James you're home! I never
thought this day would come!"



"Yep Ma, I'm home. Home to stay for good now!" the stranger replied with a
big grin on his face. "Well come on inside son. You must be hungry and we
have so much catching up to do! Oh how I have missed you my boy!"



All three disappeared inside the cabin and after a short while, the young
girl gained enough courage to approach the cabin and she hesitated a moment,
then opened the old door and stepped inside. The moment she did, a deep
silence filled the room and all three stared at her, but the stranger stared
at her in an odd and frightening way.



"Well, well, well." He said. "Looky here - who's she Ma?" The old woman
did not respond and then the stranger said, "Now Ma, don't tell me she's
that little injun baby!"



"Yep James she is. I've been keeping her all this time, just like you
asked, even though she's been nothing but trouble since the day you brung
her here."



"Now Ma, she was just a baby. I couldn't let them boys kill no baby and she
's a mite pretty one now ain't she?" "James she's an Indian!" the old woman
hissed. "You gone crazy boy?" "Because of her injun parents you had to
hide all these years and if you hadn't of asked me to keep her, I'd have
killed her myself a long time ago!"



"Now Ma, she may be an Injun, but those squaws are a comfort to a lonely man
's bed." "James!" the old woman screamed. "You have lost your mind!" The
old man laughed and the man the old woman called son, laughed along with
him. "Wimmens." The old man chuckled, and at that, the old woman swatted
at him with her cane.



"What's your name girl?" James asked.



The young girl was too frightened to move, let alone speak. "She ain't got
no name." the old woman said to him. "No name?" her son asked her.
"Confound it Ma you ain't never given that girl a name?" "James she's an
injun and injuns don't have names, least ways not Christian names. Why you
all concerned about her all the sudden? If it hadn't of been for her and
her parents you would have never had to run off to Tennessee."



"Well, I'm home now Ma and I ain't a young man no more and she's a pretty
young thing - I could use a wife before I get too old."



"You have lost your mind! Not here in this house James. No son of mine is
going to have an Indian for a wife."



They started to shout at one another and the young girl took the opportunity
to run back out the door and as fast as she could, she ran to her secret
spot. She lay on the earth and covered herself with leaves and pine
needles. The raven began to squawk and she was so afraid he would call
attention to her hiding place. As the raven called out the doe passed by and
stopped right in front of her.



"Where are you girl?" she heard the shout of James calling in the woods.
"Come on out now girl, no one is going to hurt you."



"Don't listen to him." A soft voice whispered. The young girl looked
around, but there was no one else there, except for the doe and the raven.
Could it be? The doe had spoken? "Listen to the doe! Listen to the doe!"
the raven squawked.



"Where are you girl? You come out now hear? No one's gonna hurt ya girl,
but Ma will get real mad if you don't come out when I call you."



The young girl lay as still as she could, barely breathing. She could hear
the man rustling about in the woods searching for her. She silently prayed
that her life be spared and the man didn't find her.



"Hey looky there!" James shouted. "A doe right smack in front of me and I
ain't got my gun."



The young girl was now terrified for the doe - she could not let the man
hurt her and in spite of her fear she stood up and said, "Please, please do
not shoot the doe. She is my friend." "She's your friend?" he asked and
began to laugh. "She's food to me girl. But you're even better than
venison right now." And he began to walk toward her. The Doe never moved,
it was as if she was standing as a guard between the young girl and the
approaching man.



"Don't worry! He won't hurt you - he won't hurt you!" squawked the raven.
The raven began to caw louder than she had ever heard before and his loud
cries nearly thundered through the quiet of the woods. The man was nearly
upon her, waving his arm and shouting at the doe to run. "Git! Git outta
here you stupid deer!" he shouted. "You're lucky I ain't got my gun." But
the Doe never moved.



Suddenly, from out of nowhere it seemed there appeared a huge black bear,
the largest bear the girl had ever seen and standing along side the black
bear was a wild cat - his fangs showing, and his snarl and the roar of the
bear echoed through the woods and mountains like a fierce thunderstorm.



The Doe stepped closer in front of the young girl blocking her view and she
heard the screams of the man as the bear and wild cat attacked, tearing him
apart. The old man suddenly appeared, gun in hand, but he was much too slow
for the bear and the wild cat and he too was quickly killed. Then the old
woman came, hobbling along clutching her cane, while in her other hand she
held the old shotgun she kept in the corner of the cabin right near the
door. She raised the shotgun and there was a blast as it fired, but when
the young girl moved around the doe to look, the old woman, her son and the
old man had disappeared.



The bear and wild cat had disappeared too.



"You are safe now." The Doe whispered to her in a gentle soft voice, and she
nuzzled the young girl's hand, giving her comfort and a feeling of peace.



"Who are you?" The young girl asked. "How is it I can understand you?"



"Cherokee! Cherokee!" the Raven squawked, as he flew back and forth from one
tree top to another.



"Yes, dear girl you are Cherokee." Whispered the Doe.



Suddenly, the doe began to change shape and in an instant where had once
stood a doe, stood a beautiful woman. As the young girl stood there in awe
and disbelief, she heard the loud sound of the raven as he flapped his wings
and she turned again and he was a raven no more, but a strong handsome man,
with hair as black as the beautiful feathers of the raven.



"You are our daughter." The woman said smiling and she hugged the young girl
to her heart.



"How can this be?" The young girl asked aloud. "How can this be?"



The woman smiled again and the man who was once the raven put his strong
arms around them both and for the first time in her life, the young girl
felt love and she knew she was truly safe and free.



"Your name is wa le la." They both said. "Humming bird."



"We named you for a bird that is strong and beautiful and filled with joy,
for you my daughter are all these things." The woman who she now knew was
her real Mother said. "We love you very much and we have waited so long to
be able to return to you dear daughter." "But we had to wait till the time
was right for the Spirits made it so."



"wa le la? My name is wa le la?" and the young girl began to cry with joy
and happiness that she was with her parents - her real parents, who had
given her a name and who loved her and protected her.



"Yes my daughter. That is your name." her Father said. "The soldiers
thought they had killed us - but they could never really kill us dear
daughter. For we are Cherokee - we are Indian and we are strong and no one
can ever kill our spirits!"



So, together again, the young girl named wa le la, walked between her Mother
and Father, all three holding hands as they returned to the cabin where she
had lived all these years with the mean old woman.



The cabin, once old and falling apart, was now new with the fresh smell of
pine. Beautiful flowers grew everywhere and the garden was filled with tall
corn and vegetables of every kind. All the song birds began to sing and
bright yellow butterflies flew all around them.



The humming birds came, in beautiful shades of color, wa le la had never
seen before and she began to clap her hands and sing and her parents laughed
and there was joy and love and freedom she had never known.



They were together again and this was their home in the mountains of the
Virginias and they were all safe and free.



Svhyeyi Aga~Evening Rain

Cherokee

October 7, 2002 ©



Website: http://poetryartist.freewebsites.com/DoeRaven.html