The Star Feathers

A Cherokee story · Southern Appalachians; today Oklahoma and North Carolina · 2:28

A still from the film The Star Feathers
Coming to YouTube soon

A wandering warrior sees a peacock in the settlements, buys its feathers and makes a headdress, then tells his people the feathers come from the stars. He becomes a famous prophet who vanishes "to the sky" after every dance, until another man sees a peacock and follows him to his hiding place under the river bank. Mooney recorded it as an actual happening of the early days.

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