A Legendary Story for Children

All Cherokee children heard the story of the magic lake where sick and wounded animals would go for healing. A great hunter, Walk the Forest, pursues a huge black bear in the Smoking (Smoky) Mountains. He wounds the bear and pursues him for days. Walk the Forest falls asleep and wakes to see a shimmering lake with animals swimming and bathing in the mysterious waters. The bear is now magically healed. Thunder booms and the voice of the Great Spirit tells Walk the Forest to instruct his people that they must never follow wounded animals to the lake—or else their game will vanish and the lake will dry up.