Posted by OKLakeside4

 Attn: Keys Kousins Members- We would like to welcome Durinda and Jackie, on their stories and poems, on this website, to be on daily, and will be under, "Durinda's Daily Delights", on this page. Please watch for them and they will be putting things on that will give us a laugh and things to think about, and enjoy. We thank Durinda for all the cute email's she has sent us and we've decided to add it to our website. Let them know how much we appreciate them and the great stories, poems, etc. Watch for it daily and remember it's "Durinda's Daily Delights"!!! Thanks again to Durinda and Jackie!! We're excited about this new addition to our website!! Enjoy it---- Jenny and Jim

 

 "Durinda's Daily Delights"

                                                                                                                         By: Durinda and Jackie

In the beginning, there were two worlds: The celestial, or heavenly world that floated like a great island in the sky, and the lower, dark world where the forces of evil lived. The celestial world was populated with beings in animal, human and plant forms All had the power of speech and lived together in harmony. The earth did not exist, or rather it was covered by a great ocean in which gigantic fish and reptiles lived. The universe of the Cherokees depended on harmony and balance. Light was balanced by dark; celestial beings of goodness by "evil-thinking" creatures who hid from the light of day beneath the dark waters. In the beginning there was no sun, but a great tree of light grew in the center of the heavenly island. It lit the world of celestial beings and cast its light down on the dark waters of the lower world. So it was that the Grandfather of All Creation lived by the Tree of Light where he tended the plants and cared for the animals. Sometimes, the water fowl, the hawks and eagles flew down to the dark waters of the lower world; heavenly turtles and muskrats swam on its surface bathed in the pale light of the heavenly tree. The Grandfather lead a solitary existence. When his work was done, he sat like a sentinel by the Tree, surveying his world around him and below. Sometimes he yearned for company, perhaps a wife who would sit beside him in the evening, watching the great birds flying beneath them.

Then, the Grandfather of All Creation fell in love with a young woman whose grace and beauty charmed him. Despite the difference in their ages, he yearned for her. He uttered a great sigh which blew like a summer breeze into the young woman's ear and she became pregnant. He, then, told the young woman that she was to have his child and he took her home to be his wife. But like many old men before and since, the Grandfather of All Creation found that he had made a mistake. The young woman laughed and sang too much; and she talked incessantly. She asked too many questions. Why do the leaves of the Tree of Light shine? Who created the Upper World? Who named the plants? Grandfather was still charmed by her beauty, but this incessant noise, this constant laughter and questions! The young wife's chatter became so irritating, the Grandfather of All Creation began to avoid her. Each time that he returned home, he found everything out of its place. She talked to the animals, uprooted the plants and disrupted the old man's orderly life. If only he had married her when he was young and foolish, also! One day when he returned home, he found that she had uprooted the Tree of Light and was peering through the great hole down to the rolling waters of the dark world. Many of the celestial animals had gathered to watch and she talked excitedly about what she saw. It was then that the old man lost his temper.

While the young woman was still on her knees looking through the great hole in the floor of the heavenly island, he kicked her in the rump. Down she went, falling straight through the hole. In her efforts to stop her descent, she grasped frantically at the plants and animals around the hole. Many things fell with her: heavenly deer, rabbits and squirrels. Corn, beans and squash.......and strawberries! When the birds of the upper world that were flying over the waters of the lower world saw the young woman falling through the air, they rushed to save her. They created a great, interlocking blanket with their wings on which they caught her. But, where should they put her? As they hung uncertainly above the deep waters, a great turtle surfaced. "Here, place her on my back," he said. The Muskrat dived to the bottom of the ocean and brought up mud which he placed on the turtle's back. The birds descended with the young wife, henceforth known as "Sky-Woman," and placed her on the surface of her new home, the Middle-World, or the Earth.

Here Sky-Woman lived surrounded by the plants and animals that fell with her. When she touched the earth that Muskrat had brought, it grew in all directions, becoming the bountiful earth that we know. Eventually, she gave birth to a daughter who became the wife of a celestial being and gave birth to twins, "Good Thinking" and "Evil Thinking." The daughter died in childbirth because "Evil Thinking" refused to be born in the normal fashion and emerged from her armpit. When the daughter was buried, corn grew from her breast, squash from her stomach, beans from her fingers and potatoes from her toes. (Some Senecas object to this story, saying that corn, beans and squash were originally three beautiful women who fell to Earth with Sky-Woman. The trio went everywhere together, singing and laughing. Eventually, they lost their human form, but exist down to this day as vegetables. However, they still enjoy each other's company and seem to thrive when planted together.) The earth became a lush garden filled with giant vegetables and animals. However, after the birth of "Good Thinking" and "Bad thinking," life began to degenerate. For every blessing bestowed by Good Thinking, a corresponding bad characteristic would be created by the envious brother. Thus, corn has been touched by blight and the fish created by the good twin were filled with bones by the evil brother. Some of the plants that fell from the Upper World chose to remain on earth. Consequently, the celestial inhabitants are envious of a few earthly plants which no longer grow in the Upper World, such as tobacco, and..... strawberries.

There is an old Cherokee myth about the first man and woman. After living happily together for some time, they had a quarrel. Harsh words were saidon both sides, and finally the wife announced that she was leaving.. Grabbing a few belongings, she set out at a rapid pace. "I am going to find another place to live," she told her husband, "You are lazy and pay no attention to me." In a short time, the husband regretted his harsh words and tried to overtake his wife so he could apologize. Eventually, he realized that she was too far ahead, and he appealed to the Great Spirit to help him. "Slow her down, Great Spirit," he said. Touched by the man's anguish, the Great Spirit intervened. As to whether he caused various berries to spring up in lush profusion along the wife's path, or if he merely influenced the wife's choice of direction, the result was the same. The wife began to encounter berries: huckleberries, blackberries, blueberries. She was not tempted. On she hastened, intent on her journey until she came to a field of strawberries. Here, she stopped, and as she plucked and ate the "fruit of heaven," she forgot her anger. Finding a basket among her belongings, she quickly filled it, and retraced her steps. The man hurrying on his way, was surprised to see his wife returning, and lo! she was smiling! Her hand dipped into her basket, and she smeared his face with crushed strawberries. He smiled foolishly, and muttered his thanks to the Great Spirit. Taking his hand, his wife led him back down the path to their home, feeding him strawberries on the way.

my dad use to tell me this story when I was very young.

there was a family of Indians, and one day they were on a family outing when one of them got separated from the rest. They looked and looked but found nothing,... so they headed back to the village and told the people to help search for this lost child, and so the people sent out serch parties to look for this child but still found nothing, so the tribe got an Idea to post lookout signs for this child and so they did.

The sign reads " lookout for falling rock".

My dad told me that whenever we pass such a sign we know that the peple had been this way  searching for the child.

OTTA GERTRUDE KEYS FLAHERTY

 

My father useto tell me stories about his mother.  Grandmother was very superstitious and read signs.  One day Otta and her youngest son Floyd each got a bucket and started walking through a field to get water from the well.  During their walk a bird flew out of a bush and circled them three times then flew back into the bush.  Two more times the bird flew out of the bush and circled them three times and then flew back into the bush.  Otta and Floyd continued on to the well, filled the buckets and proceeded home.  Once back at home Grandmother told Grandfather what had happened with the bird.  She told him that it meant that one of them (her and Floyd) was going to die.  She then told him that if she or Floyd were going to die then she wanted it to be her because Floyd was only a very small child.  Shortly after this incident Otta fell ill with Malaria and passed away at the age of 42.

 

My father has taken me to see the ruins of the home where she died.  Only the foundation still stands.  

 Keys School in ParkHill, OK History

Keys School was first established in a log home, on a hill in the woods about one mile west on Stone Chapel Road and a mile or more south. This log home only had one room, used wood heat, water came from either a spring or well, and bathroom privileges were taken in the woods. In the winter, hogs would take shelter under the school and grunt the day away because underpinning had not been put around the log home. Everyone attending school had to walk because buses were non-existent. Many had to walk a mile or more.  Next, Keys School stood one mile west on Stone Chapel Road and South just past the Y. It was a small A-frame building containing two rooms. There were approximately 25 students and 2 teachers. An outside john modernized things a bit. Water was still drawn from a well, and heat came from a wood stove. The wood stove caught the building on fire. Keys School was then built a little south of where the fire occurred and consisted of one building with two classrooms, but a kitchen and dining room were built and stands today. Students walked to school and brought a tin cup and a bowl to drink and eat out of. Students were served red beans, stew, or soup everyday and drank water drew from the well. There were no automated bell systems- a big dinner bell signaled the beginning and ending of school, recess, and noon break. Approximately 30 years ago, there were only 6 teachers and about 100 students functioning in 4 classrooms, with a lunchroom and a bathroom, but no gym- physical education occurred in the great outdoors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Take Time for 10 Things

1. Take time to Work- it is the price of success.
2. Take time to Think- is the source of power.
3. Take time to Play- it is the secret of youth.
4. Take time to Read- it is the foundation of knowledge.
5. Take time to Worship- it is the highway of reverence and washes the dust of earth from our eyes.
6. Take time to Help and Enjoy Friends- it the source of happiness.
7. Take time to Love- it is the one sacrament of life.
8. Take time to Dream- it hitches the soul to the stars.
9. Take time to Laugh- it is the singing that helps with life's loads.
10. Take time to Plan- it is the secret of being able to have time to take time for the first nine things.