I'll tell you the legend, a legend my father told me about the stickball games.
He said back in the days when the white settlers were moving in, they were having a game, probably up in Big Cove. And he said the new people that came in had never seen a game played - had never seen anything like it.
One of the old men - an old Cherokee man - was sitting on the sidelines watching the young men play. One of the settlers sat down with him and said, "That's quite a game. I've never seen anything like it." And they had a conversation, of course, talked about it. And right toward the end he said, "When did you start playing this game? How old is it?" And he said, "It's old. It's been played generation after generation," he said. "It dates back to who knows when, on back beyond. It started back when the animals of the forest had a ball team."
He said the animals had a rough line up, a big line up. The Big Bear was the captain. In his lineup he had the Fast-Running Deer. And he had the Big Wolf, and the Big Bob Cat, and the Big Panther. He named over all those big rough animals that were on that ball team.
He said the Big Bear liked to boast. He'd get in front of all his ball players and show them how strong he was by picking up boulders and tossing them, or maybe picking up a big log, and tossing it. He said there's no team can win over us.
While he was talking and boasting about his team and himself, there was someone trying to get his attention. And this someone was so small that he couldn't get the Big Bear's attention. All he could do was tap him on his toes. Maybe he'd feel that tapping and get the signal and look down.
And sure enough, the Big Bear wondered what was tapping him, and when he looked down it was a little mouse about as big as your thumb looking up at that big giant.
He said, "I come to play ball with you. I can join your team. I'm an animal, you know."
The Big Bear thought that was the funniest sight he had ever seen. He fell backwards laughing at that little mouse. Then when he finally got up, he pointed his finger at that little mouse and said, "I want you to tell me what in the world can you do in a ball game? Just look at you, and look at your size! I don't know about you!" And then he kicked that little mouse way out into the bushes.
And when that little mouse landed, of course his feelings were hurt. And then he said, "That's no way to treat a person." He got thinking he wasn't going to give up. He got thinking, there's another team way in the distance. They're getting ready to play ball. I think they're having a big ball dance. Do you know they usually have a dance before they play ball. The evening before he thought he'd go see that team, and maybe they'd let him play on their team.
So he walked for miles, and he finally arrived. There was a big eagle, Captain Eagle, a fowl of the air, that had a team. And they had the Falcon and the Big Hawk, and the Big Buzzard, and all those big birds of the forest. And they were getting ready to put on a ritual.
And the little mouse explained to the eagle, Captain Eagle. He told him the story of what happened to him and the Bear, what the Bear did to him. And he said, "I still want to play ball." He said, "May I join your team?"
The Eagle said, "Why sure! You can join us. But one thing, though, you don't have any wings. You need wings to play with us. You've got to fly."
They looked around real quick and they found a piece of leather, and they cut him out a little set of wings. And they attached them to the little mouse's sides. And after they'd finished, they took him high up into the sky, the Eagle did, and dropped him. When they dropped him, he could fly. The little mouse could fly, and he fluttered all the way down to the ground.
And they were so proud of him because he could fly. And they said, "You can play with us tomorrow. We're going to play the Big Bear and his team."
Well, the next day was ball game time. So after all the speeches were made, and rules were set up --- twelve points is the ball game. Whoever gets twelve points, he wins the game. And he carries the ball to the goal post -- two little bushes that are cut and set in the ground about eight feet apart. You've got to carry that ball through between those little bushes. When the ball was tossed up for the center man, they batted the ball -- I don't know who batted it, the Bear or the Eagle.
But before that ball ever hit the ground, that little mouse with the new wings swooped down and grabbed that ball, and went between all those big vicious animals -- they were trying to knock him down with their paws as he passed. And he went in and out, in and out. And he went out into the clear, and he was gone! He scored!
The business end of a Cherokee stickball stick, said to be several hundred years old, on display at the Ramsey Center at Mars Hill College
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Again and again and again he scored. And he dominated the game. And he beat that Big Bear who had kicked him out into the bushes...He won over that Big Bear.
And he said -- the old Cherokee man that was talking to this white settler -- he said, "don't ever ever underestimate the size of a person or the looks of a person or the color of a person when he wants to join you. Whatever you have going, always welcome him in, because if you don't, he just might turn and beat you."
That little mouse still flies to this day. Late in the evening, when you're out in your back yard or front yard and happen to look up, just about dark, you'll see that little mouse flying around up overhead. It will always fly, and it will always be a ball player. That's that little bat that flies at night, in the evening or in the morning. He turned into the little bat. And he still goes, to this day.
That was the kind of story that was told by my dad. So many legends we have. So many stories we have, like that.
