The Magic Lake

All Cherokee children have heard the story of the magic lake where sick and wounded animals would go for healing. A great hunter, Walk the Forest, pursued a huge black bear in the Smoky Mountains. He wounds the bear and follows him for days. Walk the Forest falls asleep and wakes to see a shimmering lake with animals swimming and bathing in the mysterious waters. He notices that 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.