Another plant story concerns the tears of the people. This time it concerns a plant called the medicine bead or corn bead or hippie bead (in the 60’s) or Job’s Tears.

A story says that at the time the soldiers drove the people toward the West on the Trail of Tears, these tall plants began to grow where the people wept. The plants are members of the corn family. They will grow where the seeds fall to the ground, even if they are not cultivated. They, like the Cherokee rose, are strong enough and stubborn enough to take over much of the garden. The Corn Bead is so named due to its resemblance to a kernel of corn. It grows wild locally and has a naturally occurring hole in the center of it. Legend says that many years ago, during the 1830's, the Real People, as the Cherokee called themselves, were rounded up as cattle, force to leave their homeland and walk west to a new homeland. They cried tears of sorrow and grief. Where their tears hit the ground a plant sprang up. The seeds look like teardrops and were the color of grief. The Real People wear these seeds in necklaces and medallions in memory of the Trail of Tears

Now the Cherokee grow these grassy plants to make beads for the tourists, but many don’t know these beads also symbolize for the people the tears of the travelers on the Trail of Tears.