Early on when Europe first colonized the new world (16th century) pilgrims needed only there genetics to combat indians, so many of them died out from our illness's they had no antibodies to fight, they were left freely to expand there settlements without response from what was left of the tribes. And then we have the blankets infected with disease we so generously gave them later on.
Those blankets were infected ON PURPOSE.
As for me, I rescue horses that were abused or starved, so I imagine they would have great things to say about me. I even rescued the dog and cat I now have. My cat hates anyone but me, and my dog loves everyone but won't listen to anyone but me. (She's a terrible watchdog, and a horrible navigator--she could easily get lost in a dead-end alley)
An old Indian legend I heard when I was younger came from an old Cherokee woman I once knew. Since I am Cherokee, I knew many.
It goes something like this:
In the beginning, man had a wonderful relationship with all the creatures. Especially dog and cat. Dog thought man was the greatest and cat just loved man's lap for sleeping.
But man had done something to piss off the Great Spirit. So the Great Spirit decided that as punishment, He would separate man from the animals. So He split the ground with animals on one side and man on the other.
Dog just could not bear to be without man. Neither could cat. So before the chasm got too wide, dog and cat jumped over to man's side at the last second.
That's why today dogs and cats are easily man's best friends.
