Cherokee Mythology
1900
Copyright 2011 Dracko Publishing
Smashwords Edition
Written by James Mooney
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Cherokee Mythology
1900
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Table of Contents
Chapter: 1 How The World Was Made
Chapter: 2 The First Fire
Chapter: 3 Kana'tï And Selu: The Origin Of Game And Corn
Chapter: 4 Origin Of Disease And Medicine
Chapter: 5 The Daughter Of The Sun
Chapter: 6 How They Brought Back The Tobacco
Chapter: 7 The Journey To The Sunrise
Chapter: 8 The Moon And The Thunders
Chapter: 9 What The Stars Are Like
Chapter: 10 Origin Of The Pleiades And The Pine
Chapter: 11 The Milky Way
Chapter: 12 Origin Of Strawberries
Chapter: 13 The Great Yellow-jacket: Origin Of Fish And Frogs
Chapter: 14 The Deluge
Chapter: 15 The Fourfooted Tribes
Chapter: 16 The Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting
Chapter: 17 How The Rabbit Stole The Otter's Coat
Chapter: 18 Why The Possum's Tail Is Bare
Chapter: 19 How The Wildcat Caught The Gobbler
Chapter: 20 How The Terrapin Beat The Rabbit
Chapter: 21 The Rabbit And The Tar Wolf
Chapter: 22 The Rabbit And The Possum After A Wife
Chapter: 23 The Rabbit Dines The Bear
Chapter: 24 The Rabbit Escapes From The Wolves
Chapter: 25 Flint Visits The Rabbit
Chapter: 26 How The Deer Got His Horns
Chapter: 27 Why The Deer's Teeth Are Blunt
Chapter: 28 What Became Of The Rabbit
Chapter: 29 Why The Mink Smells
Chapter: 30 Why The Mole Lives Underground
Chapter: 31 The Terrapin's Escape From The Wolves
Chapter: 32 Origin Of The Groundhog Dance: The Groundhog's Head
Chapter: 33 The Migration Of The Animals
Chapter: 34 The Wolf's Revengethe Wolf And The Dog
Chapter: 35 The Bird Tribes
Chapter: 36 The Ball Game Of The Birds And Animals
Chapter: 37 How The Turkey Got His Beard
Chapter: 38 Why The Turkey Gobbles
Chapter: 39 How The Kingfisher Got His Bill
Chapter: 40 How The Partridge Got His Whistle
Chapter: 41 The Pheasant Beating Corn; Origin Of The Pheasant Dance
Chapter: 42 The Race Between The Crane And The Hummingbird
Chapter: 43 The Owl Gets Married
Chapter: 44 The Huhu Gets Married
Chapter: 45 Why The Buzzard's Head Is Bare
Chapter: 46 The Eagle's Revenge
Chapter: 47 The Hunter And The Buzzard
Chapter: 48 The Snake Tribe
Chapter: 49 The Uktena And The Ulûñsû'tï
Chapter: 50 Âgän-uni'tsï's Search For The Uktena
Chapter: 51 The Hunter And The Uksu'hï
Chapter: 52 The Foot-Snake
Chapter: 53 The Uw`tsûñ'ta
Chapter: 54 The Snake Boy
Chapter: 55 The Snake Man
Chapter: 56 The Rattlesnake's Vengeance
Chapter: 57 The Smaller Reptiles-fishes And Insects
Chapter: 58 Why The Bullfrog's Head Is Striped
Chapter: 59 The Bullfrog Lover
Chapter: 60 The Katydid's Warning
Chapter: 61 Ûñtsaiyï', The Gambler
Chapter: 62 The Nest Of The Great Hawk
Chapter: 63 The Hunter And The Great Hawk
Chapter: 64 U`tlûñ'ta, The Spear-finger
Chapter: 65 Stone-Man, The Stone Man
Chapter: 66 The Hunter In The Däkwä'
Chapter: 67 Enchanted-Lake, The Enchanted Lake
Chapter: 68 The Bride From The South
Chapter: 69 The Ice Man
Chapter: 70 The Hunter And Selu
Chapter: 71 The Underground Panthers
Chapter: 72 The Sharp-Willed
Chapter: 73 Origin Of The Bear: The Bear Songs
Chapter: 74 The Bear Man
Chapter: 75 The Great Leech Of The Drain-Place
Chapter: 76 The Ancients And Other Spirit Folk
Chapter: 77 The Removed Townhouses
Chapter: 78 The Spirit Defenders Of Nïkwäsï'
Chapter: 79 Tsul'kälû, The Slant-eyed Giant
Chapter: 80 Käna'sta, The Lost Settlement
Chapter: 81 Tsuwe'nähï: A Legend Of Pilot Knob
Chapter: 82 The Man Who Married The Thunder's Sister
Chapter: 83 The Haunted Whirlpool
Chapter: 84 Yahula
Chapter: 85 The Water Cannibals
Chapter: 86 First Contact With Europeans
Chapter: 87 The Iroquois Wars
Chapter: 88 Hiadeoni, The Seneca
Chapter: 89 The Two Mohawks
Chapter: 90 Escape Of The Seneca Boys
Chapter: 91 The Unseen Helpers
Chapter: 92 Hatcinoñdoñ's Escape From The Cherokee
Chapter: 93 Hemp-carrier
Chapter: 94 The Seneca Peacemakers
Chapter: 95 Origin Of The Yontoñwisas Dance
Chapter: 96 Ga?na?'s Adventures Among The Cherokee
Chapter: 97 The Shawano Wars
Chapter: 98 The Raid On Tïkwäli'tsï
Chapter: 99 The Last Shawano Invasion
Chapter: 100 The False Warriors Of Chilhowee
Chapter: 101 Cowee Town
Chapter: 102 The Eastern Tribes
Chapter: 103 The Southern And Western Tribes
Chapter: 104 The Giants From The West
Chapter: 105 The Lost Cherokee
Chapter: 106 The Massacre Of The Ani'-kuta'nï
Chapter: 107 The War Medicine
Chapter: 108 Incidents Of Personal Heroism
Chapter: 109 The Mounds And The Constant Fire: The Old Sacred Things
Chapter: 110 The Ignorant Housekeeper
Chapter: 111 The Man In The Stump
Chapter: 112 Two Lazy Hunters
Chapter: 113 The Two Old Men
Chapter: 114 The Star Feathers
Chapter: 115 The Mother Bear's Song
Chapter: 116 The Raven Mocker
Chapter: 117 Herbert's Spring
Chapter: 118 Plant Lore
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Chapter: 1 How The World Was Made
The earth is a great island floating in a sea of water, and suspended at each of the four cardinal points by a cord hanging down from the sky vault, which is of solid rock. When the world grows old and worn out, the people will die and the cords will break and let the earth sink down into the ocean, and all will be water again. The Natives are afraid of this.
When all was water, the animals were above in Gälûñ'lätï, beyond the arch; but it was very much crowded, and they were wanting more room. They wondered what was below the water, and at last Dâyuni'sï, "Beaver's Grandchild," the little Water-beetle, offered to go and see if it could learn. It darted in every direction over the surface of the water, but could find no firm place to rest. Then it dived to the bottom and came up with some soft mud, which began to grow and spread on every side until it became the island which we call the earth. It was afterward fastened to the sky with four cords, but no one remembers who did this.
At first the earth was flat and very soft and wet. The animals were anxious to get down, and sent out different birds to see if it was yet dry, but they found no place to alight and came back again to Gälûñ'lätï. At last it seemed to be time, and they sent out the Buzzard and told him to go and make ready for them. This was the Great Buzzard, the father of all the buzzards we see now. He flew all over the earth, low down near the ground, and it was still soft. When he reached the Cherokee country, he was very tired, and his wings began to flap and strike the ground, and wherever they struck the earth there was a valley, and where they turned up again there was a mountain. When the animals above saw this, they were afraid that the whole world would be mountains, so they called him back, but the Cherokee country remains full of mountains to this day.
When the earth was dry and the animals came down, it was still dark, so they got the sun and set it in a track to go every day across the island from east to west, just overhead. It was too hot this way, and Tsiska'gïlï', the Red Crawfish, had his shell scorched a bright red, so that his meat was spoiled; and the Cherokee do not eat it. The conjurers put the sun another hand-breadth higher in the air, but it was still too hot. They raised it another time, and another, until it was seven handbreadths high and just under the sky arch. Then it was right, and they left it so. This is why the conjurers call the highest place Gûlkwâ'gine Di'gälûñ'lätiyûñ', "the seventh height," because it is seven hand-breadths above the earth. Every day the sun goes along under this arch, and returns at night on the upper side to the starting place.
There is another world under this, and it is like ours in everythinganimals, plants, and peoplesave that the seasons are different. The streams that come down from the mountains are the trails by which we reach this underworld, and the springs at their heads are the doorways by which we enter, it, but to do this one must fast and, go to water and have one of the underground people for a guide. We know that the seasons in the underworld are different from ours, because the water in the springs is always warmer in winter and cooler in summer than the outer air.
When the animals and plants were first madewe do not know by whomthey were told to watch and keep awake for seven nights, just as young men now fast and keep awake when they pray to their medicine. They tried to do this, and nearly all were awake through the first night, but the next night several dropped off to sleep, and the third night others were asleep, and then others, until, on the seventh night, of all the animals only the owl, the panther, and one or two more were still awake. To these were given the power to see and to go about in the dark, and to make prey of the birds and animals which must sleep at night. Of the trees only the cedar, the pine, the spruce, the holly, and the laurel were awake to the end, and to them it was given to be always green and to be greatest for medicine, but to the others it was said: "Because you have not endured to the end you shall lose your, hair every winter."
Men came after the animals and plants. At first there were only a brother and sister until he struck her with a fish and told her to multiply, and so it was. In seven days a child was born to her, and thereafter every seven days another, and they increased very fast until there was danger that the world could not keep them. Then it was made that a woman should have only one child in a year, and it has been so ever since.
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Chapter: 2 The First Fire
In the beginning there was no fire, and the world was cold, until the Thunders (Ani'-Hyûñ'tïkwälâ'skï), who lived up in Gälûñ'lätï, sent their lightning and put fire into the bottom of a hollow sycamore tree which grew on an island. The animals knew it was there, because they could see the smoke coming out at the top, but they could not get to it on account of the water, so they held a council to decide what to do. This was a long time ago.
Every animal that could fly or swim was anxious to go after the fire. The Raven offered, and because he was so large and strong they thought he could surely do the work, so he was sent first. He flew high and far across the water and alighted on the sycamore tree, but while he was wondering what to do next, the heat had scorched all his feathers black, and he was frightened and came back without the fire. The little Screech-owl (Wa'huhu') volunteered to go, and reached the place safely, but while he was looking down into the hollow tree a blast of hot air came up and nearly burned out his eves. He managed to fly home as best he could, but it was a long time before he could see well, and his eyes are red to this day. Then the Hooting Owl (U'guku')and the Horned Owl (Tskïlï') went, but by the time they got to the hollow tree the fire was burning so fiercely that the smoke nearly blinded them, and the ashes carried up by the wind made white rings about their eyes. They had to come home again without the fire, but with all their rubbing they were never able to get rid of the white rings.
Now no more of the birds would venture, and so the little Uksu'hï snake, the black racer, said he would go through the water and bring back some fire. He swam across to the island and crawled through the grass to the tree, and went in by a small hole at the bottom. The heat and smoke were too much for him, too, and after dodging about blindly over the hot ashes until he was almost on fire himself he managed by good luck to get out again at the same hole, but his body had been scorched black, and he has ever since had the habit of darting and doubling on his track as if trying to escape from close quarters. He came back, and the great blacksnake, Gûle'gï, "The Climber," offered to go for fire. He swam over to the island and climbed up the tree on the outside, as the blacksnake always does, but when he put his head down into the hole the smoke choked him so that he fell into the burning stump, and before he could climb out again he was as black as the Uksu'hï.
Now they held another council, for still there was no fire, and the world was cold, but birds, snakes, and four-footed animals, all had some excuse for not going, because they were all afraid to venture near the burning sycamore, until at last Känäne'skï Amai'yëhï (the Water Spider) said she would go. This is not the water spider that looks like a mosquito, but the other one, with black downy hair and red stripes on her body. She can run on top of the water or dive to the bottom, so there would be no trouble to get over to the island, but the question was, How could she bring back the fire?
"I'll manage that, said the Water Spider; so she spun a thread from her body and wove it into a tusti bowl, which she fastened on her back. Then she crossed over to the island and through the grass to where the fire was still burning. She put one little coal of fire into her bowl, and came back with it, and ever since we have had fire, and the Water Spider still keeps her tusti bowl.
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Chapter: 3 Kana'tï And Selu: The Origin Of Game And Corn
When I was a boy this is what the old men told me they had heard when they were boys.
Long years ago, soon after the world was made, a hunter and his wife lived at Pilot knob with their only child, a little boy. The father's name was Kana'tï (The Lucky Hunter), and his wife was called Selu (Corn). No matter when Kana'tï went into the wood, he never failed to bring back a load of game, which his wife. would cut up and prepare, washing off the blood from the meat in the river near the house. The little boy used to play down by the river every day, and one morning the old people thought they heard laughing and talking in the bushes as though there were two children there. When the boy came home at night his parents asked him who had been playing with him all day.
"He comes out of the water," said the boy, "and he calls himself my elder brother. He says his mother was cruel to him and threw him into the river." Then they knew that the strange boy had sprung from the blood of the game which Selu had washed off at the river's edge.
Every day when the little boy went out to play the other would join him, but as he always went back again into the water the old people never had a chance to see him. At last one evening Kana'tï said to his son,
"Tomorrow, when the other boy comes to play, get him to wrestle with you, and when you have your arms around him hold on to him and call for us." The boy promised to do as he was told, so the next day as soon as his playmate appeared he challenged him to a wrestling match. The other agreed at once, but as soon as they had their arms around each other, Kana'tï's boy began to scream for his father. The old folks at once came running down, and as soon as the Wild Boy saw them he struggled to free himself and cried out,
"Let me go; you threw me away!" but his brother held on until the parents reached the spot, when they seized the Wild Boy and took him home with them. They kept him in the house until they had tamed him, but he was always wild and artful in his disposition, and was the leader of his brother in every mischief. It was not long until the old people discovered that he had magic powers, and they called him I'näge-utäsûñ'hï (He-who-grew-up-wild).
Whenever Kana'tï went into the mountains he always brought back a fat buck or doe, or maybe a couple of turkeys. One day the Wild Boy said to his brother,
"I wonder where our father gets all that game; let's follow him next time and find out." A few days afterward Kana'tï took a bow and some feathers in his hand and started off toward the west. The boys waited a little while and then went after him, keeping out of sight until they saw him go into a swamp where there were a great many of the small reeds that hunters use to make arrowshafts. Then the Wild Boy changed himself into a puff of bird's down, which the wind took up and carried until it alighted upon Kana'tï's shoulder just as he entered the swamp, but Kana'tï' knew nothing about it. The old man cut reeds, fitted the feathers to them and made some arrows, and the Wild Boyin his other shapethought,
"I wonder what those things are for?" When Kana'tï had his arrows finished he came out of the swamp and went on again. The wind blew the down from his shoulder, and it fell in the woods, when the Wild Boy took his right shape again and went back and told his brother what he had seen. Keeping out of sight of their father, they followed him up the mountain until he stopped at a certain place and lifted a large rock. At once there ran out a buck, which Kana'tï shot, and then lifting it upon his back he started for home again.
"Oho!" exclaimed the boys, "he keeps all the deer shut up in that hole, and whenever he wants meat he just lets one out and kills it with those things he made in the swamp." They hurried and reached home before their father, who had the heavy deer to carry, and he never knew that they had followed.
A few days later the boys went back to the swamp, cut some reeds, and made seven arrows and then started up the mountain to where their father kept the game. When they got to the place, they raised the rock and a deer came running out. Just as they drew back to shoot it, another came out, and then another and another, until the boys got confused and forgot what they were about. In those days all the deer had their tails hanging down like other animals, but as a buck was running past the Wild Boy struck its tail with his arrow so that it pointed upward. The boys thought this good sport, and when the next one ran past the Wild Boy struck its tail so that it stood straight up, and his brother struck the next one so hard with his arrow that the deer's tail was almost curled over his back. The deer carries his tail this way ever since. The deer came running past until the last one had come out of the hole and escaped into the forest. Then came droves of raccoons, rabbits, and all the other four-footed animals-all but the bear, because there was no bear then. Last came great flocks of turkeys, pigeons, and partridges that darkened the air like a cloud and made such a noise with their wings that Kana'tï, sitting at home, heard the sound like distant thunder on the mountains and said to himself,
"My bad boys have got into trouble; I must go and see what they are doing."
So he went up the mountain, and when he came to the place where he kept the game he found the two boys standing by the rock, and all the birds and animals were gone. Kana'tï was furious, but without saying a word he went down into the cave and kicked the covers off four jars in one corner, when out swarmed bedbugs, fleas, lice, and gnats, and got all over the boys. They screamed with pain and fright and tried to beat off the insects, but the thousands of vermin crawled over them and bit and stung them until both dropped down nearly dead. Kana'tï stood looking on until he thought they had been punished enough, when he knocked off the vermin and made the boys a talk.
"Now, you rascals," said he, "you have always had plenty to eat and never had to work for it. Whenever you were hungry all I had to do was to come up here and get a deer or a turkey and bring it home for your mother to cook; but now you have let out all the animals, and after this when you want a deer to eat you will have to hunt all over the woods for it, and then maybe not find one. Go home now to your mother, while I see if I can find something to eat for supper."
When the boys got home again they were very tired and hungry and asked their mother for something to eat.
"There is no meat," said Selu, "but wait a little while and I'll get you something." So she took a basket and started out to the storehouse. This storehouse was built upon poles high up from the ground, to keep it out of the reach of animals, and there was a ladder to climb up by, and one door, but no other opening. Every day when Selu got ready to cook the dinner she would go out to the storehouse with a basket and bring it back full of corn and beans. The boys had never been inside the storehouse, so wondered where all the corn and beans could come from, as the house was not a very large one; so as soon as Selu went out of the door the Wild Boy said to his brother,
"Let's go and see what she does." They ran around and climbed up at the back of the storehouse and pulled out a piece of clay from between the logs, so that they could look in. There they saw Selu standing in the middle of the room with the basket in front of her on the floor. Leaning over the basket, she rubbed her stomachsoand the basket was half full of corn. Then she rubbed under her armpitssoand the basket was full to the top with beans. The boys looked at each other and said,
"This will never do; our mother is a witch. If we eat any of that it will poison us. We must kill her."
When the boys came back into the house, she knew their thoughts before they spoke.
"So you are going to kill me?" said Selu. "Yes," said the boys, "you are a witch."
"Well," said their mother, "when you have killed me, clear a large piece of ground in front of the house and drag my body seven times around the circle. Then drag me seven times over the ground inside the circle, and stay up all night and watch, and in the morning you will have plenty of corn." The boys killed her with their clubs, and cut off her head and put it up on the roof of the house with her face turned to the west, and told her to look for her husband. Then they set to work to clear the ground in front of the house, but instead of clearing the whole piece they cleared only seven little spots. This is why corn now grows only in a few places instead of over the whole world. They dragged the body of Selu around the circle, and wherever her blood fell on the ground the corn sprang up. But instead of dragging her body seven times across the ground they dragged it over only twice, which is the reason the Natives still work their crop but twice. The two brothers sat up and watched their corn all night, and in the morning it was full grown and ripe.
When Kana'tï came home at last, he looked around, but could not see Selu anywhere, and asked the boys where was their mother.
"She was a witch, and we killed her," said the boys; "there is her head up there on top of the house." When he saw his wife's head on the roof, he was very angry, and said,
"I won't stay with you any longer; I am going to the Wolf people." So he started off, but before he had gone far the Wild Boy changed himself again to a tuft of down, which fell on Kana'tï's shoulder. When Kana'tï reached the settlement of the Wolf people, they were holding a council in the townhouse. He went in and sat down with the tuft of bird's down on his shoulder, but he never noticed it. When the Wolf chief asked him his business, he said:
"I have two bad boys at home, and I want you to go in seven days from now and play ball against them." Although Kana'tï spoke as though he wanted them to play a game of ball, the Wolves knew that he meant for them to go and kill the two boys. They promised to go. Then the bird's down blew off from Kana'tï's shoulder, and the smoke carried it up through the hole in the roof of the townhouse. When it came down on the ground outside, the Wild Boy took his right shape again and went home and told his brother all that he had heard in the townhouse. But when Kana'tï left the Wolf people, he did not return home, but went on farther.
The boys then began to get ready for the Wolves, and the Wild Boythe magiciantold his brother what to do. They ran around the house in a wide circle until they had made a trail all around it excepting on the side from which the Wolves would come, where they left a small open space. Then they made four large bundles of arrows and placed them at four different points on the outside of the circle, after which they hid themselves in the woods and waited for the Wolves. In a day or two a whole party of Wolves came and surrounded the house to kill the boys. The Wolves did not notice the trail around the house, because they came in where the boys had left the opening, but the moment they went inside the circle the trail changed to a high brush fence and shut them in. Then the boys on the outside took their arrows and began shooting them down, and as the Wolves could not jump over the fence they were all killed, excepting a few that escaped through the opening into a great swamp close by. The boys ran around the swamp, and a circle of fire sprang up in their tracks and set fire to the grass and bushes and burned up nearly all the other wolves. Only two or three got away, and from these have come all the wolves that are now in the world.
Soon afterward some strangers from a distance, who had heard that the brothers had a wonderful grain from which they made bread, came to ask for some, for none but Selu and her family had ever known corn before. The boys gave them seven grains of corn, which they told them to plant the next night on their way home, sitting up all night to watch the corn, which would have seven ripe ears in the morning. These they were to plant the next night and watch in the same way, and so on every night until they reached home, when they would have corn enough to supply the whole people. The strangers lived seven days' journey away. They took the seven grains and watched all through the darkness until morning, when they saw seven tall stalks, each stalk bearing a ripened ear. They gathered the ears and went on their way. The next night they planted all their corn, and guarded it as before until daybreak, when they found an abundant increase. But the way was long and the sun was hot, and the people grew tired. On the last night before reaching home they fell asleep, and in the morning the corn they had planted had not even sprouted. They brought with them to their settlement what corn they had left and planted it, and with care and attention were able to raise a crop. But ever since the corn must be watched and tended through half the year, which before would grow and ripen in a night.