Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual...

The twilight land—Usûñhi′yĭ, “Where it is always growing dark,” the spirit land in the west. This is the word constantly used in the sacred formulas to denote the west, instead of the ordinary word Wude′ligûñ′yĭ, “Where it sets.” In the same way Nûñdâ′yĭ, or Nûñdâgûñ′yĭ, the “Sun place, or region,” is the formulistic name for the east instead of Digălûñgûñ′yĭ, “Where it [i. e., the sun] comes up,” the ordinary term. These archaic expressions give to myths and formulas a peculiar beauty which is lost in the translation. As the interpreter once said, “I love to hear these old words.”

Struck by lightning—With the American tribes, as in Europe, a mysterious potency attaches to the wood of a tree which has been struck by lightning. The Cherokee conjurers claim to do wonderful things by means of such wood. Splinters of it are frequently buried in the field to make the corn grow. It must not be forgotten that the boys in this myth are Thunder Boys.

Anisga′ya Tsunsdi′—Abbreviated from Anisga′ya Tsunsdi′ga, “Little Men.” These two sons of Kana′tĭ, who are sometimes called Thunder Boys and who live in Usûñhi′yĭ above the sky vault, must not be confounded with the Yûñwĭ Tsunsdi′, or “Little People,” who are also Thunderers, but who live in caves of the rocks and cause the short, sharp claps of thunder. There is also the Great Thunderer, the thunder of the whirlwind and the hurricane, who seems to be identical with Kana′tĭ himself.

Deer songs—The Indian hunters of the olden time had many songs intended to call up the deer and the bear. Most of these have perished, but a few are still remembered. They were sung by the hunter, with some accompanying ceremony, to a sweetly plaintive tune, either before starting out or on reaching the hunting ground.

4.Origin of disease and medicine (p. 250): This myth was obtained first from Swimmer, as explaining the theory upon which is based the medical practice of the Cherokee doctor. It was afterward heard, with less detail, from John Ax (east) and James Wafford (west). It was originally published in the author’s Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, in the Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.

In the mythology of most Indian tribes, as well as of primitive peoples generally, disease is caused by animal spirits, ghosts, or witchcraft, and the doctor’s efforts are directed chiefly to driving out the malevolent spirit. In Creek belief, according to the Tuggle manuscript, “all disease is caused by the winds, which are born in the air and then descend to the earth.” It is doubtful, however, if this statement is intended to apply to more than a few classes of disease, and another myth in the same collection recites that “once upon a time the beasts, birds, and reptiles held a council to devise means to destroy the enemy, man.” For an extended discussion of the Indian medical theory, see the author’s paper mentioned above.

The ground squirrel’s stripes—According to a Creek myth in the Tuggle collection the stripes on the back of the ground squirrel were made by the bear, who scratched the little fellow in anger at a council held by the animals to decide upon the proper division of day and night. Precisely the same explanation is given by the Iroquois of New York state23 and by the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia.24

5.The Daughter of the Sun: Origin of death (p. 252): This is one of the principal myths of the Cherokee, and like most of its class, has several variants. The sequel has an obvious resemblance to the myth of Pandora. It was obtained in whole or in part from Swimmer, John Ax, James Blythe, and others of the eastern band. The version mainly followed is that of Swimmer, which differs in important details from that of John Ax.

As told by John Ax, it is the Sun herself, instead of her daughter, who is killed, the daughter having been assigned the duty of lighting the earth after the death of her mother, the original Sun. The only snakes mentioned are the Spreading Adder and the Rattlesnake, the first being a transformed man, while the other is a stick, upon which the Little Men cut seven rings before throwing it in the pathway of the Sun, where it becomes a rattlesnake. The seven rods or staves of the Swimmer version are with John Ax seven corncobs, which are thrown at the girl as she passes in the dance (cf. Hagar variant of number 8 in notes). The Little Men (see number 3, “Kana′tĭ and Selu,” and other stories) belong to the John Ax version. The others have only a conjurer or chief to direct proceedings.

This myth is noted in the Payne manuscript, of date about 1835, quoted in Squier, Serpent Symbol, page 67: “The Cherokees state that a number of beings were engaged in the creation. The Sun was made first. The intention of the creators was that men should live always. But the Sun, when he passed over, told them that there was not land enough and that people had better die. At length the daughter of the Sun, who was with them, was bitten by a snake and died. The Sun, on his return, inquired for her and was told that she was dead. He then consented that human beings might live always, and told them to take a box and go where the spirit of his daughter was and bring it back to her body, charging them that when they got her spirit they should not open the box until they had arrived where her body was. However, impelled by curiosity, they opened it, contrary to the injunction of the Sun, and the spirit escaped; and then the fate of all men was decided, that they must die.” This is copied without credit by Foster, Sequoyah, page 241.

Another version is thus given by the missionary Buttrick, who died in 1847, in his Antiquities of the Cherokee Indians, page 3: “Soon after the creation one of the family was bitten by a serpent and died. All possible means were resorted to to bring back life, but in vain. Being overcome in this first instance, the whole race was doomed to follow, not only to death, but to misery afterwards, as it was supposed that that person went to misery. Another tradition says that soon after the creation a young woman was bitten by a serpent and died, and her spirit went to a certain place, and the people were told that if they would get her spirit back to her body that the body would live again, and they would prevent the general mortality of the body. Some young men therefore started with a box to catch the spirit. They went to a place and saw it dancing about, and at length caught it in the box and shut the lid, so as to confine it, and started back. But the spirit kept constantly pleading with them to open the box, so as to afford a little light, but they hurried on until they arrived near the place where the body was, and then, on account of her peculiar urgency, they removed the lid a very little, and out flew the spirit and was gone, and with it all their hopes of immortality.”

In a variant noted by Hagar the messengers carry four staves and are seven days traveling to the ghost country. “They found her dancing in the land of spirits. They struck her with the first ‘stick,’ it produced no effect—with the second, and she ceased to dance—with the third, and she looked around—with the fourth, and she came to them. They made a box and placed her in it.” He was told by one informant: “Only one man ever returned from the land of souls. He went there in a dream after a snake had struck him in the forehead. He, Turkey-head, came back seven days after and described it all. The dead go eastward at first, then westward to the Land of Twilight. It is in the west in the sky, but not amongst the stars” (Stellar Legends of the Cherokee, MS, 1898).

In a Shawano myth a girl dies, and, after grieving long for her, her brother sets out to bring her back from the land of shadows. He travels west until he reaches the place where the earth and sky meet; then he goes through and climbs up on the other side until he comes to the house of a great beneficent spirit, who is designated, according to the Indian system of respect, as grandfather. On learning his errand this helper gives him “medicine” by which he will be able to enter the spirit world, and instructs him how and in what direction to proceed to find his sister. “He said she would be at a dance, and when she rose to join in the movement he must seize and ensconce her in the hollow of a reed with which he was furnished, and cover the orifice with the end of his finger.” He does as directed, secures his sister, and returns to the house of his instructor, who transforms both into material beings again, and, after giving them sacred rituals to take back to their tribe, dismisses them by a shorter route through a trapdoor in the sky.25

In an Algonquian myth of New Brunswick a bereaved father seeks his son’s soul in the spirit domain of Papkootpawut, the Indian Pluto, who gives it to him in the shape of a nut, which he is told to insert in his son’s body, when the boy will come to life. He puts it into a pouch, and returns with the friends who had accompanied him. Preparations are made for a dance of rejoicing. “The father, wishing to take part in it, gave his son’s soul to the keeping of a squaw who stood by. Being curious to see it, she opened the bag, on which it escaped at once and took its flight for the realms of Papkootpawut.”26 In a myth from British Columbia two brothers go upon a similar errand to bring back their mother’s soul. After crossing over a great lake they approach the shore of the spirit world and hear the sound of singing and dancing in the distance, but are stopped at the landing by a sentinel, who tells them: “Your mother is here, but you cannot enter alive to see her, neither can you take her away.” One of them said, “I must see her!” Then the man took his body or mortal part away from him and he entered. The other brother came back.27

In the ancient Egyptian legend of Râ and Isis, preserved in a Turin papyrus dating from the twentieth dynasty, the goddess Isis, wishing to force from the great god Râ, the sun, the secret of his power, sends a serpent to bite him, with the intention of demanding the secret for herself as the price of assistance. Taking some of her spittle, “Isis with her hand kneaded it together with the earth that was there. She made thereof a sacred serpent unto which she gave the form of a spear. She ... cast it on the way which the great god traversed in his double kingdom whenever he would. The venerable god advanced, the gods who served him as their Pharaoh followed him, he went forth as on every day. Then the sacred serpent bit him. The divine god opened his mouth and his cry reached unto heaven.... The poison seized on his flesh,” etc.28

My grandchildren—The Sun calls the people tsûñgili′sĭ, “my grandchildren,” this being the term used by maternal grandparents, the corresponding term used by paternal grandparents being tsûñgini′sĭ. The Moon calls the people tsûñkina′tlĭ, “my younger brothers,” the term used by a male speaking, the Moon being personified as a man in Cherokee mythology. The corresponding term used by a female is tsûñkită′.

Changed to snakes—The Cherokee names of the rattlesnake (Crotalus), copperhead (Trigonocephalus), and spreading adder (Heterodon) are, respectively, utsa′natĭ, “he has a bell” (?); wâ′dige′ĭ askâ′lĭ, “red-brown head”; and da′lĭkstă′, “vomiter,” from its habit of vomiting yellow slime, as is told in the story. For more concerning the Uktena see number 50, “The Uktena and the Ulûñsû′tĭ.”