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Myths of the Cherokee

Long ago, while people still lived in the old town of Käna'sta, on the French Broad, two strangers, who looked in no way different from other Cherokee, came into the settlement one day and made their way into the chief's house.

After the first greetings were over the chief asked them from what town they had come, thinking them from one of the western settlements, but they said, "We are of your people and our town is close at hand, but you have never seen it. Here you have wars and sickness, with enemies on every side, and after a while a stronger enemy will come to take your country from you, We are always happy, and we have come to invite you to live with us in our town over there," and they pointed toward Tsuwa`tel'da (Pilot knob).

"We do not live forever, and do not always find game when we go for it, for the game belongs to Tsul`kälû', who lives in Tsunegûñ'yï, but we have peace always and need not think of danger. We go now, but if your people will live with us let them fast seven days, and we shall come then to take them."

Then they went away toward the west.

The chief called his people together into the townhouse and they held a council over the matter and decided at last to go with the strangers. They got all their property ready for moving, and then went again into the townhouse and began their fast. They fasted six days, and on the morning of the seventh, before yet the sun was high, they saw a great company coming along the trail from the west, led by the two men who had stopped with the chief. They seemed just like Cherokee from another settlement, and after a friendly meeting they took up a part of the goods to be carried, and the two parties started back together for Tsuwa`tel'da. There was one man from another town visiting at Käna'sta, and he went along with the rest.

When they came to the mountain, the two guides led the way into a cave, which opened out like a great door in the side of the rock. Inside they found an open country and a town, with houses ranged in two long rows from east to west. The mountain people lived in the houses on the south side, and they had made ready the other houses for the new comers, but even after all the people of Käna'sta, with their children and belongings, had moved in, there were still a large number of houses waiting ready for the next who might come. The mountain people told them that there was another town, of a different people, above them in the same mountain, and still farther above, at the very top, lived the Ani'-Hyûñ'tïkwälâ'skï (the Thunders).

Now all the people of Käna'sta were settled in their new homes, but the man who had only been visiting with them wanted to go back to his own friends.

Some of the mountain people wanted to prevent this, but the chief said, "No; let him go if he will, and when he tells his friends they may want to come, too. There is plenty of room for all."

Then he said to the man, "Go back and tell your friends that if they want to come and live with us and be always happy, there is a place here ready and waiting for them. Others of us live in Datsu'nalâsgûñ'yï and in the high mountains all around, and if they would rather go to any of them it is all the same. We see you wherever you go and are with you in all your dances, but you can not see us unless you fast. If you want to see us, fast four days, and we will come and talk with you; and then if you want to live with us, fast again seven days, and we will come and take you."

Then the chief led the man through the cave to the outside of the mountain and left him there, but when the man looked back he saw no cave, but only the solid rock.

* * * * * * *

The people of the lost settlement were never seen again, and they are still living in Tsuwa`tel'da. Strange things happen there, so that the Cherokee know the mountain is haunted and do not like to go near it. Only a few years ago a party of hunters camped there, and as they sat around their fire at supper time they talked of the story and made rough jokes about the people of old Käna'sta. That night they were aroused from sleep by a noise as of stones thrown at them from among the trees, but when they searched they could find nobody, and were so frightened that they gathered up their guns and pouches and left the place.

Comments:

This story, from Swimmer, is of the same order as the legends of Tsulkălû′, Kăna′sta, etc. The people whom the hunter met inside the enchanted mountain are evidently the same described in the last-named story (number 82), with the guests from the lost settlement.

The name Tsuwe′năhĭ can not be translated, but may possibly have, a connection with uwe′năhĭ, “rich.”

Kanu′ga and Tsuwaʻtel′da – See notes under number 81, “Tsulʻkălû′,” and number 82, “Kana′sta.”

Parched corn – This was the standard provision of the warrior when on the march among all the tribes east of the Mississippi and probably among all the corn-growing tribes of America. It is the pinole of the Tarumari and other Mexican tribes. The Cherokee call it găhăwĭ′sita. Hawkins thus describes it as seen with his Cherokee guides in 1796: “They are small eaters, use no salt and but little bread. They carry their parched corn meal, wissactaw, and mix a handful in a pint of water, which they drink. Although they had plenty of corn and fowls, they made no other provision than a small bag of this for the path. I have plenty of provisions and give them some at every meal. I have several times drank of the wissactaw, and am fond of it with the addition of some sugar. To make of the best quality, I am told the corn should first be boiled, then parched in hot ashes, sifted, powdered, and made into flour.” [Manuscript Journal, 1796, with Georgia Historical Society, Savannah]

The seat was a turtle – This incident also occurs in number 84, “The Man who Married the Thunder’s Sister.” The species meant is the săligu′gĭ or common water turtle.

Like dogs’ paws – No reason is given for this peculiarity, which is nowhere else mentioned as a characteristic of the mountain spirits.

Old tobacco – Tsâl-agăyûñ′li, “ancient tobacco,” the Nicotiana rustica, sacred among all the eastern tribes. See number 6, “How they Brought back the Tobacco,” and number 126, “Plant Lore.”

Thorns of honey locust – This incident occurs also in number 63, “Ûñtsaiyĭ′, The Gambler.”

This story, obtained from Swimmer, bears resemblance to those of Tsul'kălû′, Tsuwe′năhĭ, The Removed Townhouses, and others, in which individuals, or even whole settlements, elect to go with the invisible spirit people in order to escape hardships or coming disaster.

Kăna′sta – Abbreviated from Kănastûñ′yĭ, a name which can not be translated, is described as an ancient Cherokee town on the French Broad where the trail from Tennessee creek of the Tuckasegee comes in, near the present Brevard, in Transylvania county, North Carolina. No mounds are known there, and we find no notice of the town in history, but another of the same name existed on Hiwassee and was destroyed in 1776.

Tsuwa'tel′da – Abbreviated from Tsuwa'teldûñ′yĭ, and known to the whites as Pilot knob, is a high mountain in Transylvania county, about eight miles north of Brevard. On account of the peculiar stratified appearance of the rocks, the faces of the cliffs are said frequently to present a peculiar appearance under the sun’s rays, as of shining walls with doors, windows, and shingled roofs.

Datsu′nălâsgûñ′yĭ – Shining rock. See note under number 81, “Tsulʻkălû′.”

Fast seven days – This injunction of a seven days’ fast upon those who would join the spirit people appears in several Cherokee myths, the idea being, as we learn from the priests, to spiritualize the human nature and quicken the spiritual vision by abstinence from earthly food. The doctrine is exemplified in an incident of the legend of Tsuwe′năhĭ, q. v. In a broader application, the same idea is a foundation principle of every ancient religion. In ordinary Cherokee ceremonial the fast is kept for one day – i. e., from midnight to sunset. On occasions of supreme importance it continues four or even seven days. Among the plains tribes those who voluntarily enter the Sun dance to make supplication and sacrifice for their people abstain entirely from food and drink during the four days and nights of the ceremony.

The Thunders – See number 3, “Kana′tĭ and Selu” and notes, and number 8, “The Moon and the Thunders,” with notes.

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