James Mooney - Cherokee Mythology (Illustrated Edition)

James Mooney

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2018 OK Publishing

ISBN 978-80-272-4581-9

I. Introduction

II. Historical Sketch of the Cherokee

The Traditionary Period

The Period of Spanish Exploration—1540–?

The Colonial and Revolutionary Period—1654–1784

Relations with the United States

From the First Treaty to the Removal—1785–1838

The Removal—1838–39

The Arkansas Band—1817–1838

The Texas Band—1817–1900

The Cherokee Nation in the West—1840–1900

The Eastern Band

III. Notes to the Historical Sketch

IV. Stories and Story Tellers

V. The Myths

Cosmogonic Myths

1. How the World was Made

2. The First Fire

3. Kana′tĭ and Selu: The Origin of Game and Corn

4. Origin of Disease and Medicine

5. The Daughter of the Sun

6. How They Brought Back the Tobacco

7. The Journey to the Sunrise

8. The Moon and the Thunders

9. What the Stars are Like

10. Origin of the Pleiades and the Pine

11. The Milky Way

12. Origin of Strawberries

13. The Great Yellow-jacket: Origin of Fish and Frogs

14. The Deluge

Quadruped Myths

15. The Fourfooted Tribes

16. The Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting

17. How the Rabbit Stole the Otter’s Coat

18. Why the Possum’s Tail is Bare

19. How the Wildcat Caught the Gobbler

20. How the Terrapin Beat the Rabbit

21. The Rabbit and the Tar Wolf

22. The Rabbit and the Possum After a Wife

23. The Rabbit Dines the Bear

24. The Rabbit Escapes from the Wolves

25. Flint Visits the Rabbit

26. How the Deer Got His Horns

27. Why the Deer’s Teeth are Blunt

28. What Became of the Rabbit

29. Why the Mink Smells

30. Why the Mole Lives Underground

31. The Terrapin’s Escape from the Wolves

32. Origin of the Groundhog Dance: The Groundhog’s Head

33. The Migration of the Animals

34. The Wolf’s Revenge—The Wolf and the Dog

Bird Myths

35. The Bird Tribes

36. The Ball Game of the Birds and Animals

37. How the Turkey Got His Beard

38. Why the Turkey Gobbles

39. How the Kingfisher Got His Bill

40. How the Partridge Got His Whistle

41. How the Redbird Got His Color

42. The Pheasant Beating Corn; Origin of the Pheasant Dance

43. The Race Between the Crane and the Hummingbird

44. The Owl Gets Married

45. The Huhu Gets Married

46. Why the Buzzard’s Head is Bare

47. The Eagle’s Revenge

48. The Hunter and the Buzzard

Snake, Fish, and Insect Myths

49. The Snake Tribe

50. The Uktena and the Ulûñsû′tĭ

51. Âgăn-uni′tsĭ’s Search for the Uktena

52. The Red Man and the Uktena

53. The Hunter and the Uksu′hĭ

54. The Ustû′tlĭ

55. The Uwʼtsûñ′ta

56. The Snake Boy

57. The Snake Man

58. The Rattlesnake’s Vengeance

59. The Smaller Reptiles—Fishes and Insects

60. Why the Bullfrog’s Head is Striped

61. The Bullfrog Lover

62. The Katydid’s Warning

Wonder Stories

63. Ûñtsaiyĭ′, The Gambler

64. The Nest of the Tlă′nuwă

65. The Hunter and the Tlă′nuwă

66. Uʻtlûñ′tă, The Spear-finger

67. Nûñ′yunu′wĭ, The Stone Man

68. The Hunter in the Dăkwă′

69. Atagâ′hĭ, The Enchanted Lake

70. The Bride from the South

71. The Ice Man

72. The Hunter and Selu

73. The Underground Panthers

74. The Tsundige′wĭ

75. Origin of the Bear: The Bear Songs

76. The Bear Man

77. The Great Leech of Tlanusi′yĭ

78. The Nûñnĕ′hĭ and Other Spirit Folk

79. The Removed Townhouses

80. The Spirit Defenders of Nĭkwăsĭ′

81. Tsulʻkălû′, The Slant-eyed Giant

82. Kăna′sta, The Lost Settlement

83. Tsuwe′năhĭ: A Legend of Pilot Knob

84. The Man Who Married the Thunder’s Sister

85. The Haunted Whirlpool

86. Yahula

87. The Water Cannibals

Historical Traditions

88. First Contact with Whites

89. The Iroquois Wars

90. Hiadeoni, The Seneca

91. The Two Mohawks

92. Escape of the Seneca Boys

93. The Unseen Helpers

94. Hatcinoñdoñ’s Escape from the Cherokee

95. Hemp-carrier

96. The Seneca Peacemakers

97. Origin of the Yontoñwisas Dance

98. Gaʼna’s Adventures Among the Cherokee

99. The Shawano Wars

100. The Raid on Tĭkwăli′tsĭ

101. The Last Shawano Invasion

102. The False Warriors of Chilhowee

103. Cowee Town

104. The Eastern Tribes

105. The Southern and Western Tribes

106. The Giants from the West

107. The Lost Cherokee

108. The Massacre of the Ani′-kuta′nĭ

109. The War Medicine

110. Incidents of Personal Heroism

111. The Mounds and the Constant Fire: The Old Sacred Things

Miscellaneous Myths and Legends

112. The Ignorant Housekeeper

113. The Man in the Stump

114. Two Lazy Hunters

115. The Two Old Men

116. The Star Feathers

117. The Mother Bear’s Song

118. Baby Song, To Please the Children

119. When Babies are Born: The Wren and the Cricket

120. The Raven Mocker

121. Herbert’s Spring

122. Local Legends of North Carolina

123. Local Legends of South Carolina

124. Local Legends of Tennessee

125. Local Legends of Georgia

126. Plant Lore

Notes and Parallels to Myths

Glossary of Cherokee Words

PL. I

PHOTOGRAPH BY AUTHOR, 1888

IN THE CHEROKEE MOUNTAINS

Table of Contents

The myths given in this paper are part of a large body of material collected among the Cherokee, chiefly in successive field seasons from 1887 to 1890, inclusive, and comprising more or less extensive notes, together with original Cherokee manuscripts, relating to the history, archeology, geographic nomenclature, personal names, botany, medicine, arts, home life, religion, songs, ceremonies, and language of the tribe. It is intended that this material shall appear from time to time in a series of papers which, when finally brought together, shall constitute a monograph upon the Cherokee Indians. This paper may be considered the first of the series, all that has hitherto appeared being a short paper upon the sacred formulas of the tribe, published in the Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau in 1891 and containing a synopsis of the Cherokee medico-religious theory, with twenty-eight specimens selected from a body of about six hundred ritual formulas written down in the Cherokee language and alphabet by former doctors of the tribe and constituting altogether the largest body of aboriginal American literature in existence.

Although the Cherokee are probably the largest and most important tribe in the United States, having their own national government and numbering at any time in their history from 20,000 to 25,000 persons, almost nothing has yet been written of their history or general ethnology, as compared with the literature of such northern tribes as the Delawares, the Iroquois, or the Ojibwa. The difference is due to historical reasons which need not be discussed here.