548 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1956 



THE MEANING OF THE MYTHS 



The Cherokee myths collected by Mooney do not give a full story 

 of how the tribe originated. Rather they are extremely fragmentary 

 remnants that have survived from a much more complete account now 

 lost. The myths explain the ways of the past and the motivations of 

 behavior characteristic of the traditional life. In a sense the myths are 

 rationalizations of the life of the ancestors and justifications of the 

 world as we now see it, in terms of the continuity of life. 



The various species of animals are pictured in the myths as having 

 clans just like the Cherokee, and townhouses, towns, and other social 

 forms like men. Each of the animal clans is pictured with its own clan 

 council which made decisions of importance regarding the future 

 of the species. Fire and tobacco are pictured as having been ac- 

 quired by stealing animals at the behest of the clan councils. There 

 seems to be some identification of important conjurers with the various 

 animal clans. The animals play tricks on each other just as the 

 conjurers do. All the animal clans, however, seem to be involved in 

 a perpetual state of war or blood revenge against man because he slays 

 them or otherwise menaces their welfare. 



Plants are regarded as the friends of man because they furnish the 

 basis for cures of disease and also because they yield food for man. 

 Corn, or maize, is especially revered and the myths clustering about 

 the old woman of the corn are highly regarded and important. 



Certain other beings exist in the cosmos who may help or hinder 

 human purposes depending upon the magic power wielded by the 

 human being. Such beings are: (1) The Man of the Whirlwind who 

 stirs up tornadoes and dangerous winds; (2) the Rainmaker who 

 brings or withholds rain; (3) the Cloud People who often come to 

 visit and commune with humans; (4) the Red Man of Lightning; (5) 

 the Thunder Men who make known their presence during the storm ; 

 (6) the Snow Man ; (7) the Hot and Cold Weather Man who dispenses 

 temperature changes ; (8) the Rainbow Man ; (9) the Hail Man; (10) 

 the Frost Man; (11) the Waterfall Man; and (12) the Long Man of 

 the River who incarnates the power of running water. 



The dramatis personae of the myths are involved in frequent quar- 

 rels with each other and with man, and the struggle for power between 

 the various conjurers is reflected in the myths in various ways. Kill- 

 ing and revenge for killing, clan sanctioned, are basic themes. Con- 

 flicts may also arise through a stealing of something valuable which 

 requires compensation. Blood revenge was of primary importance 

 in the older days but now seems to have subsided into conjuring "wars" 

 and other such sublimated conflicts. 



The joking or trickster element in the myths may be regarded as 

 another phase of the conflict relationship. In the myths the rabbit 

 tricks the otter, opossum, turkey, wolf, flint, and the deer. The wolf 



