N,o!^80r' ^^^' EASTERN CHEROKEE FOLKTALES — ^KILPATRICK 411 



"I was just playing around," the Rabbit answered. 



Stoneclad went to sleep. The Rabbit watched him, and after 

 Stoneclad was sleeping soundly, the Rabbit heated a stone, inserted 

 it in the anus of Stoneclad, and drove it in with a well-placed blow 

 from the stone hammer. Then the Rabbit ran toward his hole. 



Just as he got near it, he heard a loud explosion; Stoneclad had 

 blown to pieces. A bit of stone hit the Rabbit upon the tail. That 

 is how his tail was cut off; that is why it is as it is now.*^ 



10.— THE RABBIT STEALS THE MASK OF THE SON OF U:GHV^'> 



A man — they called him U:ghv — had a son who was very handsome, 

 and who had a fine mask. Every time he went to a dance, he took 

 the mask with him, and everybody thought that the mask was his 

 natural face. There were seven girls that alwaj'^s went with him 

 when there was a dance. 



The Rabbit had watched him closely, and had found out that his 

 handsome face was not his own, but merely a mask. He knew where 

 U:ghv's son had put the mask, and one day he stole it and went to 

 the dance. 



He sat at some distance away, but the girls saw him, and taking 

 him to be their friend, went and sat with him. They joked with 

 each other, and asked the Rabbit some questions for fim. But the 

 Rabbit could not answer them because his language was different 

 from theirs. Then they watched him closely, and found out that it 

 was only the Rabbit under the mask. Immediately they began to 

 chase him, but the Rabbit threw away the mask and escaped. 



When U:ghv's son came to the dance, he could not get the attention 

 of any of the seven girls anymore. 



STORIES OF FLEAKILLER " 



L— FLEAKILLER AVENGES HIS MOTHER* 



There lived a woman who had a son. He was just a small boy. 

 He was always shooting fleas with his bow and arrows. He must have 

 been a wizard. On some days he would kill this many [about two 

 handfuls]. That was all he was good for. 



« Flint Is substituted for Stoneclad in versions of this tale found in Mooney (1900, pp. 274-275) and In 

 Kilpatrick and Kilpatrick (1964, p. 62). In still another version (ibid., pp. 62-64) the Western Cherokee 

 human trickster figure Tsegh(i)sgi:n(a) ('Jack-devU') replaces the Eabblt. 



to While we cannot be certain of the etymology of this proper name, from the relationship of its possessor 

 to the story line we venture the conjecture that it might bear some afiSnlty to u:ghvha:dlv ('his [or herj 

 face'), or perhaps u:ghvhadho*dl:yi ('to form a face with, he [or she]'), or 'mask.' We have never en- 

 countered the story elsewhere. 



" To our knowledge, the character Fleaklller does not appear anywhere in the published literature, but 

 his resemblance to the figure of the Orphan Boy with supernatural powers, a familiar one In Muskogean 

 mythology, is patent. 



