418 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Buix. 196 



When he decided that the right time had come, he began to recite 

 an incantation in a low voice. All of a sudden there was heard a 

 thump against the wall of the log cabin. With a rattling noise one 

 of the arrowheads left its place upon the ashes and went out of the 

 cabin through a crack in the wall. They waited some time, then all 

 of a sudden the same ratthng noise was heard; the flint arrowhead 

 had come back and resumed its place upon the heap of ashes. 



The conjurer said, "Let us have light so that we may examine." 



They made some light and examined the ulv:sadv stone standing 

 in the middle of the ring of arrowheads. They did not see any blood 

 in the center of the ulv:sadv stone. 



"I suppose that it is still too early and that she is not there yet," 

 the conjurer said. "Let us wait awhile." 



They sent one of the family to the dance house to see if the woman 

 was there and if she had on the terrapin shells. He came back straight- 

 way and said that she was there, leading the dance. 



They immediately put out the light and started to "work" again. 

 Again a flint arrowhead left the cabin with a rattling noise. Soon 

 afterward it came back and resumed its place. 



Again they made a light and examined; the arrowhead had blood 

 all over it, and the ulv:sadv stone had a streak in its center. They 

 then knew that the arrowhead had penetrated. 



They had supper, and afterward they left for the dance house. 



When they arrived there, the woman against whom they had 

 "worked" was dead. 



The conjurer wailed, and said, "This poor woman!" But I suppose 

 he wailed merely to hide his pleasure.^^ 



4.— THE HUNTER AND THE THREE DOGS * 



A man had three dogs, a very small one and two larger ones. He 

 told his wife to feed them while he was out hunting, but she did not 

 like the dogs, and did not feed them. 



When the man returned from hunting, the dogs looked lean and 

 starved. While he had been away his wife had eaten without giving 

 them anything for their food. 



Again he went off to hunt, and a third time he went. The same 

 thing happened. The woman hated the dogs, and that is why she 

 did not give them anything to eat. 



One day the man returned from where he had gone to hunt, and 

 the Little Dog ran out and spoke to him. He was a magician, and 

 he could speak just as we speak. 



62 This story is quite representative of a favorite genre of Cherokee story, choice examples of which are still 

 exchanged before a winter fire in both North Carolina and Oklahoma. 



