No!^80r" ^^^' EASTERN CHEROKEE FOLKTALES — KILPATRICK 425 



Then he walked behind them, and they all walked upon the water 

 as if it had been a trail. 



When the girls got to the other bank of the river, there was a door 

 through which they went. He followed them, and found himself in a 

 nice house. The father and mother of the girl and all of her people 

 were there, and they all were very beautiful and attractive. 



The father said, "Well, do you want to be my son-in-law? All 

 right — just stay with us." 



That night, as he lay with his wife, he felt that she had something 

 at her back. It was a tail. She was a beaver, and all her people were 

 beavers. 



The next day he ate with his wife's people, but the food tasted very 

 bad to him. It was snake meat. His wife's people knew what he was 

 thinking, and they said, "Doesn't he like that food? All right! His 

 people do not live far away. We will send to them to get some food 

 that he likes." So they sent two of the family, who came back with 

 corn and beans and other Idnds of food that he customarily ate. 



In time he became very lonesone and homesick. He did not like 

 to stay with these beaver people. They knew what he was thinking, 

 and they said, "Doesn't he like to stay with us? He is right; he had 

 better go back to his own people." 



So they sent his wife and her sister back with him to show him 

 the way; but, before the girls left him, they said, "As long as you live, 

 don't tell anything that has happened. If you do tell, we will expect 

 you back in 7 days." 



When he got back home, all of his people were much surprised. 

 They remembered how he had followed the two unknown girls, and 

 they wanted to know what had happened to him. At first he refused 

 to tell them, but they insisted so much and made life so difficult for 

 him that at last he could hold out no longer. He told them the whole 

 story. His people were very sorry for him, especially when they heard 

 what he said at the end. 



Within 7 days he died.^^ 



3.— THE OWL HUSBAND 



In a certain settlement there was held a dance. A young man 

 went to it. There were many girls there, and he fell in love with one 

 of them. He talked to her, and they decided that they would become 

 husband and wife. He said that he would come to her home toward 

 nightfall on one of the following days. The girl was looking for him, 

 and he came and lived with her. 



72 The openlns; of this story Is quite similar to the beginnings of a Hitchiti tale in Swanton (1929, pp 91-92) 

 and an Oklahoma Cherokee narrative in Kilpatrick and Kllpatrick (1964, pp. 84-91). Certain details are 

 paralleled in Mooney (1900, pp. 343-345). 



