430 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



LEGENDS OF THE ANI:GH(I)SOP' WAR 



1.— THE ANI:GH(I)SGI AND THE FOUR MAGICIANS 



The Ani:gh(i)sgi lived over the mountains toward the west, where 

 Sevierville,^^ Tenn., is now. They were Indians. They spoke a 

 language that was different from Cherokee. 



The Ani:gh(i)sgi came through Indian Gap ^^ to where the mound 

 near Bryson City ^^ is and kiUed a man and took his scalp. Later 

 they came by Yellowhill ^^ and kiUed three men and took their scalps. 



The Cherokees pursued the Ani:gh(i)sgi. The Ani:gh{i)sgi went 

 to Unidv:dhlalv:yi ^® and camped there. The Cherokees had their 

 camp this side of Unidv:dhlalv:yi. 



The Cherokees had with them four old men, all very powerful 

 magicians. One of them said to another one, "you go and see where 

 the Ani:gh(i)sgi are." 



"No," the other one said. "You go," he said to the third one. 



But the third one said, "I won't go. You go," he said to the 

 fourth magician. 



The fourth magician said, "All right. I tmll go." 



He went around a tree and disappeared. They heard a rat crawling 

 up into a tree: "Tsi:\ Tsi:\ Tsi:\," and soon afterward they saw 

 a crow fly off, caUing : "Gho : ! Gho : ! Gho : !" 



The Cherokees said to each other, "He is off!" 



Just a little while after that they heard the crow come back, and 

 then they heard the rat once more. Soon the man appeared from 

 behind the tree. 



Next morning the Cherokees went to where the Ani:gh{i)sgi had 

 their camp. The Cherokees attacked them. The Ani:gh(i)sgi could 



>* While the Ani:gh{i)sgi cannot be identified with certainty, they were probably the Chisca division of 

 the Yuchl. As late as the 17th century some group of the Yuchi people lived on the western flanks of the 

 Appalachians in what is now Tennessee (Swanton, 1922, pp. 286-312; 1946, pp. 212-215; 1952, pp. 116-120). 

 In modern Cherokee the term Ani:gh{i)sgi means 'bob-tailed ones,' perhaps derived from some feature 

 of costume; and there is a possibility that this tribal name may have been corrupted from Anl : gh(i)hiigi 

 ('the ones who swallow'); but it is more than likely that the word represents an attempt to transfer into 

 Cherokee what these people called themselves, or what still another tribe called them. We have never 

 yet encountered among the Oklahoma Cherokee any reference, written or oral, to the Ani:gh(.i)sgi as a 

 tribe of Indians, but the term, used as a synonym for witches, or 'night-walkers,' is sometimes seen in 

 manuscript medicine books. Unionist Cherokees sometimes referred to Confederate Cherokees as Ani:- 

 gh(i)sgi. 



" Sevier County. 



89 Near Gatllnburg, Sevier County, Tenn. One of the principal trails across the Great Smoky Mountains 

 ran through Indian Gap. 



" Keetoowah {Gidu:hwa) Mound. This was the site of the Tuckasegee River settlement of the same 

 name (Swain County, N.C.). 



'" One of the townships on the Eastern Cherokee Reservation. 



8' Mooney (1900, pp. 406, 516) identifies this as "Where they made arrows," on Straight Creek, near 

 Cataluchee Peak, in Swain County, N.C., and so named because a Shawnee war party from across the 

 mountains once stopped there in order to prepare arrows. We suspect some degree of corruption of this 

 place name having occurred; for, if Mooney's translation is correct, then one would expect the term to be 

 closer to Duno:dhU>fnv:yi. 



