No.^80]^' ^^^' EASTERN CHEROKEE FOLKTALES — KILPATRICK 431 



do nothing. The soil under them became muddy, and they sank into 

 the ground up to their hips. The Cherokees killed them all. 



2.— A MAGICIAN SPIES ON THE ANI:GHiI)SGI 



Near what they now call Almond,^" near Bryson City, in a fork of 

 the Little Tennessee and Nantahala Rivers, there was a settlement of 

 Cherokees.®^ They had there a place of amusement — perhaps a 

 ga:dhi. 



A party of Ani:gh{i)sgi from Tennessee, who had to come across 

 Indian Gap, came there and killed many Cherokees. They captured 

 a girl, and took her back with them toward their home. 



When the Cherokees heard about this, they gathered from all the 

 settlements and started in pursuit the same day of the raid. 



Near Indian Gap the Ani:gh(i)sgi, who had become tired, camped 

 and built a fire. The girl could not understand anything they said, 

 and was afraid that they had taken her with them to kill her. 



The pursuing Cherokees had with them an old man who was a 

 great magician. 



The greater part of the Ani:gh{i)sgi was asleep about the fire, but 

 the girl could not sleep. In the night she heard a sparrow calling 

 in a tree nearby: "Tsi:wisdh{i)\ Tsi:wisdh{i)\" Then the sparrow 

 seemed to flit from one tree to another. The girl knew that this 

 meant that the Cherokees were near. She feigned sleep. 



The Cherokees had also camped near the place where the Ani:- 

 gh{i)sgi were sleeping, and the next morning the old man who was 

 with them said, "I di'eamed that the Ani:gh(i)sgi were quite near us, 

 and that we were going to kill them all." He said that he had dreamed 

 this, but he had not really dreamed it; he had been to the Ani:- 

 gh(i)sgi camp himself in the form of a sparrow. He was a great 

 magician. 



So the Cherokees moved in immediately, surprised the Ani:gh{i)sgi, 

 and killed them aU. 



3.— THE CHEROKEES AVENGE A WOMAN KILLED BY THE 



ANI:GH(I)SGI 



At the edge of a big settlement a woman was living with her grand- 

 child. All of the men were away from the village. The Ani:gh(i)sgi 

 came and killed the old woman, but they could not catch the child, 

 who ran and told the Cherokee men. They came at once to the old 

 woman's home and found her dead. She had been scalped. 



w Macon County, N.C. 



"This was Ohanu:gahl6:jii ('briar [or blackberry]-place'). 



