NO.^SOr* ^^^' EASTERN CHEROKEE FOLKTALES — KILPATRICK 437 



who always got the ball used to play. Before he put the ball through 

 the posts, he always stopped and stretched out his arms. 



5.— THE LITTLE PEOPLE AND THE GIANT YELLOW JACKETS 



Little People lived at South Side Gap/ between Haywood and 

 Jackson Counties. Yellow jackets ^ used to cross this gap, and the 

 Little People would watch them. The yellow jackets used to catch 

 pigs and fawns. 



The Little People wondered where the nest of the yellow jackets 

 was, for yellow jackets are good to eat. The Little People followed 

 them, and found that their nest was to the east of the gap. The 

 Little People got weeds ^ (they gathered a pile of them) and set 

 fire to them. They put them on the ground and drove in the smoke. 



The last nest of yellow jackets is that of queens (large ones). 

 The queens remain throughout the winter. 



When the Sa:nuwa ^° disappeared, aU powerful insects, the big 

 yellow jackets with them, went to heaven. 



6.— THE NEST OF THE SA:NUWA 



The Sa:nuwa were about the size of a man. These birds lived at 

 the same time the other powerful birds and insects lived. These 

 powerful birds could carry off a baby for their food. 



A grandmother was taking care of a baby. A Sa:nuwa came and 

 carried it off. The grandmother thought: "What can we do?" 



She decided that she would make a rope of linden withes. She 

 gathered some of them, stripped them, boiled them, and made a rope. 



She went to the top of the cliff in which the Sa:nuwa lived. She 

 tied pine limbs into the rope every now and again to rest her feet 

 upon as she climbed down. 



In the Sa:nuwa's nest were two young birds. The grandmother 

 had with her a hatchet of stone, and with it she killed the fledglings. 

 Then she threw the rope into the water and said, "This rope must 

 become an Ugh{a)dhe:n{a)V' (This was near Vdhi:guhi ['pot in it 

 [Hquid]-place'],) '' 



She saw the two big parent birds come back. When they found the 

 nest empty, they hovered about it in order to find out who had killed 

 their young ones. Then they saw the Ugh{a)dhe :n{a) , and one bird 



' Olbrechts notes that this is called A?ftiu;wp;i, the meaning of which appears to be 'chopped, one-place.' 



« Olbrechts' note: "These Yellow Jackets were very big ones. Theh" body was that thick. M.[organ] 

 shows 40 cm. diam. [eter]." Cf. Mooney (1900, p. 260) for another story of giant yellow jackets. 



» Olbrechts' phonetic transcription of the Cherokee term here is apparently aiming at atsi.sohi ('it just 

 caught fire'), which term In Oklahoma would in most dialects be atsi.sdlohi. Fleabane {Erigeron cana- 

 dense) is probably meant. 



'» See "The Nest of the Sa:nuwa." 



" Olbrechts' note: " 'Suck' is the place now called. The rock is covered with white stripes which are 

 said to be the manure from the birds. It is near 'Pot in the Water.' Sa:nuwo:yi ['Sa:nmva-pla.CQ' 'down 

 below." This is 8 miles below Chattanooga on the Tennessee Eiver. 



