MOONKY) THE MYTHIC ANIMALS -J.'U 



To the socond class hclonir the shorter animal myths. wIi'mIi ha\e 

 lost whatever saereil charaeter thev may once have had, and are lold 

 now mei'tdy as humorous e.\j)laiiations of certain animal })cculiarities. 

 AN'hile the sacnnl myths have a constant hearing upon I'ormidistic 

 prayers and observances, it is oidy in rare instances that any rite or 

 custom is based upon an animal myth. Moreover. th(> sacred myths 

 are known as a rule only to the professional priests or conjurers, while 

 the shorter animal stories are more or less familiar to nearly every- 

 one and are found in almost identical form among' Cherokee. Creeks, 

 and other southern tribes. 



The animals of the Cherokee mvths, like the traditional hero-gods, 

 were larger and of more perfect type than their jjiesent representa- 

 tives. They had chiefs, councils, and townhouses, mingled with 

 human kind upon terms of perfect equality and spoke the same 

 language. In some unexplained manner they tinaUy left this lower 

 world and ascended to Galiin'liiti, the world above, where they still 

 exist. The removal was not simultaneous, but each animal chose his 

 own time. The animals that we know, small in size and poor in intel- 

 lect, came upon the earth later, and are not the descendants of the 

 mythic animals, but onh- weak imitations. In one or two special ciises, 

 however, the present creature is the descendant of a former monster. 

 Trees and plants also were alive and could talk in the old days, and 

 had their place in council, but do not figure prominently in the myths. 



Each animal had his appointed station and duty. Thus, the ^\'ala'si 

 frog was the marshal and leader in the council, while thc^ Iial)l)it was 

 the messenger to carry all public announcements, and usually led the 

 dance besides. He was also the great trickster and mischief maker, a 

 character which he bears in eastern and southern Indian myth gener- 

 ally, as well as in the southern negro stories. The bear figures as 

 having been originally a man, with human form and nature. 



As with other tribes and countries, almost every prominent rock and 

 mountain, every deep bend in the river, in the old Cherokee country 

 has its accompanying legend. It may be a little stoiy that can be 

 told in a paragraph, to account for some natural feature, or it may be 

 one chapter of a myth that has its secjuel in a mountain a hundred 

 miles away. As is usual when a people has lived for a long time in 

 the same country, nearly every important myth is localized, tlius 

 assuming more definite character. 



There is the usual niunber of anecdotes and stories of personal 

 adventure, some of them irredeemably vulgar, but historical traditions 

 are strangely wanting. The authentic records of unlettered peoples 

 are short at best, seldom going l)ack much farther than the memories 

 of their oldest men; and although th(> Cherokee have been the most 

 important of the southern tribes, making wars and treaties for three 

 centuries with Spanish, English, French, and .Vmcricans, Iroquois, 



