236 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann.19 



which destroyti a people are found the world over. The supposed 

 Cherokee hero-god, Wasi, described by one writer as so remarkably 

 reseinblino- the great Hebrew lawgiver is in fact that great teacher 

 himself, Wasi being the Cherokee approximate for Moses, and the 

 good missionary who first recorded the story was simply listening to 

 a chapter taken by his convert from the Cherokee testament. The 

 whole primitive pantheon of the Cherokee is still preserved in their 

 sacred formulas. 



As compared with those from some other ti'ibes the Cherokee myths 

 are clean. For picturesque imagination and wealth of detail they 

 rank high, and some of the wonder stories may challenge those of 

 Europe and India. The numerous parallels furnished will serve to 

 indicate their relation to the general Indian system. Unless otherwise 

 noted, every myth here given has been obtained directly from the 

 Indians, and in nearly every case has been verified from several 



sources. 



"I know not how the truth may be, 

 I tell the tale as 'twas told to me." 



First and chief in the list of story tellers comes A'yuii'ini, " Swim- 

 mer," from whom nearly three-fourths of the whole number were 

 originally obtained, together with nearly as large a proportion of the 

 whole body of Cherokee material now in possession of the author. 

 The collection could not have been made without his help, and now 

 that he is gone it can never be duplicated. Born about 1835, shortly 

 before the Removal, he grew up under the instruction of masters to be 

 a priest, doctor, and keeper of tradition, so that he was recognized as 

 an authority throughout the ])and and by such a competent outside 

 judge as Colonel Thomas. He served through the war as second 

 sergeant of the Cherokee Company A, Sixty-ninth North Carolina 

 Confederate Infantry, Thomas Legion. He was prominent in the 

 local affairs of the band, and no Green-corn dance, ballplay, or other 

 tribal function was ever considered complete without his presence and 

 active assistance. A genuine aboriginal antiquarian and patriot, 

 proud of his people and their ancient system, he took delight in 

 recording in his native alphabet the songs and sacred formulas of 

 priests and dancers and the names of medicinal plants and the pre- 

 scriptions with which they were couipounded, while his mind was a 

 storehouse of Indian tradition. To a happy descriptive style he added 

 a nuisical voice for the songs and a peculiar faculty for imitating 

 the characteristic cry of bird or beast, so that to listen to one of his 

 recitals was often a plea.sure in itself, even to one who understood not a 

 word of the language. He spoke no E)nglish, and to tlie day of his death 

 chuig to the moccasin and turljan, together with the rattle, his badge 

 of authority. He died in March, 1899, aged about sixty-five, and was 



