298 MYTHS OK THK CHEKOKP^.K Iktii. ans. I'.i 



Kvi'U to sec tlic I'ktciKi ;islc(>]) is ili'utli. not lo tin' liiintcr liiiiisc^lf. Imt 

 to Ills yniiiil I/. 



Of all the diuiiig wan-iors who nave started out iii soarcli of llic 

 U lun.su' ti only Agan-uni'tsi i^ver came back successful.' The East 

 CluTokoc still keep the one which he brought. It is like a larofe trans- 

 parent crystal, ni^arly the shape of a cartridge bullet, with a blood-red 

 streak running through the center from top to bottom. The owner 

 keeps it wrapped in a whole deerskin, inside an earthen jar hidden 

 away in a secret cave in the mountains. Every .seven days he feeds it 

 with the blood of small game, rubbing the blood all over the crystal 

 as soon as the animal has been killed. Twice a year it must have the; 

 blood of a deer or .some other large animal. Should he forget to feed 

 it at the proper time it would come out from its cave at night in a shape 

 of tire and tiy through the air to slake its thirst with the lifeblood of 

 the conjurer or some one of his people. He may .save himself fnjm 

 this danger by telling it, when he puts it away, that he will not need 

 it again for a long time. It will then go quietly to sleep and feel no 

 hunger luitil it is again brought out to be consulted. Then it must be 

 fed again with blood before it is u.sed. 



No Avhite man mu.st ever .see it and no person but the owner will 

 venture near it for fear of sudden death. Even the conjui'er who 

 keeps it is afraid of it, and changes its hiding place every once in a 

 while so that it can not l(!arn the way out. When he dies it will he 

 buried with him. Otherwise it will come out of its cave, like a blazing 

 star, to search for hi.s grave, night after night for seven years, when, 

 if still not able to find him. it will go t)ack to sleep forever where ho 

 has platted it. 



Whoever owns the Ulvinsu'ti is sure of success ui Inniting, love, r:iin- 

 niaking, and every other business, l)ut its great use is in life prophecy. 

 When it is consulted for this purpose the future is .seen mirrored in 

 the clear crystal as a tree is reflected in the quiet stream below, and 

 the conjurer knows whether the sick man will recover, whether the 

 warrior will return from battle, or whether the youth will live to be 

 old. 



51. AGAN-UNI'TSl'S SEARCH FOR THE UKTENA 



111 one of their battles with the Shawano, who are all magicians, the 

 Cherokee t'apturcd a great medicine-man whose name was Agan- 

 uni'tsi, "'The (iround-hogs' Mothei-.'' They had tied him ready for the 

 torture when he tjcgged for his lif(> and engaged, if spared, to find for 

 them the great wonder woi'ker, the Uluri-su'ti. Now. the Clunsu'ti is 

 like a blazing star set in the forehead of the great Uktena serpent, 

 and the medicine-man who could possess it might do marvelous things, 

 but evervone knew this could not be, because it was certain death to 



' See the next story. 



