800 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann.W 



poison over all the mountain side. l>ut the poi.son drop.s could not 

 pass the circle of lire, but only hissed and sputtered in the blaze, and 

 the magician on the inside was untouched except l)y one small drop 

 which struck upon his head as he lay close to the ground; but he did 

 not know it. The blood, too, as poisonous as the froth, poured from 

 the rktcna's wound and down the slope in a dark stream, but it ran 

 into the trench and left him unharmed. The dying monster rolled 

 over and over clown the mountain, breaking down large trees in its 

 path until it reached the bottom. Then Agan-uni'tsi called every bird 

 in all the woods to come to the feast, and so many came that when they 

 were done not even the bones were left. 



After seven days he went by night to the spot. The body and the 

 bones of the snake were gone, all eaten by the birds, but he saw a 

 bright light shining in the darkness, and going over to it he found, 

 resting on a low-hanging branch, where a raven had dropped it, the 

 diamond from the head of the Uktena. He wrapped it up carefully 

 and took it with him. and from that time he became the greatest medi- 

 cine-man in the whole tribe. 



When Agan-uni'tsi came down again to the settlement the people 

 noticed a small snake hanging from his head where the single drop of 

 poison from the Uktena had struck; but so long as he lived he him- 

 self never knew that it was there. 



Where the blood of the Uktena had filled the trench a lake formed 

 afterwards, and the water was black and in this water the women used 

 to dye the cane splits for their baskets. 



52. THE RED MAN AND THE UKTENA 



Two l)rothers went hunting together, and when they came to a good 

 camping place in the mountains they made a tire, and while one gath- 

 ered bark to put up a shelter the other started up the creek to look for 

 a deer. Soon he heard a noise on the top of the ridge as if two animals 

 were lighting. He hurried through the l)ushes to sec what it might 

 be, and when he came to the spot he found a great uktena coiled 

 around a luan and choking him to death. The man was lighting for 

 his life, and called out to the hunter: '' Help me. nephew; he is your 

 enemy as well as mine." The hunter took good aim, and, drawing 

 the arrow to the head, sent it through the body of the uktena, .so that 

 the blood .spouted from the hole. The snake loosed its coils with a 

 snapping noise, and went tumbling down the ridge into the valley, 

 tearing up the earth like a water spout as it rolled. 



The stranger stood up. and it was the Asga'ya Gi'gagei. the Red 

 Man of the Lightning. He said to the hunter: '' You have helped me, 

 and now I will reward you, and give you a medicine so that you can 

 alwaj's tind game." They waited until it was dark, and then went 

 down the ridge to where the dead uktena had rolled, but by this time 



