5I00NEY] THE HTNTKR AND THE I'KSU'KI 301 



tlu' birds and iiisoi'ts liad eaten tlii' body and only the bones \vi>re left. 

 In one place were flashes of liglit comino- up from the ground, and on 

 digging here, just under the surface, the Ked Man found a scale of the 

 uktena. Next he went over to a tree that had been struck by light- 

 ning, and gathering a handful of splinters he made a lire and burned the 

 uktena scale to a coal. He wrapped this in a piece of deerskin aii<l 

 gave it to the hunter, saving: ''As long as you keep this you can 

 always kill game." Then ho told the hunter that when he went l)ack 

 to camp he nuist hang up the medicitu^ on a tree outside, because it 

 was ver)' strong and dangerous. He told him also that when he went 

 into the cabin he would tind his brothei' lying inside nearly dead on 

 account of the presence of the uktena's scale, but he must take a small 

 piece of cane, which the Red Man gave him. and scrape a little of it 

 into water and give it to his brother to drink and he would b(^ well 

 again. Then the Ked Man was gone, and the hunter could not see 

 where he went. He returned to camp alone, aijd found his brother 

 very sick, but soon cured him with the medicine from the cane, and 

 that day and the next, and every day after, he found game whenever 

 he went for it. 



53. THE HUNTER AND THE UKSU'Hl 



A man living down in (reorgia came to visit some relatives at Hick- 

 ory-log. He was a great hiuiter, and after resting in the house a day 

 or two got ready to go into the mountains. His friends warned him 

 not to go toward the north, as in that direction, near a certain large 

 uprooted tree, there lived a dangerous monster uksu'hi snake. It kept 

 constant watch, and whenever it could spring upon an unwary hunter it 

 would coil about him and crush out his life in its folds and then drag 

 the dead l)ody down the mountain side into a deep hole in Hiwassee. 



He listened quietly to the warning, but all they said onh' made him 

 the more anxious to see such a monster, so, without saying anything 

 of his intention, he left the settlement and took his way directly up 

 the mountain toward the north. Soon he came to the fallen tree and 

 climbed upon the trunk, and there, sure enough, on the other side was 

 the gi'eat uksu'hi stretched out in the grass, with its head raised, but 

 looking the other way. It was about so large [making a circle of a 

 foot in diameter with his hands]. The frightened hunter got down 

 again at once and started to run; but the snake had lieard the noise and 

 turned (juickly and was after him. Up the ridge the huntei- ran, the 

 snake close behind him. tb<>n down the other side toward the river. 

 With all his running the uksu'hi gained rapidly, and just as he reached 

 the low ground it caught up with hira and wrapped around liim. pin- 

 ning one arm down by his side, but leaving the oth(>r free. 



Now it gave him a terrible s(|uee/e tliat almost broke Ids rit)s. and 

 then began to drag him along toward the water. With liis free hand 



