;?02 MYTHS OK THK CHKKOKKE [etm.ann.19 



tlic liuiitcr clutclicil at tlic Imslics as they jiasscd. hut the snakr turned 

 its head and blew its sickening' ln'catli intci liis face until he iiad to let 

 go his hold. Again and again tliis liappcncd. and all the time they 

 were getting nearer to a deep hole in the rixcr, when, almost at the 

 last moment, a lueky thought came into the hunter's mind. 



He was sweating all o\er from his hard run across the mountain, 

 and suddenly rememhered to ]ia\e heard that snakes can not bear the 

 smell of j)erspiration. Putting his free hand into his l)osom he worked 

 it around undtM' his armpit until it was covered with perspiration. 

 Then withdrawing it he grasped at a bush luitil the snake turned its 

 head, when he (juickly slapped his sweaty hand on its nose. The 

 uicsu'hi gave one gasj) almost as if it iiad l)een wounded, loosened its 

 coil, and glided swiftly away tlirough the liushes, leaving the hunter, 

 bruised but not disabled, to make his way home to Hickory-log. 



54. THE USTO'TLI 



There was once a great serpent called the Ustii'tli that made its haunt 

 upon Cohutta mountain. It was called the Ustu'tli or "foot" snake, 

 because it did not glide like other snakes, l)ut had feet at each end of 

 its body, and moved Ijv strides or jerks, like a great measuring worm. 

 These feet were three-corn(>red and tlat and could hold on to tiie ground 

 like suckers. It had no legs, but would raise itself up on its hind feet, 

 with its snaky head waving high in the air until it found a good place 

 to take a fresh hold; then it would bend down and grip its front feet 

 to the ground while it drew its body up from behind. It could cross 

 rivers and deep ravines by thi'owing its head across and getting a grip 

 with its fi'ont feet and then swinging its body over. Wherever its 

 footprints were found there was danger. It used to bleat like a young 

 fawn, and when the hunter heard a fawn bleat in the woods he ne^'er 

 looked for it, but hurried away in the other direction. If^p the moun- 

 tain or down, nothing could escape the Ustu'tli's pursuit, but along the 

 side of the ridge it could not go, because the great weight of its swing- 

 ing head T)roke its hold on the ground when it moved sideways. 



It came to pass after a while that not a hunter about Cohutta would 

 venture near the mountain for dread of the Ustu'tli. At last a man 

 from one of the northern settlements came down to visit some rela- 

 tives in that neigiiljorhood. When he arrived they made a feast for 

 him. ))ut had only corn and beans, and excused themselves for having 

 no meat because the hunters were afraid to go into tiie mountains. He 

 asked the I'eason, and when they told him he said he would go himself 

 to-morrow and either bring in a deer or tind the Ustii'tli. They tried 

 to dissuade him fn)m it. ))utas he insisted upon going they warned him 

 that if he heard a fawn bleat in the thicket he nuist run at once and if 

 the snake came after him he must not try to run down the mountain, 

 but alono' the side of the lidye. 



