MooNKYl THK l'STr''l'Li 8().S 



III the iiiornini:- lie started out ami went directly lowiird the iii(,)iiii- 

 taiii. \\'i)i-kiii,e- liis way tliroiii^li tlie Imslu's at the ha.-e. lie siuldeiilv 

 heard a fawn lih'at in front. 1 h' yiiessi'd at onee tliat it was tlie rstu'tll. 

 but h(> had iiia(U' uj) liis iiiiiid to see it. so he did not turn haeU. hut went 

 straightforward, and Ihcio. sure eiiouuh, was the nionstcr. with its>;irat 

 head in the air, as hiyli as the pine branches, looking in e\ fr\' direction 

 to discover a deer, or niaylie a man, for breakfast. It saw iiini and 

 came at iiim at once, moviuL;- in jerky strides, every one the hMiytli of 

 a tree trunk, holdinu' its scaly head hiyh aliove the l)ush(\saiid blcatiny- 

 as it cam(>. 



The hunter was so badly frightened that he lost his wits entirely and 

 started to run directly up the mountain. The gi-eat snake came aflei- 

 him, gaining half its length on him every time it took a fresh grip w ith 

 its fore feet, and would have caught the hunter before he i-eaclied the 

 top of the ritlge, but that he suddenly remendiered the warning and 

 changed his course to run along the sides of the mountain. .Vt once 

 the snake began to lose ground, for every time it )-aised itself up the 

 weight of its body threw it out of a straight line and made it fall a little 

 lower down the sitle of the ridge. It tried to recover itself, but now 

 the hunter gained and kept on until li(> turned the end of the ridge and 

 left the snake out of sight. Theji he cautiously climbed to the top and 

 looked over and saw the Ustil'tli still slow ly working its way toward 

 the summit. 



He went dow'n to the Imse of the mountain, opened hi- lire pouch, 

 and set tire to the grass and leaves. Soon the tire ran all around the 

 mountain and began to cUinb upward. AVhen the great snake smelled 

 the smoke and saw the flames coming it forgot all about the hunter 

 and turned to make all speed for a high cliti' near the suininil. It 

 reached the rock and got upon it, but the Are followed and caught the 

 dead pines about the base of the clifl' until the heat made the rstu'tli's 

 .scales crack. Taking a close grip of the rock with its hind fe(^t it 

 raised its body and put forth all its strength in an eflort to spring 

 acro.ss the wall of Are that surrounded it, Init the smoke choked it and 

 its hold loosened and it fell among the blazing pine trunks and lay 

 there until it was burned to ashes. 



55. THE UWTSON'TA 



At Nuii'daye'li, the wildest spot on Nantahala river, in what is now 

 ISIacon county. North Carolina, where the overhanging clifl' is highest 

 and the river far b(dow, there lived in the old time a great snake called 

 the Uw^tsufi'ta or " liouncer,'' because it moved })y jerks like a measur- 

 ing worm, with only one part of its body on the ground at a time. It 

 stayed generally on the east side, where the sun came first in the 

 morning, and used to cro.ss by reaching over from the highest point of 

 the clifl' until it could get a grip on the other sitle. when it wouhl pull 



