306 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.anx. 19 



He then taught the liunter a praj'er song, and said. "'When you meet 

 any of us hereafter sing this song and we will not hurt you; but if by 

 accident one of us should bite one of your people then sing this song 

 over him and he will recover." And the Cherokee have kept the song 

 to this day. 



59. THE SMALLER REPTILES— FISHES AND INSECTS 



There are several varieties of frogs and toads, each with a different 

 name, but there is very little folklore^ in connection with them. The 

 common green frog is called irahV.fi. and among the Cherokee, as among 

 uneducated whites, the handling of it is thought to cause warts, which 

 for this reason are called by the same name, iralafsl. A solar eclipse 

 is believed to be caused b}' the attempt of a great frog to swallow 

 the sun, and in former times it was customary on such occasions to 

 fire guns and make other loud noises to frighten away the frog. The 

 smaller varieties are sometimes eaten, and on rare occasions the bull- 

 frog also, but the meat is tabued to ball players while in training, for 

 fear that the lirittleness of the frog's bones would be imparted to 

 those of the player. 



The land tortoise {tuksi') is prominent in the animal myths, and is 

 reputed to have been a great warrior in the old times. On account of 

 the stoutness of its legs ball players rub their limbs with them before 

 going into the contest. The common water turtle {sdligu'gl), which occu- 

 pies so important a place in the mj^thology of the northern tribes, 

 is not mentioned in Cherokee myth or folklore, and the same is true 

 of the soft-shelled turtle (uland'wd), perhaps for the reason that 

 both are rare in the cold mountain streams of the Cherokee counti-y. 



There are perhaps half a dozen varieties of lizard, each with a dif- 

 ferent name. The gray road lizard, or diya'h&U (alligator lizard, Scel- 

 O'piiriix iinduhifus), is the most common. On account of its habit of 

 alternateh' puffing out and drawing in its throat as though sucking, 

 when basking in the sun, it is invoked in the formulas for drawing 

 out the poison from snake bites. If one catches the first diya'hali 

 seen in the spring, and, holding it between his fingers, scratches his 

 legs downward with its claws, he will see no dangerous snakes all sum- 

 mer. Also, if one be cai;ght alive at any time and rubbed over the 

 head and throat of an infant, scratcliing the skin very slightly at the 

 same time with the claws, the child will never be fretful, but will sleep 

 quietly without complaining, even when sick or exposed to the rain. 

 This is a somewhat risky experiment, however, as the child is liable 

 thereafter to go to sleep wherever it may be laid down for a moment, 

 so that the mother is in constant danger of losing it. According to 

 some authorities this sleep lizard is not the diyii'liilli, but a larger 

 variet}^ akin to the next described. 



The (jiga-t'<uha''Jl ("bloody mouth." J^lei.ffodon'i) is described as a 



