330 MYTHS OF THK CHEROKEE [eth. a.n.n.19 



very spot where the lucii liad been standing, and would have swept 

 them all into the water Imt that they saw it in time and ran from the 

 place. 



More than one person was earrii'd down in this way. and their 

 friends would find the body afterwards lying upon the bank with the 

 ears and nose eaten off, until at last the people were afraid to go across 

 the ledge any more, on account of the great leech, or even to go along 

 that part of the trail. But there was one young fellow who laughed 

 at the whole story, and said that he was not afraid of anything in 

 Valley river, as he would show them. So one day he painted his face 

 and put on his finest buckskin and started off toward the river, while 

 all the people followed at a distance to see what might happen. 

 Down the trail he went and out upon the ledge of rock, singing in 

 high spirits: 



Tlaiiu'si gane'ga dii/i'ijiige 



Bakwa'nitlaHe'sil. 



I'll tie red leech skins 



On my legs for garters. 



But before he was half way across the water })egan to l)oil into white 

 foam and a great wave rose and swept over the rock and carried him 

 down, and he was never seen again. 



Just before the Removal, sixty 3'ears ago, two women went out upon 

 the ledge to fish. Their friends warned them of the danger, but one 

 woman who had her baby on her back said. ""There are Ksh there and 

 I'm going to have some; I'm tired of this fat meat." 8he laid the 

 child down on the rock and was pn^paring the line when the water- 

 suddenly rose and swept over the ledge, and would have carried off 

 the child but that the mother ran in time to save it. The great leech 

 i.s still there in the deep hole, because when people look down they see 

 something alive moving about on the l)ottom. and although they can 

 not distinguish its shape on account of the ripples on the water, yet 

 they know it is the leech. Some say there is an underground water- 

 way across to Nottely river, not far above the mouth, where the river 

 bends over toward Murphy, and sometimes the leech goes over there 

 and makes the water boil as it used to at the rock ledge. They call 

 this spot on Nottely "The Leech place" also. 



78. THE nOnNE'HI and OTHER SPIRIT FOLK 



The Nimne'hl or immortals, the "people who live anywhere," were 

 a race of spirit people who lived in the highlands of the old Cherokee 

 country and had a great many townhouses, especially in the bald 

 mountains, the high peaks on which no timber ever grows. They had 

 large townhouses in Pilot knob and under the old Nikwasi' mound in 

 North Carolina, and another under Blood mountain, at the head of 

 Nottely river, in Geoi'gia. They were invisible excepting when they 



