MooNEY] THE VUNWI TSUNSDl' 833 



doep. liihiide it wus iihvays clcuii as though swept by imknoWM liand.s. 

 Passing traders would thi-ow logs and rocks into it, but would always, 

 on their return, find tliein thrown far out from the hole. The Indians 

 said it was a ^ufine'hi towniioiise. and ne\"er liked to go neartiie place 

 or oven to talk about it. un^ii at last some logs thrown in by the trad- 

 ers were allowed to remain tiiere. and tiien they concluded that the 

 Xiifine'hi, annoyed l>_y the persecution of the white men, had abandoned 

 their townhouse forever. 



There is another race of spirits, the Ynuwl Txunsdl', or "I.iittle 

 People," who live in rock caves on the mountain side. They are lit- 

 tle fellows, hardly reaching up to a man's knee, but well shaped and 

 handsome, with long hair falling almost to the ground. T\wy are great 

 wonder workers and are very fond of music, spending iialf their time 

 dnuuming and dancing. They are helpful and kind-hearted, and often 

 when people have been lost in the mountains, especially children wiio 

 have strayed away from their parents, the Yunwi Tsunsdi' have found 

 them and taken care of them and brought them back to their homes. 

 Sometimes their drum is heard in lonely places in the mountains, but it 

 is not safe to follow it. because the Little People do not like to be dis- 

 turbed at home, and they throw a spell over the stranger so that he is 

 bewildered and loses his way. and even if he does at last get back to the 

 settlement he is like one dazed ever after. Sometimes, also, they come 

 near a house at night and the people inside hear them talking, but they 

 iiuist not go out. and in the morning they find the corn gathered or the 

 field cleared as if a whole force of men had been at work. If anyone 

 should go out to watch, he would die. When a hunter finds anvthing 

 in the woods, such as a knife or a trinket, he must say. ''Little People, 

 I want to take this," because it inay belong to them, and if he does not 

 ask their permission they will throw stones at him as he goes home. 



Once a hunter in winter found tracks in the snow like the tracks of 

 little children. He wondered how they could have come there and 

 followed them until they led him to a cave, which was full of Little 

 People, young and old. men, women, and children. They brought iiim 

 in and were kind to him, and he was with them some time: but when 

 he left they warned him that he must not tell or he would die. He 

 went back to the settlement and his friends were all anxious to know 

 where he had been. For a long time he refused to say, until at last 

 he could not hold out any longer, but told the story, and in a few 

 days he died. Oidy a few years ago two hunters from Raventown, 

 going behind tiie high fall near the head of Oconaluftee on the East 

 Cherokee reservation, found there a cave with fresh footprints t)f the 

 Little People all over the floor. 



During the smallpox among the East Cherokee just after the war 

 one sick man wandered ofl', and his friends searched, but could not 

 find him. After several weeks he came })ack and said that the Little 



