344 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [kth.ann.19 



say lie had been with the mountain people. At last one man .said he 

 believed the .story and would go with him to see. They went off 

 togethei' to the woods, where they made a eamp. and then T.suwe'nahi 

 went on ahead, saying he would be Ijuek soon. The other waited for 

 him, doing a little hunting near the camp, and two nights afterwards 

 Tsuwe'nahi was back again. He seemed to be alone, but was talking 

 as he came, and the other hunter heard girls' voices, although he could 

 see no one. When he came up to the tire he said, " I have two friends 

 with me, and they say there is to be a dance in their town in two 

 nights, and if yon want to go they will come for you." The hunter 

 agreed at once, and Tsuwe'nahi called out, as if to some one close by, 

 "He says he will go." Then he said, "Our sisters have come for some 

 venison." The hunter had killed a deer and had the meat drying over 

 the lire, so he said, " What kind do they want? " The voices answered, 

 "Our mother told us to ask for some of the ribs," but still he could 

 see nothing. He took down some rib pieces and gave them to Tsu- 

 we'nahi, who took them and said, "In two days we shall come again 

 for you." Then he started off, and the other heard the voices going- 

 through the woods until all was still again. 



In two days Tsuwe'nahi came, and this time he had two girls with 

 him. As they stood near the fire the hunter noticed that their feet 

 were shoi-t and round, almost like dogs' paws, but as soon as they saw 

 him looking thej' sat down so that he could not see their feet. After 

 supper the whole party left the camp and went up along the creek to 

 Tsuwa'tel'da. They went in through the cave door until thej' got to 

 the farther end and could see houses beyond, when all at once the 

 hunter's legs felt as if they were dead and he staggered and fell to 

 the ground. The others lifted him up, but still he could not stand, 

 until the medicine-man brought some "old toljacco'" and rubbed it 

 on his legs and made him smell it until he sneezed. Then he was 

 al)le to stand again and went in with the others. He could not stand at 

 first, because he had not prepared himself I)}- fasting before he started. 



The dance had not yet begun and Tsuwe'nahi took the hunter into tiie 

 townhouse and showed him a seat near the fire, but it had long thorns 

 of honey locust sticking out from it and he was afraid to sit down. 

 Tsuwe'nahi told him not to be afraid, so he sat down and found thtit 

 the thorns were as soft as down feathers. Now the drummer canie in 

 and the dancers, and the dance began. One man followed at the end 

 of the line, crying Aw.' A'w.' all the time, but not dancing. The 

 hunter wondered, and they told him, "This man was lost in the moun- 

 tains and had been calling all through the woods for his friends until 

 hi.s voice failed and he was only able to pant A'/?.' luif and then we 

 found him and took him in." 



When it was over Tsuwe'nahi and the hunter went back to the set- 

 tlement. At the next dance in Kanuga thev told all thev had seen at 



