37(i MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE |eth.ann.19 



hurriedly made their way home by the same roundabout route to Chil- 

 howee, where they showed the fresh scal))s and the g'un. and told how 

 they had met the Shawano in the north and defeated them without 

 losing a man. 



According- to custom, preparations were made at once for a great 

 scalp dance to celebrate the victory over the Shawano. The dance was 

 held in the townhouse and all the people of the settlement were there 

 and looked on, while the women danced with the scalps and the gun, 

 and the returned warriors boasted of their deeds. As it happened, 

 among those looking on was a visitor from Cowefe, a gunstocker, who 

 took particular notice of the gun and knew it at once as one he had 

 repaired at home for Gunskali'ski. He said nothing, but wondered 

 much how it had come into possession of the Shawano. 



The scalp dance ended, and according to custom a second dance was 

 appointed to be held seven days later, to give the other warriors also 

 a chance to boast of their own war deeds. The gunstocker, whose 

 name was Gfdsadihi', returned home to Cowee, and there heard for the 

 first time how a Shawano war part}- had surprised some of the town 

 people, killed several, and taken their scalps and a gun. He under- 

 stood it all then, and told the chief that the mischief had been done, 

 not by a hostile tribe, but by the false men of Chilhowee. It seemed 

 too nuich to believe, and the chief said it could not be possible, until 

 the gunstocker declared that he had recognized the gun as one he had 

 himself repaired for the man who had been killed. At last the}' were 

 convinced that his story was true, and all Cowee was eager for revenge. 



It was decided to send ten of their })ravest warriors, under the header- 

 ship of the gunstocker, to the next dance at Chilhowee, there to take 

 their own method of reprisal. Volunteers offered at once for the service. 

 They set out at the proper tinu^ and arrived at Chilhowee on the night 

 the dance was to begin. As they crossed the stream below the town 

 they met a woman coming for water and took their first revenge by 

 killing her. Men, women, and children were gathered in the town- 

 house, but the Cowee men concealed themselves outside and waited. 



In this dance it was customarj' for each warrior in turn to tell the 

 story of some deed against the enemy, putting his words into a song 

 which he first whispered to the drummer, who then sang with him, 

 drumming all the while. Usually it is serious business, but occasion- 

 ally, for a joke, a man will act the clown or sing of some extravagant 

 performance that is so clearly impossible that all the people laugh. One 

 man after another stepped into the ring and sang of what he had done 

 against the enemies of his tril>e. At last one of the late war party rose 

 frt)m his seat, and after a whisper to the drummer Ijegan to sing of how 

 they had gone to Cowee and taken scalps and the gun, which he carried 

 as he danced. The chief and the people, who knew nothing of the 

 treac^lierous act, laughed heartily at what they thought \vas a great joke. 



