400 MYTHS OF THE CHERoKEK (eth.ann. lu 



the people a new message fi'om the sky. Then lie would leav(^ tln'in 

 again, pretending thiit he went up to heaven. 



He grew famous and powei'ful among all the medicine men, until at 

 last it happened that another Cherokee went down among the white 

 settlements and saw there anothei- peacock, and knew at once that the 

 prophet was a fraud. On his return he quietly told some of his 

 friends, and they decided to investigate. When the next night dance 

 came around the prophet was on hand as usual with a new message 

 fresh from the stars. The people listened I'everently, and promised to 

 do all that he commanded. Then he left them, .saj'ing that he must 

 return at once to the sky, hut as he went out from the circle the spies 

 followed him in the darkness, and saw him go down to the river and 

 dive under the water. They waited, but he did not come up again, 

 and they went l)ack and told the people. The next morning a party 

 went to the spot and discovered the beaver lodge under the bank. One 

 man dived and came up in.side, and there he found the prophet sitting 

 with the peacock feathers by his side. 



117. THE MOTHER BEAR'S SONG 



A hunter in the woods one day heard singing in a cave. He came 

 near and peeped in, and it was a mother bear singing to her cubs and 

 telling them what to do when the hunters came after them. 



Said the mother bear to the cubs, "When you hear the hunters 

 coming down the creek, then — 



Tud'gl, Isd'gi, huil'lahV; 



Tsd'yi, Ixd'gl, hwVlahl. 

 ITjistream, upstream, you (must) go; 

 Upstream, upstream, you (must) go. 



" But if you hear them coming up the creek, children, then- 



Ge'l, ge'l, hrifi'lahV; 

 Ge'i, ge'i, hvVlahV. 

 Downstream, downstream, you (must) go; 

 Downstream, downstream, you (must) go." 

 * * * * * * *' 



Another hunter out in the woods one day thought he heard a woman 

 singing to a baby. He followed the sound up to tlie head of the branch 

 until he came to a cave under the bushes, and inside was a mother bear 

 rocking her cub in her paws and singing to it this babj' song, which 

 the Ani'-Tsa'guhi used to know before they were turned into bears: 



Ila'-mama', hii'-miimd' , ha' -mama' , ha'-mama'; 



Udd'liiile'j/I Iti'luniin, hi'Uinnii; 



Vdd'hale'yl lii'li'iruu'i, hi'h'tnud. 



Let me carry yon on my Ijack (four times) ; 



On the sunny side jjo to sleep, go to sleep; 



On the sunny side go to sleep, go to sleep. 



