488 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann.19 



In the ancient Efryptian legend of Ka and Isis, preserved in a Turin papyru^i dating 

 from the twentieth dynasty, the goddess Isis, wishing to foree from the great god 

 Ra, tlie sun, the secret of his power, sends a serpent to bite him, with tlie intention 

 of demanding the secret for herself as the price of assistance. Taking some of her 

 spittle, "Isis with her hand kneaded it together with the earth that was there. She 

 made thereof a sacred serpent unto which she gave the form of a spear. She . . . 

 cast it on the w-ay which the great god traversed in his double kingdom whenever 

 he Would. The venerable god advanced, the gods who served him as their Pharaoh 

 followed him, he w-ent forth as on every day. Then the sacred serpent bit him. 

 The divine god opened his moiith and his cry reached unto heaven . . . The poison 

 seized on his flesh," etc.' 



The sky I'dtill — See other references in number 1, " How the World was Made;" 

 number 3, " Kanati and Selu," and number 7, " The Journey to the Sunrise." 



Uij grandchildren — The Sun calls the people ?.si()7(;i7i'.s(, " my grandchildren," this 

 being the term used by maternal grandparents, the corresponding term used by 

 paternal grandparents beuig Uimgini'si. The Moon calls the people ts-Cinkma'tH, ' ' my 

 younger brothers," the term used by a male speaking, the Moon being personified 

 a.« a man in Cherokee mythology. The corresponding term used Ijy a female is 

 lnnnkitiV. 



Tlie Liltle Men — The Thunder Boys, sons of Kana'tl (see number 3, " Kana'tl and 

 Selu " ) . They are always representeil as lieneticent wonder workers, of great power. 



('hamjed to snukea — The Cherokee names of the rattlesnake {Crotalm), copper- 

 head ( Trigonucephalua) , and spreading adder (Helerodon) are, respectively, utsa'inift, 

 "he has abell" (?); led'dieje'taskd'n, " red-brown head " ; and da'UkskV, " vomiter," 

 from its habit of vomiting yellow slime, as is told in the story. For more concerning 

 the Uktena see number 50, "The Uktena and the Uliinsu'ti." 



Hand-breadth — See note to number 1, "How the World was !Made." 



6. flow THEV BROUGHT BACK THE TOB.\cco (p. 254): The first version of this myth 

 as here given was obtained from Swimmer, and agrees with that of .John Ax, except 

 that for the humming bird the latter substitutes the wafsuh't, or large red-brown moth, 

 which flies about the tobacco flow'er in the evening, and states that it w-as selected 

 because it could fly so cjuietly that it would not be noticed. The second version was 

 obtained from Wafford, in the Cherokee Nation west, who heard it from his great- 

 uncle nearly ninety years ago, and differs so much from the other that it has seemed 

 best to give it separately. The incident of the tree which grows taller as the man 

 climbs it has close parallels in the mythology of the Kiowa and other Western 

 tribes, V)ut has no obvious connection wMth the story, and is proljably either one of 

 a series of adventures originally belonging to tlie trip or else a fragment from some 

 otherwise forgotten myth. It may be mentioned that ^^'afforll was a man of rather 

 practical character, with V>ut little interest or memory for stories, being able to fill in 

 details of but few of the large number which he remembered having heard when 

 a boy. 



In his Letters from the Alleghany Mountains, jiages 119-121 , Lanman gives the story 

 as he obtained it in 1848 from Chief Kalahu (see p. 173), still well rememliered by those 

 w-ho knew him as an authority upon tribal traditions and ritual. In the KalahCi 

 version the story is connected with Hickorynut gap, a remarkable pass in the Blue 

 ridge southeast from Asheville, North Carolina, and a comparison with the later 

 versions shows clearly how much has Iteen lost in fifty years. The whole body of 

 Cherokee tradition has probalsly suffered a ])roi)ortionate loss. 



"Before visiting this remarkable passage through the moim tains [Hickorynut gap], 

 I endeavored to ascertain, from the Cherokees of Qualla town, its original Indian 



.\lfred Wiedemaun, Religion uf the .\iu-ieiit Egyptians: Xew York. 1S97, p. 



