MooNKV] NOTES AND PARALLELS 453 



33. The migratiox or teik animals (p. 280): This littlr titorv is t;iveii just as 

 related by Aydsta, the only woman privilege<l to (speak in coiuicil among the Kast 

 Cherokee. A similar incident occurs in number 7(5, "The Bear Man." Accordingto 

 one Cherokee myth concerning the noted Track Rock gap, near Blair.«ville in 

 upper Georgia, tlie i)ictogi-aplis in the rocks there are the footjirints of allsortsof t)irds 

 and animals whidi once crossed over the gap in a great migration toward the soutli. 



34. The Woi.k's KKVENXiE: The Wolp A.v» the Doc. (p. 280): These short stories 

 from Swimmer illustrate the Cherokee belief that if a wolf be injured his fellows will 

 surely revenge the injury. See also note to mnnlicr 1-5, "The Fimrfooted Tribes," 

 and number .">, " Kana'tl anil Selu." 



In a West African tale recorded by Chatelain (Folktales of Angola, ISiU) the dog 

 and the jackal are kinsmen, who live together in the Iwsh mitil tlie jackal sends the 

 dog to the village for fire. The dog goes, enters a house and is fed l)y a wnniaii, and 

 thereupon concludes to stay in the village, where there is always food. 



35. The hiud tiubes (\i. 280): 'Tin- eagln killer — Of the Southern trilics generally 

 Adair says: "They use the feathers of the eagle's tail in certain friendly and relig- 

 ious dances, liut the whole town will contribute, to the value of 200 deerskins, for 

 killing a large eagle — the liald eagle they do not esteem — and tlie man also gets an 

 honorable title for the exploit, as if he hail brought in the scalp of an enemy." ' 



Timberlake says that the Cherokee held the tail of an eagle in the greatest esteem, as 

 these tails were sometimes given with the wampum in their treaties, and none of their 

 warlike ceremonies could be performed without them (Memoirs, p. 81). The figura- 

 tive expression, "a snowbird has been killed," used to avoid offending the eagle 

 tribe, is paralleled in the expression, "he has been scratched by a brier," used by the 

 Cherokee to mean, "he has lieen bitten liyasnake." Professional eagle killers existed 

 among many tribes, together with a prescribed ceremonial for securing the eagle. 

 The most common method was probably that destrilied in a note to number 98, 

 "Gana's Adventures among the Cherokee." A detailed account of the Blackfoot 

 method is given by Grinnell, in his Blackfoot Lodge Tales, \>\>. 2.'>(>-240. The eagle, 

 being a bird of prey, as well as a sacred bird, was never eaten. 



The shifting of responsibility for the killing to a vicarious victim is a common fea- 

 ture of Indian formulas for obtaining pardon, especially for offenses against the ani- 

 mal tribe or the spirits of the dead. A remarkalile parallel to the Cherokee prayer, 

 from the Quichua of Peru, is given by Dr G. A. Dorsey. Having started, with a 

 party of Indian laborers and a Spanish gentleman who was well acquainted with the 

 native language, to exandne some cave tombs near the ancient city of C'uzco, they 

 had arrived at the spot and he was about to give the order to l)egin operations, when 

 the Indians, removing their blankets and hats, knelt dowti and recited in musoii in 

 their own language a prayer to the spirits of the dead, of which the following transla- 

 tion is an extract: 



"Chiefs, sons of the sun, you and we are brotliers, sons of the great Pachacamac. 

 You onl)' know this, but we know that three persons exist, the Father, the Son, and 

 the IIoly(ihost. This is the only difference between you and us. . . . Chiefs, sons 

 of the sun, we have not come to disturb your trauiiuil sleep in this, your abode. We 

 comeoidy because we have been compelled by our .superiors; toward tliem may you 

 direct your vengeance and your curses." 



Then followed sacrifices of coca leaves, aguardiente, and chicha, after which they 

 called upon the snow-capped mountain to witness their affection for their ancestors, 

 and were then ready to begin work (Dorsey, A Ceremony of the Quichuas of Peru, 

 in Journal of American Folk-Lore, October, 1894). 



Night binh — Says Adair of the Southern tribes (History of tlie .\nieric:in Indians, 

 p. 130, 1775): "They reckon all liirds of prey, and birds of night, to be unclean and 



1 Ili^lory (if till' .Vnu'rictili Iiuliaiis. p. 30. 



