4()(i MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [kth.axn.I9 



this-' roasuM om- li;ui<l of the Cheyenne never eat beaver or even toucli tlie skin. If 

 tliey (to t.oncli it, they become sick" (Kroeber, Clieyenne Tales, in .lonrnal of 

 American Folk-Lore, July, 1900). 



64. The NEST OF THE Tla'nuwa (p. 315): This story was obtained first from .lohn 

 Ax and Ta'gwadihi', and was afterward heard of frequently in connection with tlie 

 cave at Citico. It is mentioned by Ten Kate in "Legends of the Cherokees," 

 obtained in the Indian Territory, in the .lournal of American Folk-Lore, January, 18S9. 



ThVmiwa—Thi.- Thl'nuw:! (T.sa'nuwa or Sii'mlw^ in the Middle dialect) is a mythic 

 bird, described as a great hawk, larger than any liird now existing. There is a small 

 haw-k called tlil'nuwil usdi', "little tUVnuw'a," which is described as its smaller coun- 

 terpart or image, and which the Cherokee say accompanies flocks of wild pigeons, 

 occasionally when hungry swooping down and killing one by striking it with its sharp 

 breast bone. It is probably the goshawk {Astnr atricapiUus). The great TkVnuwil, 

 like the other animals, "went up." According to Adair (History of the American 

 Indians, p. 17) the Cherokee used to compare a miserly person to a "sinnawah." 

 When John Ax first recited the story he insisted that the whites must also lielieve 

 it, as they hail it pictured on their money, anil holding up a silver coin, he trium- 

 phantly jiointed out what he claimeil was the figure of the Tht'nuwa, holding in its 

 talons the arrows and in its beak the serpent. He was not so far wrong, as it is well 

 known that the Mexican coat of arms, stamped upon the coins of the republic, has 

 its origin in a similar legend handed down from the Aztec. Myths of dangerous 

 monster serpents destroyed by great birds were common to a number of tribes. The 

 Tuscarora, formerly eastern neighbors of the Cherokee, told "a long tale of a great 

 rattlesnake, which, a great while ago, lived by a creek in that river, which was Neus, 

 and that it killed abundance of Indians; but at last a bald eagle killed it, and they 

 were rid of a serpent that used to devour whole canoes full of Indians at a time" 

 (Lawson, Carolina, p. 346). 



Tla' imwa'1 — "Thl'nuwJt place," the cliff so called by the Cherokee, with the cave 

 half way up its face, is on the north bank of Little Tennessee river, a short distance 

 below the entrance of the Citico creek, on land formerly belonging to Colonel John 

 Lowrey, one of the Cherokee officers at the battle of the Horseshoe bend (Wafford). 

 Just above, but on the opposite side of the river, is U'tlufiti'yi, the former haunt of 

 the cannibal liver eater (see number 66, " U'tlCiiita, the Spear-finger" ). 



Soon aflcr the creation — As John Ax put it, adopting the Bible expression, Iltlalii'iju 

 dijie'thtna a'mgwa — "A long time ago the creation soon after." 



Hope of Una biirk — The old Cherokee still ilo most of their tying and packing with 

 ropes twisted from tlie inner Ijark of trees. In one version of the story the medicine- 

 man uses a long uda'I or cohosh (.-Ic^a'n?) vine. 



Holes are still there — The place whicli the Ckerokee call Tli'nuwii-a'tsiyelunisun'yl, 

 "Where the Tla'nuwil cut it up," is nearly opposite Citico, on Little Tennessee river, 

 just below Talassee ford, in Blount county, Tennessee. The surface of the rock bears 

 a series of long trenchlike depressions, extending some distance, which, according to 

 the Indians, are the marks where the pieces bitten from the body of the great serpent 

 were dropt Ijy the Tht'nuwa. 



6.'i. The hunter .\nd the TLA'xrw.i ([i. 316): This myth was told by Swimmer. 



66. U'tlcx't.v, the Spe.\r-fixger ( p. 316) : This is one of the most noted among the 

 Cherokee myths, being equally well known both east and west. The version here 

 given was obtained from John Ax, with some corrections and additions from Swim- 

 mer, Wafford (west) and others. A version of it, "The Stone-shields," in which 

 the tomtit is incorrectly made a jay, is given by Ten Kate, in his "Legends of the 

 Cherokees," in the Journal of American Folk-Lore for January, 1889, as obtained 

 from a mixed-blood informant in Tahlequah. Another version, "The Demon of 



