468 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth. a.sn.19 



the edge of a sheer white wall of rock, over which, <'lingiiit; fur life to a protecting 

 hanil, he can look, if he chooses, two thousand feet down into the dim valley below. 

 A pebble dropped from his hand will fall straight as into a well. On the vast jilain 

 below he can see the wavelike hills on which the great mountain ranges which have 

 stretched from Maine along the continent ebb down finally into the southern 

 plains" — Rebecca H. Davis, Bypaths in the Mountains, in Harper's Magazine, lxi, 

 p. 544, September, 1880. 



Pwkiiif/ stran-berriefi — For more than a hun<lred years, as readers of Bartrani wil'l 

 remember, the rich l)ottom lands of the old Cherokee country have been noted for 

 their abundance of strawberries and other wild fruits. 



Ml/ i/raiidcliihlren — As in most Indian languages, Cherokee kinship terms are usually 

 specialized, and there is no single term for grandchild. " JMy son's child " is fylgim^si, 

 p\ura\ tsCmgini'iu; "my daughter's child" is itngili'sl, plural IsAngili'sl. The use of 

 kinship terms as expressive of affection or respect is very common among Indians. 



Taking the appearance — This corresponds closely with the European folk-belief in 

 fairy changelings. 



To burn the leaves — The burning of the fallen leaves in the autumn, in order to get 

 at the nuts ujion the ground below, is still practiced by the white mountaineers of 

 the southern Alleghenies. The line of fire slowly creeping up the mountain side upon 

 a dark night is one of the picturesque sights of that picturesque country. 



TIte soyig — As rendered by Swimmer, the songs seem to he intended for an imita- 

 tion of the mournful notes of some bird, such as the turtle dove, hidden in the deep 

 forests. 



Pitfall — The pitfall trap for large game was known among nearly all the tribes, 

 but seems not to have been in frequent use. 



Chickadee and tomtit — These two little birds closely resemble each other, the Caro- 

 lina chickadee (Pariis carolinensis) or tslkililT being somewhat smaller than the tufted 

 titmouse {Panis bicnlor) or utsu'gl, which is also distinguished by a topknot or crest. 

 The belief that the tslkilili foretells the arrival of an absent friend is general among 

 the Cherokee, and has even extended to their neighbors, the white mountaineers. 

 See al.so number 35, "The Bird Tribes," and accompanying notes. 



Her heart — The conception of a giant or other monster whose heart or "life" is in 

 some unaccustomed part of the body, or may even be taken out and laid aside at 

 ■will, so that it is impossible to kill the monster by ordinarj- means, is common in 

 Indian as well as in European and Asiatic folklore. 



In a Navaho myth we are told that the Coyote "did not, like other lieings, keep 

 his vital principle in his chest, where it might easily be destroyed. He kept it in the 

 tip of his nose and in the end of his tail, where no one would expect to find it." He 

 meets several accidents, any one of which would be sutBcient to kill an ordinary 

 creature, but as his nose and tail remain intact he is each time resurrected. Finally 

 a girl whom he wishes to marry beats him into small pieces with a club, grinds the 

 pieces to powder, and scatters the powder to the four winds. "But again she neg- 

 lected to crush the point of the nose and the tip of the tail," with the result that the 

 Coyote again comes to life, when of course they are married and live happily until 

 the next chapter (Matthews, Navaho Legends, pp. 91-94). 



In a tale of the Gaelic highlands the giant's life is in an egg which he keeps con- 

 cealed in a distant place, and not until the hero finds and crushes the egg does the 

 giant die. The monster or liero with l.mt one vulnerable spot, as was the case with 

 Achilles, is also a common concept. 



67. NuNYUNu'wi, THE Stone M.\n (]). 319): This myth, although obtained from 

 Swimmer, the best informant in the eastern band, is but fragmentary, for the reason 

 that he confounded it with the somewhat .similar story nf U'th'in'ta (number 66). 

 It was mentioned by Aydsta and others (east) and by VV afford (west) as a very old 



