478 MYTHS OF THP: THKUOKKK [eth.ann.19 



bite. His wife begs liim to wait until tlie .«iin appcMrs, 1)nt liunger overcome.^ him 

 and he takes a bite of food from hi.« pouoh. Instantly the cave and the dancers 

 disappear, and the man and his wife find themselves alone on the mountain. Jolm 

 Ax was a very old man at the time of the recital, with memory rapidly failing, and 

 it is evident that his version is only fragmentary. 



Haywood notes the story on the authority of Charles Hicks, an educated halfbreed 

 (Nat. and Alwrig. Hist. Tenn., ]>. 280): "They have a fabulous tradition respecting 

 the mounds, which proves that they are beyond the events of their history. The 

 mounds, they say, were caused by the quaking of the earth and great noise with it, 

 a ceremony used for the adoption of their people into the family of Tuli-cula, who 

 was an invisible person and had taken a wife of one of their town's people. And at 

 the time when his first son was born the quaking of the earth and noise had com- 

 menced, but had ceased at the alarm wli0(ip, which liad been raised by two impru- 

 dent young men of the town, in consequence of which the mounds had been raised 

 by the quaking noise. Whereupon the father took the child and mother and 

 removed to near Brasstown, and had made the tracks in the rocks which are to lie 

 seen there." 



From Buttrick we get the following version of the tradition, evidently told for the 

 missionary's special benefit: "God directed the Indians to ascend a certain moun- 

 tain — that is, the warriors — and he would there send them assistance. They started 

 and had ascended far up the mountain, when one of the warriors began to talk about 

 women. His companion immediately reproved him, but instantly a voice like 

 thunder issued from the side of the mountain and God spoke and told them to return, 

 as he could not assist them on account of that sin. They put the man to death, yet 

 the Lord never returned to them afterwards" (Antiquities, p. 14). On the next 

 page he tells it in a somewhat different form: "It is said that before coming to this 

 continent, while in their own country, they were in great distress from their enemies, 

 and God told them to march to the top of a certain mountain and He would come 

 down and afford them relief. They ascended far up the mountain and thought they 

 saw something coming down from above, which they supposed was for their aid. 

 But just then one of the warriors," etc. 



Zeigler and Gros.9CU]i give another version, which, although dressed up for adver- 

 tising puri.ioses, makes a fairly good story: 



"But there is another legend of the Balsams more significant than any of these. 

 It is the Paradise (iained of Cherokee mythology, and bears some distant resemblance 

 to the Christian doctrine of mediation. The Indians believed that they were origi- 

 nally mortal in spiiit as well as body, but above the blue vault of heaven there was, 

 inhabited by a cele.stial race, a forest into which the highest mountains lifted their 

 dark summits. * * * 



"The mediator, by whom eternal life was secured for the Indian mountaineers, 

 was a maiden of their own tribe. Allured by the haunting sound and diamond 

 sparkle of a mountain stream, she wandered far up into a solitary glen, where the 

 azalea, the kalmia, and the rhododendron Ijrilliantly embellished the deep, shaded 

 slopes, and filled the air with their delicate perfume. The crystal stream wound its 

 crooked way between moss-covered rocks over which tall ferns bowed their graceful 

 stems. Enchanted by the scene, she seated herself upon the soft moss, and, over- 

 come by fatigue, was soon asleep. The dream picture of a fairyland was presently 

 broken by the soft touch of a strange hand. The spirit of her rlreani occupied a 

 place at her side, and, wooing, won her for his bride. 



"Her supposed abduction caused great excitement among her people, who made 

 diligent search for her recovery in their own villages. Being unsuccessful, they 

 made war upon the neighboring tribes in the hope of finding the place of her con- 

 cealment. Grieved because of so much liloodshed and sorrow, she l-.esought the 

 great chief of the eternal hunting grounds to make retribution. She was accordingly 



