Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney
63. Ûñtsaiyi', the Gambler (p. 311): This story was obtained from
1473 words | Chapter 217
Swimmer and John Ax (east), and confirmed also by James Wafford
(west), who remembered, however, only the main points of the pursuit
and final capture at Kâgûñ'yi. The two versions corresponded very
closely, excepting that Ax sends the boy to the Sunset land to play
against his brothers, while Swimmer brings them to meet him at their
father's house. In the Ax version, also, the gambler flees directly
to the west, and as often as the brothers shoot at him with their
arrows the thunder rolls and the lightning flashes, but he escapes by
sinking into the earth, which opens for him, to reappear in another
form somewhere else. Swimmer makes the Little People help in the
chase. In Cherokee figure an invitation to a ball contest is a
challenge to battle. Thunder is always personified in the plural,
Ani'-Hyûñ'tikwalâ'ski, "The Thunderers." The father and the two
older sons seem to be Kana'ti and the Thunder Boys (see number 3,
"Kana'ti and Selu"), although neither informant would positively
assert this, while the boy hero, who has no other name, is said to
be the lightning. Nothing is told of his after career.
Ûñtsaiyi'--In this name (sometimes E'tsaiyi' or Tsaiyi') the first
syllable is almost silent and the vowels are prolonged to imitate the
ringing sound produced by striking a thin sheet of metal. The word
is now translated "brass," and is applied to any object made of that
metal. The mythic gambler, who has his counterpart in the mythologies
of many tribes, is the traditional inventor of the wheel-and-stick
game, so popular among the southern and eastern Indians, and variously
known as gatayûsti, chenco, or chûnki (see note under number 3,
"Kana'ti and Selu"). He lived on the south side of Tennessee river,
at Ûñ'tiguhi'.
Ûñ'tiguhi' or The Suck--The noted and dangerous rapid known to the
whites as "The Suck" and to the Cherokee as Ûñ'tiguhi', "Pot in
the water," is in Tennessee river, near the entrance of Suck creek,
about 8 miles below Chattanooga, at a point where the river gathers
its whole force into a contracted channel to break through the
Cumberland mountain. The popular name, Whirl, or Suck, dates back
at least to 1780, the upper portion being known at the same time as
"The boiling pot" (Donelson diary, in Ramsey, Tennessee, p. 71),
[545] a close paraphrase of the Indian name. In the days of pioneer
settlement it was a most dangerous menace to navigation, but some of
the most serious obstacles in the channel have now been removed by
blasting and other means. The Cherokee name and legend were probably
suggested by the appearance of the rapids at the spot. Close to where
Ûñtsaiyi' lived, according to the Indian account, may still be seen
the large flat rock upon which he was accustomed to play the gatayûsti
game with all who accepted his challenge, the lines and grooves worn
by the rolling of the wheels being still plainly marked, and the
stone wheels themselves now firmly attached to the surface of the
rock. A similarly grooved or striped rock, where also, it is said,
Ûñtsaiyi' used to roll his wheel, is reported to be on the north side
of Hiwassee, just below Calhoun, Tennessee.
The Suck is thus described by a traveler in 1818, while the whole
was still Indian country and Chattanooga was yet undreamed of:
"And here, I cannot forbear pausing a moment to call your attention
to the grand and picturesque scenery which opens to the view of the
admiring spectator. The country is still possessed by the aborigines,
and the hand of civilization has done but little to soften the wild
aspect of nature. The Tennessee river, having concentrated into one
mass the numerous streams it has received in its course of three or
four hundred miles, glides through an extended valley with a rapid
and overwhelming current, half a mile in width. At this place,
a group of mountains stand ready to dispute its progress. First,
the 'Lookout,' an independent range, commencing thirty miles below,
presents, opposite the river's course, its bold and rocky termination
of two thousand feet. Around its brow is a pallisade [sic] of naked
rocks, from seventy to one hundred feet. The river flows upon
its base, and instantly twines to the right. Passing on for six
miles farther it turns again, and is met by the side of the Rackoon
mountain. Collecting its strength into a channel of seventy yards,
it severs the mountain, and rushes tumultuously through the rocky
defile, wafting the trembling navigator at the rate of a mile in two
or three minutes. The passage is called 'The Suck.' The summit of the
Lookout mountain overlooks the whole country. And to those who can
be delighted with the view of an interminable forest, penetrated by
the windings of a bold river, interspersed with hundreds of verdant
prairies, and broken by many ridges and mountains, furnishes in the
month of May, a landscape, which yields to few others, in extent,
variety or beauty."--Rev. Elias Cornelius, in (Silliman's) American
Journal of Science, I, p. 223, 1818.
Bet even his life--The Indian was a passionate gambler and there was
absolutely no limit to the risks which he was willing to take, even to
the loss of liberty, if not of life. Says Lawson (History of Carolina,
p. 287): "They game very much and often strip one another of all they
have in the world; and what is more, I have known several of them
play themselves away, so that they have remained the winners' servants
till their relations or themselves could pay the money to redeem them."
His skin was clean--The idea of purification or cleansing through
the efficacy of the sweat-bath is very common in Indian myth and
ceremonial. In an Omaha story given by Dorsey the hero has been
transformed, by witchcraft, into a mangy dog. He builds a sweat lodge,
goes into it as a dog and sweats himself until, on his command, the
people take off the blankets, when "Behold, he was not a dog; he was
a very handsome man" ("Adventures of Hingpe-agce," in Contributions
to North American Ethnology, VI, p. 175).
From the bottom--The choice of the most remote or the most
insignificant appearing of several objects, as being really the most
valuable, is another common incident in the myths.
Honey-locust tree--The favorite honey-locust tree and the seat with
thorns of the same species in the home of the Thunder Man may indicate
that in Indian as in Aryan thought there was an occult connection
between the pinnated leaves and the lightning, as we know to be the
case with regard to the European rowan or mountain ash.
All kinds of snakes--It will be remembered that the boy's father
was a thunder god. The connection between the snake and the rain or
thunder spirit has already been noted. It appears also in number 84,
"The Man who Married the Thunder's Sister."
Elder brother--My elder brother (male speaking), ûñgini'li; my elder
brother (female speaking), ûñgida'; thy two elder brothers (male
speaking), tsetsani'li.
Sunset land--The Cherokee word here used is Wusûhihûñ'yi, "there where
they stay over night." The usual expression in the sacred formula
is usûñhi'yi, "the darkening, or twilight place"; the common word is
wude'ligûñ'yi, "there where it (the sun) goes down."
Lightning at every stroke--In the Omaha myth of "The Chief's Son and
the Thunders," given by Dorsey, some young men traveling to the end
of the world meet a Thunder Man, who bids the leader to select one
of four medicine bags. Having been warned in advance, he selects
the oldest, but most powerful, and is then given also a club which
causes thunder whenever flourished in the air (Contributions to North
American Ethnology, VI, p. 185).
Strike the rock--This method of procuring water is as old at least
as the book of Exodus.
The brass rubbed off--The beautiful metallic luster on the head of
Phanæus carnifex is thus accounted for. The common roller beetle
is called "dung roller," but this species is distinguished as the
"horned, brass" beetle. It is also sometimes spoken of as the dog of
the Thunder Boys.
Beavers gnaw at the grapevine--Something like this is found among
the Cheyenne: "The earth rests on a large beam or post. Far in the
north there is a beaver as white as snow who is a great father of all
mankind. Some day he will gnaw through the support at the bottom. We
shall be helpless and the earth will fall. This will happen when he
becomes angry. The post is already partly eaten through. For this
reason one band of the Cheyenne never eat beaver or even touch the
skin. If they do touch it, they become sick" (Kroeber, Cheyenne Tales,
in Journal of American Folk-Lore, July, 1900).
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