Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney
76. The Bear Man (p. 327): This story was obtained first from
1108 words | Chapter 230
John Ax, and has numerous parallels in other tribes, as well as in
European and oriental folklore. The classic legend of Romulus and
Remus and the stories of "wolf boys" in India will at once suggest
themselves. Swimmer makes the trial of the hunter's weapons by the
bears a part of his story of the origin of disease and medicine
(number 4), but says that it may have happened on this occasion (see
also number 15, "The Four-footed Tribes," and notes to number 75,
"Origin of the Bear").
In a strikingly similar Creek myth of the Tuggle collection, "Origin
of the Bear Clan," a little girl lost in the woods is adopted by a
she-bear, with whom she lives for four years, when the bear is killed
by the hunter and the girl returns to her people to become the mother
of the Bear clan.
The Iroquois have several stories of children adopted by bears. In one,
"The Man and His Stepson," a boy thus cared for is afterward found by
a hunter, who tames him and teaches him to speak, until in time he
almost forgets that he had lived like a bear. He marries a daughter
of the hunter and becomes a hunter himself, but always refrains from
molesting the bears, until at last, angered by the taunts of his
mother-in-law, he shoots one, but is himself killed by an accident
while on his return home (Smith, Myths of the Iroquois, in Second
Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology). In line with this is the story of
a hunter who had pursued a bear into its den. "When some distance in
he could no longer see the bear, but he saw a fire and around it sat
several men. The oldest of the three men looked up and asked, 'Why did
you try to shoot one of my men. We sent him out to entice you to us'"
(Curtin, Seneca MS in Bureau of American Ethnology archives).
In a Pawnee myth, "The Bear Man," a boy whose father had put him
under the protection of the bears grows up with certain bear traits
and frequently prays and sacrifices to these animals. On a war party
against the Sioux he is killed and cut to pieces, when two bears
find and recognize the body, gather up and arrange the pieces and
restore him to life, after which they take him to their den, where
they care for him and teach him their secret knowledge until he is
strong enough to go home (Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Stories, pp. 121-128).
In a Jicarilla myth, "Origin and Destruction of the Bear," a boy
playing about in animal fashion runs into a cave in the hillside. "When
he came out his feet and hands had been transformed into bear's
paws." Four times this is repeated, the change each time mounting
higher, until he finally emerges as a terrible bear monster that
devours human beings (Russell, Myths of the Jicarilla, in Journal of
American Folk-Lore, October, 1898).
Read the thoughts--Thought reading is a very common feature of Indian
myths. Certain medicine ceremonies are believed to confer the power
upon those who fulfil the ordeal conditions.
Food was getting scarce--Several references in the myths indicate that,
through failure of the accustomed wild crops, famine seasons were as
common among the animal tribes as among the Indians (see number 33,
"The Migration of the Animals").
Kalâs'-Gûnahi'ta--See number 15, "The Four-footed Tribes."
Rubbed his stomach--This very original method of procuring food occurs
also in number 3, "Kana'ti and Selu."
Topknots and Splitnoses--Tsuni'stsahi', "Having topknots"--i. e.,
Indians, in allusion to the crests of upright hair formerly worn
by warriors of the Cherokee and other eastern tribes. Timberlake
thus describes the Cherokee warrior's headdress in 1762: "The hair
of their head is shaved, tho' many of the old people have it plucked
out by the roots, except a patch on the hinder part of the head about
twice the bigness of a crown piece, which is ornamented with beads,
feathers, wampum, stained deer's hair, and such like baubles" (Memoirs,
p. 49). Tsunû'`liyû' sûnestlâ'ta, "they have split noses"--i. e., dogs.
Cover the blood--The reincarnation of the slain animal from the drops
of blood spilt upon the ground or from the bones is a regular part
of Cherokee hunting belief, and the same idea occurs in the folklore
of many tribes. In the Omaha myth, "Ictinike and the Four Creators,"
the hero visits the Beaver, who kills and cooks one of his own children
to furnish the dinner. When the meal was over "the Beaver gathered the
bones and put them into a skin, which he plunged beneath the water. In
a moment the youngest beaver came up alive out of the water" (Dorsey,
in Contributions to North American Ethnology, VI, p. 557).
Like a man again--It is a regular article of Indian belief, which has
its parallels in European fairy lore, that one who has eaten the food
of the spirit people or supernaturals can not afterward return to his
own people and live, unless at once, and sometimes for a long time,
put under a rigid course of treatment intended to efface the longing
for the spirit food and thus to restore his complete human nature. See
also number 73, "The Underground Panthers." In "A Yankton Legend,"
recorded by Dorsey, a child falls into the water and is taken by the
water people. The father hears the child crying under the water and
employs two medicine men to bring it back. After preparing themselves
properly they go down into the deep water, where they find the child
sitting beside the water spirit, who, when they declare their message,
tells them that if they had come before the child had eaten anything
he might have lived, but now if taken away "he will desire the food
which I eat; that being the cause of the trouble, he shall die." They
return and report: "We have seen your child, the wife of the water
deity has him. Though we saw him alive, he had eaten part of the food
which the water deity eats, therefore the water deity says that if
we bring the child back with us out of the water he shall die," and
so it happened. Some time after the parents lose another child in
like manner, but this time "she did not eat any of the food of the
water deity and therefore they took her home alive." In each case a
white dog is thrown in to satisfy the water spirits for the loss of
the child (Contributions to North American Ethnology, VI, p. 357).
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