Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney
81. Tsul`kalû', the slant-eyed giant (p. 337): The story of Tsul`kalû'
2021 words | Chapter 235
is one of the finest and best known of the Cherokee legends. It is
mentioned as early as 1823 by Haywood, who spells the name Tuli-cula,
and the memory is preserved in the local nomenclature of western
Carolina. Hagar also alludes briefly to it in his manuscript Stellar
Legends of the Cherokee. The name signifies literally "he has them
slanting," being understood to refer to his eyes, although the word
eye (akta', plural dikta') is not a part of it. In the plural form
it is also the name of a traditional race of giants in the far west
(see number 106, "The Giants from the West"). Tsul`kalû' lives
in Tsunegûñ'yi and is the great lord of the game, and as such is
frequently invoked in the hunting formulas. The story was obtained
from Swimmer and John Ax, the Swimmer version being the one here
followed. For parallels to the incident of the child born from blood
see notes to number 3, "Kana'ti and Selu."
In the John Ax version it is the girl's father and mother, instead of
her mother and brother, who try to bring her back. They are told they
must fast seven days to succeed. They fast four days before starting,
and then set out and travel two days, when they come to the mouth of
the cave and hear the sound of the drum and the dance within. They are
able to look over the edge of the rock and see their daughter among the
dancers, but can not enter until the seventh day is arrived. Unluckily
the man is very hungry by this time, and after watching nearly all
night he insists that it is so near daylight of the seventh morning
that he may safely take a small bite. His wife begs him to wait until
the sun appears, but hunger overcomes him and he takes a bite of food
from his pouch. Instantly the cave and the dancers disappear, and the
man and his wife find themselves alone on the mountain. John 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 Aborig. Hist. Tenn., p. 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 commenced, but had ceased at the alarm whoop, which
had been raised by two imprudent 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 be 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 mountain--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 Grosscup give another version, which, although dressed
up for advertising purposes, makes a fairly good story:
"But there is another legend of the Balsams more significant than any
of these. It is the Paradise Gained of Cherokee mythology, and bears
some distant resemblance to the Christian doctrine of mediation. The
Indians believed that they were originally mortal in spirit as well
as body, but above the blue vault of heaven there was, inhabited by
a celestial 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 brilliantly 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, overcome 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 dream 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 concealment. Grieved because of so much
bloodshed and sorrow, she besought the great chief of the eternal
hunting grounds to make retribution. She was accordingly appointed
to call a council of her people at the forks of the Wayeh (Pigeon)
river. She appeared unto the chiefs in a dream, and charged them to
meet the spirits of the hunting ground with fear and reverence.
"At the hour appointed the head men of the Cherokees assembled. The
high Balsam peaks were shaken by thunder and aglare with lightning. The
cloud, as black as midnight, settled over the valley, then lifted,
leaving upon a large rock a cluster of strange men, armed and painted
as for war. An enraged brother of the abducted maiden swung his
tomahawk and raised the war whoop, but a swift thunderbolt dispatched
him before the echo had died in the hills. The chiefs, terror-stricken,
fled to their towns.
"The bride, grieved by the death of her brother and the failure of the
council, prepared to abandon her new home and return to her kindred in
the valleys. To reconcile her the promise was granted that all brave
warriors and their faithful women should have an eternal home in the
happy hunting ground above, after death. The great chief of the forest
beyond the clouds became the guardian spirit of the Cherokees. All
deaths, either from wounds in battle or disease, were attributed to
his desire to make additions to the celestial hunting ground, or,
on the other hand, to his wrath, which might cause their unfortunate
spirits to be turned over to the disposition of the evil genius of
the mountain tops."--Heart of the Alleghanies, pp. 22-24.
Kanu'ga--An ancient Cherokee town on Pigeon river, in the present
Haywood county, North Carolina. It was deserted before the beginning
of the historic period, but may have been located about the junction
of the two forks of Pigeon river, a few miles east of Waynesville,
where there are still a number of mounds and ancient cemeteries
extending for some miles down the stream. Being a frontier town, it was
probably abandoned early on account of its exposed position. The name,
signifying "scratcher," is applied to a comb, used for scratching
the ballplayers, and is connected with kanugû'`la, or nugû'`la, a
blackberry bush or brier. There are other mounds on Richland creek,
in the neighborhood of Waynesville.
Tsul`kalû' Tsunegûñ'yi--Abbreviated Tsunegûñ'yi; the mountain in which
the giant is supposed to have his residence, is Tennessee bald, in
North Carolina, where the Haywood, Jackson, and Transylvania county
lines come together, on the ridge separating the waters of Pigeon
river from those flowing into Tennessee creek and Cany fork of the
Tuckasegee, southeastward from Waynesville and Webster. The name seems
to mean, "at the white place," from une'ga, "white," and may refer
to a bald spot of perhaps a hundred acres on the top, locally known
among the whites as Jutaculla old fields, from a tradition, said to be
derived from the Indians, that it was a clearing made by "Jutaculla"
(i. e., Tsul`kalû') for a farm. Some distance farther west, on the
north side of Cany fork and about ten miles above Webster, in Jackson
county, is a rock known as Jutaculla rock, covered with various rude
carvings, which, according to the same tradition, are scratches made
by the giant in jumping from his farm on the mountain to the creek
below. Zeigler and Grosscup refer to the mountain under the name of
"Old Field mountain" and mention a tradition among the pioneers that it
was regarded by the Indians as the special abode of the Indian Satan!
"On the top of the mountain there is a prairie-like tract, almost
level, reached by steep slopes covered with thickets of balsam and
rhododendron, which seem to garrison the reputed sacred domain. It was
understood among the Indians to be forbidden territory, but a party
one day permitted their curiosity to tempt them. They forced a way
through the entangled thickets, and with merriment entered the open
ground. Aroused from sleep and enraged by their audacious intrusion,
the devil, taking the form of an immense snake, assaulted the party
and swallowed fifty of them before the thicket could be gained. Among
the first whites who settled among the Indians, and traded with them,
was a party of hunters who used this superstition to escape punishment
for their reprehensible conduct. They reported that they were in
league with the great spirit of evil, and to prove that they were,
frequented this 'old field.' They described his bed, under a large
overhanging rock, as a model of neatness. They had frequently thrown
into it stones and brushwood during the day, while the master was out,
but the place was invariably as clean the next morning 'as if it had
been brushed with a bunch of feathers'" (Heart of the Alleghanies,
p. 22).
The footprints can still be seen--Shining rock or Cold mountain,
between the Forks of Pigeon river, in Haywood county, North Carolina,
is known to the Cherokee as Datsu'nalâsgûñ'yi, "where their tracks
are this way," on account of a rock at its base, toward Sonoma and
three miles south of the trail, upon which are impressions said to
be the footprints made by the giant and his children on their way
to Tsunegûñ'yi. Within the mountain is also the legendary abode of
invisible spirits. Haywood confounds this with Track Rock gap, near
Blairsville, Georgia, where are other noted petroglyphs (see number
125, Minor Legends of Georgia).
The rapid growth of the two children is paralleled in many other
tribal mythologies. The sequence of growth as indicated by the
footprints reminds us of the concluding incident of the Arabian
Nights, when Queen Scheherazade stands before the king to make a last
request: "And the king answered her, 'Request, thou shalt receive,
O Scheherazade.' So thereupon she called out to the nurses and the
eunuchs and said to them, 'Bring ye my children.' Accordingly they
brought them to her quickly, and they were three male children;
one of them walked, and one crawled, and one was at the breast."
Must not raise the war whoop--See note under number 79, "The Removed
Townhouses."
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