Myths of the Cherokee — Part 11 of 22 (The Hunter in the Dakwa' · Origin of the Bear: The...

Myths of the Cherokee — Part 11 of 22 (The Hunter in the Dakwa' · Origin of the Bear: The Bear Songs · The Bear Man) Wonder tales. The Dakwa' of Toco creek swallows a warrior — and in the Wahnenauhi version a runaway boy — and both escape by the mussel shell. Ataga'hi, the animals' medicine lake in the Smokies, shows itself only after prayer, fasting, and vigil. The North's southern bride melts the ice houses; the Ice Man's hair brings wind, rain, sleet, and hail against the burning pit. Selu visits a discouraged hunter in a corn stalk and teaches him the hunt. A panther hosts a man at the Green Corn dance. Then the bear cycle: the Ani'-Tsagu'hi, who fasted seven days and became the bears, leaving their calling songs behind — printed here in Mooney's text as specimens — and the hunter who lived a winter with a medicine bear and came home half bear himself. Source: James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee (1900), public domain; fresh in-house renderings faithful to Mooney's record, told in Mooney's order. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.