Chapter VIII: Part III: Myths of the Cherokee (3)

The Nunnehi, who had already lifted up the town-house with its mound to carry it away, were startled by the sound and let a part of it fall to the ground, where we now see the mound Setsi.

They steadied themselves again and bore the rest of the town-house, with all the people in it, to the top of Tsudayelunyi, near the head of Cheowa, where we can still see it, changed long ago to solid rock, but the people are invisible and immortal.

MYTH THIRTY-SIX.

THE SPIRIT DEFENDERS OF NIKWASI.

Long ago a powerful unknown tribe invaded the country from the southeast, killing people and destroying settlements wherever they went. No leader could stand against them, and in a little while they had wasted all the lower settlements and advanced into the mountains. The warriors of the old town of Nikwasi, on the head of Little Tennessee, gathered their wives and their children into the town-house and kept scouts constantly on the lookout for the presence of danger.

One morning, just before the break of day, the spies saw the enemy approaching and at once gave the alarm. The Nikwasi men seized their arms and rushed out to meet the attack, but after a long, hard fight they found themselves overpowered and began to retreat, when suddenly a stranger stood among them and shouted to the chief to call off his men and he himself would drive the enemy back. From the dress and the language of the stranger the Nikwasi people thought him a chief who had come with reinforcements from Overhill settlements in Tennessee. They fell back along the trail, and as they came near the town-house they saw a great company of warriors coming out from the side of the mound as from an open doorway.

Then they knew that their friends were the Nunnehi, the Immortals, although no one had ever heard that they lived under Nikwasi mound. The Nunnehi poured out by hundreds, armed and painted for the fight, and the most curious part of it all was that they became invisible as soon as they were fairly outside of the settlement, so that although the enemy saw the glancing arrow or the rushing tomahawk, and felt the stroke, he could not see who sent it.

Before such an invisible foe the invaders had to retreat, going first south along the ridge to where joins the main ridge, which separates Tah-kee-os-tee (French Broad) from the Tuckaseigee, and then turning with it to the northeast. As they retreated they tried to shield themselves behind rocks and trees, but the Nunnehi arrows went around them and killed them from the other side, and they could find no hiding place.

All along the ridge they fell, until when they reached the head of Tuckaseigee not more than half a dozen were left alive, and in their despair they sat down and cried out for mercy. The Nunnehi chief told them that they deserved their punishment for attacking a peaceful tribe, and he spared their lives and told them to go home and tell their people. It was the custom of the Indians to spare some to carry the news of battle and defeat. Then the Nunnehi went back to the mound, and have been there ever since.

They are there now, for when a strong army of Federal troops came to surprise a handful of Confederates in the last war, they saw so many soldiers guarding the town that they were afraid and went away without making an attack.

MYTH THIRTY-SEVEN.

KANASTA, THE LOST SETTLEMENT.

Long ago, while the people still lived in the old town of Kanasta, on Tah-kee-os-tee, (French Broad) two strangers, who looked in no way different from the other Cherokee, came into the settlement one day and made their way into the chief's house.

After the first greetings were over, the chief asked them from what town they came, thinking they were from one of the western settlements, but they said, "We are of your people and our town is close at hand, but you have never seen it. Here you have wars and sickness, with enemies on every side, and after awhile a stronger enemy will come and take your country from you. We are always happy, and we have come to invite you to live with us in our town over there," and they pointed toward Tsuwatelda (Pilot Knob). "We do not live forever, and do not always find game when we go for it, for game belongs to Tsulkalu, who lives in Tsunegunyi, but we have peace always and do not think of danger. We go now, but if your people will live with us, let them fast seven days and we will come then and take them."

Then they went away toward the west. The chief called the people together into the town-house, and they held a council over the matter and decided at last to go with the strangers. They got all of their property ready for moving, and then went again into the town-house and began their fast. They fasted six days and on the morning of the seventh, before yet the sun was high, they saw a great company coming along the trail from the west, led by the two men who had stopped with the chief. They seemed just like Cherokee from another settlement, and after a friendly meeting they took up a part of the goods to be carried, and the two parties started back together for Tsuwatelda.

There was one man visiting at Kanasta, and he went along with them. When they came to the mountain the two guides led the way into a cave, which opened out like a great door in the side of the rock. Inside they found an open country and a town, with houses ranged in two long rows from east to west. The mountain people lived in the houses on the south side, and they had made ready the other houses for the newcomers, but even after the people of Kanasta, with their children and their belongings, had moved in, there were still a large number of houses waiting ready for the next who might come. The mountain people told them that there was another town of a different people, above them in another mountain, and still farther above, at the very top, lived the Ani-Hyuntikwalaski (the Thunders).

Now all the people of Kanasta were settled in their new homes, but the man who had only been visiting with them wanted to go back to his own friends. Some of the mountain people wanted to prevent this, but the chief said, "No, let him go if he will, and when he tells his friends they may want to come, too. There is plenty of room for all." Then he said to the man, "Go back and tell your friends that if they want to come and live with us and always be happy, there is a place here ready and waiting for them. Others of us live in Datsunalasgunyi and in the high mountains all around, and if they would rather go to any of them, it will be all the same. We see you wherever you go, and are with you in all of your dances, but you cannot see us unless you fast. If you want to see us, fast four days, and we will come and talk with you; and then if you want to live with us, fast again seven days, and we will come and take you." Then the chief led the man through the cave to the outside of the mountain and left him there, but when the man looked back he saw no cave, but only the solid rock. The people of the Lost Settlement were never seen again and they are still living in Tauwatelda. Strange things happen there, so that the Cherokee know that the mountain is haunted and do not like to go near it. Only a few years ago a party of hunters camped there, and as they sat around their fire at supper time they talked of the story and made rough jokes of the people of old Kanasta. That night they were aroused from sleep by a noise as of stones thrown at them from among the trees, but when they searched they could find nobody, and were so frightened that they gathered up their guns and pouches and left the place.

MYTH THIRTY-EIGHT.

HEMP-CARRIER.

On the southern slope of the ridge, along the trail from Robbinsville to Valley river, in Cherokee County, North Carolina, are the remains of a number of stone cairns. The piles are level now, but fifty years ago the stones were still heaped up in pyramids, to which every Cherokee who passed added a stone. According to the tradition these piles marked the graves of a number of women and children of the tribe who were surprised and killed on the spot by a raiding party of Iroquois shortly before the final peace between the two nations. As soon as the news was brought to the settlement on Hiwassee and Cheowa, a party was made under Taletanigiski, "Hemp-Carrier," to follow and take vengeance on the enemy.

Among others of the party was the father of the noted chief, Tsunulahunski, or Junaluska, who (Junaluska) died in about the year 1855, who was also the chief and hero of the battle of Horseshoe Bend. For days they followed the trail of the Iroquois across the Great Smoky Mountains, thru forests and over rivers, until finally they tracked them to their very town in the far Seneca country.

On the way they met another war party headed for the south, and the Cherokee killed them all and took their scalps.

When they came near the Seneca town it was almost night, and they heard shouts in the town-house, where the women were dancing over the fresh scalps of the Cherokee. The avengers hid themselves near the spring, and as the dancers came down to drink, the Cherokee silently killed one and another until they had counted as many scalps as had been taken on Cheowa, and still the dancers in the town-house never thought that enemies were near. Then said the Cherokee leader, "We have covered the scalps of our women and children. Shall we go home now like cowards, or shall we raise the warwhoop and let the Seneca know that we are men?" "Let them come if they will," said the men, and they raised the scalp yell of the Cherokees.

At once there was an answering shout from the town-house, and the dance came to a sudden close. The Seneca swarmed out with ready gun and hatchet, but the nimble Cherokee were off and away. There was a hot pursuit in the darkness, but the Cherokee knew the trails and were light and active runners, and managed to get away with the loss of only one man. The rest got home safely, and the people were so well pleased with Hemp-Carrier's bravery and success that they gave him seven wives.