He! Hayuya´haniwă´, hayuya´haniwă´, hayuya´haniwă´,
hayuya´haniwă´.
In Rabbit Place you were conceived (repeat)--Yoho´+!
He! Hayuya´haniwă´, hayuya´haniwă´, hayuya´haniwă´,
hayuya´haniwă´.
In Mulberry Place you were conceived (repeat)--Yoho´+!
He! Hayuya´haniwă´, hayuya´haniwă´, hayuya´haniwă´,
hayuya´haniwă´.
In Uyâ´‛yĕ you were conceived (repeat)--Yoho´+!
He! Hayuya´haniwă´, hayuya´haniwă´, hayuya´haniwă´,
hayuya´haniwă´.
In the Great Swamp (?) you were conceived (repeat)--Yoho´+!
And now surely we and the good black things, the best of all,
shall see each other.
_Explanation._
This song, obtained from A‛yû´ⁿinĭ in connection with the story
of the Origin of the Bear, as already mentioned, is sung by the bear
hunter, in order to attract the bears, while on his way from the camp
to the place where he expects to hunt during the day. It is one of
those taught the Cherokees by the Ani-Tsâ´kahĭ before they lost
their human shape and were transformed into bears. The melody is
simple and plaintive.
The song consists of four verses followed by a short recitation. Each
verse begins with a loud prolonged _He+!_ and ends with _Yoho´+!_
uttered in the same manner. Hayuya´haniwă´ has no meaning.
Tsistu´yĭ, Kuwâ´hĭ, Uyâ´‛yĕ, and Gâte´kwâhĭ are four mountains, in
each of which the bears have a townhouse and hold a dance before
going into their dens for the winter. The first three named are high
peaks in the Smoky Mountains, on the Tennessee line, in the
neighborhood of Clingman’s Dome and Mount Guyot. The fourth is
southeast of Franklin, North Carolina, toward the South Carolina line,
and may be identical with Fodderstack Mountain. In Kuwahi dwells the
great bear chief and doctor, in whose magic bath the wounded bears are
restored to health. They are said to originate or be conceived in the
mountains named, because these are their headquarters. The “good black
things” referred to in the recitation are the bears.