Long ago--hilahi'yu--when the Sun became angry at the people on earth
and sent a sickness to destroy them, the Little Men changed a man into
a monster snake, which they called Uktena, "The Keen-eyed," and sent
him to kill her. He failed to do the work, and the Rattlesnake had
to be sent instead, which made the Uktena so jealous and angry that
the people were afraid of him and had him taken up to Galûñ'lati,
to stay with the other dangerous things. [470] He left others behind
him, though, nearly as large and dangerous as himself, and they hide
now in deep pools in the river and about lonely passes in the high
mountains, the places which the Cherokee call "Where the Uktena stays."
Those who know say that the Uktena is a great snake, as large around
as a tree trunk, with horns on its head, and a bright, blazing crest
like a diamond upon its forehead, and scales glittering like sparks
of fire. It has rings or spots of color along its whole length,
and can not be wounded except by shooting in the seventh spot from
the head, because under this spot are its heart and its life. The
blazing diamond is called Ulûñsû'ti, "Transparent," and he who can
win it may become the greatest wonder worker of the tribe, but it is
worth a man's life to attempt it, for whoever is seen by the Uktena
is so dazed by the bright light that he runs toward the snake instead
of trying to escape. Even to see the Uktena asleep is death, not to
the hunter himself, but to his family.
Of all the daring warriors who have started out in search of the
Ulûñsû'ti only Âgan-uni'tsi ever came back successful. [471] The
East Cherokee still keep the one which he brought. It is like a large
transparent crystal, nearly the shape of a cartridge bullet, with a
blood-red streak running through the center from top to bottom. The
owner keeps it wrapped in a whole deerskin, inside an earthen jar
hidden away in a secret cave in the mountains. Every seven days he
feeds it with the blood of small game, rubbing the blood all over the
crystal as soon as the animal has been killed. Twice a year it must
have the blood of a deer or some other large animal. Should he forget
to feed it at the proper time it would come out from its cave at night
in a shape of fire and fly through the air to slake its thirst with
the lifeblood of the conjurer or some one of his people. He may save
himself from this danger by telling it, when he puts it away, that
he will not need it again for a long time. It will then go quietly
to sleep and feel no hunger until it is again brought out to be
consulted. Then it must be fed again with blood before it is used.
No white man must ever see it and no person but the owner will venture
near it for fear of sudden death. Even the conjurer who keeps it is
afraid of it, and changes its hiding place every once in a while so
that it can not learn the way out. When he dies it will be buried with
him. Otherwise it will come out of its cave, like a blazing star,
to search for his grave, night after night for seven years, when,
if still not able to find him, it will go back to sleep forever where
he has placed it.
Whoever owns the Ulûñsû'ti is sure of success in hunting, love,
rain-making, and every other business, but its great use is in life
prophecy. When it is consulted for this purpose the future is seen
mirrored in the clear crystal as a tree is reflected in the quiet
stream below, and the conjurer knows whether the sick man will recover,
whether the warrior will return from battle, or whether the youth
will live to be old.