There are several varieties of frogs and toads, each with a different
name, but there is very little folklore in connection with them. The
common green frog is called walâ'si, and among the Cherokee, as among
uneducated whites, the handling of it is thought to cause warts,
which for this reason are called by the same name, walâ'si. A solar
eclipse is believed to be caused by the attempt of a great frog
to swallow the sun, and in former times it was customary on such
occasions to fire guns and make other loud noises to frighten away
the frog. The smaller varieties are sometimes eaten, and on rare
occasions the bullfrog also, but the meat is tabued to ball players
while in training, for fear that the brittleness of the frog's bones
would be imparted to those of the player.
The land tortoise (tûksi') is prominent in the animal myths, and is
reputed to have been a great warrior in the old times. On account of
the stoutness of its legs ball players rub their limbs with them before
going into the contest. The common water turtle (saligu'gi), which
occupies so important a place in the mythology of the northern tribes,
is not mentioned in Cherokee myth or folklore, and the same is true
of the soft-shelled turtle (u`lana'wa), perhaps for the reason that
both are rare in the cold mountain streams of the Cherokee country.
There are perhaps half a dozen varieties of lizard, each with a
different name. The gray road lizard, or diyâ'hali (alligator lizard,
Sceloporus undulatus), is the most common. On account of its habit of
alternately puffing out and drawing in its throat as though sucking,
when basking in the sun, it is invoked in the formulas for drawing
out the poison from snake bites. If one catches the first diyâ'hali
seen in the spring, and, holding it between his fingers, scratches
his legs downward with its claws, he will see no dangerous snakes
all summer. Also, if one be caught alive at any time and rubbed
over the head and throat of an infant, scratching the skin very
slightly at the same time with the claws, the child will never be
fretful, but will sleep quietly without complaining, even when sick
or exposed to the rain. This is a somewhat risky experiment, however,
as the child is liable thereafter to go to sleep wherever it may be
laid down for a moment, so that the mother is in constant danger of
losing it. According to some authorities this sleep lizard is not
the diyâ'hali, but a larger variety akin to the next described.
The giga-tsuha'`li ("bloody mouth," Pleistodon?) is described as a
very large lizard, nearly as large as a water dog, with the throat
and corners of the mouth red, as though from drinking blood. It is
believed to be not a true lizard but a transformed ugûñste'li fish
(described below) on account of the similarity of coloring and the
fact that the fish disappears about the time the giga-tsuha'`li
begins to come out. It is ferocious and a hard biter, and pursues
other lizards. In dry weather it cries or makes a noise like a cicada,
raising itself up as it cries. It has a habit of approaching near to
where some person is sitting or standing, then halting and looking
fixedly at him, and constantly puffing out its throat until its head
assumes a bright red color. It is thought then to be sucking the
blood of its victim, and is dreaded and shunned accordingly. The small
scorpion lizard (tsâne'ni) is sometimes called also giga-danegi'ski,
"blood taker." It is a striped lizard which frequents sandy beaches
and resemble the diyâ'hali, but is of a brown color. It is believed
also to be sucking blood in some mysterious way whenever it nods its
head, and if its heart be eaten by a dog that animal will be able to
extract all the nutrient properties from food by simply looking at
these who are eating.
The small spring lizard (duwe'`ga), which lives in springs, is
supposed to cause rain whenever it crawls out of the spring. It
is frequently invoked in the formulas. Another spring (?) lizard,
red, with black spots, is called dagan'`tû' or aniganti'ski "the
rain maker," because its cry is said to bring rain. The water dog
(tsuwa', mud puppy, Menopoma or Protonopsis) is a very large lizard,
or rather salamander, frequenting muddy water. It is rarely eaten,
from an unexplained belief that if one who has eaten its meat goes
into the field immediately afterward the crop will be ruined. There
are names for one or two other varieties of lizard as well as for
the alligator (tsula'ski), but no folklore in connection with them.
Although the Cherokee country abounds in swift-flowing streams well
stocked with fish, of which the Indians make free use, there is
but little fish lore. A number of "dream" diseases, really due to
indigestion, are ascribed to revengeful fish ghosts, and the doctor
usually tries to effect the cure by invoking some larger fish or
fish-eating bird to drive out the ghost.
Toco creek, in Monroe county, Tennessee, derives its name from a
mythic monster fish, the Dakwa', considered the father of all the
fish tribe, which is said to have lived formerly in Little Tennessee
river at that point (see story, "The Hunter and the Dakwa'"). A fish
called ugûñste'li, "having horns," which appears only in spring,
is believed to be transformed later into the giga-tsuha'li lizard,
already mentioned. The fish is described as having horns or projections
upon its nose and beautiful red spots upon its head, and as being
attended or accompanied by many smaller red fish, all of which,
including the ugûñste'li, are accustomed to pile up small stones in
the water. As the season advances it disappears and is believed then
to have turned into a giga-tsuha'li lizard, the change beginning at
the head and finishing with the tail. It is probably the Campostoma
or stone roller, which is conspicuous for its bright coloring in
early spring, but loses its tints after spawning. The meat of the
sluggish hog-sucker is tabued to the ball player, who must necessarily
be active in movement. The fresh-water mussel is called dagû'na,
and the same name is applied to certain pimples upon the face, on
account of a fancied resemblance. The ball player rubs himself with
an eel skin to make himself slippery and hard to hold, and, according
to the Wahnenauhi manuscript, women formerly tied up their hair with
the dried skin of an eel to make it grow long. A large red crawfish
called tsiska'gili, much resembling a lobster, is used to scratch young
children in order to give them a strong grip, each hand of the child
being lightly scratched once with the pincer of the living animal. A
mother whose grown son had been thus treated when an infant claimed
that he could hold anything with his thumb and finger. It is said,
however, to render the child quarrelsome and disposed to bite.
Of insects there is more to be said. The generic name for all sorts of
small insects and worms is tsgâya, and according to the doctors, who
had anticipated the microbe theory by several centuries, these tsgâya
are to blame for nearly every human ailment not directly traceable
to the asgina of the larger animals or to witchcraft. The reason is
plain. There are such myriads of them everywhere on the earth and
in the air that mankind is constantly destroying them by wholesale,
without mercy and almost without knowledge, and this is their method
of taking revenge.
Beetles are classed together under a name which signifies "insects with
shells." The little water-beetle or mellow-bug (Dineutes discolor)
is called dâyuni'si, "beaver's grandmother," and according to the
genesis tradition it brought up the first earth from under the water. A
certain green-headed beetle with horns (Phanæus carnifex) is spoken of
as the dog of the Thunder boys, and the metallic-green luster upon its
forehead is said to have been caused by striking at the celebrated
mythic gambler, Ûñtsaiyi', "Brass" (see the story). The June-bug
(Allorhina nitida), another green beetle, is tagû, but is frequently
called by the curious name of tu'ya-di'skalaw`sti'ski, "one who keeps
fire under the beans." Its larva is the grubworm which presided at the
meeting held by the insects to compass the destruction of the human
race (see the story, "Origin of Disease and Medicine"). The large
horned beetle (Dynastes tityus?) is called tsistû'na, "crawfish,"
a`wi', "deer," or galagi'na, "buck," on account of its branching
horns. The snapping beetle (Alaus oculatus?) is called tûlsku'wa,
"one that snaps with his head."
When the lâlû or jar-fly (Cicada auletes) begins to sing in midsummer
they say: "The jar-fly has brought the beans," his song being taken
as the signal that beans are ripe and that green corn is not far
behind. When the katydid (tsikiki') is heard a little later they say,
"Katydid has brought the roasting-ear bread." The cricket (tala'tu')
is often called "the barber" (ditastaye'ski), on account of its habit
of gnawing hair from furs, and when the Cherokee meet a man with his
hair clipped unevenly they sometimes ask playfully, "Did the cricket
cut your hair?" (see story, "Why the Possum's Tail is Bare"). Certain
persons are said to drink tea made of crickets in order to become
good singers.
The mole cricket (Gryllotalpa), so called because it tunnels in the
earth and has hand-like claws fitted for digging, is known to the
Cherokee as gûl`kwâgi, a word which literally means "seven," but is
probably an onomatope. It is reputed among them to be alert, hard
to catch, and an excellent singer, who "never makes mistakes." Like
the crawfish and the cricket, it plays an important part in preparing
people for the duties of life. Infants slow in learning to speak have
their tongues scratched with the claw of a gûl`kwâgi, the living
insect being held in the hand during the operation, in order that
they may soon learn to speak distinctly and be eloquent, wise, and
shrewd of speech as they grow older, and of such quick intelligence
as to remember without effort anything once heard. The same desirable
result may be accomplished with a grown person, but with much more
difficulty, as in that case it is necessary to scratch the inside
of the throat for four successive mornings, the insect being pushed
down with the fingers and again withdrawn, while the regular tabus
must be strictly observed for the same period, or the operation will
be without effect. In some cases the insect is put into a small bowl
of water overnight, and if still alive in the morning it is taken
out and the water given to the patient to drink, after which the
gûl`kwâgi is set at liberty.
Bees are kept by many of the Cherokee, in addition to the wild bees
which are hunted in the woods. Although they are said to have come
originally from the whites, the Cherokee have no tradition of a time
when they did not know them; there seems, however, to be no folklore
connected with them. The cow-ant (Myrmica?), a large, red, stinging
ant, is called properly dasûñ'tali atatsûñ'ski, "stinging ant," but,
on account of its hard body-case, is frequently called nûñ'yunu'wi,
"stone-dress," after a celebrated mythic monster. Strange as it may
seem, there appears to be no folklore connected with either the
firefly or the glowworm, while the spider, so prominent in other
tribal mythologies, appears in but a single Cherokee myth, where it
brings back the fire from across the water. In the formulas it is
frequently invoked to entangle in its threads the soul of a victim
whom the conjurer desires to bring under his evil spells. From a
fancied resemblance in appearance the name for spider, ka'nane'ski,
is applied also to a watch or clock. A small yellowish moth which
flies about the fire at night is called tûñ'tawû, a name implying
that it goes into and out of the fire, and when at last it flits too
near and falls into the blaze the Cherokee say, "Tûñ'tawû is going
to bed." On account of its affinity for the fire it is invoked by
the doctor in all "fire diseases," including sore eyes and frostbite.