In the old town of Kanuga, on Pigeon river, there was a lazy fellow
named Tsuwe'nahi, who lived from house to house among his relatives
and never brought home any game, although he used to spend nearly
all his time in the woods. At last his friends got very tired of
keeping him, so he told them to get some parched corn ready for him
and he would go and bring back a deer or else would never trouble
them again. They filled his pouch with parched corn, enough for a
long trip, and he started off for the mountains. Day after day passed
until they thought they had really seen the last of him, but before
the month was half gone he was back again at Kanuga, with no deer,
but with a wonderful story to tell.
He said that he had hardly turned away from the trail to go up
the ridge when he met a stranger, who asked him where he was
going. Tsuwe'nahi answered that his friends in the settlement had
driven him out because he was no good hunter, and that if he did not
find a deer this time he would never go back again. "Why not come with
me?" said the stranger, "my town is not far from here, and you have
relatives there." Tsuwe'nahi was very glad of the chance, because he
was ashamed to go back to his own town; so he went with the stranger,
who took him to Tsuwa`tel'da (Pilot knob). They came to a cave,
and the other said, "Let us go in here;" but the cave ran clear to
the heart of the mountain, and when they were inside the hunter found
there an open country like a wide bottom land, with a great settlement
and hundreds of people. They were all glad to see him, and brought
him to their chief, who took him into his own house and showed him
a seat near the fire. Tsuwe'nahi sat down, but he felt it move under
him, and when he looked again he saw that it was a turtle, with its
head sticking out from the shell. He jumped up, but the chief said,
"It won't hurt you; it only wants to see who you are." So he sat down
very carefully, and the turtle drew in its head again. They brought
food, of the same kind that he had been accustomed to at home, and
when he had eaten the chief took him through the settlement until he
had seen all the houses and talked with most of the people. When he
had seen everything and had rested some days, he was anxious to get
back to his home, so the chief himself brought him to the mouth of
the cave and showed him the trail that led down to the river. Then he
said, "You are going back to the settlement, but you will never be
satisfied there any more. Whenever you want to come to us, you know
the way." The chief left him, and Tsuwe'nahi went down the mountain
and along the river until he came to Kanuga.
He told his story, but no one believed it and the people only laughed
at him. After that he would go away very often and be gone for several
days at a time, and when he came back to the settlement he would say
he had been with the mountain people. At last one man said he believed
the story and would go with him to see. They went off together to the
woods, where they made a camp, and then Tsuwe'nahi went on ahead,
saying he would be back soon. The other waited for him, doing a
little hunting near the camp, and two nights afterwards Tsuwe'nahi
was back again. He seemed to be alone, but was talking as he came,
and the other hunter heard girls' voices, although he could see no
one. When he came up to the fire he said, "I have two friends with me,
and they say there is to be a dance in their town in two nights, and
if you want to go they will come for you." The hunter agreed at once,
and Tsuwe'nahi called out, as if to some one close by, "He says he will
go." Then he said, "Our sisters have come for some venison." The hunter
had killed a deer and had the meat drying over the fire, so he said,
"What kind do they want?" The voices answered, "Our mother told us to
ask for some of the ribs," but still he could see nothing. He took
down some rib pieces and gave them to Tsuwe'nahi, who took them and
said, "In two days we shall come again for you." Then he started off,
and the other heard the voices going through the woods until all was
still again.
In two days Tsuwe'nahi came, and this time he had two girls with
him. As they stood near the fire the hunter noticed that their feet
were short and round, almost like dogs' paws, but as soon as they saw
him looking they sat down so that he could not see their feet. After
supper the whole party left the camp and went up along the creek to
Tsuwa`tel'da. They went in through the cave door until they got to
the farther end and could see houses beyond, when all at once the
hunter's legs felt as if they were dead and he staggered and fell to
the ground. The others lifted him up, but still he could not stand,
until the medicine-man brought some "old tobacco" and rubbed it on
his legs and made him smell it until he sneezed. Then he was able to
stand again and went in with the others. He could not stand at first,
because he had not prepared himself by fasting before he started.
The dance had not yet begun and Tsuwe'nahi took the hunter into
the townhouse and showed him a seat near the fire, but it had long
thorns of honey locust sticking out from it and he was afraid to sit
down. Tsuwe'nahi told him not to be afraid, so he sat down and found
that the thorns were as soft as down feathers. Now the drummer came
in and the dancers, and the dance began. One man followed at the end
of the line, crying Kû! Kû! all the time, but not dancing. The hunter
wondered, and they told him, "This man was lost in the mountains and
had been calling all through the woods for his friends until his,
voice failed and he was only able to pant Kû! Kû! and then we found
him and took him in."
When it was over Tsuwe'nahi and the hunter went back to the
settlement. At the next dance in Kanuga they told all they had seen at
Tsuwa`tel'da, what a large town was there and how kind everybody was,
and this time--because there were two of them--the people believed
it. Now others wanted to go, but Tsuwe'nahi told them they must first
fast seven days, while he went ahead to prepare everything, and then he
would come and bring them. He went away and the others fasted, until
at the end of seven days he came for them and they went with him to
Tsuwa`tel'da, and their friends in the settlement never saw them again.