THE NEST OF THE TLĂ′NUWĂ

THE NEST OF THE TLĂ′NUWĂ

On the north bank of Little Tennessee river, in a bend below the mouth of Citico
creek, in Blount county, Tennessee, is a high cliff hanging over the water, and
about halfway up the face of the rock is a cave with two openings. The rock
projects outward above the cave, so that the mouth can not be seen from above,
and it seems impossible to reach the cave either from above or below. There are
white streaks in the rock from the cave down to the water. The Cherokee call it
Tlă′nuwâ′ĭ, “the place of the Tlă′nuwă,” or great mythic hawk.
In the old time, away back soon after the creation, a pair of Tlă′nuwăs had their
nest in this cave. The streaks in the rock were made the droppings from the
nest. They were immense birds, larger than any that live now, and very strong
and savage. They were forever flying up and down the river, and used to come
into the settlements and carry off dogs and even young children playing near the
houses. No one could reach the nest to kill them, and when the people tried to
shoot them the arrows only glanced off and were seized and carried away in the
talons of the Tlă′nuwăs.At last the people went to a great medicine man, who promised to help them.
Some were afraid that if he failed to kill the Tlă′nuwăs they would take revenge
on the people, but the medicine man said he could fix that. He made a long rope
of linn bark, just as the Cherokee still do, with loops in it for his feet, and had the
people let him down from the top of the cliff at a time when he knew that the old
birds were away. When he came opposite the mouth of the cave he still could not
reach it, because the rock above hung over, so he swung himself backward and
forward several times until the rope swung near enough for him to pull himself
into the cave with a hooked stick that he carried, which he managed to fasten in
some bushes growing at the entrance. In the nest he found four young ones, and
on the floor of the cave were the bones of all sorts of animals that had been
carried there the hawks. He pulled the young ones out of the nest and threw
them over the cliff into the deep water below, where a great Uktena serpent that
lived there finished them. Just then he saw the two old ones coming, and had
hardly time to climb up again to the top of the rock before they reached the nest.
When they found the nest empty they were furious, and circled round and round
in the air until they saw the snake put up its head from the water. Then they
darted straight downward, and while one seized the snake in his talons and flew
far up in the sky with it, his mate struck at it and bit off piece after piece until
nothing was left. They were so high up that when the pieces fell they made holes
in the rock, which are still to be seen there, at the place which we call “Where
the Tlă′nuwă cut it up,” opposite the mouth of Citico. Then the two Tlă′nuwăs
circled up and up until they went out of sight, and they have never been seen
since.

 

Source:
Myths of the Cherokee, James Mooney