THE UKTENA AND THE ULÛÑSÛ′TĬ

THE UKTENA AND THE ULÛÑSÛ′TĬ

Long ago—hĭlahi′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 Gălûñ′lătĭ, to stay with the other dangerous things. 1 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 coloralong its whole length, and can not be wounded except shooting in the
seventh spot from the head, because under this spot are its heart and its life. The
blazing diamond is called Ulûñsû′tĭ, “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 the Uktena is so dazed 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′tĭ only
Âgăn-uni′tsĭ ever came back successful. 2 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 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′tĭ 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.

 

Source:
Myths of the Cherokee, James Mooney