TSUWE′NĂHĬ: A LEGEND OF PILOT KNOB
In the old town of Kănuga, on Pigeon river, there was a lazy fellow named
Tsuwe′năhĭ, 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 Kănuga, 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′năhĭ 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′năhĭ 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 Tsuwaʻtel′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′năhĭ 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 theshell. 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′năhĭ went down the
mountain and along the river until he came to Kănuga.
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′năhĭ 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′năhĭ 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′năhĭ called out, as if to some one
close , “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′năhĭ, 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′năhĭ 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 Tsuwaʻtel′da. They went in through the cave door until theygot 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 fasting before he started.
The dance had not yet begun and Tsuwe′năhĭ 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′năhĭ 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′năhĭ and the hunter went back to the settlement. At the
next dance in Kănuga they told all they had seen at Tsuwaʻtel′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′năhĭ
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 Tsuwaʻtel′da, and their friends in the settlement never saw them again.