EarthBow
www.earthbow.com
.
.
Source:
From
Myths of the Cherokee, James Mooney, 1900
A young man courted a girl, who liked him well
enough, but her mother was so much opposed to him that she would not let
him come near the house. At last he made a trumpet from the handle of a
gourd and hid himself after night near the spring until the old woman came
down for water.
While she was dipping up the water he put the trumpet to his lips and
grumbled out in a deep voice like a bullfrog's:
Yañdaska'gä hûñyahu'skä, (The faultfinder will die)
Yañdaska'gä hûñyahu'skä, (The faultfinder will die)
The woman thought it a witch bullfrog, and was so frightened that she
dropped her dipper and ran back to the house to tell the people.
Free Download
Click here for info
Many more titles available from
EarthBow eBooks
They all agreed that it was a warning
to her to stop interfering with her
daughter's affairs, so she gave her consent, and thus the young man won
his wife.
There is another story of a girl who, every day when she went down to the
spring for water, heard a voice singing, Kûnu'nü tû'tsahyesï', Kûnu'nü
tû'tsahyesï', "A bullfrog will marry you, A bullfrog will marry you."
She wondered much until one day when she came down she saw sitting on a
stone by the spring a bullfrog, which suddenly took the form of a young
man and asked her to marry him. She consented and took him back with her
to the house.
But although he had the shape of a man there was a queer bullfrog look
about his face, so that the girl's family hated him and at last persuaded
her to send him away.
She told him and he went away, but when they next went down to the spring
they heard a voice: Ste'tsï tûya'husï, Ste'tsï tûya'husï, "Your daughter
will die, Your daughter will die," and so it happened soon after.
As some tell it, the lover was a tadpole, who took on human shape,
retaining only his tadpole mouth. To conceal it he constantly refused to
eat with the family, but stood with his back to the fire and his face
screwed up, pretending that he had a toothache.
At last his wife grew suspicious and turning him suddenly around to the
firelight, exposed the tadpole mouth, at which they all ridiculed him so
much that he left the house forever.
Click here to Return to the Native American Myth
and Legend contents page
Book sales help EarthBow provide free content
If you find our site useful or interesting,
please show your support by buying a book today!
Shop with confidence, EarthBow is an amazon.com associate
Click one of the book links at the right to learn more about that specific title, or click the link below to see a list of all books about Native American Culture...
More Books About Native American Culture - click here
NEW!! EarthBow eBooks... Click here for more info
www.earthbow.com - Bringing Ancient Ideas to a New Age
Copyright 2004 EarthBow
Non-commercial use: Distribute freely
Commercial use: Prohibited