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Source: Myths and Tales of the
Southeastern Indians, By John R. Swanton, 1929
A man and his wife camped out in a certain place with many dogs in order
to hunt.
The dogs would trail a bear and when they had brought it to bay they would
bark in a peculiar manner, whereupon the man would come up and kill the
bear. In this way he got a number of them.
During this time he hunted in all directions from his camp except toward
the southeast, and finally he started off in that direction.
There he found a piece of flat land running down to the bottom land and,
just beyond, a very rough, rocky place.
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Presently he heard his dogs bark near the rocks and supposed they
had found a bear, so he started in the direction of the noise. When he got
near, however, he saw something dart out from among the rocks, seize a dog
and carry it back. It was a huge lizard. Then the man turned round and ran
back toward his camp.
When he had covered about half of the distance he stopped and listened. It
sounded as though but few dogs were left. After a short time he stopped
again to listen, and now he heard but one dog bark. The next time he
stopped he heard none.
When he had gotten still farther he looked back and, the ground being open
behind him, found that he was being pursued. The hunter soon discovered
that the big lizard was certain to catch him, so he dropped upon the
ground and lay flat upon his chest. When the lizard came up he heard it
panting like a tired dog. It took him in its mouth and started to carry
him back to its den.
The man looked from time to time to see how near they were to the place,
and at last he saw that they were close to the place from which he had
started running. There he noticed something moving about. He thought that
in a moment the lizards were going to cut him in pieces and eat him, but
when they reached the place where the thing moved he heard something
making a scratching noise in a tree near by.
The lizard heard it also and threw the man down, but the latter continued
to lie still as if he were dead. The noise which he had heard was made by
a Tiger (panther) which now jumped down upon the lizard. The lizard tried
to seize it but the Tiger quickly sprang out of reach and then jumped down
upon it again and immediately back upon another tree.
Each time the Tiger scratched the lizard and hurt it very badly, so that
it soon ran away with the Tiger in pursuit. The Tiger chased it straight
back to its den, scratching it all the way. The man did not dare to move,
however, and thought that the Tiger would eat him up when it returned. He
did not know it had come back until it was close by and he heard it say,
"Are you dead_"
At first he did not reply, but presently the Tiger added, "I am here. You
are not going to die, for I will protect you."
Then the man answered, "No, I am not dead."
"Well, get up," said the Tiger, but the man remained where he was until
the animal lifted him to his feet. But then the man staggered about in a
circle four times.
The Tiger lapped him all over (or let his saliva run all over him) and
said, "Can you stand on your feet_"
"No," the man answered.
"Then come and climb upon my back and I will carry you."
The man told him he thought he would be too heavy, but the Tiger answered,
"Oh! I can carry you. Sometimes I carry two deer and I can carry you just
as easily."
So the hunter climbed up on the Tiger's back and started with him for
camp. On the way they came upon the shot pouch which he had dropped when
he was being pursued, and later on the gun. The Tiger told him to pick
them up and carry them with him.
After they had reached a place close to his camp, the Tiger set him upon
the ground and told him to go the rest of the way himself. The man invited
him to come to his camp and get all the food he wanted, but the Tiger
answered that he could got plenty. Before parting from the hunter,
however, he said, "My friend, I have two nephews whom you must never
disturb."
"Who are they_" asked the man. "One is Wildcat and the other House Cat.
House Cat is the lesser. You must not tell anyone what I have said to
you." (However, at a later time the man did tell some people about it.)
After that they parted and the man returned to his camp. The summer after
this the same man was on a hunt and heard turkeys gobbling. He discovered
one of them sitting at the top of a pine tree and was preparing to shoot
at it when he noticed something crawling up the tree toward it.
This he found was a wildcat, and, remembering what the tiger had said to
him, he gave up attempting to shoot the turkey and stood watching.
Presently the wildcat sprang at the turkey but missed it and fell from the
top of the tree to the bottom. It struck the ground and he heard it cry, "Wao,
wao, wao."
Remembering what the tiger had done for him, the hunter ran to the place
to see what he could do for this animal. He found that it had knocked out
an eyeball, and when he came near, said, "Have you hurt yourself_"
On hearing the man speak, however, the wildcat, who was trying to put his
eyeball back in place, pulled it out, threw it away, and ran off.
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