Seventh Annual Report Part 84

_Explanation._

This formula, from A?yninis book, is for the purpose of catching large fish. According to his instructions, the fisherman must first chew a small piece of Yugwil (Venus Flytrap--Diona muscipula) and spit it upon the bait and also upon the hook. Then, standing facing the stream, he recites the formula and puts the bait upon the hook. He will be able to pull out a fish at once, or if the fish are not about at the moment they will come in a very short time.

The Yugwil is put upon the bait from the idea that it will enable the hook to attract and hold the fish as the plant itself seizes and holds insects in its cup. The root is much prized by the Cherokees for this purpose, and those in the West, where the plant is not found, frequently send requests for it to their friends in Carolina.

The prayer is addressed directly to the fish, who are represented as living in settlements. The same expression as has already been mentioned is sometimes used by the doctors in speaking of the _tsgya_ or worms which are supposed to cause sickness by getting under the skin of the patient. The Blue Cat (_Amiurus, genus_) is addressed as the princ.i.p.al fish and the bait is spoken of as the white food, an expression used also of the viands prepared at the feast of the green corn dance, to indicate their wholesome character.

Let the paths from every direction recognize each other, means let the fishes, which are supposed to have regular trails through the water, a.s.semble together at the place where the speaker takes his station, as friends recognizing each other at a distance approach to greet each other, ?Whisnahi tigiwatsila, rendered our spittle shall be in agreement, is a peculiar archaic expression that can not be literally translated. It implies that there shall be such close sympathy between the fisher and the fish that their spittle shall be as the spittle of one individual. As before stated, the spittle is believed to exert an important influence upon the whole physical and mental being. The expression your spittle has become agreeable is explained by A?ynini as an a.s.sertion or wish that the fish may prove palatable, while the words rendered there shall be no loneliness imply that there shall be an abundant catch.

LOVE.

(YnWEHI UGnWA?LI I.)

Ku! Sge! _Alahiyi_ tsl?dhisti, Hige?ya tsl?diyi, hatnganiga. _Elahiyi_ iynta ditsl?dahisti, Hige?ya Tsnega. Tsisa?ti nigesnna. Tsduhiyi.

Ngwa-skini usinuliyu hnskwane?lng tsisgaya aginega. Agisa?ti nigesnna. Ngwa nnn, unega hnskwannneliga. Uhisa?ti nigesnna. Ngwa skwadetastaniga. Sa?kani utati nigesnna. Nnn unega skiksa?ntaneliga. Elaye?li iynta skwalewista?taniga Elati gesn tsitagesti.

Agisa?ti nigesnna. Agwduhiyu. Kltste unega skiga?taniga. Uhisa?ti nigesnna, gnkwatst.i.tegesti. Tsi-sa?kani agwatati nigesnna. Usinuliyu hnskwane?lng.

Ha-ngwle _Elahiyi_ iynta dhiyane?lng a?ge?ya sa?kani. Ngwa nnnhi sa?kani hntane?laneliga. Uhisa?ti-gw udan dudusagi tanelasi. Nnnhi sa?kani tadetstaniga. Ngwle hnhiyatsntaniga. Elati gesn tl?taniga.

Dedulaskn-gw ignwa?lawisti uhisa?tiyi widayela?niga. Dedulaskn-gw ignwa?lawisti uhisa?tiyi nitnneliga.

Ha-sgwahiyu itsilastalagi + + uwasahiyu, etsane?laneliga. Agisa?ti nigesnna. Agwduhi.

Ay agwadantgi aye?liyu dka?lanili dudant, uktahnsti nigesnna. Ynwi tsutsatn widudante?ti nigesnna, nitnneliga. Sgwahi itsilastalagi, etsane?laneliga klkwgi-nasi iglst?li gegane?lann.

Anisgaya anewadisn unihisa?tiyi. Tsunadaneiltiyi.

Dila-gw degnwanatseg?lawisdideg.

Ayiseta-gw udan. Tsunadaneiltiyi. Utsetsti-gw degnwanatseg?lawisdideg. Tsunadaneiltiyi.

Kaga-gw degnwanatseg?awisdideg.

Tsunadaneiltiyi. Dal?ka-gw degnwanatseg?lawisdideg.

Klkwgi iglstalagi unihisa?tiyu.

Igeski-gw nigesnna. Ayiseta-gw udan degnwanatsn?ti-deg. Ksi-gw degnwanatsn?ti-deg. Ayagg tsisgaya aginega ngwane?lanhi + + Nndgnyi it.i.tsa ditsidga. Agisa?ti nigesnna. Agwduhiyu.

Tsi-sa?kani agwatati nigesnna. Kltste unega nnitagg gkwatsnti-deg. Agisa?ti nigesnna. Ay agwadantgi aye?liyu glasiga tsdant, uktahnsti nigesnna. Ay tsigi tsdanta 0 0. Sge!

_Translation._

CONCERNING LIVING HUMANITY (LOVE).

K! Listen! In Alahiyi you repose, O Terrible Woman, O you have drawn near to hearken. There in Elahiyi you are at rest, O White Woman. No one is ever lonely when with you. You are most beautiful.

Instantly and at once you have rendered me a white man. No one is ever lonely when with me. Now you have made the path white for me. It shall never be dreary. Now you have put me into it. It shall never become blue. You have brought down to me from above the white road. There in mid-earth (mid-surface) you have placed me. I shall stand erect upon the earth. No one is ever lonely when with me. I am very handsome. You have put me into the white house. I shall be in it as it moves about and no one with me shall ever be lonely. Verily, I shall never become blue. Instantly you have caused it to be so with me.

And now there in Elahiyi you have rendered the woman blue. Now you have made the path blue for her. Let her be completely veiled in loneliness. Put her into the blue road. And now bring her down. Place her standing upon the earth. Where her feet are now and wherever she may go, let loneliness leave its mark upon her. Let her be marked out for loneliness where she stands.

Ha! I belong to the (Wolf) ( + + ) clan, that one alone which was allotted into for you. No one is ever lonely with me. I am handsome.

Let her put her soul the very center of my soul, never to turn away.

Grant that in the midst of men she shall never think of them. I belong to the one clan alone which was allotted for you when the seven clans were established.

Where (other) men live it is lonely. They are very loathsome. The common polecat has made them so like himself that they are fit only for his company. They have became mere refuse. They are very loathsome. The common opossum has made them so like himself that they are fit only to be with him. They are very loathsome. Even the crow has made them so like himself that they are fit only for his company.

They are very loathsome. The miserable rain-crow has made them so like himself that they are fit only to be with him.

The seven clans all alike make one feel very lonely in their company.

They are not even good looking. They go about clothed with mere refuse. They even go about covered with dung. But I--I was ordained to be a white man. I stand with my face toward the Sun Land. No one is ever lonely with me. I am very handsome. I shall certainly never become blue. I am covered by the everlasting white house wherever I go. No one is ever lonely with me. Your soul has come into the very center of my soul, never to turn away. I--(Gatigwanasti,) (0 0)--I take your soul. Sge!

_Explanation._

This unique formula is from one of the loose ma.n.u.script sheets of Gatigwanasti, now dead, and belongs to the cla.s.s known as Ynwehi or love charms (literally, concerning living humanity), including all those referring in any way to the marital or s.e.xual relation. No explanation accompanies the formula, which must therefore be interpreted from a.n.a.logy. It appears to be recited by the lover himself--not by a hired shaman--perhaps while painting and adorning himself for the dance. (_See next two formulas._)

The formula contains several obscure expressions which require further investigation. Elahiyi or Alahiyi, for it is written both ways in the ma.n.u.script, does not occur in any other formula met with thus far, and could not be explained by any of the shamans to whom it was submitted. The nominative form may be Elahi, perhaps from _ela_, the earth, and it may be connected with Wahili, the formulistic name for the south. The spirit invoked is the White Woman, white being the color denoting the south.

Uhisa?ti, rendered here lonely, is a very expressive word to a Cherokee and is of constant recurrence in the love formulas. It refers to that intangible something characteristic of certain persons which inevitably chills and depresses the spirits of all who may be so unfortunate as to come within its influence. Agisa?ti nigesnna, I never render any one lonely, is an intensified equivalent for, I am the best company in the world, and to tell a girl that a rival lover is uhisa?ti is to hold out to her the sum of all dreary prospects should she cast in her lot with him.

The speaker, who evidently has an exalted opinion of himself, invokes the aid of the White Woman, who is most beautiful and is never uhisa?ti. She at once responds by making him a white--that is, a happy--man, and placing him in the white road of happiness, which shall never become blue with grief or despondency. She then places him standing in the middle of the earth, that he may be seen and admired by the whole world, especially by the female portion. She finally puts him into the white house, where happiness abides forever. The verb implies that the house shelters him like a cloak and goes about with him wherever he may go.

There is something comical in the extreme self-complacency with which he a.s.serts that he is very handsome and will never become blue and no one with him is ever lonely. As before stated, white signifies peace and happiness, while blue is the emblem of sorrow and disappointment.

Having thus rendered himself attractive to womankind, he turns his attention to the girl whom he particularly desires to win. He begins by filling her soul with a sense of desolation and loneliness. In the beautiful language of the formula, her path becomes blue and she is veiled in loneliness. He then a.s.serts, and reiterates, that he is of the one only clan which was allotted for her when the seven clans were established.

He next pays his respects to his rivals and advances some very forcible arguments to show that she could never be happy with any of them. He says that they are all lonesome and utterly loathsome--the word implies that they are mutually loathsome--and that they are the veriest trash and refuse. He compares them to so many polecats, opossums, and crows, and finally likens them to the rain-crow (cuckoo; _Coccygus_), which is regarded with disfavor on account of its disagreeable note. He grows more bitter in his denunciations as he proceeds and finally disposes of the matter by saying that all the seven clans alike are uhisa?ti and are covered with filth. Then follows another glowing panegyric of himself, closing with the beautiful expression, your soul has come into the very center of mine, never to turn away, which reminds one forcibly of the sentiment in the German love song, Du liegst mir im Herzen. The final expression, I take your soul, implies that the formula has now accomplished its purpose in fixing her thoughts upon himself.

When successful, a ceremony of this kind has the effect of rendering the victim so blue or lovesick that her life is in danger until another formula is repeated to make her soul white or happy again.

Where the name of the individual or clan is mentioned in these formulas the blank is indicated in the ma.n.u.script by crosses + + or ciphers 0 0 or by the word iyusti, like.

HIA AMAYI ATAWASTIYI KAN'HEH.

Sge! Ha-ngwa usinuliyu hatnganiga _Hige?yaguga_, tswatsila gigage tsiyela skinad?laniga. 0 0 digwadita. Sa?kani tgwadnelhi. Atsanngi gigage skws.h.i.+sa?taniga. + + klstalagi + sa?kani nutatannta. Ditunnngi dagwlaskn-gw deganuytasiga. Galnntseta-gw dagwadnelidisesti. Sge!

_Translation._

THIS TELLS ABOUT GOING INTO THE WATER.

Listen! O, now instantly, you have drawn near to hearken, O Age?yaguga. You have come to put your red spittle upon my body.

My name is (Gatigwanasti.) The blue had affected me. You have come and clothed me with a red dress. She is of the (Deer) clan. She has become blue. You have directed her paths straight to where I have my feet, and I shall feel exultant. Listen!

_Explanation._

This formula, from Gatigwanastis book, is also of the Ynwehi cla.s.s, and is repeated by the lover when about to bathe in the stream preparatory to painting himself for the dance. The services of a shaman are not required, neither is any special ceremony observed.

The technical word used in the heading, atawastiyi, signifies plunging or going entirely into a liquid. The expression used for the ordinary going to water, where the water is simply dipped up with the hand, is amyi dita?tiyi, taking them to water.

The prayer is addressed to Age?yaguga, a formulistic name for the moon, which is supposed to exert a great influence in love affairs, because the dances, which give such opportunities for love making, always take place at night. The shamans can not explain the meaning of the term, which plainly contains the word age?ya, woman, and may refer to the moons supposed influence over women. In Cherokee mythology the moon is a man. The ordinary name is nnd, or more fully, nnd snnyehi, the sun living in the night, while the sun itself is designated as nnd igehi, the sun living in the day.

By the red spittle of Age?yaguga and the red dress with which the lover is clothed are meant the red paint which he puts upon himself.

This in former days was procured from a deep red clay known as ela-wti, or reddish brown clay. The word red as used in the formula is emblematic of success in attaining his object, besides being the actual color of the paint. Red, in connection with dress or ornamentation, has always been a favorite color with Indians throughout America, and there is some evidence that among the Cherokees it was regarded also as having a mysterious protective power. In all these formulas the lover renders the woman blue or disconsolate and uneasy in mind as a preliminary to fixing her thoughts upon himself. (_See next formula._)