The snake stories — told with the reverence the Cherokee themselves gave them. Mooney's survey of the snake tribe comes first: the snakes as supernaturals and allies of the deer and the ginseng; the prayers at the season's first meeting; the rattlesnake, once a man, the Thunder's necklace, whose ghost must be asked pardon; rattlesnake's master, the campion root; the tooth that 'becomes alive' in the doctor's hand. Then the Uktena — the keen-eyed serpent with the diamond crest — and the Ulunsu'ti crystal that the East Cherokee still keep; Agan-uni'tsi's search down the Smoky gaps to Gahu'ti mountain; the Red Man of the Lightning rescued in the nick of time; and the hunter who escaped the uksu'hi by a thought about perspiration. Source: James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee (1900), public domain; fresh in-house renderings faithful to Mooney's record, told in Mooney's order.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
