Reading Notes: Cherokee Myths, Part B

 The Ustû'tlï

Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney

(Image Source: Flickr)

Plot Points

• Describe the Ustû'tlï as a snake-like creature which moves about on feet at its base and neck, like a massive inch-worm
• It is a massive creature which lives on a particular mountain and hunts all sorts of beings for prey
• It lures them in with the bleating of a fawn and then captures them and eats them
• It can outpace anything which runs up or down the mountain, or even across streams or gorges, but it cannot run horizontally along the mountain
• If it does this, it will slip and fall down the steep slopes
• One day a hunter came to the mountain and sought to rid the world of the Ustû'tlï
• He finds the beast and allows it to start chasing him, up the mountain at first before running sideways along the mountainside
• Once the beast begins to slip, the man stops and lights a fire to separate himself from it
• The fire scares the Ustû'tlï and it flees from it until it is trapped on a precipice on the mountain
• In desperation, it tries to climb over the fire but coughs on the smoke and falls to its death