Native American Legends
The Uw`tsun'ta
A Cherokee Legend
At Nûñ'däye'`lï, the wildest spot on Nantahala
river, in what is now Macon county, North Carolina, where the overhanging
cliff is highest and the river far below, there lived in the old
time a great snake called the Uw`tsun'ta or "bouncer."
It moved by jerks like a measuring worm, with only one part of
its body on the ground at a time. It stayed generally on the east
side, where the sun came first in the morning, and used to cross
by reaching over from the highest point of the cliff until it could
get a grip on the other side, when it would pull over the rest of
its body.
It was so immense that when it was thus stretched across its shadow
darkened the whole valley below.
For a long time the people did not know it was there, but when
at last they found out about it they were, afraid to live in the
valley, so that it was deserted even while still Indian country.
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