Native American Legends
Untsaiyi', The Gambler
A Cherokee Legend
Thunder lives in the west, or a little to the south of west, near
the place where the sun goes down behind the water. In the old times
he sometimes made a journey to the east, and once after he had come
back from one of these journeys a child was born in the east who,
the people said, was his son.
As the boy grew up it was found that he had scrofula sores all
over his body, so one day his mother said to him, "Your father,
Thunder, is a great doctor. He lives far in the west, but if you
can find him he can cure you."
So the boy set out to find his father and be cured. He traveled
long toward the west, asking of every one he met where Thunder lived,
until at last they began to tell him that it was only a little way
ahead. He went on and came to Ûñ'tiguhï', on Tennessee,
where lived Ûñtsaiyï' "Brass." Now a
Ûñtsaiyï' was a great gambler, and made his living
that way. It was he who invented the gatayûstï game that
we play with a stone wheel and a stick.
He lived on the south side of the river, and everybody who came
that way he challenged to play against him. The large flat rock,
with the lines and grooves where they used to roll the wheel, is
still there, with the wheels themselves and the stick turned to
stone. He won almost every time, because he was so tricky, so that
he had his house filled with all kinds of fine things.
Sometimes he would lose, and then he would bet all that he had,
even to his own life, but the winner got nothing for his trouble,
for Ûñtsaiyï' knew how to take on different shapes,
so that he always got away.
As soon as Ûñtsaiyï' saw him he asked him to
stop and play a while, but the boy said he was looking for his father,
Thunder, and had no time to wait. "Well," said Ûñtsaiyï',
"he lives in the next house; you can hear him grumbling over
there all the time"--he meant the Thunder--"so we may
as well have a game or two before you go on."
The boy said he had nothing to bet. "That's all right,"
said the gambler, "we'll play for your pretty spots."
He said this to make the boy angry so that he would play, but still
the boy said he must go first and find his father, and would come
back afterwards.
He went on, and soon the news came to Thunder that a boy was looking
for him who claimed to be his son. Said Thunder, "I have traveled
in many lands and have many children. Bring him here and we shall
soon know."
So they brought in the boy, and Thunder showed him a seat and told
him to sit down. Under the blanket on the seat were long, sharp
thorns of the honey locust, with the points all sticking up, but
when the boy sat down they did not hurt him, and then Thunder knew
that it was his son. He asked the boy why he had come. "I have
sores all over my body, and my mother told me you were my father
and a great doctor, and if I came here you would cure me. "Yes,"
said his father, "I am a great doctor, and I'll soon fix you."
There was a large pot in the corner and he told his wife to fill
it with water and put it over the fire. When it was boiling, he
put in some roots, then took the boy and put him in with them. He
let it boil a long time until one would have thought that the flesh
was boiled from the poor boy's bones, and then told his wife to
take the pot and throw it into the river, boy and all. She did as
she was told, and threw it into the water, and ever since there
is an eddy there that we call Ûñ'tiguhï', "Pot-in-the-water."
A service tree and a calico bush grew on the bank above. A great
cloud of steam came up and made streaks and blotches on their bark,
and it has been so to this day. When the steam cleared away she
looked over and saw the boy clinging to the roots of the service
tree where they hung down into the water, but now his skin was all
clean. She helped him up the bank, and they went back to the house.
On the way she told him, "When we go in, your father will
put a new dress on you, but when he opens his box and tells you
to pick out your ornaments be sure to take them from the bottom.
Then he will send for his other sons to play ball against you. There
is a honey-locust tree in front of the house, and as soon as you
begin to get tired strike at that and your father will stop the
play, because he does not want to lose the tree."
When they went into the house, the old man was pleased to see the
boy looking so clean, and said, "I knew I could soon cure those
spots. Now we must dress you."
He brought out a fine suit of buck-kin, with belt and headdress,
and had the boy put them on. Then he opened a box and said, "Now
pick out your necklace and bracelets."
The boy looked, and the box was full of all kinds of snakes gliding
over each other with their heads up. He was not afraid, but remembered
what the woman had told him, and plunged his hand to the bottom
and drew out a great rattlesnake and put it around his neck for
a necklace. He put down his hand again four times and drew up four
copperheads and twisted them around his wrists and ankles.
Then his father gave him a war club and said, "Now you must
play a ball game with your two elder brothers. They live beyond
here in the Darkening land, and l have sent for them" He said
a ball game, but he meant that the boy must fight for his life.
The young men came, and they were both older and stronger than the
boil, but he was not afraid and fought against them.
The thunder rolled and the lightning flashed at every stroke, for
they were the young Thunders, and the boy himself was Lightning.
At last he was tired from defending himself alone against two, and
pretended to aim a blow at the honey-locust tree. Then his father
stopped the fight, because he was afraid the lightning would split
the tree, and he saw that the boy was brave and strong.
The boy told his father how Ûñtsaiyï' had dared
him to play, and had even offered to play for the spots on his skin.
"Yes," said Thunder, "he is a great gambler and makes
his living that way, but I will see that you win." He brought
a small climbing gourd with a hole bored through the neck, and tied
it on the boy's wrist. Inside the gourd there was a string of beads,
and one end hung out from a hole in the top, but there was no end
to the string inside.
"Now," said his father, :go back the way you came, and
as soon as he sees you he will want to play for the beads. He is
very hard to beat, but this time he will lose every game. When he
cries out for a drink, you will know he is getting discouraged,
and then strike the rock with your war club and water will come,
so that you can play on without stopping.
At last he will bet his life, and lose. Then send at once for your
brothers to kill him, or he will get away, he is so tricky."
The boy took the gourd and his war club and started east along
the road by which he had come. As soon as Ûñtsai'yï
saw him he called to him, and when he saw the gourd with the bead
string hanging out he wanted to play for it.
The boy drew out the string. but there seemed to be no end to it,
and he kept on pulling until enough had come out to make a circle
all around the playground. "I will play one game for this much
against your stake," said the boy, "and when that is over
we can have another game."
They began the game with the wheel and stick and the boy won. Ûñtsai'yï
did not know what to think of it, but he put up another stake and
called for a second game. The boy won again, and so they played
on until noon, when Ûñtsai'yï had lost nearly
everything he had and was about discouraged.
It was very hot, and he said, "I am thirsty," and wanted
to stop long enough to get a drink.
"No," said the boy, and struck the rock with his club
so that water came out, and they had a drink. They played on until
Ûñtsai'yï had lost all his buckskins and beaded
work, his eagle feathers and ornaments, and at last offered to bet
his wife.
They played and the boy won her. Then Ûñtsai'yï
was desperate and offered to stake his life. "If I win I kill
you, but if you win you may kill me." They played and the boy
won.
"Let me go and tell my wife," said Ûñtsai'yï,
"so that she will receive her new husband, and then you may
kill me." He went into the house, but it had two doors, and
although the boy waited long Ûñtsai'yï did not
come back. When at last he went to look for him he found that the
gambler had gone out the back way and was nearly out of sight going
east.
The boy ran to his father's house and got his brothers to help
him. They brought their dog--the Horned Green Beetle--and hurried
after the gambler. He ran fast and was soon out of sight, and they
followed as fast as they could. After a while they met an old woman
making pottery and asked her if she had seen Ûñtsai'yï
and she said she had not.
"He came this way," said the brothers.
"Then he must have passed in the night," said the old
woman, "for I have been here all day."
They were about to take another road when the Beetle, which had
been circling about in the air above the old woman, made a dart
at her and struck her on the forehead, and it rang like brass--ûñtsai'yï!
Then they knew it was Brass and sprang at him, but he jumped up
in his right shape and was off, running so fast that he was soon
out of sight again. The Beetle had struck so hard that some of the
brass rubbed off, and we can see it on the beetle's forehead yet.
They followed and came to an old man sitting by the trail, carving
a stone pipe. They asked him if he had seen Brass pass that way
and he said no, but again the Beetle--which could know Brass under
any shape--struck him on the forehead so that it rang like metal,
and the gambler jumped up in his right form and was off again before
they could hold him.
He ran east until he came to the great water; then he ran north
until he came to the edge of the world, and had to turn again to
the west. He took every shape to throw them off the track, but the
Green Beetle always knew him, and the brothers pressed him so hard
that at last he could go no more and they caught him just as he
reached the edge of the great water where the sun goes down.
They tied his hands and feet with a grapevine and drove a long
stake through his breast, and planted it far out in the deep water.
They set two crows on the end of the pole to guard it and called
the place Kâgûñ'yï, "Crow place."
But Brass never died, and cannot die until the end of the world,
but lies there always with his face up. Sometimes he struggles under
the water to get free, and sometimes the beavers, who are his friends,
come and gnaw at the grapevine to release him. Then the pole shakes
and the crows at the top cry Ka! Ka! Ka! and scare the beavers away.
Native American Legends
Back to Top
Other Native American Legends
|
Native American Legends A-B