moon, as here given, was obtained first from Swimmer and afterward
from other informants. It is noted by Hagar, in his manuscript
Stellar Legends of the Cherokee, one narrator making the girl
blacken her brother's face with seven (charred?) corn cobs (cf. John
Ax's version of number 5 in notes). Exactly the same myth is found
with the native tribes of Greenland, Panama, Brazil, and Northern
India. Among the Khasias of the Himalaya mountains "the changes of
the moon are accounted for by the theory that this orb, who is a man,
monthly falls in love with his wife's mother, who throws ashes in
his face. The sun is female." On some northern branches of the Amazon
"the moon is represented as a maiden who fell in love with her brother
and visited him at night, but who was finally betrayed by his passing
his blackened hand over her face." With the Greenland Eskimo the Sun
and Moon are sister and brother, and were playing in the dark, "when
Malina, being teased in a shameful manner by her brother Anninga,
smeared her hands with the soot of the lamp and rubbed them over
the face and hands of her persecutor, that she might recognize him
by daylight. Hence arise the spots in the moon (see Timothy Harley,
Moon Lore, London, 1885, and the story "The Sun and the Moon," in
Henry Rink's Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, London, 1875). In
British Columbia the same incident occurs in the story of a girl and
her lover, who was a dog transformed to the likeness of a man (Teit,
Thompson River Traditions, p. 62). A very similar myth occurs among the
Cheyenne, in which the chief personages are human, but the offspring of
the connection become the Pleiades (A. L. Kroeber, Cheyenne Tales, in
Journal of American Folk-Lore, July, 1900). In nearly all mythologies
the Sun and Moon are sister and brother, the Moon being generally
masculine, while the Sun is feminine (cf. German, Der Mond, Die Sonne).
The myth connecting the moon with the ballplay is from Haywood
(Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, p. 285), apparently on
the authority of Charles Hicks, a mixed-blood chief.
Eclipse--Of the myth of the eclipse monster, which may be frightened
away by all sorts of horrible noises, it is enough to say that it
is universal (see Harley, Moon Lore). The Cherokee name for the
phenomenon is nûñda' walâ'si u'giska', "the frog is swallowing the
sun or moon." Says Adair (History of the American Indians p. 65):
"The first lunar eclipse I saw after I lived with the Indians was among
the Cherokee, An. 1736, and during the continuance of it their conduct
appeared very surprizing to one who had not seen the like before. They
all ran wild, this way and that way, like lunatics, firing their guns,
whooping and hallooing, beating of kettles, ringing horse bells, and
making the most horrid noises that human beings possibly could. This
was the effect of their natural philosophy and done to assist the
suffering moon."
Sun and moon names--In probably every tribe both sun and moon are
called by the same name, accompanied by a distinguishing adjective.
The Thunders--The Cherokee name for Thunder, Ani'-Hyûñ'tikwalâ'ski,
is an animate plural form and signifies literally, "The Thunderers"
or "They who make the Thunder." The great Thunderers are Kana'ti and
his sons (see the story), but inferior thunder spirits people all the
cliffs and mountains, and more particularly the great waterfalls, such
as Tallulah, whose never-ceasing roar is believed to be the voice of
the Thunderers speaking to such as can understand. A similar conception
prevailed among the Iroquois and the eastern tribes generally. Adair
says (History of the American Indians, p. 65), speaking of the southern
tribes: "I have heard them say, when it rained, thundered, and blew
sharp for a considerable time, that the beloved or holy people were
at war above the clouds, and they believe that the war at such times
is moderate or hot in proportion to the noise and violence of the
storm." In Portuguese West Africa also the Thunderers are twin brothers
who quarreled and went, one to the east, the other to the west, whence
each answers the other whenever a great storm arises. [533] Among the
plains tribes both thunder and lightning are caused by a great bird.
Rainbow--The conception of the rainbow as the beautiful dress of the
Thunder god occurs also among the South Sea islanders. In Mangaia it
is the girdle of the god Tangaroa, which he loosens and allows to
hang down until the end reaches to the earth whenever he wishes to
descend (Gill, Myths and Songs of the South Pacific, p. 44). For some
unexplained reason the dread of pointing at the rainbow, on penalty
of having the finger wither or become misshapen, is found among most
of the tribes even to the Pacific coast. The author first heard of
it from a Puyallup boy of Puget sound, Washington.