A man living down in Georgia came to visit some relatives at
Hickory-log. He was a great hunter, and after resting in the house a
day or two got ready to go into the mountains. His friends warned him
not to go toward the north, as in that direction, near a certain large
uprooted tree, there lived a dangerous monster uksu'hi snake. It kept
constant watch, and whenever it could spring upon an unwary hunter
it would coil about him and crush out his life in its folds and then
drag the dead body down the mountain side into a deep hole in Hiwassee.
He listened quietly to the warning, but all they said only made him
the more anxious to see such a monster, so, without saying anything
of his intention, he left the settlement and took his way directly
up the mountain toward the north. Soon he came to the fallen tree and
climbed upon the trunk, and there, sure enough, on the other side was
the great uksu'hi stretched out in the grass, with its head raised,
but looking the other way. It was about so large [making a circle
of a foot in diameter with his hands]. The frightened hunter got
down again at once and started to run; but the snake had heard the
noise and turned quickly and was after him. Up the ridge the hunter
ran, the snake close behind him, then down the other side toward the
river. With all his running the uksu'hi gained rapidly, and just as he
reached the low ground it caught up with him and wrapped around him,
pinning one arm down by his side, but leaving the other free.
Now it gave him a terrible squeeze that almost broke his ribs, and
then began to drag him along toward the water. With his free hand the
hunter clutched at the bushes as they passed, but the snake turned
its head and blew its sickening breath into his face until he had to
let go his hold. Again and again this happened, and all the time they
were getting nearer to a deep hole in the river, when, almost at the
last moment, a lucky thought came into the hunter's mind.
He was sweating all over from his hard run across the mountain, and
suddenly remembered to have heard that snakes can not bear the smell
of perspiration. Putting his free hand into his bosom he worked it
around under his armpit until it was covered with perspiration. Then
withdrawing it he grasped at a bush until the snake turned its head,
when he quickly slapped his sweaty hand on its nose. The uksu'hi
gave one gasp almost as if it had been wounded, loosened its coil,
and glided swiftly away through the bushes, leaving the hunter,
bruised but not disabled, to make his way home to Hickory-log.