Myths of the Cherokee · 75 of 220

Myth 49c

As with the blacksnake, it is believed that toothache may be prevented and sound teeth insured as long as life lasts by biting the greensnake along its body.

It must be held by the head and tail, and all the teeth at once pressed down four times along the middle of its body, but without biting into the flesh or injuring the snake.

Some informants say that the operation must be repeated four times upon as many snakes and that a certain food tabu must also be observed.

The water moccasin, kanegwâ′tĭ , is not specially regarded, but a very rare wood snake, said to resemble it except that it has blue eyes, is considered to have great supernatural powers, in what way is not specified.

The repulsive but harmless spreading adder ( Heterodon ) is called dalĭkstă′ , “vomiter,” on account of its habit of spitting, and sometimes kwandăya′hû , a word of uncertain etymology.

It was formerly a man, but was transformed into a snake in order to accomplish the destruction of the Daughter of the Sun (see the story).

For its failure on this occasion it is generally despised.

The Wahnenauhi manuscript mentions a legend of a great serpent called on account of its color the “ground snake.” To see it was an omen of death to the one who saw it, and if it was seen by several persons some great tribal calamity was expected.

For traditions and beliefs in regard to the Uktena, the Uksuhĭ, and other mythic serpents, see under those headings.

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Themes

◆Animismcosmology

The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.

The passage is a quintessential example of animism, describing multiple distinct snakes (greensnake, water moccasin, spreading adder, ground snake) as possessing inherent spirit, supernatural powers, and specific personalities or histories.

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◆Numerical Mysticismtheology

Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.

The efficacy of the toothache prevention ritual is tied to specific numbers: pressing teeth 'four times' and repeating the operation on 'as many snakes' (four).

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◆Ritual Puritypraxis

The maintenance of a state of cleanliness—physical, moral, or spiritual—required for encounter with the divine.

The text mentions that a 'certain food tabu must also be observed' in conjunction with the snake ritual, indicating a requirement for ritual purity or restriction.

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◆Shapeshifting Transformationtheology

Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. Loki and Odin's transformations in Norse, Math's pigs and Blodeuwedd's owl-shape and Pwyll's exchange with Arawn in the Mabinogion, the Greek Proteus, the Indian dasavatara, Vainamoinen's bird-flight in the Kalevala, Ovid's metamorphoses, the shamanic and witch's capacity for ritual form-change. Distinct from anthropomorphism (divine taking specific human form, single embodiment) in that anthropomorphism establishes a stable form whereas this concept establishes form's plurality and instability.

The text explicitly states that the spreading adder was formerly a man who was transformed into a snake to accomplish a specific mythic task.

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