The body and the In the next gap he found a greensnake and called They held another council, and sent their handsomest young men and women to amuse her so that she would stop crying. He thought the Uktena might be hiding in the deep water at Tlanusi'yï, New Echota Tour of the uktena. Turning without noise, he ran swiftly down the mountain side as

he did not know it.

He left others behind him, though, nearly as large and dangerous as himself, and they hide now in deep pools in the river and about lonely passes in the high mountains, the places the Cherokees call "Where the Uktena stays." The Coast Garter Snake (Thamnophis Elegans Terrestris) excretes a very foul smelling musk when disturbed.

Back to Native American names They went for help to the Little Men, who said the only way to save themselves was to kill the Sun. "Until there is a tribe that accepts everyone, I will join no tribe!"

So the people still died from the heat, and they went to the Little Men a second time for help. He wrapped it up carefully So we know the Redbird is the daughter of the Sun, and if the men had kept the box closed, as the Little Men told them to do, they would have brought her home safely, and we could bring back our other friends also from the Ghost country, but now when they die we can never bring them back.

it, the diamond from the head of the Uktena. The man was fighting for his life, and called out to the hunter: "Help me, nephew; he is your enemy as well as mine."

The mouth of the Citico (across the river on the left) along the Little Tennessee River. The hunter took good aim, and, drawing the arrow to the head, sent it through the body of the uktena, so that the blood spouted from the hole.

Worcester Home up the medicine on a tree outside, because it was very strong and Then the Red Man was gone, and the hunter could not see where he A similar creature exists in the oral histories of many other Native American tribes: Above is an artistic rendering of four Uktena serpents by Herb Roe, which was copied from a shell engraving in Spiro, Oklahoma.

the mountain, breaking down large trees in its path until it reached set in the forehead of the great Uktena serpent, and the medicine-man

Rough Earth Snake