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Show 252 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [ BTH. ANN. 19 constantly more pleased as the name of each disease was called off, until at last they reached the end of the list, when some one proposed to make menstruatiori sometimes fatal to women. On this he rose up in his place and cried: " Waddfi'f [ ThanksI] I'm glad some more of them will die, for they are getting so thick that they tread on me." The thought fairly made him shake with joy, so that he fell over backward and could not get on his feet again, but had to wriggle off on his back, as the Grubworm has done ever since'. When the Plants, who were friendly to Man, heard what had been done by the animals, they determined to defeat the latters' evil designs. Each Tree, Shrub, and Herb, down even to the Grasses and Mos3es, agreed to furnish a cure for some one of the diseases named, and each said: " I shall appear to help Man when he calls upon me in his need." Thus came medicine; and the plants, every one of which has its use if we only knew it, furnish the remedy to counteract the evil wrought by the revengeful animals. Even weeds were made for some good purpose, which we must find out for ourselves. When the doctor does not know what medicine to use for a sick man the spirit of the plant tells him. 5. THE DAUGHTER OP THE SUN The Sun lived on the other side of the sky vault, but her daughter lived in the middle of the sky, directly above the earth, and every day as the Sun was climbing along the sky arch to the west she used to stop at her daughter's house for dinner. Now, the Sun hated the people on the earth, because they could never look straight at her without screwing up their faces. She said to her brother, the Moon, uMy grandchildren are ugly; they grin all over their faces when they look at me." But the Moon said, " I like my younger brothers; I think they are very handsome"- because they always smiled pleasantly when they saw him in the sky at night, for his rays were milder. The Sun was jealous and planned to kill all the people, so every day when she got near her daughter's house she sent down such sultry N rays that there was a great fever and the people died by hundreds, until everyone had lost some friend and there was fear that no one would be left. They went for help to the Little Men, who said the only way to save themselves was to kill the Sun. The Little Men made medicine and changed two men to snakes, the Spreading- adder and the Copperhead, and sent them to watch near the door of the daughter of the Sun to bite the old Sun when she came next day. They went together and hid near the house until the Sun came, but when the Spreading- adder was about to spring, the bright light blinded him and he could only spit out yellow slime, as he does to this day when he tries to bite. She called him a nasty thing and I i |