also used to mean heaven in the Cherokee bible translation. The opposing players, on the other hand, are put down under the earth, and are made to resemble animals slow and clumsy of movement, while on behalf of his friends the shaman invokes the aid of swift-flying birds, which, according to the Indian belief, never by any chance fail to secure their prey. The birds invoked are the He'nilû or wood pewee (Contopus virens), the Tläniwä or mythic hawk, the Gulï'sgulï' or great crested flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus), the Tsûtsû or martin (Progne subis), and the A'nigâsta'ya or chimney swift (Chœtura pelasgia). In the idiom of the formulas it is said that these "have just come and are sticking to them" (the players), the same word (danûtsgû'lani?ga) being used to express the devoted attention of a lover to his mistress. The Watatuga, a small species of dragon-fly, is also invoked, together with the bat, which, according to a Cherokee myth, once took sides with the birds in a great ball contest with the four-footed animals, and won the victory for the birds by reason of his superior skill in dodging. This myth explains also why birds, and no quadrupeds, are invoked by the shaman to the aid of his friends. In accordance with the regular color symbolism the flycatcher, martin, and dragonfly, like the bat and the tlä'niwä, should be red, the color of success, instead of blue, evidently so written by mistake. The white thread is frequently mentioned in the formulas, but in this instance the reference is not clear. The twelve refers to the number of runs made in the game.

 

 



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