The Spear-Finger

A long, long time ago, there lived in the mountains a terrible, wicked monster who thrived off of devouring human livers. This witch could take any shape she so pleased to get what she wanted, but in her true form she looked very much like an old woman- but she was far from any ordinary woman. She held great power over stone, able to lift heavy boulders with ease and lock them together by simply touching them to each other, able to build herself a bridge that ram all the way from the Hiwassee to the Whiteside mountains. You can even see bits of this bridge today- though this was not the full extent of her powers. Her skin was as strong as stone, and on her right hand was a single long claw- a bony finger so sharp and so long that it was closer to a spear than a hand. With this claw, she stabbed anyone who’d dare come near enough.

Because of this, she was called U'tlun'ta, "Spear-Finger", and because of her stony skin she would be called "Nun'yunu'i", "Stone-Dress". Spear-Finger roamed the mountains, the streams, and the dark passages all around the Tanasi river, searching for her prey. She'd take many shapes, sometimes of family members, sometimes of kindly old women. The Spear-Finger would come along the trail to where the children would play or pick berries, saying “Come, Children! Come to granny and let her dress your hair."

When a young girl would run up and lay her head in the old woman's lap, she'd run her left hand through the child's hair till they went to sleep. Then, she’d pull out her clawed hand she’d kept hidden underneath her cloak, and stab the little one through the heart or neck with her long finger. From there, she’d take the liver, and eat it.

She would prey upon all sorts, and oftentimes the victims would never even realize they'd been attacked until it was too late. The claw left no visible wound and caused no pain- but the victim always slowly weakened and died after she'd taken their liver. When the tribe went out in the fall to burn the leaves from the mountain to get the chestnuts to fall to the ground- the witch saw the smoke rising, and knew that there would be prey nearby that she could surprise. As cautious of strangers as the tribe could be, they were not safe from the witch as even someone familiar could go off to the stream for a drink with no guarantee that it was them that came back.

One day, a hunter saw a strange old woman with an even stranger hand, singing low to herself:

"Uwe'la na'tsiku'. Su' sa' sai'."

Liver, I eat it, Su' sa' sai'."

It was a pretty tune, but the words chilled his blood, so he hurried away back home before the woman could see him. A great council was called to decide what to do with Spear-Finger before she could destroy everyone in the village. People came from far to join this planning, and after much talk it was decided that the best way to finally do away with the witch would be to trap her in a pitfall. If they caught her by surprise, all the warriors could attack her at once. They went out on the trail, dug a big pit, and covered it so it looked as if the earth had not been disturbed. They then lit a fire to attract her attention.

Sure enough, she spotted the smoke, and an old woman came along the trail, looking very much like one of the old women of the village. One of the warriors wanted to attack- but he was held back. They had to be sure it was the witch. Sure enough, when the woman fell into the pitfall she transformed back into her true form, flailing wildly, her sharp finger reaching from the pit to try to find someone to stab. They surrounded her to attack- but because of her stone skin the arrows broke. The witch began to claw her way out of the pit as their weapons bounced off of her.

An utsu'gi, the titmouse, sat in a tree watching the battle. It sang "un, un, un". The warriors thought that it was saying u'nahu, meaning heart, so they aimed at the heart of the witch. The arrows found their mark- but just as before the flint broke off of the witch's stone skin. They decided that the titmouse was a liar, and cut out its tongue so that it'd be forever marked as one.

A tsikilili, the chickadee, flew down upon the witch's hand. They took this as a sign that they should aim there instead. The witch's eyes widened in fear- for they were right! Her heart was hidden inside of her hand, and a lucky arrow struck its mark in her wrist. Thanks to the help of the chickadee and the warrior’s brave efforts, the with was finally dead.

Now it is known that the chickadee is a truth-teller, so if a friend is away on a long journey and a chickadee lands upon his empty home to sing, you can rest well knowing that they will come home safely.

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Adapted from a Cherokee legend- read the original tale here!

I highly recommend checking out the whole site in more detail, it's filled with great historical resources and preserves a great amount of Native American storytelling.