U`tlûñ'ta
Also known as: Spear-finger / Stone-dress · Role: ogress · First appears: Myth 66 · U`tlûñ'ta, the Spear-Finger
In Myth 66, Utlûñ'ta began building a rock bridge from Nûñyû'-tlugûñ'yi toward Sanigilâ'gi, but lightning shattered it. She lured a little girl to her, stabbed her with the awl finger hidden beneath her robe, and ate her liver; she also entered houses disguised as a family member and stabbed someone to take their liver.
“At last” the people held a council and decided to trap U`tlûñ'ta in a pitfall. When she fell in, she revealed her stony form, but the hunters’ arrows broke against her skin. A lucky arrow struck where her awl joined her wrist, and she fell dead.
Relationship record
Life events
- U
tlûñ'ta began building a rock bridge, but lightning struck it and scattered its fragments along the ridge.(Myth 66 · Utlûñ'ta, the Spear-Finger · 📍 Nûñyû'-tlu`gûñ'yi)- “To get over the rough country more easily she undertook to build a great rock bridge through the air from Nûñyû'-tlu`gûñ'yi, the ‘Tree rock,’ on Hiwassee, over to Sanigilâ'gi (Whiteside mountain), on the Blue ridge, and had it well started from the top of the ‘Tree rock’ when the lightning struck it and scattered the fragments along the whole ridge, where the pieces can still be seen by those who go there.”
- U
tlûñ'ta lured a little girl to her, stabbed her, and ate her liver.(Myth 66 · Utlûñ'ta, the Spear-Finger)- With: some little girl (Myth 66)
- “When some little girl ran up and laid her head in the old woman's lap to be petted and combed the old witch would gently run her fingers through the child's hair until it went to sleep, when she would stab the little one through the heart or back of the neck with the long awl finger, which she had kept hidden under her robe. Then she would take out the liver and eat it.”
- U
tlûñ'ta disguised herself as a family member, stabbed a victim, and took out his liver.(Myth 66 · Utlûñ'ta, the Spear-Finger)- “She would enter a house by taking the appearance of one of the family who happened to have gone out for a short time, and would watch her chance to stab some one with her long finger and take out his liver.”
- A council decided to trap U
tlûñ'ta in a pitfall and attack her.(Myth 66 · Utlûñ'ta, the Spear-Finger)- “At last a great council was held to devise some means to get rid of U'tlûñ'ta before she should destroy everybody. The people came from all around, and after much talk it was decided that the best way would be to trap her in a pitfall where all the warriors could attack her at once.”
- U
tlûñ'ta fell into the pitfall and revealed her true form.(Myth 66 · Utlûñ'ta, the Spear-Finger)- “The old woman came slowly along the trail, with one hand under her blanket, until she stepped upon the pitfall and tumbled through the brush top into the deep hole below. Then, at once, she showed her true nature, and instead of the feeble old woman there was the terrible U'tlûñ'ta with her stony skin, and her sharp awl finger reaching out in every direction for some one to stab.”
- The hunters' arrows failed to pierce U
tlûñ'ta's stony skin.(Myth 66 · Utlûñ'ta, the Spear-Finger)- “The hunters rushed out from the thicket and surrounded the pit, but shoot as true and as often as they could, their arrows struck the stony mail of the witch only to be broken and fall useless at her feet, while she taunted them and tried to climb out of the pit to get at them.”
- The warriors killed U
tlûñ'ta with an arrow that struck where her awl joined her wrist.(Myth 66 · Utlûñ'ta, the Spear-Finger)- “Now she was frightened in earnest, and began to rush furiously at them with her long awl finger and to jump about in the pit to dodge the arrows, until at last a lucky arrow struck just where the awl joined her wrist and she fell down dead.”
Myth 66 · U`tlûñ'ta, the Spear-Finger
- enemies with some little girl (Myth 66) “When some little girl ran up and laid her head in the old woman's lap to be petted and combed the old witch would gently run her fingers through the child's hair until it went to sleep, when she would stab the little one through the heart or back of the neck with the long awl finger, which she had kept hidden under her robe.”
Also listed in Other Figures — Minor Figures
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Extracted from the original text of Myths of the Cherokee. Made with Rho MD.