the Hummingbird

Role: animal · First appears: Myth 6 · How They Brought Back the Tobacco

In Myth 6 · How They Brought Back the Tobacco, the Hummingbird snatched leaves and seeds from the tobacco plant and escaped. When the old woman fainted, he blew tobacco smoke into her nostrils, and she opened her eyes and revived.

In Myth 43 · The Race Between the Crane and the Hummingbird, a pretty woman was loved by both the Hummingbird and the Crane. She told the Crane to challenge the Hummingbird to a race, promising to marry the winner; the two agreed to race around the world for her hand. The Hummingbird darted ahead at the start, but the Crane arrived at the starting place early in the morning, while the Hummingbird arrived in the afternoon and had lost. The woman refused to marry the Crane and stayed single.

Relationship record

Life events

• The Hummingbird snatched tobacco leaves and seeds from the plant and escaped.(Myth 6 · How They Brought Back the Tobacco)
  • “He darted down on the plant--tsa!--and snatched off the top with the leaves and seeds, and was off again before the Dagûl`kû knew what had happened.”
• The Hummingbird revived the old woman by blowing tobacco smoke into her nostrils.(Myth 6 · How They Brought Back the Tobacco)
  • With: the old woman (Myth 6)
  • “Before he got home with the tobacco the old woman had fainted and they thought she was dead, but he blew the smoke into her nostrils, and with a cry of ‘Tsâ'lû! [Tobacco!]’ she opened her eyes and was alive again.”
• A pretty woman made the Crane challenge the Hummingbird to a race, promising to marry the winner.(Myth 43 · The Race Between the Crane and the Hummingbird)
  • With: the Crane a pretty woman (Myth 43)
  • “she finally told him he must challenge the other to a race and she would marry the winner.”
• The Hummingbird and the Crane agreed to race for the woman's hand in marriage.(Myth 43 · The Race Between the Crane and the Hummingbird)
  • With: the Crane a pretty woman (Myth 43)
  • “They agreed to start from her house and fly around the circle of the world to the beginning, and the one who came in first would marry the woman.”
• The Crane won the race, but the woman refused to marry him and stayed single.(Myth 43 · The Race Between the Crane and the Hummingbird)
  • With: the Crane a pretty woman (Myth 43)
  • “He took his time at breakfast and then fixed himself up as nicely as he could at the creek and came in at the starting place where the woman lived, early in the morning. When the Hummingbird arrived in the afternoon he found he had lost the race, but the woman declared she would never have such an ugly fellow as the Crane for a husband, so she stayed single.”

Myth 6 · How They Brought Back the Tobacco

• recipient: the old woman (Myth 6) “but he blew the smoke into her nostrils, and with a cry of ‘Tsâ'lû! [Tobacco!]’ she opened her eyes and was alive again.”

Myth 43 · The Race Between the Crane and the Hummingbird

• rivals with the Crane “At the word the Hummingbird darted off like an arrow and was out of sight in a moment, leaving his rival to follow heavily behind.”
• admired: a pretty woman (Myth 43) “The Hummingbird and the Crane were both in love with a pretty woman.”

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Extracted from the original text of Myths of the Cherokee. Made with Rho MD.