[Image Credit: Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children by Mabel Powers, 1917, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22096/22096-h/22096-h.htm.]
[Note: Numbers below correspond to the map found on the main page.]
Fairies of diminutive, mischievous mien are termed Yunwi Tsunsdi, which means in Cherokee, “Little People.” They and the other such beings in our area hate being called “fairies.” In Tennessee, these fairies can inhabit rocks and trees in addition to their usual haunts (such as in the moss and under mushrooms). They prefer to be invisible but will appear as miniature, child-sized humans, well-proportioned, with hair that reaches to the ground. Their skin can be “golden” like that of the Cherokees, but also white or black. They can appear as bright-winged butterflies or tinier insects with shining wings. Strangely, twins can most easily see the Little People. Their fairy paths can be blocked by human-created objects like waterlines, which can cause them to depart a house or property. Rocks falling from a mountainside are usually their doing. Their tracks are apparent in the spider webs that gleam in blades of grass at sunrise or sunset. They also show themselves by a shadow darting through a forest or a word bubbling up from a creek bed.
Rules for the Little People
In Tennessee most fairy Little People love music, drumming, and dancing. Do not try to find them if you hear their drums playing in some remote part of the wilderness. They will cast a spell on you that can cause you to get lost. Even if you get back home, you will still be dazed ever after. Some little people in Tennessee, however, are known to help lost children find their way home or to return lost items, even if most of their activity is frustrating (though when they help adults find their way home, the adults sometimes die afterwards. They have been known to give crumbly bread to those they help, which seems like it would not satisfy, but somehow it does). It is unwise to talk unnecessarily about encounters with them. Do not leave the house to find them if you hear them talking or working outside (they sometimes plow and even harvest crops). It is reported you can die if you go out to watch them work. Strangely, though, some people have kept little people as servants. There are stories of spiritually gifted Cherokee “owning” them and keeping them in stone milk jars. These domesticated little people protected property, and when their owners died, they roamed the hills looking for them or a new owner. They were offered straight water corn bread as propitiation or “food.” In general, Indian medicine men and “witches” are the only ones capable of this type of interaction with them. The little people lead these ones in the forest to healing herbs to cure the ailing. Those not gifted with spiritual sight will sometimes see the little people as glowing orbs. They will sometimes get dogs on the hunt on their trail, and then vanish. Footprints of the little people were found behind Mingo Falls in a cave on the Eastern Band reservation about 100 years ago. They can be offended, at which point they will leave an area for good.
- 47. Mingo Falls (outside Cherokee; access area off Big Cove Road):
In Tennessee they are friendly but will harshly punish anyone disrespectful or aggressive towards them. They will play tricks on you, such as pulling on your fishing line to make you think you’ve caught a huge fish, but then there’s only a twig on your line. Some say you should sprinkle tobacco or some offering like apples, honey, corn, old jewelry or silver, or fresh meat to them before entering the forest as payment to enter. Such actions could be trafficking in demons, though (the Indian shamans were usually invoking fae beings because they used these powers to fight the demonic powers of witches and wizards, who are killed when their spells are successfully countered). The only possible way a Christian might be able to imitate this practice would be to sprinkle this gift with holy water before leaving it. (Verify with a priest whether this is a prudent action; I am not endorsing this. Further study is needed.) Don’t take random items (like knives or trinkets) you find in the forest for it may belong to the little people. They can throw stones at you for doing so. Some say it is safe to say, “Little People, I would like to take this” before taking it.
The Three Clans
The most malicious little people are the Rock clan, who living in rocky areas are quick to get even and will hurl rocks at people. They are the children-stealing type of fairy. They have led humans to their doom in the Tallulah Falls gorge in Georgia. The Laurel clan (living in and near mountain laurel groves in the eastern mountains and on the Highland Rim, such as at Montgomery Bell along Woodhaven Lake and even on the remnants of the Rim at Radnor Lake along the Ganier Ridge Trail), however, are joyful and humorous, but they do like to play tricks. The Dogwood clan are the most friendly and could provide healing arts, but also stern and serious and should be left alone. They live among dogwood trees. They will sometimes protect the ill, the young, and the old. They will many times speak the Cherokee language. These are like a North American version of the Scottish Brownie, and it’s possible that if you have a dogwood tree nearby your house, one of these little people will perform chores on your property the way the Brownies do. The Cherokee also knew of a type of spirit that lives in the home and protects it from witches. For settler Americans, however, the brownie from Europe has probably taken over this role. Fairies can also appear as animals, usually deer.
- 48. Tallulah Falls (100 Main St, Tallulah Falls, GA 30573 is the address for Overlook 6):
The three clans represent three landform types, as well. The Dogwood clan, along with their namesake tree, inhabit elevations below 4,500 feet (or where dogwoods grow). They are the most numerous, then. The Laurel Clan, like their namesake the mountain laurel, generally inhabit areas above 800 feet (so on the Highland Rim, but not in the Nashville Basin). The Rock Clan inhabit rocky outcrops, whether these be at the base of the Earth or at the tops of mountains. They are associated as well with caves. They are therefore more marginal, around the edges. Judging by the character of these clans, we can say that most of the landscape around us is friendly and helpful, but not too friendly; most of the higher elevations are playful but mischievous; and most of the rocky, marginal areas (and areas that open to deeper, darker realms) are hostile and dangerous. The spirit guardians of different landforms therefore mirror the physical characteristics of the areas they guard, though obviously areas can be a mix of all three clans and landforms.
