Cherokee Legends
Stories of the Nvnehi (Spirit Warriors)
These stories I am about to tell you are told as true
stories, not as legends. Most Cherokee, as well as
most other nations, believe in the creation of diverse
types of peoples in existence, not just us, the
physical humans. On this page, I will relate to you
the stories told to James Mooney by the Cherokee of a
specific type of people that inhabited several
locations in the lands of the Cherokee.
The Nvnehi (which today are usually referred to as
Spirit Warriors ) are very seldom spoken of.
But there are stories that have been passed down
through the generations.
Nvnehi roughly translated means people who live
anywhere.
They were believed to be of an immortal spiritual race
and lived throughout the Cherokee lands, anywhere from
high on top of the mountains, where trees don't grow,
to below the mounds in the earth around Niquasi.
Now please, do not get them confused with the
Aniyvwiya Tsundsi, the Little People. When the Nvnehi
were seen, they were seen with the same physical
characteristics of ordinary people.
The Little People, however, were always reported never
to being over 3 foot tall.
Sometimes they were seen as being very short, even
knee-high. In reference to the Nvnehi, many tribes and
nations as a whole have their own stories in reference
to spirit beings of the same type. Most were always
kind and generously good hearted. Now, keep in mind,
the Nvnehi were never considered anisgina (ghosts or
as now accepted as evil spirits), nor have they been
related to as gods in the Cherokee world.
In summary using the stories told, the Nvnehi were a
tribe of people who were known to live together in
townhouses.
They were usually unseen by human eyes, but when seen,
no obvious difference could be told.
At least, not until they disappeared right before your
eyes.
They were considered immortal and was known to always
help those in tremendous need.
Could these beings be angels? But since in the general
acceptance that angels? do not reside in townhouses at
least not here on Mother Earth, were they some other
kind of spiritual beings that Creator has put here for
our protection?
This is what is generally accepted throughout the
Americas by the original natives. As I've just
mentioned, when these Spirit Warriors wanted to be
seen, they looked just like any other Indian.
They loved to dance and play their drums at all hours.
If a hunter or traveller heard their drumbeat or music
(which was often), and tried to find this invisible
townhouse, the dancers would move before found and
continue on with their dance. The searcher would then
usually hear the music somewhere behind them or in a
different direction, but none has ever been reported
as having been seen without invitation by them alone.
They are considered to be a very kind race and have
been known to help those in need, especially if lost
in the mountains. There are stories told that when a
lost traveller needed shelter or food, the Spirit
Warriors would take them to their townhouses and give
them what they needed before showing them the way back
home.
Many, many times, the Spirit Warriors would also
assist in battles if needed. One such place was at the
Cherokee town of Niquasi along the Little Tennessee
River. The Cherokee people across their land had been
raided by a now-forgotten tribe and many were
slaughtered and most everything destroyed. Even the
most fiercest of the Cherokee war chiefs could not
hold the raiders back. All of the lower settlements
had been destroyed and the raiders were making their
way into the mountains.
The peoples of Niquasi had gathered together in their
townhouse and but kept watchers out on the edges of
the settlement looking for signs that the immenent
disaster was nearing. And then one morning, very
early, it happened. The warriors grabbed all their
weapons and headed out to protect their lands and
families. After fighting fervently for what seemed a
very long time, the warriors found they were not
succeeding in pushing back the raiders. They were
tired, heart-broken and had lost most of their
strength, as well as their own spirit.
Just as the warriors decided it best to retreat and
return to their families to fight one last battle, a
man appeared in their midst. No one knew who this
stranger was. But he raised his voice and told the war
chief to tell his warriors to back off, he would force
the enemy to retreat. Many of the witnesses said that
this stranger spoke, and was dressed, as a chief from
one of the Overhill settlements in Tennessee.
The Niquasi warriors fell back and watched as a large
group of unknown warriors came up from out of the
mound as if they were walking through a doorway.
Instantly, they realized these warriors were of the
Nvnehi, but had never known of their village here at
the Niquasi mound. Hundreds and hundreds of these
spiritual warriors kept coming out of the mound,
dressed and painted as for war. But the truly strange
thing that was seen this day was that these new
warriors would become invisible again as they left the
boundaries of the village. Even the intruders saw them
disappear. They could see arrows flying towards them,
feel the tomahawks coming down on them, but they could
not see these supernatural attackers.
Needless to say, the raiders didn�t take long
before they started fleeing. It is told they first
starting south along the ridge to the French Broad
from the Tuckasegee and then turned northeast. All the
while, they were trying to hide themselves behind
trees and rocks--any thing!-- to keep from the
Nvnehi�s arrows. But as the arrows flew, they
would divert around the obstacles and kill the enemy,
always hitting their mark. There was no place the
invaders could hide to escape these Spirit Warriors.
All along the ridge, the enemy fell. Their bodies laid
scattered everywhere. By the time the remnant reached
the main ridge at the French Broad, only about 6
remained. These few, seeing their fate, stopped
running, sat down, and pleaded for their lives.
At this point, the first stranger, who by now was the
apparent chief of the Nvnehi of the Niquasi mound,
walked up to those who had surrendered. He told them
they had received exactly what they deserved because
they had attacked a peaceful tribe. But he spared
their lives and told them to return home and to tell
their people what had occurred. (This is a general
tradition among Indians, to allow a few to return home
to tell the news.) At this point, the raiders went
north to their home and the Nvnehi returned to the
mound. And for a long time, maybe still to this day,
the Cherokee call this place, Dayulsvi meaning, "where
they cried."
It is said that the Nvnehi village is still there at
the mound, at least up until the early 1900's. During
the Civil War, a large troop of the Union soldiers was
going to attack a small group of the Confederates that
had been posted at Niquasi. But before they attacked,
the Union soldiers saw that Niquasi was surrounded by
a countless number of the Nvnehi, standing as if at
guard around the small town. Needless to say, this
terrified the Union soldiers so much that they turned
around and never attacked.
Another story is told by an old man. One day, when all
the village's warriors were off on doing different
things, mostly hunting, others visiting other
settlements, this particular old man was chopping wood
by a ridge. Without warning, a group of attackers came
upon him. He thought they were Shawnee, maybe Seneca
(but wasn't sure). He threw his hatchet at the most
available target and then ran for his home to get his
gun and fight until what he knew would be the end for
him! He made it to his house, grabbed his gun and ran
to go back outside. But upon exiting his home, he
stopped short!
Between him and the invaders was an even larger band
of unknown warriors driving back the enemy. He joined
in with this new group of friends, not asking any
questions, fighting the attackers until they finally
retreated across the mountain. And then after all the
attackers had all disappeared, the old man turned to
thank his new friends, but there was no one standing
there. He was standing there alone!
That was when he realized that these must have been
the renowned Nvnehi.
There is another man, well-known to have always been a
truthful and exceptionally hard-headed man in his town
of Nottely, that told a story of when he was a young
boy having spent time with the Nvnehi. The old man
told how once when he was about 10 to 12 years old, he
was out and playing around the river, practicing with
his bow and arrows. After a while, he got bored and
decided to build a trap for fish. As he was building
two walls out of rocks, a man came up and asked him
what he was doing. After the boy told him, the man
said, Well, that's pretty hard work and you ought to
rest a while. Come and take a walk up the river.
The boy declined explaining to the stranger it was
almost time to go home and eat dinner. The man then
offered to the boy to come to his house and he would
give him a good dinner and then take the boy back home
in the morning.
So the boy agreed and went with the man to his house.
After they entered the house, the boy saw the
man�s family there. They were all happy to have
him there as a visitor. He ate very well and they were
very kind to him. While the boy was eating, a man the
boy knew, walked into the house and talked with him a
bit. This made the boy more comfortable and felt more
at home. When they were finished eating, he played
with the other children and then later went to bed. In
the morning, he ate breakfast and then the man was
ready to take the boy back home.
The man took him down a trail that was between a
cornfield and peach orchard. When they reached another
trail, the man told him how to continue on home. The
man returned to his home and the boy followed on the
trail. After a short ways, he decided to look back,
but to his surprise there was no cornfield, orchard,
house or anything else.
Just trees on the side of a mountain! He knew this was
strange, but yet he wasn't afraid and continued on
until he was back at his home. There were many people
there that apparently had been looking for him. They
came running up to him and explained that they had
been looking for him since the day before. After they
asked him where he was, he explained to them and then
added that he thought that Usdiskala would have told
them all where he was. (This is the man he had seen at
the house during dinner.) Usdiskala denied seeing him
and said he had been out on the river along with
others looking for the boy. Then they realized that it
must have been the Nvnehi and explained to the boy
that it had to be the Nvnehi because there was no
house there in that area. And in this place, there
have been many people report of hearing drums and
music.
Yet another story tells of four Nvnehi women coming
down to Nottely and attending a dance. They danced
half way through the night with the young men from
town. Nobody knew who they were and simply thought
they were from a different town. About midnight, the
women decided to go home. Some of the men had already
gone outside the townhouse to catch a breath of air,
saw them leave and decided to quietly watch the women
to see what way they went home. The women went down
toward the river, but before they reached the water
they disappeared. There was nothing there to block
their view and no place for the women to hide. That's
when the men knew the women were Nvnehi. Several men
had witnessed this and one of them was well-known for
his honesty.
Again, another man, well known to be honest, came
riding hard into Nottely one day. He told the story of
how on his way he had heard drums and dance songs off
in an odd place. He rode over to where he had heard
the sounds to find out who could be doing this in such
an unusual place. But when he got there, there was no
one and the drums and songs started up behind him.
This had frightened him very much and the
town�s people believed his story because of his
reputation and reaction upon reaching town. There have
always been tales of hearing the drums in this area.
At least up until the Removal.
There is also another place on an upper branch of
Nottely, almost due north from Blood mountain, that
had the appearance of a chimney coming up out of the
ground. And there would be a vapor that would come up
out of it and would heat the surrounding air. The
locals said the Nvnehi had a townhouse underneath
there. During the winter, people would stop and warm
up there, but never stayed long.
Another story takes place somewhere at the head of
Tugaloo. There was a very well defined circular
outline (about 3 foot deep) that was about the same
size as a townhouse. Inside it was always clean, as if
someone swept it out from time to time. People would
throw things into this depression, things like rocks,
wood, even logs. But when they would come back
through, these things would always have been thrown
out from the circle, far out from the hole. Again, the
Nvnehi were beleived to have lived there. People would
not go near it for fear of disturbing them. But later,
some traders threw some logs into the hole and the
logs never were removed. Thus, the locals decided that
the Nvnehi must have decided to leave because of the
annoying white men!
There is a place called Yahulai near the Dahlonega in
Georgia. And the story of this place tells that long
before the Revolution, Yahula was a well-off stock
trader amongst the Cherokee. He was known to hang
bells around his horses that pulled his wagon so
people could hear him coming on the mountain trails.
Once after a great hunt Yahula had involved with, all
the warriors decided to return home. But they
couldn�t find Yahula. They searched and
searched, but eventually gave up, thinking that Yahula
must have died. And eventually, some time after this,
Yahula walked into his family�s house during
dinner and sat down amongst them.
They started questioning him immediately and he
finally explained that he had become lost and the
Nvnehi found him and brought him back to their town,
which is where he had been up to this point. He told
he had been treated with the best and kindest of care,
but he eventually started missing his friends and
families and decided to return home, and this is why
he was there at this time. His friends and family
asked him to eat, but Yahula replied that he could
never consume human food again since he had tasted the
Nvnehi food. And it was because of this, he would have
to return to the Nvnehi. His family begged and begged
him to stay, but he insisted he could not do so. If he
stayed, then it would be certain death, so he must
choose to live with the Nvnehi. He stayed a little
while longer talking with them. But he decided it was
time to go. He stood up and as soon as he reached the
door, he disappeared right before their eyes.
It is said that he came back often to see his people.
He would become visible as soon as he entered the
home, sit and talk for a while, and then again
disappear as he walked through the door, no matter how
many people were watching. But on his last visit, his
family and friends had begged him to stay so hard that
he, or the Nvnehi, became agitated and he never came
again.
At the head of the creek, about 10 miles north of
Dahlonega, there is an enclosure made of solid stone,
no roof or doors. This is where Yahula was said to
reside. There were many stories told by travellers
that as they travelled at night through this area,
they could hear his voice singing his favorite songs
as he drove his horses across the mountains. They'd
hear a whip and bells tingling as his horses would
move on up the trail. But none of them ever saw him or
the horses. After the Removal, no one had ever heard
from Yahula again.
http://www.geocities.com/willow1d/nvnehi.html
Nvnehi-The Spirit Warriors
HAIL SATAN!
Charlie
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