okee maiden. Should they favour
his request, brilliancy should be added to, rather than taken from,
their eyes, and their rattles should grow in size, and increase in
number and speed of motion. But, if they refused to grant him the
boon, the eye, and the tooth, and the rattle, should be taken from
them by force, whereby they would lose the benefit of having done
something to be thanked for.

Upon hearing this, the chief of the Wise Old Kings called a council of
his nation. I know not what was said in this council, but I can tell
my brother what was done. They drew lots among them, and he upon whom
the lot fell submitted to lose an eye, and a tooth, and a rattle.
Having given these to the Muscogulgee, the eldest of the Kings
instructed him in their history, their laws, and their policy,
replying particularly to the questions suggested by the Cherokee
_powwow_.

"We were created," said he, "after all the other beings were created,
and were formed from the variegated sand which is found on the shores
of the distant Lake of the Woods. It was in a pleasant and sunny
morning in the Buck-Moon, that the Great Spirit, having nothing else
to do, amused himself, as he sat in the warm sun on the bank of this
lake, with twisting ropes of those particoloured sands. Having
twisted, in mere sport, a considerable number, and laid them aside, it
came to his mind that amidst all the variety of creatures he had
formed, whose means of locomotion were walking, flying, swimming,
hopping, trotting, running, there were none ordained to move
altogether by crawling. 'Now,' said he to himself, 'if I were breathe
into these ropes the breath of life, and to invest them with the power
to run about, would it not be a sight worth seeing?--would it not
create a deal of sport among the other animals? But I will make them
more wonderful yet.'

"So saying, he selected a number of small round stones, of which he
thrust several into one end of the ropes. Before him, upon the shore,
were scattered many stones of different hues, but all of surpassing
brilliancy, and each outshining the beams of the meridian sun. He
placed one of these shining gems in the other end of each rope, and
then blew upon them until they exhibited signs of life. When the ropes
began to move, their strange and zigzag motions, and the rattling of
their tails, excited the mirth of the Great Being, who laughed loud
and long at the oddity he had formed. That portion of them to which he