36 h 39 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 36 h 39 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A clever Rabbit tricks larger creatures, while mountains and deep waters hold beings both strange and powerful.
In Myths of the Cherokee, James Mooney gathers stories of beginnings, animals, spirits and places alongside a history of the Cherokee people. The collection opens with that history, then turns to tales of how the world takes shape, how fire reaches people, and how animals and plants become linked with sickness and healing.
Mooney draws on years spent among the Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina, recording elders’ stories alongside older records. Meet the quick-witted Rabbit, the horned serpent Uktena and the Little People. Follow legends tied to Kituwah, Nikwasi and Soco Gap, while noticing both the care and the limits of the scholar who gathers them.
What you’ll discover
- A world taking shape Explore origin stories that describe the earth as an island held beneath the sky.
- Fire on an island Follow a tale in which lightning strikes a hollow sycamore and begins the story of fire.
- The Rabbit’s clever tricks Meet a small, quick animal whose cunning makes trouble for creatures bigger than himself.
- Beings of mountain and water Encounter tales of the Uktena, ghosts, giants and Little People in a landscape rich with stories.
- Places that carry stories See how named towns, mounds and stone tracks connect the landscape with Cherokee traditions.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you love myths and folktales, trickster animals, mountain landscapes, or the story of how a people kept its memory alive.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The stories begin with listening
- The homeland holds memories of movement
- Change and exile shape the tellers
- Different stories have different keepers
- Corn and cures grow from relationships
- The sky carries human feelings
- The Rabbit makes cleverness look costly
- The mountains hold danger and help
- History and notes belong beside myths
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Myths of the Cherokee
by James Mooney · 1900
A rabbit cheats an otter out of his coat while a medicine man stalks a horned serpent with a blazing crystal.
Challenging10–20 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Picture a hunter in the Great Smoky Mountains who hears drums and dancing from a townhouse he cannot find. He walks toward the sound and it moves behind him.
Myths of the Cherokee at a glance
- Reading time
- About 19 h 30 min15 h 30 min fast, 23 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 278,800 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1900by James Mooney
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A scholar went to the mountains to listen
Mooney set out to record what the Cherokee themselves remembered. Between 1887 and 1890 he spent several field seasons with them, writing down their history, plants, medicine, songs and language.
He chose the Eastern Cherokee as his main source. They lived on the Qualla Reservation in western North Carolina, and their ancestors had stayed in the mountains while most of the nation was sent west. Mooney judged that old traditions lasted best among these people.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1900
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/myths-of-the-cherokee.
Mooney, J. (2026). Myths of the Cherokee. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/myths-of-the-cherokee (Original work published 1900)
Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/myths-of-the-cherokee.
@book{mooney2026myths,
author = {Mooney, James},
title = {Myths of the Cherokee},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/myths-of-the-cherokee},
note = {First published 1900}
}
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What is Myths of the Cherokee about?
It collects Cherokee myths, legends and animal stories gathered by James Mooney in the 1880s and 1890s, with a history of the tribe, detailed notes, place names and a glossary. It covers creation tales, tricksters, monsters and spirit people.
Who is the Uktena in Cherokee myth?
The Uktena is a great horned serpent with a blazing crystal, the Ulunsuti, set in its forehead. Meeting it means death, but a medicine man named Agan-unitsi shoots its heart, shelters inside a circle of fire and wins the crystal.
Is Myths of the Cherokee a true record or invented fiction?
Mooney recorded the stories from named Cherokee tellers such as Swimmer, John Ax and James Wafford, mostly between 1887 and 1890. They are traditional tales, and he adds notes comparing them with stories from other tribes.
The author
James Mooney
1861–1921 · American ethnographer
James Mooney (1861–1921) was an American ethnographer with the Bureau of American Ethnology who lived among the Cherokee and recorded their history, sacred stories, and traditions. His Myths of the Cherokee remains a foundational record of Cherokee oral literature.
More by James Mooney
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