A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
In Mooney's main Dakwa narrative, a giant fish overturns a canoe near the Tennessee River's Tellico region and swallows a hunter. Inside, the man finds mussel shells and uses one to cut through the fish's side. Dakwa rises and thrashes as the wound grows, eventually resting in shallow water where the hunter can emerge. He survives, but the creature's internal juices have removed his hair.
The separately labelled Wahnenauhi version features a boy escaping an errand rather than a hunter. He tries to cut meat from the fish's liver, which makes it vomit him out. Shared swallowing and a shell tool do not make those endings identical. Both stories give the captive a means of acting within the apparent prison of the creature's body, while the river place name anchors the main account in a particular landscape.
Mooney's source note names Swimmer and Tagwadihi as tellers of the main account, which strengthens its attribution beyond the book's general collector credit. He separately identifies the Wahnenauhi manuscript version and quotes Haywood's short report of a swallowed boy returned to land. Those are distinct transmission lines with different levels of narrative detail. He also notes that dakwa served as the translation equivalent for whale in the Cherokee Bible. That translation choice does not establish that the river creature was a particular whale species, nor does it prove that the complete oral story was borrowed from Jonah. Mooney proposes comparisons with other swallowing tales; these remain comparative commentary rather than the narrators' stated origins.
Origins & earliest records
Mooney's 1902 edition preserves the main story and a separately attributed Wahnenauhi version under story 68, printed pages 320–321. These are dated written witnesses, not a first oral origin. The locality Dakwai is rendered as the Dakwa place, while the source does not establish a biological fish species behind the figure.
Records & interpretation
Both directly inspected versions support the swallowing episode and shell cutting, with escape through the side in one and vomiting in the other. The Wahnenauhi text is accessed here through Mooney's reproduced version, not through independent manuscript inspection. Extraordinary size and digestive effects remain narrative features rather than observations or survival advice. The narrative endings and appended source notes distinguish named transmission, regional variation and collector interpretation.
In the literature
“he was bald ever after.”
Complete story68, printed pp.320–321; corresponding complete note pp.469
The first version has a great Tennessee river fish overturn a canoe and swallow a warrior, who escapes through its side and remains bald from the stomach juices. The separately reproduced Wahnenauhi version has a disobedient boy swallowed after falling from a canoe; an attempted liver meal causes the fish to vomit him. Note68 names the contributors and notes a biblical translation use for whale, which does not identify the narrative being as a modern whale species. No fish death is separately narrated.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Myths of the Cherokee
Story 68, The Hunter in the Dakwa, and reproduced Wahnenauhi version, pp. 320–321. Appended note68 directly inspected for Swimmer, Tagwadihi, Wahnenauhi and comparative whale translation.
- 02
Myths of the Cherokee — Dakwa selected encounter
Washington Government Printing Office1902 selected offprint, Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology; title independently read. English collector-mediated Cherokee narratives.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Myths of the Cherokee — Dakwa selected encounter
Washington Government Printing Office1902 selected offprint, Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology; title independently read. English collector-mediated Cherokee narratives.
- The first version has a great Tennessee river fish overturn a canoe and swallow a warrior, who escapes through its side and remains bald from the stomach juices. The separately reproduced Wahnenauhi version has a disobedient boy swallowed after falling from a canoe; an attempted liver meal causes the fish to vomit him. Note68 names the contributors and notes a biblical translation use for whale, which does not identify the narrative being as a modern whale species. No fish death is separately narrated.
Complete story68, printed pp.320–321; corresponding complete note pp.469
No whole volume, separate oral recording or present-day community confirmation reviewed. Mooney’s broad comparative generalizations are historical editorial assertions, not endorsed ethnographic universals.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textMooney: Dakwa and the Wahnenauhi versionResearch access: 2026-10-05
- Primary textMooney1902: complete selected narrative and appended source notesResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
