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Overview
In Mooney’s Stone Man account, a hunter looking across a mountain river notices an old man testing the end of a shining stone cane. The stranger points it toward a distant hunting camp, smells it and begins moving in that direction. At the river, he throws the cane into the air: it becomes a stone bridge, then resumes its smaller form after he crosses. The hunter takes a shorter route to warn the camp. There the stranger is identified as Nunyunuwi, Dressed in Stone, a cannibal whose rock-covered body defeats ordinary attacks. His cane finds victims much as a tracking dog would. Seven menstruating women confront him along the path, and each encounter further weakens him until he falls. Loftin and Frey’s Cherokee-centred interpretation relates their power to life and creation, giving a different emphasis from the collector’s language of sickness and contamination. Their study includes an Eastern Band Cherokee coauthor.
The story then changes from pursuit to instruction. The fallen being is restrained and burned, but as the fire approaches he reveals knowledge concerning illness and teaches hunting songs. His voice fades through the night; at dawn the fire has left ashes, red pigment and a powerful stone. The concluding distribution of gifts makes his death productive for the community rather than a simple disappearance of an enemy. The public scholarly discussion interprets that movement in relation to Cherokee religious foundations and subsistence. Mooney’s own explanatory note also limits the witness: Swimmer, his principal narrator for this episode, sometimes mixed it with Spearfinger’s story, while other narrators recognized the Stone Man account but could not supply all its details in sequence. The stone skin, locating cane and transformed bridge therefore belong to a specifically recorded telling. They enrich its plot without establishing a universally fixed version or licensing the reproduction of healing formulas.
Origins & earliest records
Nunyunuwi is documented in Mooney's historical collection, with the inspected edition dated 1902, and interpreted in Loftin and Frey's 2019 article. Neither establishes a first telling. The narrative belongs to accounts of the long ago and religious beginnings; that story setting should not be converted into a prehistoric calendar date.
Records & interpretation
The directly inspected 2019 article includes an enrolled Eastern Band Cherokee coauthor and explains its Cherokee-centred approach. It supports the public account of defeat, instruction and religious significance while remaining a particular scholarly interpretation. Mooney is an earlier collector-mediated witness. Neither source licenses treating sacred narrative as a biological report or every Cherokee person's identical belief.
In the literature
“his whole body was covered with a skin of solid rock.”
Complete story67, printed pp.319–320; corresponding complete note pp.468–469
The stone-clad cannibal tracks the camp using a shining cane that becomes a river bridge. The complete selected narrative ends in his destruction and aftermath; practical ceremonial sequences, petitions, songs and treatment knowledge are omitted from this enrichment. Note67 expressly calls this collected version fragmentary because Swimmer confounded it with Spearfinger. Reading the complete published fragment does not establish a complete oral tradition.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Eastern Cherokee Creation and Subsistence Narratives: A Cherokee and Religious Interpretation
American Indian Culture and Research Journal 43(1), pp. 83–98; DOI 10.17953/aicrj.43.1.loftin-frey; public religious interpretation directly inspected.
- 02
Myths of the Cherokee
Story 67, pp. 319–320, and notes p. 468–469; collector explicitly acknowledges fragmentary recollection and confusion with Spearfinger.
- 03
Myths of the Cherokee — Nunyunuwi 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 — Nunyunuwi 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 stone-clad cannibal tracks the camp using a shining cane that becomes a river bridge. The complete selected narrative ends in his destruction and aftermath; practical ceremonial sequences, petitions, songs and treatment knowledge are omitted from this enrichment. Note67 expressly calls this collected version fragmentary because Swimmer confounded it with Spearfinger. Reading the complete published fragment does not establish a complete oral tradition.
Complete story67, printed pp.319–320; corresponding complete note pp.468–469
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.
- ResearchLoftin and Frey: Eastern Cherokee Creation and Subsistence NarrativesResearch access: 2026-10-05
- Primary textMooney: Stone Man narrative and informant noteResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
