A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Two hunters share a prohibition against squirrel or turkey meat, although the reason for it is not specified. One nevertheless cooks squirrels, dismissing his companion’s warning that he will become a snake. He eats and falls asleep. During the night, groans wake the other hunter, who sees his companion’s lower body becoming the tail of a large water snake.
The change moves upwards while the suffering hunter can still speak and ask for help. His companion offers comfort but cannot reverse it. The arms sink into the body, scales reach the neck, and finally the head changes. The snake then crawls away into the river. The account ends there, with no subsequent cure or attack. Mooney’s note credits Chief Smith and interprets the tale as an admonition about prohibitions; that interpretation is distinct from a claim that particular foods cause physical transformation.
Origins & earliest records
Mooney’s inspected Myths of the Cherokee edition is dated 1902. The named contributor is preserved in the appended story notes; publication is not a date for the beginning of oral transmission.
Records & interpretation
Complete selected narrative and corresponding contributor note were inspected. Story57, The Snake Man, pp.304–305; note57 credits Chief Smith.
In the literature
“the arms sink into the body”
Complete story57, printed pp.304–305; complete corresponding note pp.462–463
The skeptical hunter changes progressively from lower-body snake form to a wholly scaled serpent while his companion cannot reverse the transformation. The final snake crawls into the river; no human restoration is narrated. The story’s food prohibition remains source context, without copied practical ceremonial prescriptions. Comparative Ovid/Pawnee/Omaha examples are only known here through Mooney’s note.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Myths of the Cherokee
Story57, The Snake Man, pp.304–305; note57 credits Chief Smith.
- 02
Myths of the Cherokee — THE SNAKE MAN
Selected1902 Washington Government Printing Office offprint of Myths of the Cherokee, Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology; title independently read. Historical English collector-mediated 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 — THE SNAKE MAN
Selected1902 Washington Government Printing Office offprint of Myths of the Cherokee, Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology; title independently read. Historical English collector-mediated narratives.
- The skeptical hunter changes progressively from lower-body snake form to a wholly scaled serpent while his companion cannot reverse the transformation. The final snake crawls into the river; no human restoration is narrated. The story’s food prohibition remains source context, without copied practical ceremonial prescriptions. Comparative Ovid/Pawnee/Omaha examples are only known here through Mooney’s note.
Complete story57, printed pp.304–305; complete corresponding note pp.462–463
No whole collection, independent oral recording, scientific verification or separate comparative work reviewed. Collector’s broad ethnographic and historical interpretations remain attributed, not asserted as universals.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textMooney 1902: Story57, The Snake Man, pp.304–305; note57 credits Chief Smith.Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.