A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
A hunter meets a panther in winter and prepares to shoot, but the animal speaks and seems to share his own nature. It proposes that they hunt together for a Green-corn dance. Several deer are rejected; one is killed but its damaged skin is unsuitable. The panther finally takes another, coils its tail around the body and carries it on its back toward a spring.
A hillside opens into a warm, green world containing a fine townhouse and a gathering of panthers. The hunter joins their dance. When he decides to leave after what seems a brief visit, the door opens onto the snowy winter forest again. At home a search party is preparing to look for him: he has been missing for days.
He dies within seven days of returning. The narration explains that his nature had already begun to change into that of the panthers; remaining with them would have allowed him to live. The ending therefore depends on incomplete passage between communities, rather than an attack during the feast. Mooney attributes the story to John Ax. His appended European time-lapse comparison is a collector’s analogy, not evidence of this story’s origin.
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
Story 73, printed p. 324; note 73 identifies John Ax. The complete selected narrative and its contributor note support the episode; Mooney’s comparative theories are distinguished from the telling.
In the literature
“he had already begun to take on the panther nature”
Complete story73, printed pp.324; complete corresponding note pp.471
A speaking panther leads the hunter through a hillside entrance to a warm green dance community during winter. The first killed deer is rejected because its skin is torn; the next is carried to the gathering. The guest returns to cold snow and discovers several days elapsed. He dies within seven days because, in the account, he has begun taking panther nature; survival had he stayed is expressly stated.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Myths of the Cherokee
Story 73, printed p. 324; note 73 identifies John Ax.
- 02
Myths of the Cherokee — THE UNDERGROUND PANTHERS
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 UNDERGROUND PANTHERS
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.
- A speaking panther leads the hunter through a hillside entrance to a warm green dance community during winter. The first killed deer is rejected because its skin is torn; the next is carried to the gathering. The guest returns to cold snow and discovers several days elapsed. He dies within seven days because, in the account, he has begun taking panther nature; survival had he stayed is expressly stated.
Complete story73, printed pp.324; complete corresponding note pp.471
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: story 73, printed p. 324; note 73 identifies John AxResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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