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                              OCCONEECHEE
                      THE MAID OF THE MYSTIC LAKE


                                   BY
                          ROBERT FRANK JARRETT
                 Author of "Back Home and Other Poems"


                         THE SHAKESPEARE PRESS
                           410 E. 32d Street
                                New York
                                  1916







                           Copyrighted, 1916
                            By R. F. Jarrett







PREFACE.


Realizing that the memory of a nation is best kept aglow by its
songs and the writings of its poets, I have been inspired to write
OCCONEECHEE, in order that the once powerful nation known as the
Cherokee may be preserved in mind, and that their myths, their legends
and their traditions may linger and be transmitted to the nations
yet to come.

Trusting that a generous people may hail with delight the advent
of this new work, I now dedicate its pages to all lovers of music,
poetry and fine art.


    When you've read its pages give or lend
    This volume to some good old friend.


The Author.







BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR.


Robert Frank Jarrett was born in Asheville, N. C., on July 21st, 1864,
and while having resided in other states and cities and visited many of
the most important sections of the South, yet has made his principal
home within the shadows of the rugged mountain peaks of his native
and picturesque home land, the Old North State.

He was educated in the field and forest, by rippling stream and
rolling rill, studied in the open book of Nature and recited to the
Master of Destinies where the shadows of the everlasting hills lock
hands with the sunshine of the valley.

He is a reader and student of the ancient writers and poets of all
ages, singer of the old songs, lover of the new;

Servant in official capacity for many years of National, State and
Civic governments; humble worker with the busy toilers, and writer
of prose and verse from earliest childhood;

Author of "Back Home and Other Poems," published in 1911, and many
other manuscripts not yet published.

Married to Sallie C. Wild, of Franklin, N. C., on Dec. 25th, 1892. For
twenty years a resident of Dillsboro, N. C., where orchard and field
and dense deep forests have inspired and impelled him on.







CONTENTS

                                                Page

    Part   I. The Cherokee,                        7
    Part  II. Occoneechee,                        21
    Part III. Myths of the Cherokee,             127
    Part  IV. Glossary of Cherokee Words,        197







ILLUSTRATIONS


    Portrait of Robert Frank Jarrett,   Frontispiece
    Tuckaseigee Falls, above Dillsboro,            9
    Along Scott's Creek, below Balsam,            21
    Sunset from Mt. Junaluska,                    26
    Lake Junaluska, near Waynesville,             26
    A Glimpse of the Craggies,                    37
    From Top of Chimney Rock,                     37
    Graybeard Mountain,                           37
    Chimney Top,                                  37
    Upper Catawba Falls, Esmeralda,               43
    Occoneechee Falls, Jackson County,            43
    In the Cherokee Country,                      43
    Whitewater Falls,                             43
    The Balsam Mountains in Jackson Co.,          51
    North from Sunset Rock, Tryon Mt.,            51
    Balsam Mountains,                             67
    From Bald Rock,                               67
    Lower Cullasaja Falls,                        73
    Mount Pisgah,                                 77
    Indian Mound, Franklin, N. C.,                77
    Tallulah Falls, Ga.,                          81
    Whiteside Mountain,                           91
    Tennessee River, above Franklin,              99
    Lake Toxaway,                                 99
    Tomb of Junaluska, Robbinsville,             107
    Where the Serpent Coiled,                    107
    Harvesting at Cullowhee, N. C.,              117
    Craggy Mountains from near Asheville,        117
    Sequoya,                                     129
    John Ax, the Great Story Teller,             129
    Everglades of Florida,                       129
    Tuckaseigee River,                           139
    Kanuga Lake,                                 153
    Lake Fairfield,                              153
    Pacolet River, Hendersonville,               153
    A Cherokee Indian Ball Team,                 171
    The Pools, Chimney Rock,                     171
    French Broad River,                          185
    Broad River,                                 185
    From the Toxaway,                            191
    Chim