Research source

Tsul`kalû', the slant-eyed giant (p

Date of account: Material collected chiefly 1887-1890; published 1900
Source: Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology
Reference: Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology · selected passage 167
Rights: public_domain
Language: English with Cherokee names and material translated from oral testimony
Translation: Collected and edited by James Mooney
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

81. Tsul`kalû', the slant-eyed giant (p. 337): The story of Tsul`kalû' is one of the finest and best known of the Cherokee legends. It is mentioned as early as 1823 by Haywood, who spells the name Tuli-cula, and the memory is preserved in the local nomenclature of western Carolina. Hagar also alludes briefly to it in his manuscript Stellar Legends of the Cherokee. The name signifies literally "he has them slanting," being understood to refer to his eyes, although the word eye (akta', plural dikta') is not a part of it. In the plural form it is also the name of a traditional race of giants in the far west (see number 106, "The Giants from the West"). Tsul`kalû' lives in Tsunegûñ'yi and is the great lord of the game, and as such is frequently invoked in the hunting formulas. The story was obtained from Swimmer and John Ax, the Swimmer version being the one here followed.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

Lattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.

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