Chapter XXXVIII: Part 2 (6)

Just then his elder sister returned and said in a loud voice: “What are you doing? What are you doing?” Hodadeñon replied evasively: “My elder sister, what is the reason that you have not told me that a man lay in the loft who is your elder brother? You have constantly said that we two were alone, and that that was the reason I am called Hodadeñon.” The elder sister replied: “The reason why I have not told you before is because you are inattentive.” The younger brother answered: “I cut up the tobacco because my elder brother kept saying that he desired to smoke, and I used all of it, for there was only a very small piece left, and it would seem there is an abundance of tobacco growing. As soon as I placed the pipe in his mouth he drew in the smoke and blew it out, whereupon his hair became filled with the smoke and many mice came forth from it. The room was filled with smoke. I was choking from the effects of it when I descended from the room. That is what you heard and led you to say that I was doing mischief.”

The sister retorted: “I do say that you are careless and inattentive. You used up all the tobacco. At all times it was my habit to scrape only a very small quantity, which I put into his pipe, and he would smoke. The times that he smokes are a year apart. But now you have used all the tobacco. This is the reason that I say you are careless and inattentive. Moreover, you have killed him, for I think there is no more left of that on which he must live.” Hodadeñon answered: “How far away is the place where that thing abounds?” She replied: “It is distant.” He persisted: “Come, tell me in what direction it grows.” She answered, “It is of no use for me to tell you. You could never have the power to accomplish the task of getting some.” “Guʼúʻ!” he exclaimed; “you seem to have a great contempt for my ability. Come, tell me, please.” Thus they spent the entire day disputing about the matter. The sister kept on saying: “It is of no use for me to tell you.”

Finally the lad stopped talking. It was a long time before the elder sister spoke again, saying: “Now my mind is troubled. I shall now tell you and make you understand, too. Look at this lodge of ours, which is a long lodge. It was full of our kin and relations, who are no more. Your brothers were many. They have all been lost in the region where the tobacco abounds. That place is full of what are called female sorceresses. So it is impossible for you to accomplish the task of getting the tobacco. The lad replied: “So be it. I shall make the attempt. I shall succeed in this matter, as is known [that I can]. Just look at what I can do; no matter how dark it may be I can slaughter the fleas, a task which no one else has been able to do.” The sister responded: “Do the best you can.” To this the lad said: “Tomorrow you must prepare provisions for me; I shall start then.” At once she began preparing food for the journey. The lad added: “You must make me a pack—one that is called a wrapped bundle.” So she made such a bundle and placed meat and bread in it. In the morning the two arose, whereupon the lad said: “I shall start. You and I are now to eat together for the last time.” When they had finished their meal the sister exclaimed: “My younger brother, do your best.”

Then he set out on his journey. Around the lodge he walked with his pack, murmuring as he went from place to place. Thus he spent the day. In the evening he reentered the lodge, with the words: “Oh, elder sister! I did not start. Tomorrow, I think, I shall surely start.” So saying, he laid his pack down. In the morning he said: “My elder sister, I am about to start. You say that the path leads directly south?” She replied: “That is what I have said. In certain places there are yet visible spots where fires have been kindled and where forked rods or crotched sticks are set in the earth, on which are fixed pieces of bread which are of many degrees of staleness. You also shall affix bread there to such rods. Such is the custom.” [432] The lad replied: “So be it. You shall be suddenly startled; the ashes where you have kindled a fire shall be scattered because a measure of tobacco will fall there, causing the ashes to fly up. Then you shall think that I am still alive. I believe this shall come to pass.”

Taking up his pack, the boy said: “My elder sister, I am starting—you say that the path leads directly south?” She replied: “That is what I said.” Thereupon he went out of the lodge. For a long time she heard his voice around the lodge, as he went about murmuring. After that she heard it no more. Then she said: “Now, I suppose he has started. Oh! he is to be pitied, for he will become wretched. It is doubtful whether we shall ever see each other again.” The lad followed the path, and in the evening he suddenly came to a spot where it was plain that fires had been kindled and people had spent the night. The remains were of many times. Having decided to spend the night there, he kindled a fire, by means of which he warmed the bread and the meat which he took out of his pack. When he had finished his meal, he was startled to see near by forked or crotched rods set in the ground, on some of which were fixed pieces of bread, and on others pieces of meat. These had been there for widely varying periods. At this sight he exclaimed: “Oh, how wretched did they become! Those persons who have left these remains are indeed all dead, and they were brothers to me. So I, too, shall do the same thing.” Then he set up in the ground a rod with a crotch, on which he fastened a piece of bread among the other fragments of all ages—some of them quite old. Then he lay down and went to sleep, with his body supported against his pack. In the morning, finding everything as it should be, the lad said aloud: “I am thankful that I am still alive. My elder sister said indeed that it was doubtful that she and I would see each other again, because the path I must follow passes through all manner of difficulties.”

Having said this, he set out along the path. When he had gone a long way he was startled to hear at some distance the sound, “doʻʹ, doʻʹ, doʻʹ, doʻʹ,” which one would suppose was made by a woodpecker loudly pecking on a great hollow tree. Going to the tree whence the noise came, he saw fluttering from place to place and pecking holes in the trunk a cuckoo of enormous size. A sight that caught his eye and conveyed a more serious warning was the great number of arrows stuck in the tree near the spot where the cuckoo was fluttering about. He concluded that these arrows had belonged probably to those who had been his brothers, and that therefore this bird was possessed of great orenda (magic power), which it exerted with evil purpose only. Thereupon the lad exclaimed: “It shall see its doom, for now I will kill it.” Aiming at the cuckoo, his arrow struck in the very center of its body, whereupon it began to beat with its wings against the tree to which it was pinned.

Thus leaving the bird, the boy went on until evening, when he again came to a spot where there were still traces of the former fireplace. There he stopped for the night. After taking his pack from the forehead strap and laying it aside, he kindled a fire, by which he warmed up the meat and the bread he had brought. When he finished his meal he set up a forked or pronged rod to which he fastened a small portion of bread. The spot was literally covered with rods carrying bread of all ages, which had been set up by persons at widely varying times. Having completed his offering, the boy retired for the night, resting on his pack. Soon he began to be troubled with dreams, so that he rolled and tossed from side to side and could not sleep.

Suddenly he was startled by the barking of a small dog, which had a very shrill bark, such as he had never before heard. The sound drew nearer. The night was very dark. Quickly arising and taking with him all his things he ran to a near-by stream and ran up the trunk of a tree that slanted far out over the water. In a short time he became suddenly aware from its barking that the dog was near and that it was rapidly coming nearer still. When the animal was very close the boy heard the sound of rattles [of deer knuckles] and a woman’s voice approaching, too, saying to the dog: “Do your best, my slave. Just leave me the head of Hodadeñon.” Now he was startled by the barking of the cur directly under the tree in which he was seated. Carefully fitting his arrow, he released it, whereupon the arrow flew with the sound “thum!” and he heard the cry of the cur, “kwĕñʻʹ, kwĕñʻʹ, kwĕñʻʹ,” so he knew that he had struck it. There the woman turned back, saying: “Aha! It is true, I think, as all people are saying, that Hodadeñon is without a peer in sorcery.”

In the morning the lad descended from his perch on the slanting tree and went to the place where lay the cur, stark dead. The arrow had struck the body fairly in the middle, where it still remained. He drew his arrow out of the dog’s body, when he suddenly found that there was a very small knuckle rattle tied to its neck. Having removed this rattle bell, he cast the body of the dog, which was indeed very small, into the water. In doing this he remarked, “Now will begin the period in which my mind is to be disturbed by serious difficulties, it would seem. I think those women whose minds are evil do not live far from here.” So saying, he started on his journey.

The lad had not gone far when all at once he saw a man coming toward him. As they met, the stranger said: “I am thankful that you are in health and peace, Hodadeñon.” Hodadeñon answered: “It is true in the terms of your greeting to me. It is now my turn, too, to greet you. I am thankful that you are well and in peace.” The man replied: “This is certainly the truth.” Then the two smiled, and one asked: “Is it not true that you and I are friends?” Whereupon the other answered: “Indeed it is the truth we are friends. Whence did you come?” Then the lad said: “Ho, far from here have I come. Whence did you come to this place?” The stranger replied: “I, this self of mine, came from far from here, and I have left no relations, and this is the reason why I am called Hodadeñon (Sʻhodadeñon [433]). It is known that I myself am the last one. The lodge whence I came was very long and, it is said, was full of my relations, now dead, and of my own brothers. They were destroyed on the way to the place where dwell those women of evil minds. We are friends, so let us go together. You can aid me, and we shall be able to rob them of tobacco.” The stranger’s answer was, “Be it so,” whereupon the two at once started off along the path.

After going a long distance they found the remains of a fire; there they stopped for the night. As soon as they had warmed up bread and meat they ate their evening meal. When they had finished eating the stranger said: “It is a fact that these portions of bread affixed to the top of the rods are the cause or occasion for which all our kinsmen died. Moreover, it is for us to make this a feast of Reunion of the Living, which we must use as the means of thanksgiving and prayer. We must make an offering of tobacco by casting tobacco on the fire. It is called the ceremony of making an offering of tobacco. I have tobacco with which to do this.” Hodadeñon answered: “So be it. How shall we do it?” The stranger: “All provisions that you have brought with you we must lay in a circle around the fire, and a portion we must place aside in the dark (i.e., conceal it).” Saying, “So be it,” Hodadeñon began to take the things out of his pouch and to lay them in a circle around the fire. He also hid far away in the dark some meat and bread.

Standing beside the fire and holding the tobacco from the pouch in his hand, he said: “Come now, listen to me, you, all kinds of animals and you, too, who have formed and made my life.” With these words he cast the tobacco into the fire, exclaiming: “Now do you listen; now the smoke of tobacco arises. Moreover, he and I ask you to give us assistance, all of you who inhabit the forests and who are immune to enchantment, and you who have made my life and that of my friend, who, too, has no relations left, and myself who have no relations left, for which reason I am called Hodadeñon. We shall fetch all these from the place where they have perished. These are the things for which I pray. So thus we here fulfill our obligation by placing this tobacco in this place, and we have laid away food in the darkness.” Having completed this invocation, Hodadeñon said to his companion: “Come, now, let us go.”

At midnight the two started and had gone very far when daylight came. As they traveled they suddenly heard ahead of them the sounds “duʻʹ, duʻʹ, duʻʹ, duʻʹ.” Thereupon Hodadeñon said to his friend: “Show your courage now, my friend. We have arrived, it seems, in the place where those who have evil minds dwell. Closer let us go.” At last they reached the place in which the lodge stood, and they halted some distance from it.

All at once they heard a man singing and beating a drum. As he sang, he said: “Here I am making tobacco; here I am making tobacco; here I am making tobacco; he who has tobacco prepares tobacco.” Hodadeñon said to his companion, “Now is the time,” and his friend replied: “So let it be.” Then they two entered the lodge, where they came face to face with an old man, who held a mallet in his hand with which he was pounding the tobacco all over. He was so old that his eyebrows hung down far over his eyes. Hodadeñon said to him, “Oh, my uncle!” but he did not notice him and kept on pounding the tobacco. At this, Hodadeñon, drawing his war club, struck him a blow on the forehead, causing the blood to gush forth. After a long while the old man said, “Oh! I am sweating,” at the same time wiping the blood off his forehead. Next, upraising his eyebrows and looking at them, he said: “Oh! my two nephews, you have now arrived. Take courage, my two nephews, because I myself am a slave working in tobacco.” Hodadeñon answered: “I have come after tobacco and nothing else, because my elder brother, who is far from here, desires to smoke.” The old man answered: “He is, I suppose, my own brother. So be it. Take some back with you.”

So Hodadeñon, taking up a twist of tobacco, threw it, saying: “Go hence to the opening of the chimney of the lodge where my sister abides and drop in the ashes [at her feet].” The sister, greatly surprised to see the ashes of the fire fly up, exclaimed, “I am thankful that my brother Hodadeñon, it would seem, is still alive,” and she picked up the tobacco.

Next the young men asked the man with the long eyebrows where stood the lodge of the very wicked women. He answered the spokesman: “Have courage. There stands the lodge yonder, on the farther side of the lake. It is doubtful whether you two can cross the lake. As we know, the ice on it is very slippery. No matter who it is that goes there, as soon as he steps upon the ice a man speaks out, saying: ‘Let it rain bones; let it be nothing but bones.’ And at once he becomes a pile of bones. Such will happen to you if it be that you two are sorcerers.” Hodadeñon said in reply: “Come, my friend, let us start.” Then they set out at once. Arriving at the lake, they found that the ice that covered it was very smooth and that the lodge stood on the farther shore. There a number of people were walking about. One would think that they were expecting something to happen, for they were looking around. Hodadeñon said to his companion: “Come, let us start.” Unstringing their bows, they started on their journey over the ice, in the course of which they used their bows as walking sticks, striking with them upon the ice. Everything went on all right as they made their way over the frozen surface. All at once the people on the shore saw them coming, whereupon they came at once on the ice to meet the bold visitors. At once the people shouted, “It is raining bones,” and they came on, while the two kept on their way. At last one of the people of the shore exclaimed: “Aha! Now I believe it certain that Hodadeñon, the great wizard, has arrived, and they have indeed crossed the lake.” Then all returned to their lodge on the shore. Having crossed the lake, the two went at once to the lodge on the shore. With bravado they entered it, finding all the occupants at home. One there was who was an old woman.

One of the inmates said to the strangers: “It is a custom with us that when anyone visits us we amuse ourselves, and generally for this purpose we bet our heads.” Hodadeñon asked: “How is it customary for you to do this?” The reply was: “We run a race here on the ice. We usually make a circuit of the lake and we use the snowshoe.” Hodadeñon answered: “So be it, then; let us bet then.” He then made very fine snowshoes, which were very small. When he had completed his task, he announced: “I am now all ready.” Thereupon all went to the ice, and one said: “Now we must go around the border of the lake on the ice, and whoever comes in ahead to this scratch line shall win.” Then the runners went to the scratch line, where they stood awaiting the order to go. Hodadeñon said: “I shall run alone on my side.” But the lake-dwellers pitted four men against him.

The order to go (Oʹnĕⁿʻʹ) was given—at which the contestants started to run around the lake. When they had run half the way around it Hodadeñon was in the rear of the others. Removing his snowshoes and setting them side by side, he got upon them, saying to them: “Take courage, pass him; yes, pass them, and go directly to the scratch line. The other runners were suddenly made aware of the fact by the furious sounds they heard that Hodadeñon was overtaking them very fast. In a short time he passed them, and, easily keeping ahead of them, he soon arrived at the place whence they had started. When his opponents arrived at the scratch line he was standing there awaiting them. Addressing them, he said: “I have now won from you; I have outrun you. Come on, my friend, let us behead them now, one and all.” So the two destroyed all the wicked people.

Next they went aside to a long pile of bones and proceeded to lay them in order, side by side, working at this task for a long time. When they had finished, they began to push against a great elm tree, while Hodadeñon shouted: “The great elm is falling on them who are sleeping here.” Bravely they arose, all mingled together, men and women, some with one arm or one leg longer than the other. Then Hodadeñon said: “Take courage, my friend, it seems you must aid me in restoring the defective limbs of the people here.” At once he went to work amending the arms and legs of the people who had received the wrong limbs in their resurrection. This work having been finished, Hodadeñon said: “Let everyone go home to the place whence he came,” but all replied: “We do not know whence we came to this place.” Hodadeñon answered: “So let it be; then you must accompany us home. We will go back to that place where my brother and sister abide, because that lodge in which they dwell is very long, so you can live there. Come, now, let us start.”

So all departed from that place, with Hodadeñon in the lead. They were many nights on the way before they reached home; they were many in number when they reached their destination. Once there, Hodadeñon said: “Oh! my elder sister, we have now returned home, and you must assign them places in the lodge, for I do not know all.” Thereupon she told him to make the assignments himself, so when the large party entered he walked back and forth in the lodge, dividing it among them. But before making the assignments he said: “Now, it is not right that one man should live by himself and one woman by herself; hence it shall be that a man and a woman shall dwell together, and they shall sleep together, and they shall whisper together; they shall love each other, and thus they shall be happy.”

Thus they dwell today according to the labors of Hodadeñon.

This is the length of the legend.

118. THE LEGEND OF GĀDJISʹDODOʻ AND SʻHOGOⁿʻʹGWĀʼS

It is said that in ancient times there lived together in a very long lodge two male persons. They were related one to the other as uncle (mother’s brother) and nephew. As such, according to the custom of the times, they occupied opposite sides of the fire in the long lodge.

For something to eat, as he grew, the nephew, who was a very little boy, shot birds and other small game.

It came to pass one day that Sʻhogoⁿʻʹgwāʼs said: “Oh, my nephew! I am thankful that now you are growing into manhood. It is a long time since I began to care for you. It will happen that a little later on you will kill larger animals.”

In time this did happen, for one day he killed a partridge, which he carried home. On entering the lodge his uncle exclaimed: “Wuʻ, my nephew! I am very thankful you are returning home, having killed a large game animal. What is the name of the animal you have killed? What kind of animal is it? Do you know?” In reply the youth said: “I do not know.” The old man, going toward his nephew, grasped the partridge so quickly that he raised the young boy off the ground, saying: “Hand me at once the body of the thing which you are bringing back killed, for you, of course, do not know what kind of thing it is.” Then the old man, going aside and taking a seat, began to pluck and dress the partridge, saying at the same time: “This thing requires, of course, nothing but dumplings.” Setting a kettle over the fire, he made dumplings which he put into the kettle with the partridge. The old man kept on saying, as he watched the bird cooking: “Perhaps this will taste exceedingly good to us two.” The grease floated on the top of the water, for the bird was very fat. Then the old man, removing the kettle from the fire, set it aside. He put into a bark bowl or dish a share for his nephew, saying: “Oh, my nephew! this is what you may eat,” but he held it just over the fire. When the young boy arose to receive his portion and reached out for the dish, his uncle, grasping his hand along with the dish, pulled the nephew over the fire, wherein he fell on his elbows. At once he arose covered with hot coals, and took a seat aside on his own side of the fire. Dissimulating his evil purpose, the old man said: “I am in too much of a hurry, for I thought that I held it aside from the fireplace.” The nephew was greatly astonished at what his uncle had done to him, for he never had illtreated him before; and the lad began to weep, saying to himself: “I wonder why he has done this thing to me.”

The next morning the old man said: “Oh, my nephew! arise. Game animals usually go about the clear places very early in the morning. So arise and go out to hunt.”

After arising and making needed preparations, the nephew started out to hunt in the forest. He kept on thinking: “My uncle has indeed abused me very much.” As the boy went from place to place he was much surprised to hear a man at a distance say, Tcĭt! and he directed his steps toward the spot whence he believed the sound came. Soon he was surprised to see the skull of an old man protruding out of the ground. As the boy approached the skull said to him: “Oh, my nephew! you are much to be pitied now, for affairs have taken a turn which will cause you misfortune. Exert yourself with all your (magic) power, for he will indeed outmatch your orenda (magic power) if it so be that you do not learn to remember the things which you have killed.” Thus spoke the skull of the old man.

But he continued: “You shall do this in your defense. I will assist you. I am the brother of your uncle, who has outmatched to the utmost degree my orenda. I will tell you, moreover, that that lodge, so long, was at one time full of our relations and kindred, who are now no more. This is the reason it is so long and empty. Now go yonder, not far from here, to an old rotten log, lying prone, and in which you will find a raccoon, as it is called. You must kill it, and you must pass by this place on your way home and I will give you further instructions.” Going to the place indicated by the skull of the old man, the boy killed the raccoon, returning at once to the place where the skull protruded from the ground. Thereupon the skull said to him: “You must not forget the name raccoon, for this is the name of this animal which you have killed. On your way home you must keep on saying, ‘Raccoon, raccoon, raccoon.’ So return home now. And he will again ask, probably, as is his custom, ‘What is it that you are bringing home killed?’ So do not get into the habit of forgetting. Exert yourself as much as possible.”

Thereupon the young boy started for his home in the long lodge, saying as he trudged along, “Raccoon, raccoon, raccoon.” At first he whispered it, but when nearing the lodge he uttered it loudly. Just as he pushed aside the door flap and stepped inside the lodge he stubbed his foot, and his burden, the raccoon, fell inside and he beside it. At that moment his uncle, the old man, said: “Oh, my nephew! now you are bringing back, killed, a large game animal; what is its name and what kind of animal is it?” Now, after his mishap at the doorway, the boy had entirely forgotten the name of the animal, so he reluctantly answered: “I do not know the name of it.” At this his uncle demanded the game, saying: “Hand the body to me, then, for you do not know what kind of thing you are bringing home killed.” The nephew did as he was told, whereupon his uncle, taking a seat aside, began to skin the animal, at the same time saying: “The name of this animal is raccoon.” The nephew took a seat on the opposite side of the fire.

Then the old man set a kettle over the fire, with the remark: “The only way to prepare this game is to cook it with corn-meal mush, which should be eaten with it. I shall skim off the grease and pour it over the mush.” The youth did nothing but watch his uncle. When the meal was cooked the uncle kept saying: “This will indeed taste very good to us two.” Then he took out a share for his nephew, putting into a bark dish some of the mush and a portion of the meat. Going to the edge of the fireplace, he said, “Oh, my nephew! here is a portion for you to eat,” again holding it over the fire. The youth arose quickly to receive it and took the bark bowl in his hands. Just as before, the old man grasped his hands and drew him into the fire, at the same time saying: “What is the use of my holding it somewhere else when I myself am hungry.” Of course the youth fell into the fire on his elbows, and on jumping out he was all covered with hot coals and ashes. Going aside, he took a seat there. Then Sʻhogoⁿʻʹgwāʼs began to eat. When he had finished, he remarked to himself, “I think I will save some of this for another time”; so he put some of the food in a high place. The youth, his nephew, began to weep, saying: “Perhaps he will kill me; I think it possible.”

The next morning the old man again spoke to his nephew, saying: “Oh, my nephew! do you arise. It is the custom for game animals to be found in the open places very early in the morning.” Quickly arising from his bed, the youth at once made the necessary preparations, and after finishing these, he started out to hunt. Once more he directed his course toward the place where the skull of his uncle protruded from the ground. On arriving there, his uncle addressed him: “Well, my nephew, what came to pass?” The youth answered: “I kept repeating the name ‘raccoon’ as I went along, and when I had reached a point quite near the lodge I just whispered the name to myself, saying ‘Raccoon, raccoon, raccoon.’ But at the very doorway I caught my foot in an obstruction, and the body of the animal fell into the lodge and I with it. At that moment my uncle asked me, ‘What is the name of the game you are bringing home killed?’ Of course, I did not remember anything whatever about the name of the animal, so I answered him, ‘I do not know.’ To this the old man replied, ‘Quickly hand me the body of the animal, for you do not know its name; and it is well known that raccoon is its name.’” Then the man whose skull protruded from the ground said: “Oh! how unfortunate it was that stumbling against an obstruction and falling down caused you to forget the name of the animal. Exert yourself to the utmost. Be brave. Your only safety consists in remembering the names of the animals that you may kill. You must remember at all times these names. Now, then, go to that place there in the distance where turkeys abound. One of them you must kill; and when you have killed it, you must pass by this place on your way home.” As directed, the youth went to the place designated by his uncle, and there he killed a turkey. Then he returned to the spot where his uncle’s skull protruded from the ground. To encourage him his uncle said: “Be brave and exert yourself to the utmost. This time you must remember the name of this game bird. It is called a turkey. As you are going along homeward, you must keep saying, ‘Turkey, turkey, turkey’; and as soon as you arrive near the lodge you must set your feet down carefully as you walk, and must go along whispering the name to yourself, ‘Turkey, turkey, turkey.’”

So the youth started for home, and as he went along he kept saying, “Turkey, turkey, turkey.” On arriving near the lodge, he began to whisper the name, “Turkey, turkey, turkey,” and he set each foot down carefully and securely. In this way he reentered his home without mishap. And the old man, his uncle, was surprised and said: “Oh, my nephew! you are bringing back a large game animal, killed. I am thankful for it. What is the name of it?” The youth replied: “Oh! the name of it is turkey—just turkey.” The old man, his uncle, merely exclaimed, Wuʻʹ, and, going aside, took a seat there. In the meantime the youth dragged the body of the turkey aside to pluck and dress it. While engaged at his task he remarked: “The only way to cook this is to boil it down to a pot roast.” Next he proceeded to pluck and then to quarter the bird. When he had finished his task, he started the meat to cooking in a kettle over the fire. As he saw it begin to cook he kept saying: “It will certainly taste good to uncle and me.” The uncle on his part said: “I have been thinking generally that he [my nephew] would become perhaps a fine hunter; for it has been a very difficult task for me to raise you, and I have worked hard to do it.”

When the turkey was cooked the youth said: “I will not act in the manner my uncle acts on such occasions.” Thereupon he set aside a portion of the boiled turkey in a bark bowl, which he offered to his uncle by holding it directly over the fire, which was burning briskly, saying: “This is what you will eat.” The uncle, exclaiming, “Oh! I am thankful for it,” arose to receive it. As he grasped the bark bowl, the youth, seizing his hands along with the bowl, drew the old man over so that he fell into the fire. At this the youth said, excusing himself: “I am so hungry, indeed, that perhaps I was holding the bowl in an unintended place.” The old man answered, “Now my nephew, you have abused me. It has been my habit to think that you would not treat me in this manner, for I have raised you from childhood to youth.” The nephew was eating, but he answered his uncle: “I just thought that that was perhaps the custom on such occasions, for you were in the habit of acting in this manner.” So saying, he kept on eating. Finally he said, “I believe I will save myself a portion for a later time;” and he laid aside some of the boiled turkey.

The next morning the old man did not say, as was his custom, to his nephew: “Come now, arise, my nephew.” On the other hand, the young nephew said to himself: “So be it. I will now arise, I think. My uncle is accustomed to say that the game animals go about in the open country very early in the morning.” So the young man arose then, and proceeded to make his usual preparations before going out to hunt. After eating his morning meal he started from the lodge. The uncle spoke not a word. It would appear, one would think, that he was angry. The youth went directly to the place where his other uncle’s skull protruded from the ground.

Having arrived at the spot, the skull addressed him, saying: “Well, my nephew, what happened?” The youth answered: “I remembered the name all the way home, and when my uncle asked me, ‘What are you bringing home, killed?’ I answered him, ‘Only a turkey.’ My uncle replied, merely, Wuʻʹ. Then I prepared the bird and cooked it. As soon as it was cooked I kept saying: ‘I shall not act in the manner in which my uncle acts.’ Then I put a portion for him on a bark dish and held the dish directly over the fire, saying: ‘Oh, my uncle! eat this portion.’ He replied, ‘Hoʹ, I am very thankful,’ and grasped the dish, whereupon, gripping his hands, I pulled him down into the fire. I may have held it in the wrong place because I was very hungry, but the real reason I did so was because I was angry with him on account of the many times he scorched and burned me. My uncle said: ‘I believe that you have now begun to abuse me.’ I replied that it seemed to be the custom when one was giving food to another. He walked to and fro, and one would think that my uncle was angry.”

The skull of the uncle at once replied: “It was just right for him. Now, indeed, this is about to come to pass. It is impossible that in the future he will ask you for the name of the things which you may bring home killed. Oh, my nephew! It is known that your uncle is making preparations. He is gathering logs and burning them on the fire, and when night comes he will have a great fire, as is well known. So, be brave, careful, and watchful. You must not go to sleep. An evil dream will cause him to arise suddenly, as is well known. Then you must quickly take down his war club and strike a blow with it on your uncle’s head, at the same time saying: ‘What is causing you to see marvels?’ And if he does not answer at once, ‘It has ceased,’ you must again strike a blow on his head with the war club. Then it will come to pass that he will say, as is well known, ‘The thing that the dream spirit has commanded me is baleful.’ Whereupon you must ask him, ‘What did the dream spirit command you to do?’ In answer he will tell you what he has been commanded to require you to do. Then you must return to this place, as I do not know what he will say.”

Now, the youth returned to the lodge which he called his home. Night came on them. The fire was a brisk one. It so happened that the old man, the uncle, said: “The reason I have put these large logs on the fire is because it seems likely that we two will have a very cold time tonight.” The two lay down as usual, but the youth kept awake as he had been warned to do by his uncle’s skull. There was a hole worn through his skin covering through which he kept a strict watch on his uncle.

About midnight, perhaps, suddenly the old man began to moan and groan, muttering strange words very loudly, the sounds increasing in intensity. Interspersed with these mutterings were the sounds ʼĕñʻ, ʼĕñʻ, ʼĕñʻ. Suddenly arising from his couch, he moved about on his knees, meanwhile uttering the same sounds and words as the youth had first heard. Then, with one great cry of ʼĕñʻ! he cast himself on the fire and pushed with his feet and hands the huge firebrands that had accumulated over toward the place where lay his nephew. Seeing this, the nephew, quickly uncovering himself, leaped up just in time, for the great pieces of burning logs fell blazing where he had just lain. Running over to the opposite side of the fire, he took down from its resting place the war club of his uncle. His uncle then being close to him, groping around on his knees and uttering dark words, the youth struck him a blow on the head, saying at the same time, “What is causing you to see marvels?” and again raised the war club to deliver another blow. But the dream of the old man ceased at that time, and the uncle took a seat at one side of the fire, and the youth took a seat on the opposite side. Thereupon the uncle said to his nephew: “Compliance with what the dream commanded me is of the utmost difficulty.” The youth answered: “Well, what did the dream command you to do?” The uncle made reply: “It commanded me, saying, ‘You two shall hazard your lives’; it said to me that we two must ‘take the roof off the lodge.’” The youth replied: “So let it come to pass. What it has commanded amounts to nothing.”

Then the two men returned to bed for the remainder of the night. Very early the next morning the youth went to the spot where the skull of his uncle protruded from the ground. When he reached the place, the uncle addressed him: “Well, what happened during the night?” The young nephew answered: “Well, he says that he and I shall hazard our lives by trading objects this very night which is approaching.” To this statement the uncle replied: “I have been saying all along that he is determined to outmatch your magic power (orenda), as is well known. It is his manner of doing things. He will request something which you do not possess, and if it so be that you can not obtain it at once, something direful will happen to you—you die, paying the penalty by your death. Now I know that he will request the entrails of a bear from you, for the very reason that you have them not. Then you must proceed in this manner: You must go out and find a wild grapevine. When you have found it you must unwind the vine and cut off a sufficient portion. This you must rub between your hands and blow on, and instantly the vine will become the entrails of a bear. You must say, ‘I want the fat entrails of a bear.’ Make haste in what you are about to do, for I know that he has completed all his preparation at the lodge.” So the youth went forth to hunt for a wild grapevine, and found one which was wound around a support. Cutting off at once what he required, he began to straighten out the length. Next he fastened the coils together by means of bark cords, and by rubbing it with his hands and blowing on it he soon transformed the vine into the fat entrails of a bear.

Returning to the lodge, the youth addressed his old uncle thus, “Oh, my uncle! I return fully prepared,” to which the uncle answered: “So be it; you just go to the end of the lodge.” The nephew replied: “So be it.” Thereupon the uncle added: “It is not certain whether I shall go now or later. But you must be in an expectant mood there.” Then the youth started, passing along on the inside of the lodge, which was very long. When he reached the end of the lodge he was surprised to see there the signs of a fire, one which had burned perhaps a long time in the past. He took a seat there, for he was ready for the work ahead of him. It was not very long afterward when at last the old man began to sing in his own place: “Yuʹʻhĕñ, yuʹʻhĕñ, he and I are bartering; yuʹʻhĕñ, thou Gādjisʹdodoʻ, thou who art a nephew, yuʹʻhĕñ.” This he repeated in a loud voice, and the song was heard by all the wizards and sorcerers dwelling along the borders of the land, all of whom said one to another: “Now again his intended victim is his own nephew.”

Making his way up to the place where his nephew was sitting, the old man said: “Now, I am come to barter.” He carried in his hand a piece of bark on which lay several pieces of meat. The youth answered: “What shall I give you?” The old man, in accordance with the custom on such occasions, replied: “I can not tell what it shall be. Perhaps you have the flesh of the raccoon?” The youth rejoined: “I will give it to you.” The uncle answered: “No; not that.” The youth then said: “Turkey meat; that I will give you.” The uncle replied: “No; not that.” Then the old man again began singing, “Yuʹʻhĕñ, he and I are bartering; yuʹʻhĕñ, yuʹʻhĕñ, thou Gādjisʹdodoʻ, thou who art a nephew; yuʹʻhĕñ, yuʹʻhĕñ.” At this moment flames burst out all around the place where Gādjisʹdodoʻ was sitting. In defense, the youth said: “Djiʹ, djiʹ, djiʹ. Oh, my uncle! verily, you mean the entrails of a bear, the very fat entrails of a bear, which I have.” As soon as he had ceased speaking, the flames went down. Drawing forth the entrails of the bear (which he had prepared), the youth gave them to his uncle. They exchanged the pieces of meat for the bear’s entrails. The old man said: “I am thankful for these.” The youth then thought to himself: “I will go back to my place as soon as I think he has returned to his own seat on his side of the fire.” As he started, the old man again began to sing: “Yuʹʻhĕñ, yuʹʻhĕñ, he and I are bartering; thou Gādjisʹdodoʻ, thou who art a nephew; yuʹʻhĕñ, yuʹʻhĕñ.” Believing that his uncle had resumed his seat, the nephew returned to his couch, where he found the old man sitting, smoking. The old man said merely: “We, oh, my nephew! have now finished this task.”

The next morning the youth again went to the place where the skull of his other uncle was protruding from the ground. When he arrived there his uncle asked him what had taken place last night. In answer, the youth related in great detail just what had come to pass between the old man and himself. He told him all very carefully. Thereupon this uncle said: “Now, it is a fact that he is collecting more logs and putting them on the fire and near it, for he will again make a large fire this very night. And it is, too, a fact that when he has his dream tonight, he will say in his own mind that he desires the liver of a bear. This you do not possess. Be brave and do your very best. This time you must hunt for fungi that grow on old rotten logs. These you must procure—two in number—and you must treat them in the same manner as you did the grapevine, and at once they will become bear’s livers. So, now, go out hunting for these things.” The youth at once started on his quest for fungi in the forest. He was not very long in finding the two that he required for his purpose. At once he rubbed them with his hands, saying at the same time: “Let these soon become bear’s livers.” Immediately the transformation took place as he wished.

Then he started for the lodge, where dwelt his uncle. Arriving there, he said: “Oh, my uncle! I have now returned.” He saw that the fire was a great one. Night came on at last, and the two lay down to sleep, but the youth did not fall asleep. It was perhaps midnight when suddenly the old man began to moan and groan with increasing force and loudness; all at once he arose and crawled around there on his knees. Finally, with a loud cry, ‘ĕñʻ, he threw himself on the fire. At once large pieces of wood, all ablaze, fell in every direction, some in the direction of the youth’s bed. Quickly arising and crossing over to the opposite side of the fire, he took down the war club of his uncle, and seeing the head of the latter close to him, moving from place to place, he struck it a blow with the club, at the same time saying: “Oh, my uncle! what is causing you to see marvels?” Then quickly he raised the club for another blow. Suddenly, however, the dream ceased, and the old man exclaimed, to avoid another blow of the war club: “It has stopped now.” Having said this he drew aside and took a seat. The youth did likewise. Addressing his nephew, the old man said: “Oh, nephew! Compliance with the command which the dream gave me is very difficult indeed, yea, dangerous.” The youth asked: “What did it command you?” The uncle answered: “Why, it commanded me, saying you and he must barter by exchange, you and your nephew; and it commanded also that this must take place early in the morning, and that a calamitous thing would happen to you if it should come to pass that the barter by exchange failed to take place before midday.” The youth replied: “So be it; we will attend to this matter in the morning.” Then the two returned to their respective beds.

Very early the next morning the old man, having arisen, again addressed the youth: “Now you must go once more to the end of the lodge.” Having gone there, the nephew kindled a fire. All at once the old man in his place began to sing again, as before: “Yuʹʻhĕñ, yuʹʻhĕñ, he and I are bartering by exchange; thou Gādjisʹdodoʻ, thou who art my nephew, yuʹʻhĕñ, yuʹʻhĕñ.” As he sang the youth saw that he came toward him. Having arrived at the end of the lodge occupied by his nephew, the old man said: “Oh, my nephew! I come to barter by exchange.” The latter at once replied: “So let it be; what, then, shall I give you?” The uncle’s answer was: “Oh! you have it certainly. You have what I desire.” At this, then, the youth began to offer his uncle the things which he ostensibly guessed the old man desired. When he had consumed sufficient time to mislead his antagonist, he finally exclaimed: “Oh, my uncle! I believe that you indeed want the liver of a bear—the fat liver of a bear.” Quite deceived as to the mental acuteness of his nephew, the uncle replied: “I am very thankful for this.” Then they two made the exchange, and the old man returned to his own end of the lodge, carrying on his back the package of liver. As he went along he sang his song: “Yuʹʻhĕñ, yuʹʻhĕñ, he and I are bartering by exchange, yuʹʻhĕñ, yuʹʻhĕñ; thou Gādjisʹdodoʻ, who art my nephew, yuʹʻhĕñ, yuʹʻhĕñ.” Thus the uncle returned to his seat. When the youth thought that the old man had reached his own part of the lodge, he returned to his own bed. When he had reached it the old man said to him: “Now, what the dream commanded me has been fulfilled. I am thankful, too.”