Chapter VIII: Part 2: also consists of Seneca legends and myths, which are (3)

In a moment the young woman’s husband came into the lodge and he appeared to her handsome as ever. He asked his wife, “Were you afraid of me when I came in a short time ago?” She replied, “No; I was not afraid at all.” The next day he went hunting again. As he started out of the lodge and closed the door she again heard the same strange sounds that she had heard the day before. About midday she went forth to get fuel for the fire and to bring water to the lodge. While thus engaged she saw a huge serpent sunning himself upon the rocks; then another, and soon another; and she began to be very homesick and disheartened.

In the evening her husband came home as before. After he had gone out to hunt the third time she began seriously to think of escaping from the terrible place in which she found herself, and firmly resolved to try to do so. She went into the forest to gather wood, and while standing there she heard a voice; turning toward the direction from which it seemed to come she saw a very old man. When she looked into his face he said: “My poor grandchild, you are very unfortunate. The seeming man to whom you are married is evil and wicked. We have tried many times to kill him, but he is very cunning and crafty, hence we have not yet been able to destroy him. He is one of seven brothers. They are all great sorcerers, and like all such evil persons their hearts are not in their bodies. Their hearts are tied in a bunch of seven, which is carefully hidden [9] under the couch of the eldest one. You must now get it and escape with it. My friends and I will help you all we can. Do as I have instructed you.”

Going quickly to the lodge, she found indeed the seven hearts tied in a bunch, which hung under the couch as the old man had said. Placing it under her robe, she fled out of the lodge as rapidly as possible and ran at top speed. Soon she heard a voice calling to her, “Stop! Come back!” but she rushed on as fast as she could. Then the voice said, “You may think that you can, but you can not escape me, no matter how you may try.” All her strength seemed to leave her: but at that moment her grandfather was at her side, saying, “I shall aid you now, my grandchild,” and, taking hold of her robe, he pulled her out of the water. Then for the first time she saw that she had been in the water all the time. A great black cloud was above them, and she saw the Lightning flash, and the Thunder began to shoot his arrows, and the Wind lashed the water into great foaming waves. In a few moments the young woman saw that her grandfather had killed a great and terrible serpent. She saw also standing on the shore men resembling her grandfather, who thanked her for the aid she had been to them in killing the great serpent and his progeny; for the old grandfather had blasted the bunch of hearts with the lightnings and had shot them with his arrows, thus killing the serpent and his offspring. These other men drew the great serpent out of the water and cut him in pieces. They stuck the head on a pole, whereupon the head appeared to her more fierce and ugly than before. Then her grandfather said, “Now, my grandchild, you must go home with us.” After packing suitable loads of the serpent’s flesh they started for home, each with a load of the meat on his back.[10]

In a short time they came to what seemed to her to be a lodge, which they entered; there the young woman saw an old man whose hair was as white as snow and whose manner and voice were kind. To him the leader of the party said, “This woman of the human family has helped us to kill the great serpent and his progeny.” The old man, looking up at her, said, “My granddaughter, I am indeed thankful for the great help you have given us in killing that awful serpent and his wicked progeny.” While she was sitting there the old man said, “My granddaughter, come here to my side.” When she stood beside him he rubbed her body up and down with his hands, fortified with his orenda. Whereupon several young serpents crawled from her; these were killed at once by the men. Then the old man, remarking “You are now entirely well,” bade her to be seated.

While she remained in this lodge the younger people went out to hunt when they had the inclination to do so. They would bring corn for her to eat, as they knew she could not eat their food, which was in large measure the flesh of the serpents. They would tell her where they had gathered the corn, and they told her also the names of the people from whom they had taken it; she recognized the names of some of the people mentioned.

One day the old man said to his sons, “Perhaps it would be better for you to take the young woman with you to hunt. She shall thus secure more orenda.” The sons agreed to this, saying, “It is well.” They told her that one of their number was missing, saying, “Deep in the great waters there is a terrible bloodsucker lying on a rock. One of our number shot at it, but he was not quick enough to avoid the rush of the great bloodsucker, and he was caught by it. He lies there on the rock, and we can not save him, nor can we kill the bloodsucker. But you will go with us, will you not?” She consented to go, and they started for the place.

When they arrived at the place they looked down into the water, far into its depths, and there they saw the great bloodsucker. All these men went high up into the clouds and shot arrows down into the water at the great bloodsucker, but they all failed to hit it. Then they asked the young woman to shoot an arrow. Willingly she took her bow and arrows and shot into the water at the monster. The great bloodsucker moved. At her second shot there was a terrible struggle and commotion in the water. When all became quiet again, and while she was still up in the clouds with the men, they saw that the great bloodsucker was dead. Just as soon as the monster died their brother got loose and came up to them, and they all rejoiced and then went to their home.

After the woman had been with them about a year the old man said to his sons: “I think that it is time that this young woman should go home to her mother,” and to her the old man said, “You must not do any kind of work—pounding or chopping. You must keep quiet for ten days at your home.”

When the time was up they took her toward home. She thought that they walked along as ordinary people do. When they neared her mother’s lodge they told her to do just as her grandfather had requested her to do. She then saw that she was standing in water. A heavy shower of rain had just passed over the earth. Her mother’s home was near at hand and, bidding her well-going, they left her. She reached home in due time and her mother was delighted to see her long-lost child.

She observed her grandfather’s injunction for nine entire days without any desire to break his command. But on the tenth day the women of her family urged her to help them in their work. At first she refused, saying that she could not do so. They urged her so hard, however, that finally she struck one blow with the corn-pounder, whereupon the mortar split in two and the corn fell to the ground. The orenda of the Thunders had not entirely left her yet. This was why the old man had enjoined her not to work for ten days.

5. THE GHOST WOMAN AND THE HUNTER

Once there was a young man in a village who was an orphan; he had neither relatives nor home. He lived in first one lodge and then in another.

Once in the fall of the year when warriors were preparing to go to hunt deer the orphan wanted to go but could not get a chance to do so; no one wanted him as a companion. So he was left alone in the village. When all the men had gone he determined to go, too, and he went off by himself. Toward night he came to a sort of clearing and saw a lodge on one side of it near the bushes; he looked into it but he could see no one. In the dooryard was a pile of wood and everything inside was comfortable; so the orphan decided to pass the night there. It looked as though the other hunters, too, had passed a night there. He made a fire, arranged a place to sleep, and lay down. About midnight he heard some one coming in and, looking up, he saw that it was a woman. She came in and stood gazing at him, but she said nothing. Finally she moved toward his couch but stopped; at last she said: “I have come to help you. You must not be afraid. I shall stay all night in the lodge. I know you are going out hunting.” The orphan said, “If you help me, you may stay.” “I have passed out of this world,” said she; “I know that you are poor; you have no relatives; you were left alone. None of the hunters would let you go with them. This is why I have come to help you. Tomorrow start on your journey and keep on until you think it is time to camp, and then I will be there.” Toward daybreak she went out, starting off in the direction from which she said she had come.

In the morning after preparing and eating some food he started on. In the afternoon when he thought it was about time to stop he looked for a stream. He soon found one and had just finished his camp as it became dark. In the forepart of the night the woman came, saying, “We must now live together as man and wife, for I have been sent to live with you and help you.” The next day the man began to kill all kinds of game. The woman stayed with him all the time and did all the necessary work at the camp.

When the hunting season was over, she said, “There is no hunter in the woods who has killed so much game as you have.” They started for home. “We shall stop,” said she, “at the first lodge, where we met”; and they slept at the lodge that night. The next morning she said: “I shall remain here, but you go on to the village, and when you get there everybody will find out that you have brought all kinds of meat and skins. One will come to you and say, ‘You must marry my daughter.’ An old woman will say, ‘You must marry my granddaughter,’ but do not listen to them. Remain true to me. Come back next year and you shall have the same good luck. [This was at a time when the best hunter was the best man, the most desirable husband.] The next year when getting ready to hunt, a man will try to come with you, do not take him. No one would take you. Come alone. We will meet here.” Before daylight they parted and he went on his journey with a great load of meat on his back.

In the village he found that some of the hunters had got home, while others came soon after. All told how much they had killed. This lone man said, “I will give each man all he wants if he will go to my camp and get it.” Accepting his offer, many went and brought back all they could carry. Still there was much meat left. Everyone who had a daughter or a granddaughter now asked him to come and live with the family. At last the chief came and asked him to marry his daughter. The orphan was afraid if he refused harm would come to him, for the chief was a powerful man. At last he consented and married the chief’s daughter.

The next fall the chief thought he had the best hunter for a son-in-law and a great many wanted to go with him, but the son-in-law said, “I do not think I shall go this year.” All started off, one after another. When all had gone he went alone to the lodge where he was to meet the woman. Arriving there he prepared the bed, and early in the night the woman came in; stopping halfway between the door and the couch, she said, “I am sorry you have not done as I told you to do. I can not stay with you, but I decided to come once more and tell you that I know everything you did at home and I can not stay.” She disappeared as suddenly as she came.

Day after day the orphan went hunting, but he saw no game. He ate all his provisions, and had to shoot small game—squirrels and birds—to eat, for he was hungry. Returning home, he told the people that he had seen no game. This woman who had befriended the orphan, it was said, was a ghost woman.

6. HAHNOWA (THE TURTLE) AND HIS FORCES ON THE WARPATH

Hahnowa dwelt alone in his own lodge. He was a great warrior and had led many war parties successfully.

One day the thought again came to him that he should go on the warpath. So following the lead of his desire, he made the necessary preparations and then boarded his canoe and paddled away along the river, singing as he went along, “I am on the warpath. I am on the warpath.” When he had gone but a short distance from his lodge he was hailed by a man who came running to the bank of the river calling out, “Hallo, friend! Stop a moment! I will go too. We will go on the warpath together.” So Hahnowa stopped at the landing, and there on the bank stood an elk, which said to Hahnowa, “I should like to go with you on the warpath.” Hahnowa replied: “Before giving my consent, I desire to see you run, for we might be defeated and then we shall have to run for our lives, and unless we can escape through our speed we shall be killed and scalped. Now, therefore, run to that mountain and return.” The elk ran with great swiftness to the mountain and was back again in a very short time. But Hahnowa said, “You can not go, for you do not run fast enough. Only swift runners may go with me.”

Reentering his canoe, Hahnowa started off, singing, “I am on the warpath. I am on the warpath.” In a short time a man hailed him, saying, “Come back to the landing. I should like very much to go with you on the warpath.” So Hahnowa turned and made a landing. Then he said to his friend, “You must run to show me your speed, for you can not go with me unless you can run very swiftly. Therefore run to that second mountain and back at your highest speed.” Then Senon [11] showed his great orenda and started off, but he had not got fairly started before Hahnowa called him back, saying, “Come back; that is enough. You can go.” So they two got into the canoe and started off, the Hahnowa singing, “I am on the warpath. I am on the warpath. But you, brother, smell quite strong.”

As they paddled along they saw another man, who hailed them. Making a landing, they asked the man what he desired. In reply he said, “I see that you are on the warpath and I want to accompany you.” The Turtle answered him, “If you are a good runner, I will take you. To test your speed you must run to yonder second mountain and back.” So Kahehda,[12] for it was he, turning, started on a run. In this attempt his feet crossed and he stumbled and fell. But he quickly arose and had taken but a few steps farther when Turtle called to him to stop, telling him, “You will do. Come to the canoe.”

So the motley crew started off, with the Turtle singing, “We are on the warpath. You, brother, smell pretty strong. You, brother, have plenty of arrows.”

They had not proceeded far when a man from the bank hailed them, saying, “Stop! Come to the land, for I want to go with you on the warpath.” So the Turtle and his friends landed and the Turtle informed Degiyahgon [13] that he must show great speed in running to be acceptable as a companion on the warpath, and he said, “Run as swiftly as you can to yonder second mountain and return.” Degiyahgon was instantly off, breaking and crashing through the boughs and shrubbery as he rushed headlong on his way. When Degiyahgon returned, the Turtle said, “You have failed in your trial of speed,” and he and his friends again got aboard of their canoe and sailed away, singing as before.

They had not proceeded far when a man hailed them from the shore, saying, “Bring the canoe to the land, for I desire to accompany you on the warpath.” The Turtle replied, “I shall first come to see you run, for we can take only swift runners, as something may happen while we are gone which will make it necessary for us to run for our lives. So go to that second mountain yonder and return as speedily as it is possible for you to do so.” So Sigwaon [14] raised himself to run, when Turtle exclaimed, “Oh, you will do! You may come with me, too.”

So the picked band of warriors again started, the Turtle singing, “We are on the warpath. You, brother, smell pretty strong. You, brother, have many arrows. And you, brother, have a black face.”

It was now nearly night and they were going to make war on the Seven Sisters, whose dwelling place was not far distant. They soon arrived at the place and disembarked. The Turtle told his companions that each must choose the place best suited to his particular method of fighting. So Senon declared that he would sit near the fireplace and that he would attack with his odors the first person who approached the fireplace. Kahehda chose the pile of wood for fuel, boasting that he would attack with his arrows the first person who came out for wood. Sigwaon on his part chose the skin bucket in which the shelled corn was kept, declaring that he would assault the first person who should come for corn. Lastly, Turtle exclaimed that he would station himself near the spring and that if anyone went to draw water he would fight him.

So in the early morning of the next day the mother of the Seven Sisters arose and took a fire poker to stir up the fire on the hearth. Then Senon, who was posted there, at once attacked her with his foul odors. The aged woman fell back nearly stifled and unable to open her eyes. Her daughters, the Seven Sisters, hearing the commotion, arose quickly to assist their mother. Seeing the man fighting their mother, they at once attacked him. At first he bravely repelled their assault, but they got clubs and fought until they had killed him, and they then threw his body out of doors.

Now they started to make the fire, and one of their number went out to bring in firewood. When she reached down to pick up a piece of wood she felt a severe blow on the arm, and found her arm full of hedgehog quills. She at once repelled this attack, and while she was fighting Kahehda her sisters came to her assistance. On seeing what had caused the trouble they took up pieces of wood and attacked Kahehda standing among the logs. They hit him repeatedly on the head until they had killed him, and then they threw his body away.

Then one of the sisters needed dried shelled corn to prepare for making bread for the day’s meal. Going to the bucket where it was kept and putting her hand into it, she instantly felt a sharp blow, and looking into the bucket she saw therein a huge Hagonsadji.[15] She called her sisters to her assistance, who at once responded. Arming themselves with clubs they struck Hagonsadji many blows until he was dead, but by this time the sister who had been bitten by Hagonsadji was dead.

Then the aged mother of the Seven Sisters asked one of the daughters to bring water from the spring. Going to the spring, she stooped down to draw up the water, whereupon she was seized by Turtle. He caught her by the toe and held on persistently; she tried repeatedly, but she could not get him off. Then she walked backward, dragging him along. When she arrived at the lodge her mother was very angry and shouted, “Throw him into the fire and let him burn up.” Then Turtle laughed out loud and said, “You can not please me more than by casting me into the fire, for I came from fire and I like to be in it rather than in anything else.” So the old woman changed her mind and said, “I will take him to the creek and drown him.” Thereupon Turtle cried out in great agony, “Oh! do not do this. I shall die; I shall die if you do.” He begged hard for his life, but it apparently availed him nothing. So the old woman and the six living sisters, seizing Turtle, ruthlessly dragged him along to the neighboring creek and cast him into it, thinking that he would drown; he, of course, naturally sank to the bottom. But in a few moments he rose to the surface of the water in midstream and, holding out his claws as if exhibiting scalps, he exclaimed in derision, “I am a brave man, and here is where I live,” and he at once sank out of sight.

7. THE OLD MAN’S GRANDSON AND THE CHIEF OF THE DESERTED VILLAGE

A certain grandfather and his grandson lived together. They were the only people of their tribe left. All the others had been killed by sorcerers.

When the boy became old enough he had bows and arrows given him by his grandfather, and he would go out hunting. As he grew older he hunted larger game, until he was old enough to kill deer. Each time the grandson brought home game the old man danced and rejoiced and told the youth the name of the game which he had brought in.

One day the grandfather said: “Now, you are old enough to marry a wife. I should like to have a woman here to cook. You must go south and find a wife. The people there are good and healthy. None of them have been killed off. For an ordinary man to reach their village it is a journey of six years, but you will go much more quickly.” The grandfather gave the young man, among other things, a pair of moccasins and sent him off.

About noon of the first day the youth came to an opening in the woods. There he found a large village in the opening. He went to one lodge and then to another, but he found that they were all vacant. Then he went to the Long Lodge,[16] and he looked in; there he saw the dead body of a young woman, well-dressed, with beautiful ornaments, lying on a bench in the middle of the room. As he looked in, he thought, “I will go in and take those things. They will be good presents for my wife when I find one.” So he went in, took off the bracelets and neck ornaments and then went out. After he was outside of the Long Lodge he said to himself, “I think I will go home now and look for a wife another day.”

So he started northward, as he thought, running along quickly. After a while he came to a clearing, which, to his surprise, he found was the one he had just left; he saw the same village and Long Lodge, and he thought, “Well, I must have made some mistake in the direction.” He took his bearings again and hurried on toward home. Again he came out in the same village. “It must be that this woman brings me back because I have taken her ornaments. I will give them back to her.” So he went into the Long Lodge and put all the ornaments back on the dead body and hurried homeward. On the way he killed a bear. Skinning it and taking some of the best meat, he put it into the skin and carried it with him, running as fast as he could, hoping to reach home that night. Once more he came out at the same Long Lodge in the opening at the time it began to be dark. “Well, this is wonderful,” thought he.

He made up his mind to spend the night in the Long Lodge, so he kindled a fire, spread out the skin, cooked his meat, and sat down to supper. As he ate he threw the bones behind him. Soon he heard back of him a noise which sounded like the gnawing of bones by a dog. “Perhaps it is a hungry ghost that does this,” thought the young man. “Well, I will give it some meat.” So he threw it pieces of meat and heard the sounds made as they were being eaten. After he had eaten his supper he got under the bearskin to sleep. But he soon felt something begin to pull the skin at his feet. When the fire began to die out he arose quickly and stirred up the embers, putting on more wood. All was quiet, however, and he lay down again. After a while, as the fire began to go down again, something crawled over his body and came up to his breast. He threw his arms around it, wrapping it in the bearskin covering, and sprang to his feet. A terrible struggle now began between the man and his unknown antagonist. They wrestled from that place to the other end of the Long Lodge and then down along the other side of the room. When they had almost reached the place where they started the gray of the dawn came; instantly the body in his arms dropped to the floor and lay still. He lashed the bearskin around it closely; then, leaving it on the floor, he cooked his breakfast.

After breakfast he was curious to know what was under the bearskin, for he thought it must be something connected with the woman. Opening the bearskin carefully he found nothing but a blood-clot about the size of his fist. First, he made a wooden ladle with his flint knife. Then, heating water, he dissolved in it some of the blood. Forcing open the skeleton woman’s jaws, he poured down her throat some of the blood. Again he did the same thing.

At length her breast began to heave. When he had given her half the blood she breathed, and when she had taken all the blood she said, “I am very hungry.” The young man pounded corn and made thin gruel, with which he fed her; soon she was able to sit up, and in a short time she was well again. Then she said: “This village was inhabited a short time ago. My father was the chief of it. He and all his people have gone south and they live now not far from here. Many men from the north wanted to marry me, and when I was unwilling to marry them they enchanted me in this place, so that my father and all his people had to leave, and I was left here for dead.” “Come! I will go with you to him,” said the young man.

The young man and woman set out together for the south, and they soon came to the village. The first lodge on the edge of the village was inhabited by a Crow with a large family, who were very poor. The young man was left at a tree outside the lodge to converse with Crow. He told Crow the story of the Long Lodge and the recovery of the chief’s daughter. The Crow hurried over to the lodge of the chief and said to the chief and his wife, “Your daughter has come to life.” The old woman, taking a club, began to drive the Crow out of the lodge, saying: “You lying wretch! You know that no one has ever come to life after being dead more than ten days.” “Oh, well; do not beat him,” said the chief, “it may be true that our daughter has come to life, though dead twenty days.” “She has,” said the Crow, “for she is over by my lodge.” “Well, bring her here,” said the chief.

The two young people then came on invitation, and, as they were both willing, the young man became the chief’s son-in-law. After they had been married a few days the young man told his wife to go and get the best bowl her father had, for he was sick at his stomach and wished to vomit. She brought the bowl, and he vomited it full of the most beautiful wampum. This was an act which young wizards are expected to perform after marriage. “Take that now to your father,” said he. She took the bowl of wampum to her father as a gift from her husband. The old chief was delighted, and said: “That is the finest man I have ever seen. I knew that he was of good stock. This wampum will do me great good.”

Two or three days later the young man said to his wife: “You go and borrow your father’s bow and arrows, for I want to go to hunt. All the young men of the village are to hunt tomorrow, and I must go, too.” Starting very early, each one went out alone to hunt deer. The Crow went with the young man, and he said, “I will fly up high and look all around to see where the deer are.” The Crow saw ten deer some distance ahead, and, flying back, said to the young man: “I will fly behind those deer and drive them this way. You can kill all.” The young man stood behind and waited until the deer passed by; then he turned and, as all were in a line, he killed the ten with one arrow. The Crow said that in the village they never gave him anything but the refuse. “Oh!” said the young man, “you can have one deer for yourself today.” The Crow flew home with the news, and said: “What are all the other young men good for? The chief’s son-in-law has killed ten deer long before sunrise and the others have killed nothing.” None of the other hunters had good luck that day.

At night there was a feast and a dance in the Long Lodge. The disappointed hunters planned to take vengeance on the young man, the chief’s son-in-law. When going around to dance he came to the middle of the Long Lodge, by means of witchcraft they made him sink deep down into the ground. But the Crow now called on his friend, the Turkey, to dig him up. The Turkey came and scratched until he dug down to the young man, and with the aid of a bark rope, which the Crow had made, together they drew him up.

The old chief now made up his mind to leave the village and the bad people, who were enemies of his son-in-law, and to go with the good people of the village to live at the lodge of his son-in-law’s grandfather. They all went and settled down there and lived happily.

8. THE MAN WHO MARRIED A BUFFALO WOMAN

Near the river, at the place now called Corydon, in Pennsylvania, there lived a family of Indians. One of the boys arose very early one morning and went to the river. The air was foggy, but the boy heard paddling and soon saw two little people called Djogeon [17] in a canoe, who came to the place where he was and landed. One of them said: “We came on purpose to talk with you, for you are habitually up early in the morning. We are on a buffalo hunt. There are three buffaloes, two old and one young, which run underground. If they should stop in this part of the country they would destroy all the people, for they are full of witchcraft and sorcery. In two days you must be in this place very early.”

When the time was up the boy went to the same spot on the river bank and in a short while the Djogeon came and said: “We have killed the two old buffaloes, but the young one has escaped to the west. We let him go because some one will kill him anyway. Now we are going home.” When they had said this they went away.

On the Allegany reservation the Seneca collected a war party to go against the Cherokee. One of the company was the fastest runner of the Seneca. Before they got to the Cherokee country they met the Cherokee and all the Seneca were killed except the fast runner. He ran in the opposite direction until out of their reach; then he started home by a different road from the one on which the party had set out. The third day, near noon, he came to a deer lick, and while he sat there he saw tracks which looked like those of a very large bear; he followed these until they led to a large elm tree; he found that the animal was not an ordinary bear, but one of the old kind, the great Ganiagwaihegowa,[18] that eats people, and he said, “It matters not if I die, I must see it.” Climbing the tree and looking down into the hollow in the trunk he saw the creature. It had no hair; its skin was as smooth as a man’s. He thought: “I had better not attack that creature. I will go back to the deer lick.” Getting down, he ran to the lick. Then he heard a terrible noise and, looking back, he saw the animal come down from the tree. Drawing back, he ran and jumped into the middle of the deer lick, sinking almost to his waist in the mud; he could not get out, but he could with great difficulty take a single step forward. He saw the Ganiagwaihegowa coming toward the lick; when it got to the place whence he leaped, it jumped after him. He dragged himself along, pulling one leg after the other; the animal sank so it could scarcely move. The man at last got to solid ground, but the Ganiagwaihegowa sank deeper and deeper. When it reached the center of the lick it sank out of sight.

The man ran some distance and sat down on a fallen tree. He did not know what to do; he was faint from hunger, having had nothing to eat, and was too tired to hunt. Soon a man approached and said, “You think you are going to die?” “Yes,” he answered. “No; you will not; I come to assist you. Go where I came from, off in this direction,” he said, pointing to one side. “You will find a fire and over it a pot; rest there and eat; men will come and trouble you, but pay no attention to them. When you sit down to eat one will say, ‘Throw a small piece over this way’; another will say, ‘Throw a bit over this way’; but pay no heed to them. If you throw even a bit, you are lost, for they will destroy you.”

He went as directed and found meat and hulled corn in the kettle. As he ate, it seemed as though a crowd formed in a circle around him, all begging for a portion. They kept it up all night, but he paid no heed to their begging.

In the morning, after he had traveled a short distance, he met the same man who sent him to the kettle, who now said to him: “I am glad that you did as I told you. Now you will live. Go toward the east, and when it is near night sit down by a tree. I will come to you.”

He traveled all day, and near sunset he found a fallen tree and sat down. Soon the man came and said: “Follow my tracks a little way and you will find a fire and a kettle with meat and hulled corn in it; you will be troubled as you were last night, but pay no heed to the words; if you escape tonight, you will have no more trouble.”

He went as directed; he found the fire and the kettle hanging over it; the kettle was filled with meat and hulled corn. That night a crowd around him begged for food as they did the night before, but he paid no attention to them. After he had started in the morning the man met him and said, “Keep on your way; you will meet no further danger, and will reach home safe and well.” After going on a little way he turned to look at his friend, and saw that instead of being a man it was Sʻhagodiyoweqgowa.[19] He went along, and toward night he began to think he had better look for game. He saw a deer, which he shot and killed; then, building a fire, he roasted and ate some pieces of venison. He was now in full strength.

The next day he kept on, and in the afternoon he shot a deer. When night came he lay down by the fire, but he could not sleep. After a while he heard some persons coming to his fire—a couple of women, he thought. One asked, “Are you awake?” “Yes; I am awake,” he replied. “Well, my husband and I have decided to have you marry our daughter here,” came the rejoinder. When she said this he looked at them, and they were attractive women, especially the younger one. He consented to her proposal. He did not know where to go, and thought that if he married her he would have company and could find his way home after a time. The two women stayed all night. In the morning the mother said, “We will go to my home.” They walked on until noon, when they came to a village where he thought a goodly number of people were living. He stayed with them a long time.

One night he heard a drum sounding near by and heard his father-in-law say, “Oh! Oh!” The old man seemed frightened by the call. It meant that the little Buffalo, which had escaped from the Djogeon and lived under the hill, was going to have a dance and that all must come. That morning they went to the place where the drum was beaten. The little Buffalo was chief of all these people. He had two wives. When they got to the place the whole multitude danced all night, and the little Buffalo and his two wives came out and danced. He had only one rib [19a] on each side of his body.

The next morning the chief and his two wives came out and went around in the crowd. Being very jealous, he pushed the young Buffalo Man away from his wives and began fighting them; then he went away again. The next morning the old father-in-law said to the man, “The two wives will soon come out and go to the stream for water; they will pass near you, but you must not speak or smile, for their husband is a bad, jealous man, and if you smile or speak he will know it at once and will harm you.” He did not, however, obey the old man’s words. The two women went for water, and as they came back they smiled and looked pleased, and the young man asked them for a drink; they gave it to him and went on. His father-in-law said, “You have not done as I told you; now the man will come out and say he has challenged a man to a foot-race, and he will name you.” Soon the Buffalo Man came out and said: “I have challenged this man to run. If I am a better runner than he, I will take his life; if he is better than I, he may take mine.” They were to begin the race early in the morning and were to run around and around the hill. The one who was ahead at sundown was to be the winner. The father-in-law said, “You must have an extra pair of moccasins to put on if yours get worn out.”

That morning the Buffalo Man came out, and saying, “Now start!” off he went. At noon his friends told his opponent to do his best, for the Buffalo Man was gaining on him, and had just gone around the turn ahead. Soon the man overheard the Buffaloes tell the Buffalo Man to do his best, for the other man was gaining on him. Shortly after noon the chief’s son-in-law was only a few rods behind, and the Buffalo Man was tired; the latter began to go zigzag and soon afterward his opponent overtook him.

The latter did not know at first how to shoot the Buffalo Man. He could not shoot him in the side, for it was one immense rib; so he decided to shoot from behind. He shot and the arrow went in up to the feathers, only a little of it protruding. The two ran around once more, and as they came near the stopping place the people encouraged the man to shoot a second time. He did so, and the Buffalo fell dead. So the words of the Djogeon were fulfilled that some one would come who would kill the young Buffalo. The people crowded around the man and thanked him for what he had done.

After this the old man said to the people, “All can go where they like.” They separated, but he and his wife with their son-in-law and daughter went home. Then the mother-in-law said to the man, “Now you must get ready and go to see your mother.” They started, the man, his wife, and mother-in-law. They were ten days on the road. It was the time of sugar making. When they got near his mother’s lodge his wife said, “My mother and I will stop in these woods; your mother is making maple sugar and we will help her all we can.” The young man saw his mother and at night went to the lodge, leaving his wife and her mother in the woods.

In the night the wife and mother collected all the sap and brought a great pile of wood. The next morning when the mother and her son went to the woods they found no sap in the troughs under the trees, but when they got to the boiling place the big trough was full and a great pile of wood was near by. The work continued for some days. Then the old woman said to her son-in-law: “It is time for me to go home to my husband, and now you may be free. Have no hard feelings. I shall take my daughter with me. You must stay with your mother. There are many women about here who want to marry you, but do not marry them; there is but one that you should marry—the granddaughter of the woman who lives in the last lodge at the edge of the village. They are very poor and the girl takes care of her grandmother. You may tell the people when you get home that you saw buffalo tracks in the swamp; let them come out and shoot; the more they shoot the sooner we shall get home.”

The man told the people that he saw tracks in the swamp. The people went out, but did not get far before they overtook the Buffaloes and killed them. The man knew all the time that they were Buffaloes, but in his eyes they seemed like people. As he had been absent from his people so long, and as the rest of his company had been killed, the Seneca thought him a great man. The women sought him as a husband for their daughters, but, refusing every offer, he married the granddaughter of the old woman who lived in the last lodge on the edge of the village.

When the Buffaloes were shot the people thought they had killed them, but in reality they had not done so. The Buffaloes left their carcasses behind, which the people ate, but their spirits went back to the old man and they were Buffaloes again.[19b]

9. A WOMAN AND HER BEAR LOVER

A man and his wife with two sons—one on the cradle-board yet, and the other three or four years old—lived in the woods.

After a while the elder boy became puny and sickly. The man was much troubled by this and began to think that his wife was to blame. Every day he set out to hunt, and the woman went to get wood and to dig wild potatoes.

One day the man resolved to watch his wife; so he hid himself near the lodge instead of going to hunt. In a couple of hours the wife came out, gayly dressed, her face washed, and her hair oiled; she walked quickly to the woods. He followed her stealthily. She stopped at a large tree on which she tapped with a stick and said, “I am here again.” Presently a noise as of scrambling was heard in the tree, and a great Bear came out of the hollow in the trunk and slipped quickly to the foot of the tree. After a while the woman went away, and the Bear again climbed the tree. The man set off, seeking wild potatoes. Finding a place where there were many good ones, he dug up a large quantity.

The next day he took the woman there and dug up as many as she could carry; he then sent her home, saying that he would go hunting so that they could have a good supper. The hunter then went straight to the tree in which lived his wife’s lover, the Bear, and, tapping twice on it, said, “I am here again.” The Bear soon stuck his head out, and the man shot an arrow at him which brought him to the ground. The hunter left the skin of the Bear; he merely opened his body and took out the entrails, which he carried home.

The woman was glad and said to the little boy, “Your father has brought us a good dinner.” She cooked the entrails and the wild potatoes. They all sat down to eat, and the woman ate very heartily; but the man said that he was sick, and did not eat of the entrails. When she had nearly finished eating and her hands were full of fat, her husband said to her, “You seem to like to eat your lover.” “What?” she said. “Oh! eat more, eat plenty,” he replied. “I shall eat two or three mouthfuls more,” she said. As she was doing this, he said again, “You seem to like to eat your husband.” She heard him this time and knew what he meant. Jumping up, she ran out and vomited and vomited. Then she ran off into the woods to the westward. The next day she took medicine, which caused an abortion, resulting in delivery of two bear cubs. Leaving them on the ground, she cut off her breasts and hung them on an ironwood tree.

A couple of days later the father said to the elder boy, “I think I must go after your mother; you stay in the lodge and take care of your little brother.” Then he brought a bowl of water and put feathers in it, saying, “If anything evil happens to me the feathers will be bloody.”

He started west. The first day he found the cubs and breasts on the ironwood tree, which he knew came from his wife.

After leaving the cubs the woman went on until she came to a village. She stopped in the first lodge at the edge of the village, where a family of Crows lived. The woman said that she was looking for a place to live, and, being a young woman, would like to get a husband. The old Crow said to one of his sons: “Run over to the chief’s lodge, and tell him that there is a young woman here who would like to get married. Perhaps one of his sons would like to have her.” The boy did as directed. “All right,” said the chief, “let her come over here.” The woman went over. She had her hair pulled back and tied tight at the back so there were no wrinkles on her face, and as her breasts were cut off, she looked like a young woman. One of the chief’s sons married her.

Two days later her husband appeared at the lodge of the Crows, asking whether they had seen such and such a woman. “I have come looking for my wife, who left me four days ago,” said the man. “Yes, such a woman came here two days ago. She is married to one of the chief’s sons.” “Go over,” said the Gagahgowa [20] to one of his sons, “and tell the chief that his daughter-in-law’s husband has come.” The young Crow went over and delivered the message. “Have you ever been married before?” asked the chief of his daughter-in-law. “No,” replied the woman. “Then he lies,” said the chief to the Crow’s son. Turning to some of the warriors, he said: “We do not want such a fellow as that hanging around; go over and kill him.” The warriors went over to the Crow’s house, killed the man, and threw his body away.

Immediately the feathers in the bowl were bloody, and the boy knew that his father was dead. The next day he started westward, carrying his little brother on his back. Following the trail, they found the two cubs lying on the ground. Then the little fellow on the cradle-board looked at them, then at the breasts on the tree, and he knew that they belonged to his mother. They went on until they reached the Crow’s lodge, where they inquired, “Have you seen our father, who came after our mother?” “Oh, yes; the chief has killed your father, and your mother is at the chief’s lodge. She is the wife of one of his sons. You run over and tell the chief that his daughter-in-law’s two sons have come after her.” He went and told his message. “Have you ever had any children?” asked her father-in-law and her husband. “No,” she said in a faint voice. “Go home,” said the chief, “and tell them my daughter-in-law never had any children. She is a young woman. How could she have two sons?” Then, turning to the warriors, he said: “Run over and kill those lying children. I do not want to have them around here.” When his sons came home the Gagahgowa said: “They will kill those two boys. It is a pity. Let us hide them.” When the warriors came the Gagahgowa said, “They have gone; they went back home, I think.”

The Crows cared for the boys. After a while the old Crow said: “Let us go away from here. Let us go far away into the woods where there will be good hunting. These little boys will bring us luck.” The Crow family moved far away into the deep woods; they planted corn and beans and had good crops. The boys grew up and hunted; they had great luck and obtained much game. The whole Crow family were fat and happy.