Virgo30's blog: "Storyz"

A Seneca Legend Hatcinobdon was a great warrior, the greatest of all the Senecas. Once, when out with a party of warriors, he came to a high cliff and knowing that the Cherokees were on the lookout he told his men to stay where they were and he would go ahead and see what could be done. He hadn't gone far when a party of Cherokees saw him and started in pursuit. Hatcinobdon ran into tall reeds that grew in two great patches with a narrow space between them. He escaped from the first patch and hid in the second one. His pursuers thought he was in the first patch; they watched the narrow space and set fire to the reeds. When the reeds were destroyed they expected to find him dead, burned up. Hatcinobdon fell asleep in his hiding place. In the night two men came, wakened him, and said, "Follow us, we have come for you." He went with the men and after a time one of them pointed at a house, and said, "Nohnohsot, the man who lives there, sent for you." He went to the house, but could find no door. After a while a voice called, "Come in!" A door opened and he went in and saw a man, who said, "I sent for you and you have come. Are you hungry?" Hatcinobdon smiled and said in his mind, "That's a strange question. That's not the way I do; I give food." Nohnohsot laughed, he knew the man's thoughts. He brought out half a loaf of acorn bread, half of a wild apple, and half of a pigeon. Hatcinobdon said, "How little will fill me." "If you eat all of this I will give you more," said Nohnohsot. As the Seneca ate he noticed that each thin-, became whole again, that he was unable to finish either the loaf, the apple or the pigeon. When he had eaten all he could, Nohnohsot said to him, "Now I will talk with you." Just then the door was thrown open and Sun came in so quickly and with such brightness that Hatcinobdon had to hold down his head. Sun spoke to Nohnohsot and right away hurried off towards the East. Then Nohnohsot said, "That is the man you call Endekha Geqgwa´(the orb of day). It is night down below and he is hurrying to the East. He told me of a great battle. Nohnohsot was Háweniyo(Great Spirit), and he said, "That is what I expected when I made people, I thought they would fight. Hereafter when you meet an enemy don't run away, go up to him; he can't harm you; no arrow can kill you. I am the cause of the Senecas not fighting with the Cherokees. You will find your warriors where you left them. Now the Hsdionyageonon (Spirits) are ready to go with you." Hatcinobdon went out, passed through an opening, as he thought, and found himself in the reeds. He got back I o his party and told the men what he had seen, and they all went home. Soon after this the Senecas held a council and the warriors decided to go again to the Cherokee country. When the Senecas and Cherokees met, Hatcinobdon, remembering what Nohnohsot had told him, went straight up to a Cherokee warrior, killed and scalped him, then called out, "I have killed and scalped a man! My name is Hatcinobdon." After that there was a battle and many men were killed. But the Senecas won and went home carrying a large number of scalps. Another party started off to fight the Cherokees. This time Hatcinobdon was captured; he was tied and led to the Cherokee village. It was a Cherokee custom when a man was captured to leave it to two women to say how he should be tortured. The two women decided that Hatcinobdon was to be bound to a tree and burned to death. They tied him to a tree and piled dry brush and wood around him. He thought, "Now I am going to die." But, just as the women were setting fire to the brush a terrible rain storm came and every one ran for shelter, leaving the Seneca bound to the tree. While he was there alone, an old woman came to him, and said, "My Grandson, you think that you are going to die, but you are not. Try to move." He moved, the thongs fell off and he was free. The woman said, "I have returned your kindness. Once when your people were making a circle of fire, you saw a toad inside the circle, you took it up and put it in your bosom and when you came to water put it down. I was that toad. Now when I saw you in trouble I brought rain to save you. Go to the river and run with the current." When the rain was over the Cherokee women came back to the tree and found that their prisoner was gone. They raised an alarm, men ran together, found tracks, and followed them. When they came to the river, they lost the trail, and after a time they abandoned pursuit and went home. Two men came and sat down near Hatcinobdon's hiding place, and one said to the other, "It is strange where that man went." The Seneca was afraid they would discover where he was, but at last they went away, then he went down the stream some distance and struck off toward the South. Toward night he came to an opening and saw three men building a fire. He watched and listened till dark, then crept up to a place opposite the fire and found that the men were asleep; he stole their weapons and provisions. The next morning he traveled in a circle till he found the trail by which he and his party had come. Soon he saw men sitting around a fire, he crept near and heard Seneca words, then he called "Goweh! Goweh!" three times. The men shouted with joy and ran to meet him. This is their story.

A Seneca Legend An uncle and nephew lived off in a forest. There had been a large family, but all were dead except the two. The uncle and nephew were the last of their race. One day the uncle said, "My nephew, you have grown to be a large boy. Now you must learn to hunt. You may use the bow and arrows that I used when I was young." The old man took his bow from the wall and cleaned it, for it was smoky. Then he said, "We will make a trial of shooting." They went out together and the uncle tried first, shot at a tree a long way off. The nephew made a good shot and the uncle said, "That was well done. You can begin hunting. You must hunt between sunrise and sunset and always keep on the sunny side, never go North." The boy hadn't been out long when he killed a deer. When he took it home his uncle thanked him, and said, "We can live now; we have plenty of meat." He cut up the meat, tied bark strings around the pieces and hung them up to dry. For a while the boy brought game each day, then it became scarce and he had to go far South before coming upon any animals. One time when the boy was sitting around in the house, his uncle said, "When I was young I had something to amuse myself with. I will get it for you." He brought a flute and when he blew on it the flute talked, said, "Tomorrow you will kill such and such game." The boy was greatly pleased, and soon learned to play on the flute. The next morning he started off hunting and sure enough he killed exactly what the flute said he would. That night, after the boy had rested from hunting, he took his flute, and again it said, "You will kill such and such game tomorrow." Again the boy killed exactly what the flute said. He began to wonder why he must always go South. At last he made up his mind to go North, and, making a circuit, he was soon north of his uncle's cabin. He found elk tracks, followed them and came to a broad opening and in the opening he saw an elk; he ran after it, ran in a circle, and came out in the opening. All at once he heard a woman call, "Stop! Stop!" but he ran on full speed, after the elk, and again he came out in the opening. A second time the woman called, "Stop! Stop! Wait and rest." Looking around, the boy saw that the woman was sitting on a fallen tree. She called, "Come and sit down. I know you are tired. When you have rested you can chase the elk." He sat down near her and soon his head was on her knees. The boy had very long hair, so long that he kept it tied up, for when he let it down it swept the ground. Now he tied one of his hairs to a root in the ground. After a while he fell asleep. The woman put him in a basket, swung the basket on to her back and started off on a run, then she rose in the air and ran very fast. The hair stretched till it could stretch no longer, then it pulled them back to the place they started from. The woman said to herself, "There is witchcraft about this boy, I will try again." The boy wakened, again she searched in his hair till he closed his eyes, then she asked, "Are you asleep?" "I am not asleep," said the boy. After a while she asked again, "Are you asleep?" He didn't answer; he was asleep. The woman put him in the basket, swung it on to her back, ran a while, then rose in the air. When she had gone a long distance she came down by the bank of a river, roused the boy, and asked, "Do you know this place?" "I know it, my uncle and I used to come here to fish. "He had never been there; he wanted to deceive the woman. Again she put him to sleep and again she rose in the air. When she had gone a long distance she came down on an island, shook the boy, roused him and asked, "Do you know this place?" "I know it, my uncle and I used to come here." Again she put him to sleep, and again she rose in the air; this time she carried him to the edge of a ravine that was so deep that the tops of the tallest trees that grew in it could not be seen. She put the basket down on the very edge of the cliff, turned it over, and the boy went headlong into the ravine. He fell slowly, for he had power. He came to the ground unhurt, but he could find no way of escape. The sides of the ravine were like a wall. The uncle waited and waited. At last he said to himself, "It is late. Something has happened. My nephew is not coming home. I must find out what the trouble is." He took the flute down and saw that the mouth-piece was bloody. Then he said, "They have beaten my poor nephew, trouble has come to him." As there wasn't much blood he thought, "Maybe he will free himself and come back." The nephew lay down among the rocks in the deep, blind ravine and tried to sleep, but could not. All at once he heard a great bird coming. As it swept past him, it caught a mouthful of flesh out of his arm. He spat on his arm, rubbed and cured it. When the bird had been gone a while, he heard it coming again, and as it flew past, it took a second bite out of his arm. He spat on the arm, rubbed and cured it. When daylight came the boy stood up and looking around saw bones and skeletons on every side, and one man just alive. He said to himself, "I suppose I shall die here just as these men have died." That morning the uncle looked at the flute and seeing that there was more blood on it than before, he gave up his nephew as lost. In despair he sat down and cried, meanwhile scattering ashes over his head and shoulders. The second night the bird flew past twice, each time taking a piece of flesh out of the boy's arm. When the bird had gone, the boy fell asleep and dreamed. In his dream he heard an old woman's voice say, "Grandson, I have come to help you, you think you are going to die, but you are not. Just at sunrise you will vomit. if you vomit up something that looks like a hemlock leaf you may know that you are going to escape from here. Pick up the leaf, stick it in the ground and sing. As you sing the leaf will become a tree. Sit on one of the limbs and keep on singing. The tree will grow till it reaches the top of the cliff, then jump off and run." Just at sunrise the next morning the boy vomited as the woman of the dream had said he would, and he found a little hemlock leaf. He stuck the leaf in the ground near the wall of the ravine and began to sing. The leaf became a tree, and as the boy sang the tree grew higher and higher. He didn't sit on a limb of the tree, but stayed below and sang till the tree was higher than the top of the cliff, then he gathered all the skeletons and bones into a pile and going to a great hickory tree which stood near he pushed it, and called out, "Rise up and run or the tree will fall on you!" The bones became living men and the men sprang up and ran away from the tree. Two of them had unequal legs, each had a leg that belonged to the other. The boy said to the crowd, "Now you must follow me up this tree to the bank above. You must not look back, if you do you will fall." The limbs of the tree were near together, like a ladder, and the men climbed easily. The two men with one leg short and one leg long were behind. After climbing quite a distance one of them looked back to see how high up he was. Right away he turned to bones and the bones, rattling through the limbs of the tree, fell to the ground. Now there was but one man with uneven legs. He went on till near the top of the cliff, then he looked back. Right away he turned to bones and the bones, rattling through the branches of the tree, fell to the ground. When the boy was some distance away from the cliff, he said to the men who here with him, "Stay here while I go and bring the woman, who has done all this mischief. She has a mother, who is a wizard. We will punish them both." He started off and hadn't gone far when he came to the house of the woman who had deceived him. He sat down by her, and said, "I have come!" Soon her mother came in, and said, "I am glad that my son-in-law has come." That night the young man heard the old woman groaning. She crawled out of bed on her hands and knees and rolled around on the ground. He took a corn-pounder, struck her, and said, "Mother-in-law, wake up and tell us your dream." She stood up, and said, "I dreamed that my son-in-law must kill the two white otters that are in the lake." "Go to sleep," said the young man, "I will do that tomorrow." The woman went back to her blankets. In the morning she said, "You must kill the two white otters in the lake and bring them home before the door stops shaking after you have slammed it in going out. If you don't, something bad will happen." The young man tied one of his long hairs to the door, and, unknown to his mother-in-law, kept pulling it to make the door tremble. He reached the bank of the lake and called to the otters. They came in sight. He threw a round stone, which he had in his pocket, at one of the otters and killed it. Great waves rose up and rushed towards him. The second otter came near, on the top of a wave. He threw the second stone and killed the second otter, then the waves went back. When the young man came to the house, he called out, "Here, Mother-in-law, are your two otters!" "Where?" asked she, "Where?" The two otters were her brothers. The young man's uncle thought he was dead and often he sat in front of the fire and, with a handful of ashes in each hand, held his hands above his head and let the ashes fall over his hair and face. At night he often heard some one coming. Then a voice called out, "Uncle, I have come!" The old man jumped up, brushed off the ashes, went to the door and opened it only to find a fox or an owl. At last he made up his mind not to be deceived again. The night after the otters were killed, the old woman groaned and rolled around on the ground. The young man hit her with the corn-pounder. She woke up, and said, "I dreamed that my son-in-law must kill the bird on the top of the tall tree." "Go to sleep, Mother-in-law. I will do that in the morning." In the morning she said, "If you get back after the door, that you slam in going out, stops swinging, something bad will happen." The young man fixed the door as before, and going to the tall tree saw, on the very top, a black eagle. He drew his bow. The first arrow that he sent went almost to the top of the tree, but was driven back by the power of the eagle. He sent a second arrow. It struck the eagle in the heart and brought it to the ground. The young man picked up the bird and ran to the house. When he came he called out, "Mother-in-law, here is your eagle!" "Whu! Whu!" said she. The eagle was her third brother and had always fed on men killed by his sister and nieces. "Come outside," said the young man to his wife. When she was outside, he fastened up the house, walked around it, and said, "I want this house to turn to stone," and immediately it was stone. The old woman and three of her daughters were inside. They cried out, "Have pity on us! Have pity on us!" "You had no pity on me," said the young man, and he left them to smother. Then with his wife he went to the men near the ravine and said to them, "I have brought back this woman. She is the one who threw us over the precipice to die in the ravine." They stripped a wide piece of bark from a tree, tied the woman on it, with bark straps, and placed it against a tree. Then the men gathered wood, piled it around her and burned her up. The young man had two brothers among the men he had rescued. He told the other men to go to their own homes. Then, with his brothers he went to his uncle's house. When near they heard the old man crying. They listened; he stopped crying and began to sing, "Ten Summers I will mourn for him." The door was fastened. The young man called out, "Uncle, I have come, let me in!" "Be off!" answered the old man. "You have deceived me times enough." The nephew begged to be let in, said he had his brothers with him. "Be off!" cried the uncle. Then he relented, made a hole in the skin-door, and said, "Put your arm in, I will see if you are my nephew." The young man put his arm through the hole. The old man tied it to the door with a bark string, then he opened the door cautiously. When he saw his nephew, he cried out, "Wait, till I clean up a little." He brushed off the ashes, then he welcomed his nephews, and they lived happily together.

A Seneca Legend In a village, in olden times, lived two young men who were such great friends that they cared for no one else, on that account everybody disliked and shunned them. They could find no home to live in so they said to each other, "Since everybody dislikes us the sooner we go away from the village the better," and they started toward the South. When night overtook them they looked around for a dry place, where leaves had fallen, for they wanted to sleep comfortably. At first the friends had only evergreen and roots to eat, but afterward they made bows and arrows and killed birds and small game. When they were out of the forest, they came to opening where there was swampy ground, but they traveled on. Once in a while one said to the other, "I am afraid we will never get across the swamp"; but the other said encouraging words, and they went on. One day the two young men came to a tall hemlock tree. "Climb up and look around. See if there is a house in sight," said one to the other. The limbs of the hemlock came almost to the ground and the young man climbed up easily. When he reached the top of the tree and looked off, he saw a beautiful trail leaping from the tree into the air. He called to his companion, "Throw down our bows and arrows and come up here and see what a splendid trail I have found." The other climbed the tree and looking at the trail, said, "Let us find out where it leads to." They looked in every direction, but saw no forest or trees on any side. It had always been necessary that whatever the two friends undertook they should be of one mind. They were now of one mind and they started off together. The trail from the tree seemed as solid as if upon the ground, and extended as far as eye could see. The young men traveled along the trail and never knew they were going up till they had reached another world. It seemed pleasant there, but the leader said, "Don't stop here, let us go on and see where the trail ends." Along the trail there was plenty of game, but the young men paid no heed to it. After a time they came to a bark-house out of which smoke was rising. One of the young men said, "It is customary for travelers to stop at any house near a trail and find out who is living there. Let us look in here." The elder went first. The house was of bark with bark suspended for a door. They pushed the door open and saw an old man sitting inside; he saluted the young men, and said, "I know the trouble you have undergone, I know that people dislike you. I have called you and you have come from the lower world, you often spoke of the world above. I caused you to follow the trail that leads up here. Come into my house, but you cannot stay long for I must go elsewhere." The man, who seemed to be about middle age, said, "People down in your world often speak of a brother whose home is in 'the Blue.' I am that brother. I am he who makes light (the sun). Háweniyo commands me, says I must give light to the world. This is my resting place and I can stay here but a short time. When you come this way again you must stop. I am always here at midday. I go under the earth and come out in the East. When you come to the next house you must go in and speak to the woman who lives there," said the man as he started off toward the West. The two young men traveled on till they came to second bark house, then the leader said, "We must stop here for our friend told us to." The house looked exactly like the first one. The young men went inside and saw an old woman sewing skins together. They said to her, "We have come, Grandmother." "I am glad," said she. "It was your brother who seat you here. Now you must eat, for it is a long time that you are without food." In one part of the house they saw a bark bowl full of boiled squash, evidently just from the kettle. They sat down and the old woman gave each of them half of a squash and a quarter of a loaf of Indian bread, saying, "This will be enough for both." "No," said one of the young men, "there is no more here than I can eat." "It is enough," said the woman, "when you come back, stop and I will give you more, I am the woman whom people down below call the 'Moon.' Be on your guard; the trail is full of danger, you must be brave. Don't look at anything outside of your path for an enemy is there. Don't heed anything you see or hear; if you do you are lost. After a while you will pass the dangerous part and come to a house where you can stop." As the friends traveled on they saw all kinds of fruit and game. It called to them "Stop! Come and eat, I am good!" But they remembered the old woman's words and paid no heed. Each fruit had words of its own with which it begged the young men to come and eat of it. After a while the fruit stopped calling, and the friends thought, "Maybe we are out of trouble now and will soon come to the house where the old woman told us to stop." But they came to a second place. The first fruit was full of witchcraft. If they had eaten of it, they would have died, but at the second place they ate of the fruit and were refreshed. After a while, they saw a house in the distance and one said to the other, "We are coming to a place where we may be in danger, we may have no mind of our own. We wanted to come and now that we are here we must endure what we meet." They talked in this way till they came to the house. In the house they found a man who called himself their uncle and said, "I am glad that your brother has sent you. You are going to a large assembly, but you cannot join it unless I change you." One of the young men was frightened. He asked, "Why should we be changed? We are men, we have come thus far in our own form." "You have come here in your own form, but now you must be made ready to enter the assembly of this world." The other young man looked steadfastly at his uncle and was not frightened or discouraged. The old man went to another part of the house and brought out a long wide strip of bark, set it up slanting, and said, "The first that came shall be transformed first," and he called to the young man to come and lie on the bark. He did so; then the old man asked, "Are you ready?" "I am ready." The uncle blew through his hand on to the young man's head, and bones and flesh separated and fell into two heaps. The other nephew looked on, saw how the uncle took every joint, separated the parts, wiped and put the bones aside, and he thought, "My luck is hard. I am alone here; my friend is gone." After the bones had been cleaned the old man put them in place again then saying, "Be ready!" he blew through his hands on to the skull of the skeleton. The force of the blowing sent the skeleton a long distance, but again it was a man. This was the way in which each man had to be purified. The second nephew did not want to be treated in the same manner. He did not go forward willingly, but when the uncle was ready he gave the word and the young man could not hold back. He lay on the bark and was treated as his friend had been treated, while the friend in his turn looked on. Because he had been unwilling, his body was more difficult to purify. The old man washed and wiped each bone. He took more uncleanness from this nephew than from the first After he had put the bones in place, and said, "Be ready!" he blew on the skull with such force that the skeleton shot off a long distance, but it became a beautiful young man. Then the old man said, "You are purified. Now I will try your power." They went outside and stood in the opening. A deer was feeding on the grass. The uncle said to one of the young men, "Catch that deer." To the deer he called out, "Be on your guard, my nephew is going to kill you!" The deer sprang off, but had made only a few bounds when the young man was at its side. The uncle saw how he caught the deer, and, knowing that he was fit for any race, he said, "You are ready now." Then he told the second nephew to catch the deer calling out to the deer, "Be on your guard, my nephew is going to kill you!" The deer sprang away, but the young man overtook it and brought it to the old man, who said, "You also are ready. You can go to the assembly and see what you can accomplish." The young men started. They had not gone far when they saw a man coming toward them. There was a little hollow ahead. They saw him go down into this hollow and come up, walking very fast. As the three men met, the stranger said, "You have come, brothers. Your elder brother wanted you to come. Now you must go with me to the great assembly. He who has charge of the assembly is the same who made the world from which you hall come. As you could not go to the assembly alone I have been sent to conduct you." The stranger turned and the young men followed him at what seemed to them incredible speed. Soon they heard the noise as of a multitude of voices and the sound grew louder and louder. The stranger said, "It is the sound of mirth and it comes from the assembly." When they approached there seemed to be an immense settlement and the stranger said to one of the young men, "Your sister's house is off at the end, and your brothers' are there too. You cannot go into their houses for you did not die before you came here. You must pass through the same that they have to enter their homes." As the young men went along, they felt a great desire to go into the houses, but they knew they could not. As they walked they inhaled the odor of beautiful flowers that grew along the path. After a while the guide pointed to a long house, and said, "That is where Háweniyo lives, he who made the world below and allowed you to come here. We will sit down by the door and afterward go in." The long house was built with low walls and hung inside with green boughs that gave out a delightful odor. As the air moved, a strong perfume came from the flowers and herbs that were inside the house. As the young men entered, they saw a great many people, who had come to praise Háweniyo and have the Green Corn dance. These people did not notice that two men were there in human flesh--for the two had been purified. A man came out of the crowd and proclaimed what things had to be done. The guide said, "This is the one whom you call Háweniyo. It is here that those who are good in the lower world come when they die. When you reach home you will tell your people what you have seen. Now I will go back with you." The three started. When they came to the place where he had met them, the guide left them and the young men went on alone. They traveled very swiftly, calling at each place where they had stopped when coming, but only to return thanks. When they reached Sun's house, Sun said, "You are going home. I caused you to come hither. You have been ten days traveling, but what we call a day here is a year in the lower world." When the young men got back to the lower world they were about thirty years old. The ten years they had been' gone seemed no longer than going in the morning and coming back in the evening. Sun took them to the hemlock tree where the trail began. They found that their bows, which they had left on the ground, were covered with moss. Sun reached for the bows and arrows, took them in his hands, rapped off the moss, and they were as new as if just made. He said "Long ago the people moved from the village where you were born." It was twelve looks from the hemlock tree to where the village had been. When they came to the end of twelve looks Sun said, "Here is where the village was." Clearings and little hillocks where corn had been were to be seen, but grass was growing everywhere. Sun said, "You will find your people twelve looks farther on. When you come to the first house ask the old man you will find there, if years ago he heard of two young men who disappeared from his village. If he gives you no information, go to the next house, you will find an old woman there, ask her the same question. Now we will part." Sun turned back and the young men went forward, After a time they came to an opening in the woods and saw a village. They entered the first house and called the old man sitting there "Grandfather" and one asked, "Do you remember that once two young men were lost from the village where you were living?" The old man held his head down, as if thinking, then raised it and said, "Why do you ask the question? Two young men did disappear. It was said that they were lost, but it was never known in what way." "How long ago did this happen?" "At the time they were lost the village was forsaken. It was ten years ago. The old chief told the young men that they must not stay any longer in that place; their children or grandchildren might disappear in the same way the two friends had. But," said the old man, "there is a woman in the next house, who can tell you more than I can. They went to the second house and said to the woman they found there, "How do you do, Grandmother, we have come to talk with you." Their first question was, "Why did your people desert the old village?" "Two young men disappeared," replied the old woman. "The place was blamed for it; people thought it must be inhabited by some evil thing which took off their children." The young men thought they had done as Sun instructed them to do, so they said, "We are the two who were lost. We have returned." "Where have you been?" asked the old woman. "We cannot tell you alone, but let an assembly be called and we will speak of all we have seen. Notify the people that there will be dancing, then they will come. There was nothing but mirth where we were." The old woman said, "It is the duty of the man who lives in that house yonder to notify the people of such gatherings. I will go and tell him." "Very well," said the young man, "the account of our journey is important, none of our people will ever see what we have seen and return to tell about it." The old woman told the messenger that two men had come to the village with important news and a meeting of the people must be called. The messenger started and when he came to a certain spot he called out, "Gowe! Gowe!" and continued to call till he reached the end of the village. The people assembled and the chief went to the old woman's cabin and said to the two strangers, "Let your work be done." When the young men came to the assembly, people looked at them with curiosity, for they seemed to be a different kind of people. They did not recognize them. The chief said, "These men are here with a message. Whence they have come no one knows, for we know of no other people living in the world but ourselves." The chief sat down and one of the young men rose, and said, "Listen!"--He was the first one purified, he had been first in all things afterward and was now the first to speak--"I want to ask you a question. Did you, while living in your old village lose two young men?" A woman rose up, and said, "I will answer that question. Two young men, despised and shunned by all, disappeared and have not been seen since." And she sat down. Then the old man whom the two friends had visited rose, but he couldn't say much. The last man purified stood up, and said, "We are the two who disappeared, nobody cared for us and we 'were grieved. We have been to the other world, have been in the Southern world, and have returned to you. A guide came with us to our starting place. Your own wickedness caused you to leave your village and homes. You are like animals in the forest; when their young are old enough they desert them. As soon as we were large enough, you deserted us. The birds build homes for their young, but soon leave them. You will see that whenever the young bird meets its mother it flutters its wings, but the mother passes it by. We, like the young bird, were happy to meet you, but you didn't want to see us. When we went away we were young; we are now men. What is your opinion? Will it be customary hereafter to desert homeless children?" (The two wanted to be received into the gens [clan].) The young man's companion listened to his speech and then said, "Let this be a starting point. Whenever a poor family are rearing children, never forsake them. When parents die, care for their fatherless and motherless children." The two friends told how they had visited the long house in "the Blue" and seen Háweniyo; how they had been directed to describe to their people in the lower world all they had seen. Then they told the people they must learn the dance that Háweniyo wished them to know, the Green Corn dance. One of the young men sang the song he had heard in the world above; the other taught the people how to dance to the song. He said to them, "Let it be that whatever we saw done up there will be done here." The people adopted the rules laid down for them at this time, and their religion was formed. The friend, who was last to be purified, became Hadentheni (Speaker), the first to be purified became Hanigongendatha (Definer), to explain the meaning of everything touching Háweniyo. After a time, the two young men said, "Let us continue our journey." They went on. They found many villages and spoke to the people. This is why the Indians are religious today. Those men were good in all things and the people followed their example. They traveled till they had finished their work in the North, then they said, "We have spoken peace to all the tribes of the North, now we will return to our birthplace." After they had been at home a while, they said, "Let us travel South from the hemlock tree and let our food be the game we kill." When they had traveled a few days they camped and began to hunt, going in different directions in quest of game. During one of those expeditions, the Speaker saw a man dodging around the trees. As he approached the dodger stopped, and said, "Grandson, I am glad to see you. I have been sent to tell you that you and others are in great danger. This is all I can say, but come with me to my chief, he will answer your questions." The Speaker followed the stranger for he wanted to find out if there were really people living near. The two soon came to a high cliff and the stranger said, "We live down there." Looking closely the young man saw an almost invisible trail. They followed the trail to the bottom of the ravine and came to an opening in the rocks. When about to enter the stranger said, "Leave your bow and arrows, as you do when you go into other houses." They went through the first opening and into a second. In the second was an old man and an old woman. The stranger said to them, "I have brought your grandson." "We have met many times," said the old man, "but you have never been able to know it. Now I have sent for You for I want to tell you that you are in great danger. Your companion has gone far into the forest and the Nyagwaihe Gowa is on his trail. At midday tomorrow the enemy will be at your camp. He is full of witchcraft and if you do not act as I tell you he will kill you and kill us. We have many times tried to destroy Nyagwaihe Gowa, but he is so full of magic that we cannot kill him. "Go back to your camp, your friend is there now. Cut some basswood sticks and make them into manikins. When the manikins are finished put them down in front of your brush house, near the door, and give each one a bow and arrow. When Nyagwaihe Gowa approaches, you will know it by the roar. Fell trees in the path and be ready with bow and arrows. "Nyagwaihe Gowa's life is in his feet. When he raises a foot to cross the trees you have felled you will see a white spot in the sole of the foot; there his heart is. Hit it if you can, for there only will a shot take effect." The young man went back to camp, cut down basswood trees, and, with the aid of his friend, made two manikins. He obeyed the old man in everything. The old man who lived among the rocks was of the Gadjiqsa (Husk False Face) people. The young men sat in their brush house till midday. When they heard Nyagwaihe Gowa roaring, far off in the ravine, they grew weak. Gadjiqsa had told them to keep on the leeward of Nyagwaihe so he might not scent them. They were frightened, but said, "We cannot run away, we would not escape. Our only chance is to stay here and kill the enemy. If he kills us he will go to our village and destroy everybody." As the creature came in sight it was furious. Whenever it came to a tree it sprang at it and tore it to pieces; the smaller trees fell at its touch. Every time the creature roared, the young men lost their strength and were ready to drop to the ground. When the Bear passed their hiding place and went toward the manikins and raised his feet in crossing a tree one of the men shot at the white spot and when he was going over a second tree the other man shot him through the other foot. This made Nyagwaihe rage fearfully. He seized one of the manikins and bit it through the body, then tore the house to bits, but a little farther on he fell dead. The young men cut the Bear's hind feet off, for Gadjiqsa had said that if they failed to do this Nyagwaihe would come to life. As they cut off the feet the whole body quivered. The ribs of this Bear were not like those in other animals, they formed one solid bone. They cut the carcass into pieces and burned the pieces to ashes, together with all the bones, for Gadjiqsa said, "If even one particle of bone is left, Nyagwaihe Gowa will come to life, and the hide must be hung over a fire and smoked, otherwise it will retain life and become Nyagwaihe Gowa himself again." The young men did exactly as they had been told, then they continued to hunt. Again a man from the Gadjiqsa met one of the friends, and led him to the old man among the rocks, who said, "By killing the Great Bear you saved my people as well as your own. Háweniyo (The Great Spirit) has given us power to aid men. It is my wish that you and your people should prosper. There is another enemy to conquer. When you leave your camp, you will go on till you come to a river. There you will camp again, but be on your guard." The young men set out again. When they came to a river they camped, put up a bark cabin, and while one was building a fire, the other went to look for game. Soon the man building the fire heard somebody talking loudly, as though making a speech. He went toward the voice and saw the speaker in a valley beyond a low hill. He crept forward cautiously so as not to be seen. On a slight elevation stood a man surrounded by many people. The man said, "Tomorrow we start for the village from which the two friends came. At the journey's end we will have a great feast." The young man, who was listening, knew that these people were Génonskwa (Frost and Cold) and that they were going to his village to eat all the people. He was frightened at their great number; he went back to the bark cabin, scattered the brands and put out the fire. When his friend came and asked why he had no fire, he said, "Don't talk so loudly, there are many Génonskwa under the hill; they are going to destroy our people." "We must hurry home," said the other, and they started at once. The next morning they heard the approach of the Génonskwa. The sound was like heavy thunder. It was evident that they traveled much faster than the two men, One of the friends said to the other, who was a swift runner, "Run to the village and warn the people!" He ran to the village, and said, "The Génonskwa are coming. You may die, but do not die without a struggle." Then he hurried back to his comrade. The comrade said, "I will stay near the enemy and detain him all I can." That night the Génonskwa chief said, "No one must go far. If he does and is away when the feast begins he will lose his share of it." The two men listening heard what the chief said. They couldn't think of any way to save themselves or their people. The people of the village were so frightened that they ran from place to place not knowing what to do. When the Génonskwa were near the village the chief said, "Let us halt and rest." The two friends sat in a sheltered place near the bank of a river. All at once they saw a man with a smiling face. When he came up he said, "I will save you and your people. I will conquer the Génonskwa. Háweniyo has sent me to aid you. You must stay here and listen, I will go alone and fight the enemy." With a smiling face and telling the people, who were running for their lives, not to be frightened if they heard a terrible noise, the stranger went into the valley where the Génonskwas had halted to rest. Soon a noise as of a desperate battle was heard and the two men, who had been told to listen, saw steam, from the sweat of the Génonskwa people, rising above the hill. The sound came at intervals, but decreased in volume. At last it ceased altogether and the men saw the stranger coming. When he was near, he said, "I am thankful that I was able to destroy them. The are Génonskwas dead and your people are safe. Háweniyo sends me to aid his people. Wherever there is witchcraft I am sent against it. I am sure to kill whomever I pursue. If a witch crawls into a tree, I shoot the tree; it opens and the witch comes out. I am he whom you call 'Lightning.'" The stranger disappeared and the two men went to where the Génonskwas army had been. Only piles of stones were left. The stones of the earth are from this battle and the killing of the Génonskwas. It was through the two purified young men that our forefathers were saved from death and lived to great old age. They foretold what would be. And to this day we hold to the teachings of those men. They obtained their religion in the upper world. Lightning is the forerunner of Spring. Warm weather destroyed the Génonskwas (Frost and Cold).

A Seneca Legend One day a stranger went into a cabin where a man and his wife and four children lived and asked to marry the youngest daughter of the family. The father and mother consented and the stranger married the girl. After a time he asked his wife to go home with him; her parents were willing and the two started. They hadn't gone far when they came to a cabin and the young man said, "This is my home." There was nobody in the cabin when the husband and wife came but toward night the woman heard some one coming on the run. Soon a man came in and sat down by the door. Again she heard running; another man came in and sat down; then a third man came. The three men began talking with one another, relating how far they had traveled and what they had killed. One said, "I had good luck, I killed a bear." Finding that he was the only one who had killed anything, the two said, "Go and bring the bear. We'll cook it." The young woman sat at the opposite end of the room, watching. She saw the man bring in what he called a bear, saw that it was the trunk and head of a man's body. The men cut it up and put it in a kettle to boil. When cooked they ate it. The three walked back and forth in the room without looking toward the woman. Her husband was there but he didn't talk or eat with the men. They were his brothers but he never ate their kind of food. Each morning the three brothers went to hunt for game. in the evening they came back and sitting down near the door talked over their journey. Then, if they had killed any game, they brought it into the cabin, cooked and ate it. If they had no game, they ate what was left from the meal of the previous evening. One day when the young woman went for water, she found a man standing by the spring. The man said to her, "I have come to tell you that tomorrow your husband is going into the ground. As soon as he goes put some of your spittle exactly in the center of the cabin and tell it to answer for you every time your husband speaks. When you have done that hurry to this place." The next morning the young man said to his wife, "I am going into the ground and I want you to stay in the cabin all the time I am away." He turned around and right where he stood he disappeared. After doing as she had been told, the woman went to the spring; the stranger was there. Taking an arrow he put the woman into the head of it, and saying, "When the arrow falls, jump out and hurry along the lake, as fast as you can." He shot the arrow into the air. The husband called to his wife, "Are you there?" "I am here" answered the spittle. After a time he called again, "Are you there?" "I am here," was the answer. The man was away a number of days and he often asked, "Are you there?" and always received the same answer. When he came above ground and asked, "Where are you, wife?" and her voice answered, "I am here," he looked around but didn't see her, then he found what had been talking to him. He was terribly angry and right away began to hunt for the woman's tracks. He found them and followed them to the spring, but there they disappeared. He hunted a long time, then, getting discouraged, he called his dog Onhdagwíja (Good Ear), and said, "You didn't take care of my wife while I was gone. Now you must find her." The man watched the dog. It ran around and around and came back to the spring, then it stopped hunting on the ground, looked up in the air, sniffed and ran toward the North, looking up all the time as if it saw tracks. The man followed the dog. After a while the two came to where the arrow fell, then there were tracks on the ground. The dog barked and began to run faster, the man urging it on. When they were about to overtake the woman, the stranger who had been at the spring stood in front of her. Putting her into an arrow, he said, "You will come down on an island in a lake. Run across the island in every direction. I will be there." When the man and dog came to where the woman met the stranger they lost her tracks. Again the dog ran around smelling the ground,. then looking up in the air he saw a trail and followed it. When Good Ear and his master came to the lake the man changed to a flea and went into the hair behind the dog's ear. The dog swam to the island, the flea became a man and the two traveled on till they came to where the arrow fell. There they found the woman's tracks and followed their across and around the island. When they were overtaking the woman the stranger stood in front of her, and, putting her into an arrow, said, "You will come down on the shore of the lake. Run as fast as you can. I can do nothing more for you, but you will soon come to a village and there you will find some one to help you. Now you may know who I am." As the stranger turned to go the woman saw that he was Djonkdjonkwen (Chickadee). When the dog came to where the tracks disappeared on the ground, he saw the trail in the air and knew that the woman had crossed the lake. Again the man turned to flea and hid in the dog's hair. The dog swam to the shore; the flea became a man, and the two followed the woman's footprints. When her husband was so near that the woman could hear the dog bark, she came to a house. A man was sitting inside making arrow-heads. The man was Othagwendonis (Flintmaker). When the woman asked him to help her, he said, "I will do what I can, but hurry along, the man in the next house will help you." When the dog came Flintmaker threw a handful of arrow-heads at him. Wherever the arrow-heads struck they tore up the trees and the ground, but the dog dodged them all, ran at Flintmaker, caught him by the throat and shook him till he was dead. At the second house the woman found a man making nets. This man was Hadäe´Onis (Netmaker). The woman said to him, "I am running away from a bad man. I want you to help me." "I'll do what I can," said Hadäe´Onis, "but hurry on. You will soon come to a house, the people who live there will help you." When the dog and the man came, Hadäe´Onis threw out a net. It caught the two and wound around and around them. For a long time they struggled to free themselves. At last the dog broke through the net, ran at Hadäe´Onis, caught him by the throat and shook him till he was dead. In the third house the woman found four brothers. When she asked them for help, they went out and chopping down dry trees piled them on her tracks. When they had a high pile, they set it afire, and standing, two at each side of the pile, they waited. The dog and the man came to the fire, the dog wanted to go around but the man saw that the tracks led into the fire and he said, "No! You must go through." The dog sprang into the fire and the man followed. When they came out on the other side both dog and man were almost dead. The eldest of the four brothers said, "We will shoot them." They shot, but arrows had no effect. all Then the old man said, "We must catch them, kill them, and pull their hearts out." They caught the man and the dog, killed them, pulled out their hearts and put the hearts in a red hot kettle that the old man had heated over the fire. The hearts flew around and around trying to get out of the kettle but the brothers pushed them down and shot at them till they were dead and burned to ashes. The old man, whose name was Déoneyont (Red-hot) went to the house and told the woman she was safe. He said to her, "You must rest four days then go home." When the fourth day came, Red-hot said, "It is time to go. Your home is in the South. As you travel you will know where you are." The woman started. About midday she met a stranger who said, "Towards night you will find something to eat." She traveled till the sun went down, then came to a large stump and found there a pot of hulled corn cooked with bear meat, she thought, "This must be what the man meant." She ate the hulled corn and meat then went on till dark. That night she camped under a tree. The next morning the woman started again. At midday she met the stranger and he told her that she would soon find something to eat. Towards night she came to a stump and found there a pot of hulled corn and bear meat. The next morning when the woman woke up, the stranger was standing by her. He said, "You are near your father's home and I shall leave you now. I am the one whom men call Hí´no' (Thunder)." The stranger disappeared and the woman went on till she came in sight of an old house. Then she saw a spring and right away she knew it was the spring where she used to get water. In the house she found her father and mother. They were glad to see her and said "Yâwen."

A Seneca Legend A long time ago human beings lived high up in what is now called heaven. They had a great and illustrious chief. It so happened that this chief's daughter was taken very ill with a strange affection. All the people were very anxious as to the outcome of her illness. Every known remedy was tried in an attempt to cure her, but none had any effect. Near the lodge of this chief stood a great tree, which every year bore corn used for food. One of the friends of the chief had a dream, in which he was advised to tell the chief that in order to cure his daughter he must lay her beside this tree, and that he must have the tree dug up. This advice was carried out to the letter. While the people were at work and the young woman lay there, a young man came along. He was very angry and said: "It is not at all right to destroy this tree. Its fruit is all that we have to live on." With this remark he gave the young woman who lay there ill a shove with his foot, causing her to fall into the hole that had been dug. Now, that hole opened into this world, which was then all water, on which floated waterfowl of many kinds. There was no land at that time. It came to pass that as these waterfowl saw this young woman falling they shouted, "Let us receive her," whereupon they, at least some of them, joined their bodies together, and the young woman fell on this platform of bodies. When these were wearied they asked, "Who will volunteer to care for this woman?" The great Turtle then took her, and when he got tired of holding her, he in turn asked who would take his place. At last the question arose as to what they should do to provide her with a permanent resting place in this world. Finally it was decided to prepare the earth, on which she would live in the future. To do this it was determined that soil from the bottom of the primal sea should be brought up and placed on the broad, firm carapace of the Turtle, where it would increase in size to such an extent that it would accommodate all the creatures that should be produced thereafter. After much discussion the toad was finally persuaded to dive to the bottom of the waters in search of soil. Bravely making the attempt, he succeeded in bringing up soil from the depths of the sea. This was carefully spread over the carapace of the Turtle, and at once both began to grow in size and depth. After the young woman recovered from the illness from which she suffered when she was cast down from the upper world, she built herself a shelter, in which she lived quite contentedly. In the course of time she brought forth a girl baby, who grew rapidly in size and intelligence. When the daughter had grown to young womanhood, the mother and she were accustomed to go out to dig wild potatoes. Her mother had said to her that in doing this she must face the West at all times. Before long the young daughter gave signs that she was about to become a mother. Her mother reproved her, saying that she had violated the injunction not to face the east, as her condition showed that she had faced the wrong way while digging potatoes. It is said that the breath of the West Wind had entered her person, causing conceptions When the days of her delivery were at hand, she overheard twins within her body in a hot debate as to which should be born first and as to the proper place of exit, one declaring that he was going to emerge through the armpit of his mother, the other saying that he would emerge in the natural way. The first one born, who was of a reddish color, was called Othagwenda; that is, Flint. The other, who was light in color, was called Djuskaha; that is, the Little Sprout. The grandmother of the twins liked Djuskaha and hated the other; so they cast Othagwenda into a hollow tree some distance from the lodge. The boy that remained in the lodge grew very rapidly, and soon was able to make himself bows and arrows and to go out to hunt in the vicinity. Finally, for several days he returned home without his bow and arrows. At last he was asked why he had to have a new bow and arrows every morning. He replied that there was a young boy in a hollow tree in the neighborhood who used them. The grandmother inquired where the tree stood, and he told her; whereupon then they went there and brought the other boy home again. When the boys had grown to man's estate, they decided that it was necessary for them to increase the size of their island, so they agreed to start out together, afterward separating to create forests and lakes and other things. They parted as agreed, Othagwenda going westward and Djuskaha eastward. In the course of time, on returning, they met in their shelter or lodge at night, then agreeing to go the next day to see what each had made. First they went west to see what Othagwenda had made. It was found that he had made the country all rocks and full of ledges, and also a mosquito which was very large. Djuskaha asked the mosquito to run, in order that he might see 'whether the insect could fight. The mosquito ran, and sticking his bill through a sapling, thereby made it fall, at which Djuskaha said, "That will not be right, for you would kill the people who are about to come." So, seizing him, he rubbed him down in his hands, causing him to become very small. then he blew on the mosquito, whereupon he flew away. He also modified some of the other animals which his brother had made. After returning to their lodge, they agreed to go the next day to see what Djuskaha had fashioned. On visiting the east the next day, they found that Djuskaha had made a large number of animals which were so fat that they could hardly move; that he had made the sugar-maple trees to drop syrup; that he had made the sycamore tree to bear fine fruit; that the rivers were so formed that half the water flowed upstream and the other half downstream. Then the reddish colored brother, Othagwenda, was greatly displeased with what his brother had made, saying that the people who were about to come would live too easily and be too happy. So he shook violently the various animals; the bears, deer, and turkeys, causing them to become small at once, a characteristic which attached itself to their descendants. He also caused the sugar maple to drop sweetened water only, and the fruit of the sycamore to become small and useless; and lastly he caused the water of the rivers to flow in only one direction, because the original plan would make it too easy for the human beings who were about to come to navigate the streams. The inspection of each other's work resulted in a deadly disagreement between the brothers, who finally came to grips and blows, and Othagwenda was killed in the fierce struggle.

A Seneca Legend Twelve children were playing together on the grass near their fathers' cabins. They thought they would play a new game, and they invented one. They joined hands in a circle and danced, not swinging around, but standing in one place. As they danced they sang: "We are dancing. We are dancing." Their parents were watching them and listening to their song, when all at once they noticed that their feet did not touch the ground. The parents were frightened and ran out to stop the dancing, but the children were already above their heads in the air and going higher and higher, always singing: "We are dancing. We are dancing." They went up and up until they disappeared, still holding hands, and they were next seen as twelve stars in the heavens just above their fathers' cabins. One got a little out of the circle and therefore appears a little at one side of the others.

A Winnebago (Hotcâk) Legend Once there was a man who was very powerful and respected among the people. He was a member of the Medicine Rite. This man had only one son, and because the boy had no brothers, he knew very little. In the course of time, the father began to give his son presents. He put a kettle on the fire for him, and told him to be brave and to be a real warrior. The son wondered to himself why he was giving him gifts and advice. The father kept giving his son gifts, and eventually he gave him a fine horse and told him, "My dear son, in order to be a warrior, there are certain things you must know." Then his son understood what he meant. In the course of time the young man married a beautiful woman with red hair who came from another tribe. His father was smitten by her beauty and cast longing eyes upon her. His son did not fail to notice it. So the son gave his father this woman. The old man was very grateful and said, "How can I ever repay you, you have made my heart glad." So the father gave his son all the knowledge that he possessed. In time the red haired woman sicked and died. The old man made a bowl of her skull and then composed a song which is used to this day in the Medicine Rite.

A Paiute Legend The coyote, like his brother the wolf, was a spiritual being. In the beginning the coyote left his homeland in the Americas and traveled East-ward across the ocean in the direction of the rising sun. In distant lands, he acquired a bride and with her had a great number of children. These children were Indians, the forefathers of the great tribes that were to inhabit the North and South American continents. Preparing to return home, the coyote put them all in a wosa, a woven willow basket jug with a cork. Before his journey, he was instructed not to open the jug until he reached his country in the Rockies and the Great Basin. Being a sly and curious person, and hearing singing and the beating of drums within the wosa, the coyote thought it would not hurt to take a peek when he arrived back on the Eastern coast of the American continent. But when he opened the jug, the children inside jumped out and scattered in all directions across North and South America. By the time he got the cap back on, the only two persons who remained in the wosa were the Western Shoshone and the Paiute. These he brought home with him. When he reached the Great Basin, he opened the jug, and out fell the last two children. They, at once, began to fight. The coyote kicked them apart and said to them, "You two are my children. Even though the rest got away, you two will be able to fight against the best and beat them." Thus, the Western Shoshone and Paiutes, or the Newe and Numa peoples, who now live in California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, and Oregon, began as allies and populated the Great Basin.

A Seneca Legend In a Seneca village there was a young man who was an orphan. He had neither home nor relatives. He lived first with one family and then with another. One fall, when the men were getting ready to go deer hunting, the young man asked if he could go. The hunters didn't want him and he was left alone. Then he said, "I'll go by myself," and he started Towards night he came to an opening in the woods and saw a brush house over by the bushes. He went to the house and looked in; there was no one there. The young man thought that the other hunters had built the house and spent a night there. He went in, kindled a fire, made a place to sleep on, and lay down. About midnight he heard someone come in and, opening his eyes, he saw a woman. She looked at him but didn't speak, then she moved toward his couch and stopped again. At last she said, "I have come to help you. You must not be afraid. I will stay all night in the, cabin." He said, "If you will help me, you may stay." "I have passed through this world," said the woman, I know that you are poor; that you have no relatives and are alone; the hunters didn't want you to go with them. This is why I came to help you. Tomorrow start early and travel till it is time to camp, then I will be there." Towards daylight the woman left the cabin. In the morning the young man started on. Towards dark, when he thought it was time to stop, he looked for a spring, found one and had just finished his camp when night came. In the night the woman came as before. The next day the man had good luck. He killed every kind of game. The woman stayed with him till the hunting season was over. No hunter in the woods had killed as much game as he had. When he was ready to go home the woman said, "I will go with you to the first camp you made." They spent the night at that camping place. The next morning, she said, "I will stay here. When you get home everybody will find out that you have brought all kinds of meat and skins. One and another will come to you and say, 'You must marry my daughter,' an old woman will say, 'You must marry my granddaughter.' Don't listen to them. Come back next year and you will have good luck. When you are getting ready, if a man wants to come with you, don't let him. Come alone. We will meet here." They parted, and the young man continued his journey, carrying on his back a heavy load of game. In the village he found some of the hunters. Others came soon after. All boasted of the game they had killed. The young man said, "I will give each man as much meat as he wants, if he will go to my camp and get it." Many went and brought back all the meat they could carry; still there was meat left. Every woman who had a daughter or a granddaughter, asked the young man to come and live with them. At last the chief asked him. to marry his daughter. The man was afraid that if he refused harm would come to him, for the chief was a powerful person. He consented and married the chief's daughter. When the hunting season came, a great many men, and the chief, who thought his son-in-law was the best hunter in the tribe, wanted to go hunting with him, but he said, "I'm not going, this year." The hunters started off one after another. When all had gone, the young man went alone to the camp where he was to meet the woman. Early in the night she came in, stopped by the door, and said, "I am sorry you didn't do as I told you to. I cannot stay with you," and she disappeared. Day after day the man hunted but he saw no large game. He shot small game, squirrels and birds, for he was hungry. He went back to the village and had to tell the people that he had seen no game. The woman was a ghost woman.