{"collection":"journals","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/journals/jafl/1_44.htm","path":"journals/jafl/1_44.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/journals/jafl/1_44.htm","text":"44 7ournal of American Folk-Lore.\nONONDAGA TALES.\nTHE SERPENT AND THE THUNDERERS.\nSA-GO-NA-QUA-DER, \" He who makes every one angry,\" told me this\nstory, which 1 reproduce nearly in his own words. An old Oneida\ncame into his aunt's house at Onondaga Castle, and after all had\nZD\ngiven him the customary tobacco, the story-teller's fee, he related the\nfollowing tale.\nA long time ago, in an Indian settlement, were two wigwam,,;, not\nfar apart, and in these lived two squaws who were very good friends.\nThey had two children of about the same age, who played together,\nand when they had little bows and arrows they shot together. As\nthey grew bigger they wanted strotiger bows and arrows, and their\nuncles made sonic for them. They used these every day, and became\nskilful in killing birds and small game, and then asked for some still\nstronger, that they might kill larger animals. They were now young\nmen and good hunters. One of them, being handsome and kind,\nwas very much liked by the women, and some of the maidens would\nhave married him, but he refused all offers. At last his friend talked\nwith him, and told him he had better marry, or something might hap-\nr\" 0\npen for which he would be sorry. This troubled him, and he said\nhe would soon choose a wife, but first they would have a long hunt\ntogether.\nThey got ready for this, telling their mothers they were going\naway on a great hunt, far from their village, and might be gone\nmany days. So their mothers took some corn and roasted it, and\nthen pounded this into meal in their wooden mortars. This was\nlight, and -would keep a long time. The young men filled their sacks,\ntook their bows, and went to their hunting-ground. They walked\nall day, and camped in the woods. They walked all the next day,\nand camped on the hunting-ground, where they soon built a wig-\nzn\nwam.\nAfter this they hunted every day, and one was lucky and brought\nhome a great deal of game, but the one whom the young squaws\nliked came home without any and said very little. This happened\nfor several davs, and the one who had been so happy and such a favorite seemed sorry all the time. Every morning they went off to\nhunt in opposite directions, and one day his friend thought he would\nfollow him wid see what he did. They went out as before, and after\nhe had walked a little way the lucky hunter turned back into the\nother's path. He soon saw him running very fast through the woods,\nand hurried after him, calling to him to stop ; but he did not. They\nran till they came to a lake, and the first one plunged into the water\nOnondaga Tales. 45\nand swam across, while his friend went around the shore. The swimmer got there first, paying no attention to his loud calls. They ran\non to a second smaller lake, where they did the same, but this time\nthe one on shore got ahead. The sorry young man then turned\nback, and his friend ran past both lakes, and was hid in the bushes\nwhen the other came ashore. As the swimmer entered the woods\nthe other jumped out and caught him, asking him what was the matter and why he acted so strangely.\nAt first the young man could say nothing and seemed to know\nnothing, but soon came to his senses. He told his friend that he\nwas going to be married, and must leave him all alone, for he could\nnot go back to his home. If he wished to see him at any time, he\nmight come to the lake, bringing fresh Indian tobacco and clean clay\npipes. These things he must lay on bark just from the tree, and\nthen say to the lake, \" I want to see my friend.\"\nSo he went off another way, and married the big serpent in the\nlake. When he had gone his friend went back to the wigwam, and\nhe, too, was now very sorry, and did not wish to hunt. lie built a\nfire and sat down alone.\nIt was very still for a long time, and then he heard some one coming. When he turned around a young man stood in the doorway,\ndressed in white and with white feathers on his head. The visitor\nsaid, 11 You seem to be in trouble, but for all that you are the only\none that can help us. My chief has sent me to invite you to our\ncouncil.\" Then he gave him wampum, to show that he brought a\ntrue message. The hunter said, \"Where is the council?\" The\nyoung man in white answered, 11 Why, you came right by our wig-\nwam in the woods, though you did not see it. Follow me, and you\nwill find it quite near.\" So be went with him, not very far, till he\nsaw smoke rising from the ground, and then a wigwam. Goitig in,\nhe saw eight chiefs sitting quietly on the ground. All bad white\nfeathers on their heads, but the principal chief had larger feathers\nthan the rest. They gave him a place, and the hunter sat down and\nsmoked with them. When the pipe came round to the principal\nchief, he rose and spoke to the young man.\n11 You have come to help us, and we have waited for you a long\ntime.\" The young man said, \"How can I help you?\" The chief\nanswered, \"Your friend has married the big serpent in the lake,\nwhom we must kill. He has told you how to call him when you\nwant to see him, and we will furnish the tobacco and pipes.\" The\nchiefs then gave him clean pipes and fresh tobacco, and the hunter\ntook these and went to the lake. The principal chief said also,\n\"When your friend comes you must ask to see his wife. She will\nwant to know if the skv is clear. When she comes you must take\n46 7ournal of American Folk-Lore.\nthem a little way from the lake and talk to them there. The chiefs\nwill come in the form of a cloud, -on the lake, not in the sky.\"\nSo lie took the fresh tobacco, the clean bark, and pipes, and laid\nthem by the shore. Then he stood by the water and called loudly\nfor his friend, saying he was going away, and wished to see him once\nmore. Soon there was a ripple out on the lake, and the water began\nto boil, his friend coming out of it. He had a spot on his forehead,\nand looked like a serpent and yet like a man. His friend talked with\nhim, asking what he should say to his mother when he got home.\nThen he asked to see his wife, that he might tell his mother what\nshe was like. The serpent man said that she might not wish to\ncome, but he would try. So he went to the shore and lay down,\nplacing his lips to the water and beginning to drink. Then the\nhunter saw him going down through the water, not swimming like a\nman, but moving like a snake. Soon the water boiled again, and he\ncame back, saying that his wife would come; but she did not. Then\nhe looked around to see if the sky was clear, and went to the shore\nonce more, drinking again and going down in the water like a snake.\nNow a greater sight was seen. The lake boiled again, not in one\nspot, but all over, and great waves rolled up on the shore, as though\nthere had been a strong wind, but there was none. The waves grew\nlarger, and then the serpent man's wife came out of the water. She\nwas very beautiful and shone like silver, but the silver seemed like\nscales. She had long hair falling all around her, as though it had\nbeen gold and silver glittering in the sun. Her husband came with\nher through the waves and up on the shore, and all three sat down\non a log and talked together.\nThe hunter remembered the chief's words, and at last saw something like a cloud a great way off, moving upon the water, and not\nthrough the sky. Then he asked them to go into the woods, where\nthe sun was not so hot, and there talk with him. When they did\nthis he said he must step aside, and then he ran away, as the chiefs\nhad told him. As he ran, a great cloud came at once over everything, and terrible thunder and lightning followed where they had\nsat, with rain everywhere.\nAt last all was quiet again, and the hunter went back to the lake,\nwhere a big and a little serpent lay dead upon the ground. They\nwere the serpent woman and his friend. The eight chiefs were there,\ntoo, and had a great dance, rejoicing over their dead enemy. When\nthis was over they cut up both serpents, making eight equal bundles\nof them. Each chief put one on his back, and then they were ready\nto go. All thanked the young man for what he had done, and told\nhim lie should always be lucky, saying, \"Ask us for what you want\nat any time, and you shall have it.\" Then they went off through\nOnondaga Tales. 47\nthe woods in Indian file, and as he looked they seemed to step higher\nand higher, until they went up to the sky. Then there was a great\nthunder-storm, for the chiefs were the Thunderers.\nThe hunter went back to his wigwam, but it was quiet and lonesome, and he was sad ; so he took down part of his meat, carrying\nit a half day's journey into the woods, where he hung it up on the\ntrees. Then he returned for more, doing the same with the rest until he got home, where he told the story to the mother of his friend.\nShe was very sorry for the death of the son whom she had loved,\nbut adopted him in his place, and so the young man had two mothers.\nSo far, the old Oneida said, it was \"all a true fact,\" but he had an\nopinion about the place, which was not a part of the story. He\nthought Crooked Lake, in a group of ponds far up the valley, was\nthe first lake the young man swam across, and Round Lake the sec-\n0\nond. This seemed likely to him, but it was only his opinion.\nTHE TERRIBLE SKELETON.\nThis story has been told somewhat differently by my late friend,\nMrs. E. A. Smith. My version was given me by Albert Cusick, as\nit is found among the Onondagas.\nIn old times the Onondagas lived on a much larger reservation\nthan now, a great land, but they made hunting parties to the North\nWoods. A party went off in which were an old man, his daughter and her husband, and their little boy. They went one day and\ncamped, and another day and camped, and then separated. The old\nman, his daughter, and her husband turned one way, but the little\nboy accidentally went the other way with his uncle. The three kept\non, and late in the day found an empty cabin in a clearing. There\nwas an Indian bedstead on each side within, and as no one seemed\nto live there they resolved to stay for the night. They gathered\nplenty of fuel, stripping long pieces from the shag-bark hickory,\nbuilt a fine fire, spread their deerskins on the bedsteads, and then\nwent to sleep; the old man on one side, and the man and his wife on\nthe other. When the fire became low, and it grew dark in the cabin,\nthe young people were awakened by a sound like a dog gnawing a\nbone. They stirred about, and the noise ceased, but was followed by\nsomething like rattling bones overhead. They got up and put on\nmore fuel, and were going back to bed when they saw something\nlike water flowing from the other couch. it was blood, and the old\nman was dead. His clothes were torn open, and his ribs broken\nand gnawed. They covered him up and lay down again. The same\nthing happened the second time, and this time they saw it was a terrible skeleton, feeding on the dead man. They were frightened, and\nIt I*r r6l\" V merican zuzk-Lore.\nin whispers devised a plan of escape. They made a greater fire, and\nthe wife said, 11 Husband, I must go to the spring and get some\nwater; I am so thirsty.\" So she quietly went out, but when she\nhad got a little way she ran with all her might towards her own\ncountry.\nWhen her husband thought she had a good start, he made a very\nbig fire, to last a great while, and then he said, 11 What has become\nof my wife ? I am afraid she is drowned in the spring. I must go\nand see.\" So he went out, and when he had got some way he ran\nwith all his might, too, and when he overtook his wife he caught her\nby the arm, and they both ran on together. By and by the fire\nwent down, and the skeleton came again, and when he found they\nwere gone he started in chase. Soon they heard him howling terribly behind them, and they ran faster.\nIt happened that night that the Onondagas were holding a feast,\nand it now drew near morning. The man and woman heard the\ndrum sounding afar off, lum-tum, tum-tum, and they ran harder, and\nshouted, but the skeleton did the same. Then they heard the drum\nagain, TUM-TUM, tum-tum, and it was nearer, and they shouted again.\nTheir friends heard the distress-hallo, and came to their rescue with\nall their arms. The skeleton fled. The fugitives fell down fainting,\nand did not regain their senses for four hours ; then they told their\nstory.\nA council was held, and the warriors started for the dreadful spot.\nThey foutid the hut, and a few traces of the old man. In the loft\nwere some scattered articles, and a bark coffin in which was the skeleton of a man, who had been left unburied by his friends. They determined to destroy everything, and fuel was gathered on all sides\nand fire applied. Then the warriors stood with raised tomahawks\nand bended bows to destroy the terrible skeleton if he burst forth\nupon them. The fire grew hot, the cabin fell in, and out of the\nflames rushed a fox, with red and fiery eyes, burst through the ranks\nand disappeared in the forest. The dreadful skeleton was never\nheard of more.\nBut what had the little boy to do with all this ?\nOh, that is to show how well it was he went the other way.\"\nW. Al Beauchamp.","title":"C:\\WINDOWS\\DESKTOP\\SACRED~1\\JOURNALS\\JAFL\\1_44.htm","type":"page"}