{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_46140/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_46140","id":"gutenberg_46140","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46140","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Iroquois Indians -- Folklore","Iroquois mythology","Legends -- New York (State)"],"text":"TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:\n\nWords that were printed in italics are marked with _ _. Printing and\nspelling errors have been corrected. A list of these corrections can be\nfound at the end of the document.\n\n\n\n\n  SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION----BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.\n\n\n  MYTHS\n\n  OF\n\n  THE IROQUOIS.\n\n\n  BY\n\n  ERMINNIE A. SMITH.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                              Page.\n  CHAPTER I.--GODS AND OTHER SUPERNATURAL BEINGS                 51\n    Hi-nu\u207f destroying the giant animals                          54\n    A Seneca legend of Hi-nu\u207f and Niagara                        54\n    The Thunderers                                               55\n    Echo God                                                     58\n    Extermination of the Stone Giants                            59\n    The North Wind                                               59\n    Great Head                                                   59\n    Cusick's story of the dispersion of the Great Heads          62\n    The Stone Giant's wife                                       62\n    The Stone Giant's challenge                                  63\n    Hiawatha and the Iroquois wampum                             64\n\n  CHAPTER II.--PIGMIES                                           65\n    The warrior saved by pigmies                                 65\n    The pigmies and the greedy hunters                           66\n    The pigmy's mission                                          67\n\n  CHAPTER III.--PRACTICE OF SORCERY                              68\n    The origin of witches and witch charms                       69\n    Origin of the Seneca medicine                                70\n    A \"true\" witch story                                         71\n    A case of witchcraft                                         72\n    An incantation to bring rain                                 72\n    A cure for all bodily injuries                               73\n    A witch in the shape of a dog                                73\n    A man who assumed the shape of a hog                         73\n    Witch transformations                                        74\n    A superstition about flies                                   74\n\n  CHAPTER IV.--MYTHOLOGIC EXPLANATION OF PHENOMENA               75\n    Origin of the human race                                     76\n    Formation of the Turtle Clan                                 77\n    How the bear lost his tail                                   77\n    Origin of medicine                                           78\n    Origin of wampum                                             78\n    Origin of tobacco                                            79\n    Origin of plumage                                            79\n    Why the chipmunk has the black stripe on his back            80\n    Origin of the constellations                                 80\n    The Pole Star                                                81\n\n  CHAPTER V.--TALES                                              83\n    Boy rescued by a bear                                        83\n    Infant nursed by bears                                       84\n    The man and his step-son                                     85\n    The boy and his grandmother                                  86\n    The dead hunter                                              87\n    A hunter's adventures                                        88\n    The old man's lesson to his nephew                           89\n    The hunter and his faithless wife                            90\n    The charmed suit                                             92\n    The boy and the corn                                         96\n    The lad and the chestnuts                                    97\n    The guilty hunters                                           99\n    Mrs. Logan's story                                          100\n    The hunter and his dead wife                                103\n    A sure revenge                                              104\n    Traveler's jokes                                            107\n    Kingfisher and his nephew                                   108\n    The wild-cat and the white rabbit                           110\n\n  CHAPTER VI.--RELIGION                                         112\n    New Year's festival                                         112\n    Tapping the maple trees                                     115\n    Planting corn                                               115\n    Strawberry festival                                         115\n    Green-corn festival                                         115\n    Gathering the corn                                          115\n\n\n\n\n_ILLUSTRATIONS._\n\n\n  PLATE XII.--Returning thanks to the Great Spirit               52\n       XIII.--Stone giant or cannibal                            56\n        XIV.--Atotarho, war chief                                60\n         XV.--The Flying Head put to flight                      64\n\n\n\n\nMYTHS OF THE IROQUOIS.\n\nBY ERMINNIE A. SMITH.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nGODS AND OTHER SUPERNATURAL BEINGS.\n\n\nThe principal monuments of the once powerful Iroquois are their myths\nand folk-lore, with the language in which they are embodied. As these\nmonuments are fast crumbling away, through their contact with European\ncivilization, the ethnologist must hasten his search among them in order\nto trace the history of their laws of mind and the records of their\ncustoms, ideas, laws, and beliefs. Most of these have been long\nforgotten by the people, who continue to repeat traditions as they have\nbeen handed down through their fathers and fathers' fathers, from\ngeneration to generation, for many centuries.\n\nThe pagan Iroquois of to-day (and there are still many) will tell you\nthat his ancestors worshiped, as he continues to do, the \"Great Spirit,\"\nand, like himself, held feasts and dances in his honor; but a careful\nstudy of the mythology of these tribes proves very clearly that in the\nplace of one prevailing great spirit (the Indian's earliest conception\nof the white man's God) the Iroquois gods were numerous. All the\nmysterious in nature, all that which inspired them with reverence, awe,\nterror, or gratitude, became deities, or beings like themselves endowed\nwith supernatural attributes, beings whose vengeance must be\npropitiated, mercy implored, or goodness recompensed by thank-offerings.\nThe latter were in the form of feasts, dances, or incense.\n\nAmong the most ancient of these deities, and regarding which the\ntraditions are the most obscure, were their most remote\nancestors--certain animals who later were transformed into human shape,\nthe names of the animals being preserved by their descendants, who have\nused them to designate their gentes or clans.\n\nMany races in that particular stage of savagery when the human intellect\nis still in its child-like state, being impressed by the awful and\nincomprehensible power of Thunder, have classed it foremost among their\ndeities, with attributes proportioned to the disposition or status of\nthe worshiper.\n\nHi-nu\u207f, the beneficent Thunder God of the Iroquois, compares most\nfavorably with the same god as worshiped by other races. Ever\naccompanied by his equally powerful assistants, his mission was\nunderstood to be only to promote the welfare of that favored people,\nthough isolated personal offenses might demand from him a just\nretribution. It was therefore safe to make unto him, on his near\napproach to earth, his most acceptable offering, the burning tobacco,\nand so firmly rooted has become that ancient custom, that the aged\nsuperstitious Iroquois of to-day can often be seen making this little\noffering on the near approach of every thunder-storm. It is not\ndifficult to follow the crude reasoning by which was ascribed to\nHi-nu\u207f the goodness and glory of having destroyed the giant monsters\nwhich either poisoned the waters or infested the land. That such had\nexisted was evident from the bones often discovered, and what power\nother than the crashing bolt of Hi-nu\u207f could have accomplished their\ndestruction? The similarity discoverable in the myths of many peoples\nregarding the Thunder God and his mission of destruction to giant\nanimals, making this an almost universal myth, is probably traceable to\nthis simple and natural explanation, and presents no argument that the\nmyth itself has traveled. It may, then, be safely assumed that Hi-nu\u207f\nwas an indigenous god of the Iroquois, the product of their own crude\nreasoning powers.\n\nBrother of the great Hi-nu\u207f was the West Wind, who, with him, brought\nfrom the clouds the vivifying rain, and who finally assisted the\nIroquois in the extermination of the powerful stone giants. Therefore,\nthe West Wind ranks as a beneficent deity or spirit.\n\nThe North Wind brought only calamity in its train, often killing the\nunripe corn and freezing the rivers, thus depriving the people of their\nneeded sustenance, and from the mere touch of his icy fingers the\nbenighted hunter became stiff in death. This ranked as an evil deity\never to be feared and propitiated.\n\nEcho, the Mars of the Iroquois, only exercised his power during their\nwars with other tribes, in which, by repeating among the hills their\ncries of Go-weh, he insured their almost certain victory. He was ever\nhonored with special thanksgiving.\n\nOf T\u0103-rhu\u207f-hyi\u0103-w\u0103h-ku\u207f (who bore the important office of Holder of the\nHeavens) there is little more known than that he brought out from their\nmother earth the six tribes composing the Iroquois.\n\nThese are some of the Iroquois gods, a knowledge of whose existence is\ncontained only in myths, for they belong to the charmed \"mythologic\nage.\" As, however, the Iroquois tribes have not entirely passed the\nboundaries of that age, it is proper to mention some of their more\nmodern divinities, in whose worship are intermingled many of their\nancient ceremonies.\n\nThe \"Great Spirit,\" so popularly and poetically known as the god of\nthe red man, and the \"Happy Hunting-ground,\" generally reported to be\nthe Indian's idea of a future state, are both of them but their ready\nconception of the white man's God and Heaven. This is evident from a\ncareful study of their past as gleaned from the numerous myths of their\nprehistoric existence.\n\n    [Illustration: PL. XII\n    RETURNING THANKS TO THE GREAT SPIRIT.]\n\nIt may be true that many of the first missionaries found them in\npossession of such ideas, but the Indians had long been in contact with\nwhite men from whom those ideas were obtained, and there was no\nincongruity in simply adding them to their former beliefs, as no\nfundamental change was required. They accepted the Great Spirit, but\nretained in many instances their former gods as his attributes,\nconsidering the thunder as his voice and the winds as his breath, and at\nthe same time they introduced into their pagan worship a form of the\ntrinity which is still preserved, consisting of the Great Spirit, the\nSun, and Mother Earth.\n\nGood and evil spirits also play an important r\u00f4le in Iroquoian\nmythology. Among the good spirits are the three sisters who still\ncontinue to preside over the favorite vegetables--corn, beans, and\nsquashes. They are represented as loving each other very dearly and\ndwelling together in peace and unity. The vines of the vegetables grow\nupon the same soil and cling lovingly around each other. The spirit of\ncorn is supposed to be draped with its long leaves and silken tassels.\nThe sister who guards the bean has a wreath of its velvety pods with\ngarments of the delicate tendrils, while the spirit of squashes is\nclothed with the brilliant blossoms under her care. In bright nights the\nsisters can be seen flitting about or heard rustling among the tall\ncorn. To this day yearly festivals are held in their honor, and they are\nappealed to as \"Our life, our supporters.\"\n\nAmong the supernatural beings corresponding to good and evil genii were\nthe Great Heads, with ever watchful eyes, and long hair which served\nthem as wings to bear them on missions of mercy or of destruction. This\npure product of the Indian imagination figures largely in the unwritten\nliterature of the Iroquois. There were also in those days stone giants,\nalways the mortal enemy of man, but whose final extermination furnished\nthe theme for wonderful stories of daring deeds performed oftentimes\nunder the influence of charms or magic, but never in too marvelous a\nmanner to disturb the credulity of the eager listener.\n\n    [Illustration: PL. XIII\n    STONE GIANT OR CANNIBAL.]\n\nAlthough Atotarho and Hiawatha were contemporary personages, whose names\nare still continued in the list of chiefs of the present day, the myths\nwhich have accumulated around their history are so many and varied that\nit is impossible to define the vague boundary line separating fact from\nfiction. They may, therefore, be properly classed as demigods. The name\nof the former, which signifies \"the entangled,\" together with his skill,\ncunning, and cruelty in war, soon resulted in his becoming invested with\nthe title of a wizard. The origin of his name is attributed to his\nmarvelous hair, which consisted of living snakes, and thus he is\nrepresented by the pictographers of his time. He is still regarded by\nhis tribe as having been a being with supernatural endowments.\n\n    [Illustration: PL. XIV\n    ATOTARHO--WAR CHIEF.]\n\nAmong the same tribe, the Onondagas, are found what may be termed the\n\"Hiawatha legends.\" So numerous and yet different are these stories,\nthat they may be regarded as the histories of a long line of Hiawathas,\nthe Hiawatha being the official name of one of the most important\nfunctionaries in the tribal government. These stories, in their relation\nthrough many generations, have at last become applied to one person, who\nis thus most marvelously endowed, as far surpassing all in goodness as\ndid Atotarho in the opposite attributes. To him is ascribed the honor of\nhaving established the Great Confederacy of the Iroquois which so long\nrendered them invincible in war. His name, which signifies \"He who seeks\nthe wampum belt,\"[1] probably led to the superstition of his having\ninvented wampum. To accomplish his wonderful feats, he was provided with\na magic canoe which obeyed his bidding. The legendary apotheosis\naccorded him, in which he is represented as ascending to Heaven in a\nwhite canoe, appears to be of modern origin.\n\n    [1] This is the interpretation given by the tribe, the real\n    meaning, as P\u00e8re Cuoq suggests, being a \"river maker,\" which\n    implies alliance between nations, and as wampum was used for\n    treaties, the original idea seems to have been retained after\n    the word itself has become denotive.\n\n\nHI-NU\u207f DESTROYING THE GIANT ANIMALS.\n\nA hunter in the woods was once caught in a thunder-shower, when he heard\na voice calling upon him to follow. This he did until he found himself\nin the clouds, the height of many trees from the ground. Beings which\nseemed to be men surrounded him, with one among them who seemed to be\ntheir chief. He was told to look below and tell whether he could see a\nhuge water-serpent. Replying that he could not, the old man anointed his\neyes, after which he could see the monster in the depths below him. They\nthen ordered one of their number to try and kill this enemy to the human\nrace. Upon his failing, the hunter was told to accomplish the feat. He\naccordingly drew his bow and killed the foe. He was then conducted back\nto the place where he had sought shelter from the storm, which had now\nceased.\n\nThis was man's first acquaintance with the Thunder God and his\nassistants, and by it he learned that they were friendly toward the\nhuman race, and protected it from dragons, serpents, and other enemies.\n\n\nA SENECA LEGEND OF HI-NU\u207f AND NIAGARA.\n\nA beautiful Indian maiden was about to be compelled by her family to\nmarry a hideous old Indian.\n\nDespair was in her heart. She knew that there was no escape for her, so\nin desperation she leaped into her canoe and pushed it from shore on the\nroaring waters of Niagara. She heeded not that she was going to her\ndeath, preferring the angry waters to the arms of her detested lover.\n\nNow, the God of Cloud and Rain, the great deity Hi-nu\u207f, who watches\nover the harvest, dwelt in a cave behind the rushing waters. From his\nhome he saw the desperate launching of the maiden's canoe; saw her going\nto almost certain destruction. He spread out his wings and flew to her\nrescue, and caught her just as her frail bark was dashing on the rocks\nbelow.\n\nThe grateful Indian girl lived for many weeks in Hi-nu\u207f's cave. He\ntaught her many new things. She learned from him why her people died so\noften--why sickness was always busy among them. He told her how a snake\nlay coiled up under the ground beneath the village, and how he crept out\nand poisoned the springs, because he lived upon human beings and craved\ntheir flesh more and more, so that he could never get enough if they\ndied from natural causes.\n\nHi-nu\u207f kept the maiden in till he learned that the ugly old suitor was\ndead. Then he bade her return and tell her tribe what she had learned of\nthe great Hi-nu\u207f.\n\nShe taught them all he had told her and begged them to break up their\nsettlement and travel nearer to the lake; and her words prevailed. For a\nwhile sickness ceased, but it broke out again, for the serpent was far\ntoo cunning to be so easily outwitted. He dragged himself slowly but\nsurely after the people, and but for Hi-nu\u207f's influence would have\nundermined the new settlement as he had the former one. Hi-nu\u207f watched\nhim until he neared the creek, then he launched a thunderbolt at him. A\nterrible noise awoke all the dwellers by the lake, but the snake was\nonly injured, not killed. Hi-nu\u207f was forced to launch another\nthunderbolt, and another and another, before, finally, the poisoner was\nslain.\n\nThe great dead snake was so enormous that when the Indians laid his body\nout in death it stretched over more than twenty arrow flights, and as he\nfloated down the waters of Niagara it was as if a mountain appeared\nabove them. His corpse was too large to pass the rocks, so it became\nwedged in between them and the waters rose over it mountains high. As\nthe weight of the monster pressed on the rocks they gave way and thus\nthe horseshoe form, that remains to this day, was fashioned. But the\nIndians had no more fever in their settlement.\n\n\nTHE THUNDERERS.\n\nThe following story, as related to me by Horatio Hale, who received it\nfrom an Indian chief, shows that sustained imaginative power which seems\nto distinguish the myths of the Iroquoian family.\n\nOn one occasion in the ancient time three warriors set out on an\nexpedition. When they were far distant from their own land, one of them\nhad the misfortune to break his leg. By the Indian law it became the\nduty of the others to convey their injured comrade back to his home.\nThey formed a rude litter, and, laying him upon it, bore him for some\ndistance.\n\nAt length they came to a ridge of mountains. The way was hard and the\nexertion severe. To rest themselves, they placed their burden on the\nground. They withdrew to a little distance and took evil counsel\ntogether. There was a deep hole, or pit, opening into the ridge of the\nmountain at a little distance from the place where they were sitting.\nReturning to the litter, they took up their helpless load, carried him\nnear the brink of the pit, and suddenly hurled him in. Then they set off\nrapidly for their own country. When they arrived they reported that he\nhad died of wounds received in fight. Great was the grief of his mother,\na widow, whose only support he had been. To soothe her feelings they\ntold her that her son had not fallen into the enemy's hands. They had\nrescued him, they said, from that fate, had carefully tended him in his\nlast hours, and had given his remains a becoming burial.\n\nThey little imagined that he was still alive. When he was thrown down by\nhis treacherous comrades he lay for some time insensible at the bottom\nof the pit. When he recovered his senses, he observed an old gray-headed\nman seated near him, crouching into a cavity on one side of the pit.\n\"Ah, my son,\" said the old man, \"what have your friends done to you?\"\n\"They have thrown me here to die, I suppose,\" he replied, with true\nIndian stoicism. \"You shall not die,\" said the old man, \"if you will\npromise to do what I require of you in return for saving you.\" \"What is\nthat?\" asked the youth. \"Only that when you recover you will remain here\nand hunt for me and bring me the game you kill.\" The young warrior\nreadily promised, and the old man applied herbs to his wound and\nattended him skillfully until he recovered. This happened in the autumn.\nAll through the winter the youth hunted in the service of the old man,\nwho told him that whenever he killed any game too large for one man to\ncarry, he would come himself and help to convey it to the pit, in which\nthey continued to reside. When the spring arrived, bringing melting\nsnows and frequent showers, he continued his pursuit of the game, though\nwith more difficulty. One day he encountered an enormous bear, which he\nwas lucky enough to kill. As he stooped to feel its fatness and judge of\nits weight, he heard a murmur of voices behind him. He had not imagined\nthat any human beings would find their way to that lonely region at that\ntime of the year. Astonished, he turned and saw three men, or figures in\nthe shape of men, clad in strange cloud-like garments, standing near\nhim. \"Who are you?\" he asked. In reply they informed him that they were\nthe Thunderers (Hi-nu\u207f). They told him that their mission was to keep\nthe earth and everything upon it in good order for the benefit of the\nhuman race. If there was a drought, it was their duty to bring rain;\nif there were serpents or other noxious creatures, they were\ncommissioned to destroy them, and, in short, to do away with everything\ninjurious to mankind. They told him that their present object was to\ndestroy the old man to whom he had bound himself, and who, as they would\nshow him, was a very different sort of being from what he pretended to\nbe. For this they required his aid. If he would assist them he would do\na good act, and they would convey him back to his home, where he would\nsee his mother and be able to take care of her. This proposal and their\nassurances overcame any reluctance the young man might have felt to\nsacrifice his seeming benefactor. He went to him and told him that he\nhad killed a bear and needed his help to bring it home. The old man was\nanxious and uneasy. He bade the youth examine the sky carefully and see\nif there was the smallest speck of cloud visible. The young man replied\nthat the sky was perfectly clear. The old man then came out of the\nhollow and followed the young hunter, urging him constantly to make\nhaste, and looking upward with great anxiety. When they reached the bear\nthey cut it up hurriedly with their knives, and the old man directed the\nyouth to place it all on his shoulders. The youth complied, though much\nastonished at his companion's strength. The old man set off hastily for\nthe pit, but just then a cloud appeared and the thunder rumbled in the\ndistance. The old man threw down his load and started to run. The\nthunder rumbled nearer, and the old man assumed his proper form of an\nenormous porcupine, which fled through the bushes, discharging its\nquills like arrows backward as it ran. But the thunder followed him,\nwith burst upon burst, and finally a bolt struck the huge animal, which\nfell lifeless into its den.\n\nThen the Thunderers said to the young man, \"Now, that we have done our\nwork here, we will take you to your home and your mother, who is\ngrieving for you all the time.\"\n\nThey gave him a dress like that which they wore, a cloud-like robe,\nhaving wings on its shoulders, and told him how these were to be moved.\nThen he rose with them in the air, and soon found himself in his\nmother's cornfield. It was night. He went to her cabin, and drew aside\nthe mat which covered the opening. The widow started up and gazed at him\nin the moonlight with terror, thinking that she saw her son's ghost. He\nguessed her thoughts. \"Do not be alarmed, mother,\" he said; \"it is no\nghost. It is your son come back to take care of you.\" As may be\nsupposed, the poor woman was overjoyed, and welcomed her long-lost son\nwith delight. He remained with her, fulfilling his duties as a son, for\nthe rest of the year. What was done to his treacherous comrades is not\nrecorded. They were too insignificant to be further noticed in the\nstory, which now assumes a more decided mythological character.\n\nWhen the Thunderers bade farewell to the young man they said to him, \"We\nwill leave the cloud-dress with you. Every spring, when we return, you\ncan put it on and fly with us to be witness to what we do for the good\nof man.\" Accordingly, the youth hid the dress in the woods, that no one\nmight see it, and waited until the spring. Then the Thunderers returned,\nand he resumed the robe, and floated with them in the clouds over the\nearth. As they passed above a mountain he became thirsty, and seeing\nbelow him a pool he descended to drink of it. When he rejoined his\ncompanions they looked at him, and saw that the water with which his\nlips were moist had caused them to shine as if smeared with oil. \"Where\nhave you been drinking?\" they asked him eagerly. \"In yonder pool,\" he\nanswered, pointing to where it lay still in sight. They said, \"There is\nsomething in that pool which we must destroy. We have sought it for\nyears, and now you have happily found it for us.\" Then they cast a\nmighty thunderbolt into the pool, which presently became dry. At the\nbottom of it, blasted by the thunder, was an immense grub, of the kind\nwhich destroys the corn and beans and other products of the fields and\ngardens; but this was a vast creature (\"as big as a house,\" said the\nchief), the special patron and representative of all grubs. After\naccompanying his spirit friends to some distance, and seeing more of\ntheir good deeds of the like sort, the youth returned home and told his\nfriends that the Thunder was their divine protector, and narrated the\nproofs which he had witnessed of this benignant character. Thence\noriginated the honor in which the Thunder is held among the Indians.\nMany Iroquois still call Hi-nu\u207f their grandfather.\n\n\nECHO GOD.\n\nWhen engaged in wars with different nations the voice of the Echo God\nserved for signals, as it would only respond to the calls of Iroquois.\nAt the coming of evening it was used by them to call in those who were\nout on the war-path. When the warrior would whoop the Echo God would\ntake it up and carry it on through the air, the enemy not being able to\nhear it, as this was the special god of the Six Nations. Therefore when\nthey had gained a great victory a dance was held to give praise to this\ngod. When enemies were killed their victors called out as many times as\nthere were persons killed, the cry being \"Goh-weh! Goh-weh!\" \"I'm\ntelling you!\" These words the Echo God took up and repeated. But if one\nof their own tribe was killed they called out, \"Oh-weh! Oh-weh!\" meaning\n\"Our own!\"\n\nAfter any of these signals were given all assembled together to hold\ncouncil and make arrangements for an attack or pursuit. Then were sent\nout runners, who also proclaimed. If no response was made by the Echo\nGod it was an omen that they should not start, but they continued\ncalling, and if the god still remained silent, a service was held to ask\nthe cause of his anger.\n\nWhen a warfare was ended victoriously a dance was held to the Echo God\nand the nations assembled to rejoice--but first to mourn for the dead\nand decide on the fate of the captives. As the Echo God was never called\nupon except in emergencies during warfare, now since wars are over the\nfeast and dance to the Echo God have ceased to be a part of the Iroquois\nceremonies.\n\n\nEXTERMINATION OF THE STONE GIANTS.\n\nRelated by MR. O'BEILLE BEILLE, grandson of Cornplanter.\n\nThe stone giants, who principally inhabited the far West, resolved to\ncome East and exterminate the Indians. A party of Senecas, just starting\nout on the war-path, were warned of their impending danger and were\nbidden to accept the challenge to fight the stone giants and appoint a\ntime and place. This they did. At the appointed time the giants appeared\nat the place, which was near a great gulf. Then there came a mighty wind\nfrom the west which precipitated the whole race of giants down into the\nabyss, from which they were never able to extricate themselves, and the\nGod of the West Wind was ever after held in reverence by the Senecas.\n\n\nTHE NORTH WIND.\n\nIt was the custom at a certain season for the medicine men to go about\ndemanding gifts of the people; but an icy figure had also appeared,\ndemanding a man as a sacrifice; whereupon the Thunder God was appealed\nto, and he came to the rescue with his assistants and chased the figure\nfar into the north, where they doomed the icy demon to remain. To this\nday his howling and blustering are heard, and when any venturesome\nmortal dares to intrude too far towards his abode his frosty children\nsoon punish the offender. He is termed K\u0103-t\u0103sh-h\u016daht, or North Wind, and\nranks as an evil spirit.\n\n\nGREAT HEAD.\n\nIt was a common belief among Indians that there was a strange,\nhuman-like creature, consisting simply of a head made terrific with\nlarge eyes and covered with long hair. His home was upon a huge rock,\na rifted promontory, over which his long hair streamed in shaggy\nfierceness.\n\nSeen or unseen, if he saw anything that had the breath of life he\ngrowled: \"K\u00fb\u207f\u00f1\u00b4\u00b4-ku\u207f, Ku\u207f\u00f1\u00b4\u00b4-ku\u2071\u207f, w\u0103\u00b4\u00b4-h-tci\u00b4-ha\u00b4\u00b4-i-h\"; that is,\n\"I see thee, I see thee, thou shalt die,\" or \"thou shalt suffer.\"\n\nIn a distant wilderness there lived a man and his wife with ten\nchildren, all boys. In the course of events the father died, and was\nsoon followed by the mother of the boys, who were now left alone with\ntheir uncle. They were greatly afflicted by the loss of both parents\nbut after a while resumed their hunting for support.\n\nAs was customary, the older brothers went to their hunting grounds and\nthe younger ones staid at home. One day they looked for the return of\ntheir elder brother in vain; they also looked in vain for the second\nbrother's return. Then the oldest of those at home said, \"I will go to\nlook them up\"; and he went off, but did not return that night. The next\nbrother then went to hunt for his lost brothers. He also did not return,\nand thus it was with all until the youngest brother was left alone with\nhis aged uncle.\n\nThe youngest brother was forbidden to go away from home lest he too\nshould be lost. One day the two were out in the woods, when the younger\none, stepping over a log, heard a noise like a groan, which seemed to\ncome from the earth. The groan being repeated, they concluded to dig\ninto the earth, where they discovered a man covered with mould, and\ntaking him and setting him up they saw some signs of life and were\nconvinced that he was alive. Then the old man said to the lad, \"Run for\nthe bear's oil.\" When brought, they rubbed it over him, and at last were\nwell pleased to see returning consciousness.\n\nIn caring for him they at first fed him on oil until he began to move\nhis eyes and talk. The strange man then told them that he did not know\nhow long he had been there, that all he knew was that the last time he\nwent out was to hunt. They persuaded him to stay with them, whereupon he\nrelated the story of the nine brothers who had so mysteriously\ndisappeared. They then discovered that the stranger was somewhat\nsupernatural, for he told them very strange things.\n\nOne night he said, \"I cannot sleep; hearken to the great noise in this\ndirection. I know what it is--it is my brother, the Great Head, who is\nhowling through this hurricane. He is an awful being, for he destroys\nthose who go near him.\" \"Is he your brother?\" \"Yes, own brother.\" \"If\nyou sent for him would he come here?\" \"No,\" he replied; \"but perhaps I\nmight entice him to come here. I will try; but if he comes you must make\ngreat provision for him; you must cut a huge maple tree into blocks, for\nthat is what he eats.\" The stranger inquired how far he would be obliged\nto go to find the home of the \"Head.\" The uncle replied, \"You would get\nthere about noon.\" Early the next morning he took his bow and started.\nWhen he came to a hickory tree he pulled it up, and from its roots he\nmade arrows, and then ran onward until he came to a place answering the\ndescription given him, near which he was to find the end of his journey.\nRemembering that he was warned to look out for the \"Great Eyes,\"\nwhich would be sure to see him, he called for a mole, to which he said,\n\"I am going in this direction and I want you to creep down under the\ngrass where you will not be seen.\" Having gone into the mole, he at last\nsaw the Great Head through the blades of grass. Ever watchful, the head\ncried out \"Ku\u207f\u00f1-ku\u207f,\" \"I see thee.\" The man in the mole saw that the\n\"Head\" was watching an owl, then drawing his bow, he shot an arrow into\nthe Great Head, crying, \"I came after you.\" The arrow as it flew to its\nmark became very large, but as it was returning became as small as when\nit left the bow. Thereupon, taking the arrow, he ran swiftly toward\nhome; but he had not gone far when he heard a great noise like the\ncoming of a storm. It was the Great Head riding on a tempest. Unshaken\nby this, he continued to run until he saw that the Great Head was coming\ndown to the spot where he was, when he drew his bow again, and as the\narrow left the bow it became larger as it sped, and it drove the Great\nHead away as before it had done. These maneuvers were repeated many\ntimes. In the meanwhile the uncle had prepared a mallet, and now he\nheard the rush and roar of the coming hurricane and said, \"The stranger\nhas allured him home.\" He now went to the door and said, \"We must hammer\nhim; here, take this mallet.\" As the Great Head came bursting through\nthe door, the two men industriously plied their mallets to it. At this\nproceeding, the Great Head began to laugh, thus: \"Si-h si-h si-h,\" for\nhe was pleased to see his brother. When the tumult had subsided, the\nuncle asked the Great Head to remain, and gave him to eat the blocks\nwhich had been prepared for him. Then the two men told the Great Head\nabout the brothers who were lost and about the stranger. Then the Great\nHead said, \"I know where they have gone; they have gone to a place where\nlives a woman who is a witch and who sings continually.\"\n\nNow, the Great Head said, \"I have been here long enough; I want to go\nhome; this young man is pretty bright, and if he wishes to go to see\nthis witch, I will show him her abode and all the bones of his\nbrothers.\" The young man consenting, he and the Great Head started on\nthe morrow, and finally came to a place where they heard this song:\n\"Dy-gi\u00f1-ny\u0103-de, he\u00b4\u00b4-o\u00f1-we, he\u00b4-o\u00f1-we-ni\u00b4\u00b4-\u0103-h gi-di-o\u00f1-ni-\u0103h,\" which\nthe witch was singing. At length she spoke and said, \"Schis-t-ki-a\u00f1\";\nthis was the magical word at which, when heard, all turned to dry bones.\nUpon hearing this the Great Head said, \"I will ask the question, 'How\nlong have you been here?' and the hair will fall from my head and you\nmust replace it, and it will grow fast, and then I will bite her flesh\nand pull it from her, and as it comes off you must take it from my mouth\nand throw it off, saying 'Be a fox, a bird, or anything else,' and it\nwill then run off never to return.\"\n\nThey did as they had planned, and when the witch begged for mercy the\nGreat Head said, \"You had no mercy; see the dry bones; you must die\":\nand so they killed her, and her flesh was turned into animals, and\nbirds, and fish.\n\nWhen she had died, the Head said, \"Let us burn her to ashes.\" When this\nwas done, the Head said, \"Let us search for the year-old bones and cause\nthem to lie in rows,\" and they worked together selecting those they\nthought were bones of the nine brothers, and placed them together. When\nthis was done, the Great Head said, \"I am going to my old home in the\ngreat mountain, and when I fly over here on a tempest then you say to\nthese bones, 'All arise,' and they all will rise and you may go home\nwith them.\" Great Head departed, and then arose a storm and a terrific\nhurricane, and the Great Head out of the wind called to the nine\nbrothers to awake, and they all arose to life, shouting for joy at\nseeing each other and their youngest brother again.\n\n\nCUSICK'S STORY OF THE DISPERSION OF THE GREAT HEADS.\n\nAn old squaw who resided at Onondaga was alone in her wigwam one\nevening. While sitting by the fire parching some acorns one of the\nmonstrous heads made its appearance at the door. Thinking that the\nwoman was eating coals of fire, by which these monsters were put to\nflight, it suddenly disappeared, and none of its kind have been seen\nsince that day.\n\n    [Illustration: PL. XV\n    THE FLYING HEAD PUT TO FLIGHT.]\n\n\nTHE STONE GIANT'S WIFE.\n\nIn the olden days the hunters always took their wives with them on their\nexpeditions. It was a wife's duty to fetch home the game that was killed\nand prepare and cook it.\n\nA great hunter set forth upon a hunting excursion and took his wife with\nhim. He found so much game that finally he built a wigwam and settled\ndown. One day he had gone hunting in one direction while his wife was\nsent in another to collect the game he had killed the previous day.\n\nWhen she returned towards home one evening, laden with game, she was\nsurprised at hearing a woman's voice, and as she entered her surprise\nchanged to fear, for she saw a stone giant woman nursing the chief's\nchild. \"Do not be afraid,\" said the giantess; \"come in.\" And as the wife\nobeyed she told her that she had run away from her cruel husband, who\nwanted to kill her, and that she wished to stay a while with the\nhunter's family. She had come from very far, from the land of the Stone\nGiants, and was very tired, and added that they must be careful what\nfood they gave her. She could not eat raw food, but it must be well\ncooked, so thoroughly cooked, indeed, that she could not taste the\nblood, for if she once tasted blood she might wish to kill them and the\nchild and eat them. She knew that the woman's husband was a mighty\nhunter, and she knew that his wife brought in the game, but now she\nwould do it instead; then she said that she knew where to find it and\nwould start after it at once.\n\nAfter a while she returned, bringing in one hand a load which four\nordinary men could not have carried. The woman cooked it, and they dined\ntogether.\n\nAs evening came on the Stone Giantess bade the woman go out and meet her\nhusband and tell him of her visit; so she started, and the hunter was\nmuch pleased to hear of the help she had given.\n\nIn the morning, after he had gone on his hunting expedition, the\ngiantess said, \"Now I have a secret for you: My husband is after me. In\nthree days he will be here. We shall have a terrible fight when he\ncomes, and you and your husband must help me to kill him.\"\n\nIn two days afterwards she said, \"Now your husband must remain at home,\nfor mine is coming. But do not be afraid; we shall kill him, only you\nmust help catch and hold him. I will show you where to strike him so\nthat the blow will go right through to his heart.\" The hunter and his\nwife were both frightened at this, but she reassured them, and they all\nthree awaited the coming of the giant. So she placed herself in the\nentrance, and as he came in sight she was ready. She seized him and\nthrew him on the ground. \"Now,\" she said, \"strike him on the arms, now\non the back of the neck\"; and so he was finally killed. Then said she,\n\"I will take him out and bury him,\" which she did.\n\nShe staid a while quietly with the hunter and his wife, fetching in the\ngame and being useful until they were ready to leave and return to the\nsettlement. Then she said, \"Now I must go home to my people, for I need\nfear nothing.\" So she bade them farewell.\n\nAnd this is the end of the story of the Stone Giantess.\n\n\nTHE STONE GIANT'S CHALLENGE.\n\nA Stone Giant challenged a Seneca chief to a race. The challenge was\naccepted, and the time for the start appointed two days later.\n\nThe hunter employed the time in making a pair of moccasins, and in due\ntime the race began. The hunter was in advance; he led the way over\ncornfields and through bushes, over and around brooks, and went a weary\ndistance until he was very tired and his moccasins were nearly worn off\nhis feet. At last he began to climb rocks. Now, the Stone Giant had no\npower to raise his head and could not tell where the hunter was when\nonce he was above him, and in this dilemma he had recourse to a charm,\nand took from his pocket a human finger. He placed it upright upon his\nhand, and it immediately pointed the way for him to go.\n\nNow, the hunter had turned and seen him do it, so he stooped and\nsnatched the charm from him, whereupon the giant commenced crying and\nsaid: \"You have won. You have taken my charm, and now you can always\nfind game and all you want, for the finger will direct you to it.\"\n\n\nHIAWATHA AND THE IROQUOIS WAMPUM.\n\nIn one of his missions into the country of the Mohawks, Hiawatha once\ncame upon the borders of a lake. While deliberating in what manner he\nshould cross it, the whole sky became filled with wild ducks, all of\nwhich finally alighted upon the surface of the water. After quenching\ntheir thirst and soaking their plumage they ascended again into the air\nin one great mass, and lo! the lake had become dry, while its bed was\nfilled with shells.\n\nFrom these the wise chief and counselor proceeded to make the wampum\nwhich afterward so firmly cemented the union of the six tribes, thereby\nforming the great Iroquois Confederacy.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nPIGMIES.\n\n\nAnother creation of the fertile Indian fancy consists of the race of\npigmies, Lilliputian in size, but mighty in skill and deed. They carved\nout the beauties of rock, cliff, and cave, but also, like Hi-nu\u207f, they\nwere endowed with the mightier power of destroying the monster animals\nwhich endangered the life of man. Cliff, rock, and grotto attested the\nskill of that departed race, and the exhumed bones of giant animals bore\nas perfect witness to the truth of their existence as did the \"Homo\ndiluvii testis\" of a century ago to the truth of the story of the deluge.\n\n\nTHE WARRIOR SAVED BY PIGMIES.\n\nIt was customary for the Iroquois tribes to make raids upon the\nCherokees while the latter inhabited the swamps of Florida.\n\nOne of these raiding parties had been away from home about two years,\nand on the very evening of the journey homeward one of its number was\ntaken quite ill. After a long consultation (the man continuing to grow\nworse), the party concluded to leave him, and when they had reached one\nof the rivers of the Alleghany Mountains they abandoned him on the\nshore. After their arrival at home the warriors were questioned in\nregard to the missing war-chief. In reply, they said that they did not\nexactly know what had become of him, and that he must have been lost or\nkilled in the \"Southern country.\"\n\nDuring the night the sick chief lying on the bank heard the soft sounds\nof a canoe's approach, and saw three male pigmies landing hurriedly.\nFinding him, they bade him to lie there until they returned, as they\nwere going to a neighboring \"salt-lick\" where many strange animals\nwatered, and where they were to watch for some of them to come up out of\nthe earth.\n\nReaching the place the pigmies found that the animals had not come out\nfrom the ground. They hid themselves and soon saw a male buffalo\napproach. The beast looked around and began to drink, and immediately\ntwo buffalo cows arose out of the lick.\n\nThe three animals, after quenching their thirst, lay down upon the bank.\n\nThe pigmies seeing that the animals were becoming restless and uneasy,\nconcluded wisely to shoot them, and succeeded in killing the two buffalo\ncows.\n\nThey returned to the man and told him that they would care for him.\nThis they did, and brought him to his friends, who from his story\nlearned that the returned warriors were false, and they were accordingly\npunished.\n\nFrom a strong desire to see the \"lick,\" a large party searched for it\nand found it surrounded with bones of various large animals killed by\nthe pigmies.\n\n\nTHE PIGMIES AND THE GREEDY HUNTERS.\n\nThe following story is told as having actually occurred:\n\nMr. Johnson and others of the Seneca Reservation went out on a hunting\nexpedition to a region quite remote from their homes. Upon their arrival\nat the hunting grounds they found game so plentiful that they were\nobliged to throw away large quantities of meat to enable them to\npreserve and carry the skins of the many animals they had slain.\n\nSeveral months after their arrival they moved farther into the\nwilderness, and found, to their sorrow, that game was growing scarcer\neach day until they could find none. As a consequence of their\nprodigality they were soon in want of that very meat which they had so\nwantonly thrown away, and were finally pushed to the verge of\nstarvation.\n\nAt length a pigmy appeared to the hapless hunters, and said that their\npresent condition was a just punishment to them for their wastefulness\nand greed for gain. In despair the hunters inquired of the pigmy what\nthey must do to obtain food. The pigmy said that they must either starve\nor give up all the skins and furs which they had collected and prepared\nfor use. The hunters asked how long they would be permitted to consider\nthe proposition. The pigmy replied that when they had decided they could\ncall one of his race by simply tapping on a rock, and then they could\ntell their decision.\n\nNot agreeing upon any answer after a long consultation, they called one\nof the pigmies to ask for better terms. The hunters said they would\nrather die than submit, if the amount of food were small, since, with a\nsmall supply and being in a strange, unknown country, they could not\npossibly find their way home. They further asked him to show them their\nhomeward journey. The pigmy said that he could not grant their request\nwithout the full concurrence of his race, but that he would give them\nfood enough to satisfy them in their present distress. He then showed\nthem into a capacious and furnished cavern, in which they were to await\nthe answer of the pigmies.\n\nOn the following day the pigmy returned and said they had been forgiven\nfor their wastefulness, and that they would be furnished with provisions\nwithout parting with their furs. He said that the hunters must remain in\nthe cavern, and that some time in the night they would be called for.\n\nAbout midnight they were awakened and found themselves in their first\ncamping-ground.\n\nThe Senecas were informed that they were brought there by their\never-vigilant pigmy friends.\n\n\nTHE PIGMY'S MISSION.\n\nThere was once a pigmy living in a little cave. Near him dwelt a hunter\nin a wigwam. The pigmy sent to him and bade him visit him. The hunter\nwent accordingly, and saw many wonderful things; the little people\nthemselves in great numbers, and the corn and huckleberries and other\nberries which they had in plenty to eat. And the pigmy said: \"This is\nour home, and all we have is given to us free, and although I am small I\nam stronger than you.\" Then he showed him the games, and the bows and\narrows and the dances, even the war dances and the hunter said when he\nhad seen it all, \"Let me go.\" But the pigmy said, \"Stay! Do you know my\nname? I am called Go-Ga-Ah (little fellow). I had my choice of name. I\nwill let you out when I have told you our mission. We are to help you,\nand we have never injured you, but now we are going to move away from\nhere. We are going where there is more danger from the giant animals,\nthat we may help those who need our aid.\" Then having finished his\nspeech, he opened the door and let the hunter go on his way.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nPRACTICE OF SORCERY.\n\n\nThe early history of the races of mankind, now civilized, is marked in\nall its course known to us by a belief in mysterious powers and\ninfluences. Sorcerers, men believed to be skilled in occult arts, have\nbeen known among them all. An examination into the actual practice of\nsorcery or magical arts among savage and barbaric tribes is therefore of\npeculiar interest.\n\nIn none of the myths of the Iroquois which I have reason to believe\nantedate the appearance of Europeans do I find anything indicating a\nbelief in Heaven or a separate spiritual world, although some of their\ncustoms indicate that they may have had such a notion. The only word for\nHeaven in the different dialects is evidently a literal translation of\nthe Christian idea, and signifies \"in the sky.\" It would seem that after\nthe possession of that idea came the desire for intermediaries between\nliving men and a spiritual world, indicating the first step toward a\nhigher philosophy.\n\nAmong the highly civilized Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Greeks, the success\nof magic depended upon the ignorance of the masses and the comparative\nlearning of the few who practiced it. Among the Indians the knowledge of\nthe medicine man and the more expert sorceress is little above that of\nthe body of the tribe. Their success depends entirely upon their own\nbelief in being supernaturally gifted, and upon the faith and fear of\ntheir followers. I do not believe that the Iroquois lives to-day who is\nnot a believer in sorcery or who would not in the night time quail at\nseeing a bright light the nature of which he did not understand. The\nmost intelligent, the wisest, and the best Christian whom I ever met\namong them told me of the wonderful marvels he himself had wrought. He\nhad stayed the flames of a burning church by holding forth his right\nhand. He had lamed for life a man who was stealing cherries by pointing\nhis finger at him. Few bad Indians came into his presence without\nbegging him not to \"bewitch\" them. This good Tuscarora ranks as one of\nthe leading Christians of his tribe and lives up to all the moral\nprecepts of the Bible, from which he can quote a text considered by\nhimself to be appropriate for each of the superstitions in which he so\nfirmly believes.\n\nA few Tuscarora names with their definitions will serve to illustrate\nsome of the practices and beliefs of the Iroquois.\n\n_Y\u0103-ku-wi-s\u0103t_: A person possessing within himself a live crystal which\nhe could call from his mouth or nose. The crystal placed in a gourd of\nwater, rendered visible the apparition of a person who had bewitched\nanother. By applying this crystal to one bewitched, hairs, straws,\nleaves, pebbles, &c., could be drawn forth.\n\n_Rhu\u207f\u00f1-ta-y\u00e4_: A medicine man who by the use of a small kettle boiled\nroots or herbs, and by covering the head with a blanket and holding it\nover the kettle could see the image of an enemy who had bewitched either\nsome one else or himself.\n\n_Y\u00e4-tyu\u207f\u00f1-y\u00fb\u207f\u00f1_: One who performed miraculous feats by drawing out with\nalder tubes, hairs, pieces of skin, leaves, &c., from people who had\nbeen bewitched with these things.\n\n_R\u0103-n\u00fb\u207f-kw\u0103-terha-yu\u207f-n\u00e4-rhi_: Superior medicine man.\n\n_Us-ku\u207f-rh\u0103-rhih_: A carnivorous ghost bodied forth in a skeleton.\n\n_U-h-n\u00e4\u00b4\u00b4-w\u0103k_: A departing ghost who will revisit its dead body.\n\n_U-t-ku\u207f-terh\u0103\u00b4\u00b4-ks\u207f\u00f1_: An evil spirit, from whom all witches received\ntheir power.\n\n_U-ht-k\u00fb\u207f-s\u00fc-rh\u00fb\u207f_: One who could assume a partly animal shape.\n\n_Y\u00e4-sk\u00fb\u207f-n\u00fb\u207f-n\u00e4_: The ghost of a living person.\n\n_Y\u00e4 tcu\u207f\u00f1-hu-h-kw\u0103-kw\u00e4_: An apparition which could emit flames of light.\n\n_U-h-t-k\u00fb\u207f_: A natural-born witch or ghost.\n\n_N\u00e4-y\u00fb\u207f-h-n\u0103-ny\u00e4-rh\u00fb\u207f\u00f1-ny\u00e4\u207f-a_: A witch under the influence or power of\na superior witch.\n\nStories abound in which these personages or spirits are introduced.\n\nThe belief in _Y\u00e4-sk\u00fb\u207f-n\u00fb\u207f-n\u00e4_, or that the spirit of a person could be\nin one locality and its body exist at the same time in another, explains\nmuch of the phenomena of witchcraft, and accounts for the strange\nconfessions oftentimes made by those who were known to have been\nunjustly accused.\n\nMany customs still existing show that spirits are supposed to continue\nto experience the wants of humanity after leaving the body. For some\ntime after the death of an adult his accustomed portion of food is often\ndealt out for the supposed hungry spirit, and on the death of a nursing\nchild two pieces of cloth are saturated with the mother's milk and\nplaced in the hands of the dead child so that its spirit may not return\nto haunt the bereaved mother.\n\nWhen a living nursing child is taken out at night the mother takes a\npinch of white ashes and rubs it on the face of the child so that the\nspirits will not trouble it, because they say that a child still\ncontinues to hold intercourse with the spirit world whence it so\nrecently came.\n\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF WITCHES AND WITCH CHARMS.\n\nA great many years ago boys were instructed to go out and hunt birds and\nother game for the support of their respective families and to learn\nfrom practice how to hunt. A certain boy while out hunting came across\na beautiful snake. Taking a great fancy to it, he caught it and cared\nfor it, feeding it on birds, &c., and made a bark bowl in which he kept\nit. He put fibers, down, and small feathers into the water with the\nsnake, and soon found that these things had become living beings. From\nthis fact he naturally conjectured that the snake was endowed with\nsupernatural powers. He then continued his experiments, and discovered\nthat whatever he put into this water became alive; so he went to another\nswamp and got other snakes, which he put into the bowl. While\nexperimenting he saw other Indians putting things on their eyes to see\nsharp, so he rubbed some of this snake-water on his eyes, and climbing a\ntree he found that he could see things even if they were hidden.\n\nFinding that this snake liquid was powerful enough to improve his sight,\nhe concluded that the more snakes he put into the waters the more\npowerful would be the liquid. He therefore hung a large number of snakes\nso that their oil dropped into the water, increasing its power and\nmaking more lively its strange inhabitants.\n\nHe then learned that by simply putting one of his fingers into the\nliquid and pointing it at any person that person would immediately\nbecome bewitched.\n\nAfter placing some roots (which were not poisonous) into the snake\nliquid, he put some of the mixture into his mouth and found that it\nproduced a peculiar sensation. By blowing it from his mouth it would\ngive a great light; by placing some in his eyes he could see in the dark\nand could go through all kinds of impassable places; he could become\nlike a snake; he could even become invisible, and could travel faster\nthan any other mortal. An arrow dipped into this liquid and shot at any\nliving being, even if it did not hit its object, would nevertheless kill\nit. A feather dipped into this snake water and then pointed at any\nwished-for game, would immediately start for the desired thing and would\nalways kill it, and when the game was dissected the feather was always\nfound in it. Having discovered the great power of this snake extract, he\ntook into consideration the finding of counteracting agents. To\naccomplish this end, he diligently searched for roots and herbs having\nthe required qualities, and finally he was rewarded by obtaining\nantidotes which would work upon objects which he had bewitched or\nwounded.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE SENECA MEDICINE\n\nNearly two hundred years ago a man went into the woods on a hunting\nexpedition. He was quite alone. He camped out in a field and was wakened\nin the night by the sound of singing and a noise like the beating of a\ndrum. He could not sleep any more, so he rose and went in the direction\nof the sound. To his surprise the place had all the appearance of being\ninhabited. On the one hand was a hill of corn, on the other a large\nsquash vine with three squashes on it, and three ears of corn grew apart\nfrom all the others. He was unable to guess what it meant, but started\noff on his hunting once more, determined to return some evening, being\nboth curious and uneasy. In the night, as he slept near by, he again\nheard a noise, and awakening, saw a man looking at him, who said,\n\"Beware! I am after you; what you saw was sacred; you deserve to die.\"\nBut the people who now gathered around said they would pardon it, and\nwould tell him the secret they possessed: \"The great medicine for\nwounds,\" said the man who had awakened him, \"is squash and corn; come\nwith me and I will teach you.\"\n\nHe led him to the spot where the people were assembled, and there he saw\na fire and a laurel bush which looked like iron. The crowds danced\naround it singing, and rattling gourd-shells, and he begged them to tell\nhim what they did it for.\n\nThen one of them heated a stick and thrust it right through his cheek,\nand then applied some of the medicine to prove to him how quickly it\ncould heal the wound. Then they did the same to his leg. All the time\nthey sang a tune; they called it the \"medicine song,\" and taught it to\nhim.\n\nThen he turned to go home, and all at once he perceived that they were\nnot human beings, as he had thought, but animals, bears, beavers, and\nfoxes, which all flew off as he looked. They had given him directions to\ntake one stalk of corn and dry the cob and pound it very fine, and to\ntake one squash, cut it up and pound that, and they then showed him how\nmuch for a dose. He was to take water from a running spring, and always\nfrom up the stream, never down.\n\nHe made up the prescription and used it with very great success, and\nmade enough before he died to last over one hundred years.\n\nThis was the origin of the great medicine of the Senecas. The people\nsing over its preparation every time the deer changes his coat, and when\nit is administered to a patient they sing the medicine song, while they\nrattle a gourd-shell as accompaniment, and burn tobacco. Burning tobacco\nis the same as praying. In times of trouble or fear, after a bad dream,\nor any event which frightens them, they say, \"My mother went out and\nburned tobacco.\"\n\nThe medicine is prepared now with the addition of meat.\n\n\nA \"TRUE\" WITCH STORY.\n\nAmong the Senecas dwelt an old woman who was very stingy. All at once\nshe began to suffer great pain in her eye. She consulted a conjurer, who\nwent out to a bush and covered it with a tent and then began to sing,\nkeeping time with his hand. After a while he returned to her and said:\n\"You are bewitched. You refused to give milk to a poor woman who came to\nbeg of you, and she has bewitched you. I have had her house revealed to\nme, and I saw her, but she was combing her hair over her face, so I\ncould not see her features. I would not recognize her again.\"\n\nNext day he tried again; then he said: \"Now I know who she is.\" So they\nsent for a chief and told him all about it, and he brought the woman\nbefore them. She was a Chippewa and a witch. The chief had her brought\nto the old woman's cabin. She owned that she had bewitched her, and\nsaid, \"Fetch me the thigh-bone of a beaver from a man who is the child\nof Molly Brant, the child of Governor W. Johnson.\" The bone was brought,\nand by the time it arrived she had scoured a brass kettle, and had clean\nwater poured into it. As soon as she received the bone, which was\nhollow, she placed it against the eye that was not painful and spat\nthrough it. After a while she ceased spitting, and looked in the water.\nA spider was running around in the kettle. She covered it over with her\nhandkerchief, then removed it, and a feather lay there instead of the\nspider. The pain left the old woman but the sight was not restored.\n\n\nA CASE OF WITCHCRAFT.\n\nThe victim in this case was a Mary Jemison, who, having severe pains in\nher chest, concluded that she was bewitched, and consulted the\nwitch-doctors, who applied their extractive bandages, which greatly\nrelieved her. She saw a dog as an apparition coming toward her, and\ndirected her friends to shoot it, but they did not succeed in killing\nit. In like manner a cat, which was invisible to other people, was seen\nby her. She finally recovered, but Andrew John, who was pronounced her\nbewitcher, and who was outwitched, is now dying from consumption.\n\n\nAN INCANTATION TO BRING RAIN.\n\nIn a dry season, the horizon being filled with distant thunder-heads, it\nwas customary to burn what is called by the Indians real tobacco as an\noffering to bring rain.\n\nOn occasions of this nature the people were notified by swift-footed\nheralds that the children, or sons, of Thunder were in the horizon, and\nthat tobacco must be burned in order to get some rain. Every family was\nsupposed to have a private altar upon which its offerings were secretly\nmade; after which said family must repair, bearing its tithe, to the\ncouncil-house, where the gathered tithes of tobacco were burned in the\ncouncil-fire. While the tobacco was burning, the agile and athletic\ndanced the rain-dance.\n\nWhen this was done, Hi-nu\u207f, pleased with the incense of the burning\ntobacco, called forth huge dark banks of rain clouds and took personal\ncharge of the gathering storm to guide it to wet the dry and parched\nearth. Hi-nu\u207f was considered a great lover of tobacco, but always in\nwant of it.\n\n\nA CURE FOR ALL BODILY INJURIES.\n\nThis was made from the dried and pulverized flesh of every known bird,\nbeast, and fish. Equal portions of this flesh were mixed into a\ncompound, which was divided among all true medicine-men.\n\n\nA WITCH IN THE SHAPE OF A DOG.\n\nWitches could and did assume animal shapes.\n\nOn the Buffalo Reservation a man saw a \"witch-woman\" coming, with fire\nstreaming from her mouth. Crossing a creek and obtaining his gun the man\nreturned and saw a dog at no great distance resting its forefeet upon a\nlog, and it had fire streaming from its mouth and nostrils.\n\nThe man fired at it and saw it fall, but as it was very dark he dared\nnot go near it; but on the following morning he went to the spot and saw\nwhere it had fallen, by the marks of blood from its wound. Tracking it\nby this means he followed its path until it had reached a bridge, where\nthe woman's tracks took the place of the dog's tracks in the path. He\nfollowed the bloody trail to the Tonawanda Reservation, where he found\nthe woman. She had died from the effect of the shot.\n\n\nA MAN WHO ASSUMED THE SHAPE OF A HOG.\n\nOn the Tonawanda Reservation three boys were coming down a hill, when\nthey saw a large hog, which they concluded to follow to find its home.\nAs they pursued the hog they continually kicked it, and it retaliated by\nbiting at them at times. It retreated toward the bank of a small creek,\nreaching which it suddenly disappeared. They saw no reason to suppose\nthat it had drowned itself in the stream; but while searching for it\nthey found on one of the banks an old man, who laughed and said, \"What\ndo you seek?\" They answered, \"A hog.\"\n\nAfter some moments the old man said that it was he, himself, whom they\nhad been chasing, and by this the boys knew that he was a witch.\n\n\nWITCH TRANSFORMATION.\n\nA Canadian Indian says he saw, one evening, on the road, a white bull\nwith fire streaming from its nostrils, which, after it had passed him,\nhe pursued. He had never seen so large a bull, or in fact any white\nbull, upon the reservation. As it passed in front of a house it was\ntransformed into a man with a large white blanket, who was ever\nafterward known as a witch.\n\n\nA SUPERSTITION ABOUT FLIES.\n\nThere was once a species of fly so poisonous that sometimes merely the\nsmell of them would eat the nose from a man's face. A certain species of\nwoodpecker was the only thing that could destroy them. Their homes were\nin trees, on which their poisonous tracks could be traced. They often\nentered the horns of a deer; hence, the Indian hunter's first move after\nshooting a deer was to examine its horns, and if they were infected, the\nhunter would run away, since he knew that the moment the animal died the\nfatal insect would emerge from the horn.\n\nAround the trees in which they lived deer ever congregated, seemingly\nbewitched by these fierce and noxious little flies.\n\nBuckskin and deerskin were used to catch them. The bird that killed them\nfor food was colored black and yellow. In the evening it came forth from\nits home in a hollow tree and scoured the forests for them.\n\nThese birds were caught with buckskin traps and their feathers were used\nas charms, being fastened to the arrows of the hunter. An arrow thus\nmade potent would surely bring down the deer.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nMYTHOLOGIC EXPLANATION OF PHENOMENA.\n\n\nThe instinctive desire in man to fathom the mystery of human life, to\nsolve the enigma of whence he came and whither he goes, and to account\nfor the marvels ever presented to his senses, has in all times excited\nthe imagination and originated speculation.\n\nTo explain the phenomena of life and nature the untutored mind has\nseized upon every analogy suggesting the slightest clew, and imagination\nhas aided the crude reasoning faculties.\n\nIn the numerous Iroquois myths relating to the origin of both animate\nand inanimate objects in nature there appears a reflex of the Indian's\nmind as he solves, to his entire satisfaction, mysteries, many of which\nare the \"burning questions\" of this enlightened age.\n\nThese tales only vary with the temperament of the narrator or the\nexigencies of the locality. Where oft repeated they have in time been\nrecorded on the hearts and minds of the people either as myths or\nfolk-lore, embodying the fossilized knowledge and ideas of a previous\nage, misinterpreted, perhaps, by those who have inherited them.\n\nFor the ethnologist who would trace in mythology the growth of the human\nmind, nowhere is the harvest more rich than among the aborigines of our\nown country; and prominent among these, in this lore of \"faded\nmetaphors\", are the Iroquois. To what dignity their folk-lore might have\nattained had they been left to reach a lettered civilization for\nthemselves we cannot know; but, judging from the history of other\npeoples, their first chroniclers would have accepted many of these oral\ntraditions as facts.\n\nTo many from whom the writer received these myths they were realities,\nfor there remain among these forest children those who still cling to\ntheir oft-told tales as the only link binding them to a happier past.\nNor should they be considered as idle tales by the civilized man, who\nhas not yet rid himself of the shackles of superstition in a thousand\nforms, and who sees daily his household gods torn down before him by\ncomparative mythology and its allied sciences. Let him rather accept\nthem reverently as the striving of the infant human mind in its search\nafter the unknowable, revealing that inherent something in man which\npresupposes the existence of hidden forces, powers, or beings in nature.\nAt first, perhaps, this is a mere blind feeling, but as man develops, it\nbecomes an idea, then a recognized possibility; later, an article of\nreligious faith.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE HUMAN RACE.\n\nThe Iroquois legend of an origin of the human race, which includes the\ncreation of the spirits of good and evil, is undoubtedly of modern\norigin.\n\nIn the great past, deep water covered all the earth. The air was filled\nwith birds, and great monsters were in possession of the waters, when a\nbeautiful woman was seen by them falling from the sky. Then huge ducks\ngathered in council and resolved to meet this wonderful creature and\nbreak the force of her fall. So they arose, and, with pinion overlapping\npinion, unitedly received the dusky burden. Then the monsters of the\ndeep also gathered in council to decide which should hold this celestial\nbeing and protect her from the terrors of the water, but none was able\nexcept a giant tortoise, who volunteered to endure this lasting weight\nupon his back. There she was gently placed, while he, constantly\nincreasing in size, soon became a large island. Twin boys were after a\ntime brought forth by the woman--one the spirit of good, who made all\ngood things, and caused the maize, fruit, and tobacco to grow; the other\nthe spirit of evil, who created the weeds and all vermin. Ever the world\nwas increasing in size, although occasional quakings were felt, caused\nby the efforts of the monster tortoise to stretch out, or by the\ncontraction of his muscles.\n\nAfter the lapse of ages from the time of his general creation\nTa-rhu\u207f-hi\u0103-w\u0103h-ku\u207f, the Sky Holder, resolved upon a special creation of\na race which should surpass all others in beauty, strength, and bravery;\nso from the bosom of the great island, where they had previously\nsubsisted upon moles, Ta-rhu\u207f-hi\u0103-w\u0103h-ku\u207f brought out the six pairs,\nwhich were destined to become the greatest of all people.\n\nThe Tuscaroras tell us that the first pair were left near a great river,\nnow called the Mohawk. The second family were directed to make their\nhome by the side of a big stone. Their descendants have been termed the\nOneidas. Another pair were left on a high hill, and have ever been\ncalled the Onondagas. Thus each pair was left with careful instructions\nin different parts of what is now known as the State of New York, except\nthe Tuscaroras, who were taken up the Roanoke River into North Carolina,\nwhere Ta-rhu\u207f-hi\u0103-w\u0103h-ku\u207f also took up his abode, teaching them many\nuseful arts before his departure. This, say they, accounts for the\nsuperiority of the Tuscaroras. But each of the six tribes will tell you\nthat his own was the favored one with whom Sky Holder made his\nterrestrial home, while the Onondagas claim that their possession of the\ncouncil fire prove them to have been the chosen people.\n\nLater, as the numerous families became scattered over the State, some\nlived in localities where the bear was the principal game, and were\ncalled from that circumstance the clan of the Bear. Others lived where\nthe beavers were trapped, and they were called the Beaver clan. For\nsimilar reasons the Snipe, Deer, Wolf, Tortoise, and Eel clans received\ntheir appellations.\n\n\nFORMATION OF THE TURTLE CLAN.\n\nThe Turtle clan originated in a simple and straightforward fashion.\nThere were in early times many tortoises of the kind familiarly known as\nmud turtles, inhabiting a small lake or pool. During a very hot summer\nthis pool became dry. The turtles thereupon set out on their travels\nover the country to look for a new habitation. One of them, who was\nparticularly fat, suffered a good deal from this unaccustomed exercise.\nAfter a time his shoulders became blistered under his shell from the\neffect of his exertions in walking, and he, finally, by an extraordinary\neffort, threw off his shell altogether. The process of transformation\nand development, thus commenced, went on, and in a short time this fat\nand lazy turtle became a man, who was the progenitor of the Turtle clan.\n\n\nHOW THE BEAR LOST HIS TAIL.\n\nThe following was recounted to me on the \"Six Nations Reserve\" in\nCanada, by Ka-an-er-wah, one of the few surviving grandchildren of\nBrant, the Mohawk, and might be termed a modern Indian story. It\naccounts for the tailless condition of the bear.\n\nA cunning fox saw a wagon load of fish and resorted to the following\nruse to obtain some of the coveted delicacy: Feigning to be dead, he\nlaid himself in the road by which the fisherman must pass, who, thinking\nthe skin of the fox worth preserving, tossed him into his wagon and\ndrove on. After throwing out several fish, the fox slyly crawled out\nhimself. Soon he met a wolf who was informed of his good luck, and\nadvised to try the same experiment. The fisherman had, in the mean time,\ndiscovered the trick, and the wolf received a good thrashing instead of\na fish dinner.\n\nThe fox next met a bear who was also anxious to procure some fish.\n\"Well,\" replied the fox, \"down at the river you will find an air-hole in\nthe ice; just put your tail down into it as I did and you can draw out\nthe fish as fast as you wish.\" The bear followed the directions\ncarefully, but, the weather being cold, instead of securing a fish his\ntail was frozen off.\n\nThe bear was very angry and proposed to fight a duel with the fox. The\nfox chose as his seconds a dog and a cat; the bear chose a hog, and\nawaited the fox at the appointed hour. As the latter was late in\nappearing the bear clambered into a tree to prospect, and reported that\nthe fox was approaching with two men armed with guns. Thereupon the hog,\ngreatly frightened, begged to be covered with leaves.\n\nHaving accomplished this, the bear returned to his post in the tree.\nThe fox soon made his appearance, but instead of men his companions\nproved to be a dog and a lame cat. While awaiting in their turn, the\ncat, perceiving the slight motion of one of the uncovered ears of the\nhog, sprang upon it, whereupon the squeals of the invisible pig put the\nwhole company to flight, and the bear never had the satisfaction of\navenging the loss of his tail.\n\n\nORIGIN OF MEDICINE.\n\nChief Mt. Pleasant, one of the Bear clan, relates that once on a time a\nsickly old man, covered with sores, entered an Indian village where over\neach wigwam was placed the sign of the clan of its possessor; for\ninstance, the beaver skin denoting the Beaver clan, the deer skin the\nDeer clan. At each of these wigwams the old man applied for food and a\nnight's lodging, but his repulsive appearance rendered him an object of\nscorn, and the Wolf, the Tortoise, and the Heron had bidden the abject\nold man to pass on. At length, tired and weary, he arrived at a wigwam\nwhere a bear skin betokened the clanship of its owner. This he found\ninhabited by a kind-hearted woman who immediately refreshed him with\nfood and spread out skins for his bed. Then she was instructed by the\nold man to go in search of certain herbs, which she prepared according\nto his directions, and through their efficacy he was soon healed. Then\nhe commanded that she should treasure up this secret. A few days after,\nhe sickened with a fever and again commanded a search for other herbs\nand was again healed. This being many times repeated he at last told his\nbenefactress that his mission was accomplished, and that she was now\nendowed with all the secrets for curing disease in all its forms, and\nthat before her wigwam should grow a hemlock tree whose branches should\nreach high into the air above all others, to signify that the Bear\nshould take precedence of all other clans, and that she and her clan\nshould increase and multiply.\n\n\nORIGIN OF WAMPUM.\n\nA man while walking in a forest saw an unusually large bird covered with\na heavily clustered coating of wampum. He immediately informed his\npeople and chiefs, whereupon the head chief offered as a prize his\nbeautiful daughter to one who would capture the bird, dead or alive,\nwhich apparently had come from another world. Whereupon the warriors,\nwith bows and arrows, went to the \"tree of promise,\" and as each lucky\none barely hit the bird it would throw off a large quantity of the\ncoveted coating, which, like the Lern\u00e6an hydra's heads, multiplied by\nbeing cropped. At last, when the warriors were despairing of success, a\nlittle boy from a neighboring tribe came to satisfy his curiosity by\nseeing the wonderful bird of which he had heard, but as his people were\nat war with this tribe he was not permitted by the warriors to try his\nskill at archery, and was even threatened with death. But the head chief\nsaid, \"He is a mere boy; let him shoot on equal terms with you who are\nbrave and fearless warriors.\" His decision being final, the boy, with\nunequaled skill, brought the coveted bird to the ground.\n\nHaving received the daughter of the head chief in marriage, he divided\nthe oh-ko-\u00e4h between his own tribe and that into which he had married,\nand peace was declared between them. Then the boy husband decreed that\nwampum should be the price of peace and blood, which was adopted by all\nnations. Hence arose the custom of giving belts of wampum to satisfy\nviolated honor, hospitality, or national privilege.\n\n\nORIGIN OF TOBACCO.\n\nA boat filled with medicine men passed near a river bank, where a loud\nvoice had proclaimed to all the inhabitants to remain indoors; but some,\ndisobeying, died immediately. The next day the boat was sought for and\nfound, containing a strange being at each end, both fast asleep. A loud\nvoice was then heard saying that the destroying of these creatures would\nresult in a great blessing to the Indian.\n\nSo they were decoyed into a neighboring council-house, where they were\nput to death and burned, and from their ashes rose the tobacco plant.\n\n\nORIGIN OF PLUMAGE.\n\nIn the beginning the birds, having been created naked, remained hidden,\nbeing ashamed of their nakedness. But at last they assembled in a great\ncouncil and petitioned the gods to give them some kind of covering. They\nwere told that their coverings were all ready, but were a long way off,\nand they must either go or send for them. Accordingly, another council\nwas held to induce some bird to go in search of the plumage, but each\nhad some excuse for not going. At last a turkey-buzzard volunteered to\ngo and bring the feathery uniforms. It being a long journey to the place\nwhence he must bring them, he (who had been a clean bird heretofore) was\nobliged to eat carrion and filth of all kinds; hence his present nature.\nAt length, directed by the gods, he found the coverings, and selfishly\nappropriated to himself the most beautifully colored one, but finding he\ncould not fly in this, he continued trying them on until he selected\nhis present suit, in which, although it is the least beautiful of any,\nhe can so gracefully ride through the air. The good turkey-buzzard then\nreturned, bearing the feathery garments, from which each bird chose his\npresent colored suit.\n\n\nWHY THE CHIPMUNK HAS THE BLACK STRIPE ON HIS BACK.\n\nOnce upon a time the porcupine was appointed to be the leader of all the\nanimals. Soon after his appointment he called them all together and\npresented the question, \"Shall we have night all the time and darkness,\nor daylight with its sunshine?\" This was a very important question, and\na violent discussion arose, some wishing for daylight and the sun to\nrule, and others for continual night.\n\nThe chipmunk wished for night and day, weeks and months, and night to be\nseparate from the days, so he began singing, \"The light will come; we\nmust have light,\" which he continued to repeat. Meanwhile the bear began\nsinging, \"Night is best; we must have darkness.\"\n\nWhile the chipmunk was singing, the day began to dawn. Then the other\nparty saw that the chipmunk was prevailing, and were very angry; and\ntheir leader, the bear, pursued the chipmunk, who managed to escape\nuninjured, the huge paw of the bear simply grazing his back as he\nentered his hole in a hollow tree, leaving its black imprint, which the\nchipmunk has ever since retained. But night and day have ever continued\nto alternate.\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATIONS.\n\nIroquois tradition tells us that the sun and moon existed before the\ncreation of the earth, but the stars had all been mortals or favored\nanimals and birds.\n\nSeven little Indian boys were once accustomed to bring at eve their corn\nand beans to a little mound, upon the top of which, after their feast,\nthe sweetest of their singers would sit and sing for his mates who\ndanced around the mound. On one occasion they resolved on a more\nsumptuous feast, and each was to contribute towards a savory soup. But\nthe parents refused them the needed supplies, and they met for a\nfeastless dance. Their heads and hearts grew lighter as they flew around\nthe mound, until suddenly the whole company whirled off into the air.\nThe inconsolable parents called in vain for them to return, but it was\ntoo late. Higher and higher they arose, whirling around their singer,\nuntil, transformed into bright stars, they took their places in the\nfirmament, where, as the Pleiades, they are dancing still, the\nbrightness of the singer having been dimmed, however, on account of his\ndesire to return to earth.\n\nA party of hunters were once in pursuit of a bear, when they were\nattacked by a monster stone giant, and all but three destroyed. The\nthree together, with the bear, were carried by invisible spirits up into\nthe sky, where the bear can still be seen, pursued by the first hunter\nwith his bow, the second with the kettle, and the third, who, farther\nbehind, is gathering sticks. Only in fall do the arrows of the hunters\npierce the bear, when his dripping blood tinges the autumn foliage. Then\nfor a time he is invisible, but afterwards reappears.\n\nAn old man, despised and rejected by his people, took his bundle and\nstaff and went up into a high mountain, where he began singing the death\nchant. Those below, who were watching him, saw him slowly rise into the\nair, his chant ever growing fainter and fainter, until it finally ceased\nas he took his place in the heavens, where his stooping figure, staff,\nand bundle have ever since been visible, and are pointed out as\nN\u0103-g\u00ea-tci (the old man).\n\nAn old woman, gifted with the power of divination, was unhappy because\nshe could not also foretell when the world would come to an end. For\nthis she was transported to the moon, where to this day she is clearly\nto be seen weaving a forehead-strap. Once a month she stirs the boiling\nkettle of hominy before her, during which occupation the cat, ever by\nher side, unravels her net, and so she must continue until the end of\ntime, for never until then will her work be finished.\n\nAs the pole star was ever the Indian's guide, so the northern lights\nwere ever to him the indication of coming events. Were they white,\nfrosty weather would follow; if yellow, disease and pestilence; while\nred predicted war and bloodshed: and a mottled sky in the springtime was\never the harbinger of a good corn season.\n\n\nTHE POLE STAR.\n\nA large party of Indians, while moving in search of new hunting grounds,\nwandered on for many moons, finding but little game. At last they\narrived at the banks of a great river, entirely unknown to them, where\nthey had to stop, not having the material to build boats. Lost and\nnearly famished with hunger, the head chief was taken very ill, and it\nwas decided to hold a council to devise means for returning to their old\nhomes. During the dance, and while the tobacco was burning, a little\nbeing like a child came up, saying she was sent to be their guide.\nAccordingly they broke up their camp and started with her that night.\nPreceding them, with only a gi-w\u0103h, or small war-club, she led them\non until daylight and then commanded them to rest while she prepared\ntheir food. This they did, and when awakened by her they found a great\nfeast in readiness for them. Then she bade them farewell, with the\nassurance of returning to them again in the evening.\n\nTrue to her word, at evening she reappeared, bringing with her a skin\njug, from which she poured out some liquid into a horn cup, and bade\nthem each to taste of it. At first they feared to do so, but at last\nyielding they began to feel very strong. She then informed them that\nthey had a long journey to make that night. Again they followed her, and\nin the early morn arrived at a great plain, where she bade them rest\nagain for the day, with the exception of a few warriors who were to be\nshown where they could find plenty of game. Two of the warriors had\naccompanied her but a short distance when they encountered a herd of\ndeer, of which she bade them kill all they wished in her absence, and\nthen, again promising to return at night, she took leave of them. At\nnight-fall she returned, saying her own chief would soon follow her to\nexplain to them how they could reach their own homes in safety. In a\nshort time he arrived, with a great number of his race, and immediately\nall held council together and informed the Indians that they were now in\nthe territory of the pigmies, who would teach them a sign, already in\nthe sky, which would be to them a sure guide whenever they were lost;\nand the pigmies pointed out the pole star and told them that in the\nnorth, where the sun never goes, while other stars moved about, this\nparticular star should stand still, as the Indian's guide in his\nwanderings, and that they were then but to follow its light and they\nwould soon return to their tribe, where they would find plenty of game,\n&c.\n\nThen they thanked the good pigmies, and traveled every night until\nthey arrived safely in their homes, where, when they had recounted\nall their adventures, the head chief called a meeting of all the\ntribes and said they ought to give this star a name. So they called it\nti-yn-s\u00f5u-d\u0103-go-\u00earr (the star which never moves), by which name it is\ncalled unto this day.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTALES.\n\n\nDistinct from the myths, which relate to the gods, supernatural beings,\nand natural phenomena, are the tales, from which must be gleaned hints\nregarding the past hunter, warrior, and family life and history of the\nIroquois.\n\nIn time of peace, during the long winter evenings, among his group of\nfriends, the returned hunter narrated his achievements, or some famous\nstory-teller told of those days in the past when men and animals could\ntransform themselves at will and hold converse with one another. If\nmusical, the entertainer would relate ingenious fables, with songs\nintroduced, to give zest to the narration.\n\nAll these historical traditions, legends of war and hunting, fairy\ntales, and fables have been handed down through the ages, kindling the\nenthusiasm of the marvel-loving listener.\n\nThese story-tellers were gifted with such imaginative powers, and were\nso free from the trammels of adapting their tales to any standard of\npossibility, that no easy task lies before the careful student who seeks\nto detect in them the scaffolding of truth around which so elaborate a\nsuperstructure has been reared.\n\n\nBOY RESCUED BY A BEAR.\n\nFrom their close relations with wild animals Indians' stories of\ntransformations of men into beasts and beasts into men are numerous and\ninteresting. In nearly all of these, wherever the bear is introduced he\nfigures as a pattern of benevolence, while many other animals, such as\nthe porcupine, are always presented as noxious. One of these bear\nstories, as told me on the Cattaraugus Reservation by a grandson of\nCornplanter, was as follows: A party of hunters, who were encamped a\nlong distance from home, discovered, as they were preparing to return,\nthat a young boy of their company was missing. After searching vainly\nfor several days they concluded that he had been killed, and sadly\ndeparted without him. They were no sooner gone, however, than the lost\nchild, in an almost famishing condition, was discovered by a very\nkind-hearted bear, who reasoned thus: \"If I attempt to relieve the child\nin my present form, he will surely be frightened to death. I will\ntherefore transform myself into a woman and take the boy home with me to\nbecome a playmate for my little cubs.\" The boy was accordingly rescued\nfrom starvation, and, living in the same hollow tree with the bear\nfamily, fed with them upon nuts, corn, and berries. But when fall came,\nand with it the return of the hunters, the good bear explained her\ndevice to the boy, saying: \"My cubs must now take care of themselves,\nand you can rejoin your friends; but always feel kindly toward the bear\ntribe\"; upon which she resumed her proper shape and disappeared into the\nwoods. The boy never, even when grown, was known to kill a bear.\n\n\nINFANT NURSED BY BEARS.\n\nA man and his wife and child went off hunting from an Indian village and\nencamped a long way from home. At first, good luck attended the hunter,\nwho brought into camp plenty of deer and other game. At last, game\nbecame scarce, and day after day the hunter returned empty-handed and\nfamishing with hunger. Before leaving, the hunter resolved to try his\nluck once more. Soon after he had left the camp his wife, in searching\nfor roots, found a hole in a large tree in which was a black bear. This\nshe succeeded in killing, and after cutting it up and cooking some for\nherself and child she carefully secreted the remainder from her husband.\nBut the boy hid a piece for his father, who soon returned, very weary.\nThen the hunter was enraged at the conduct of his wife, whom he forced\nto eat of the meat until she died, with her little infant to which she\nhad given birth the same hour.\n\nThen the hunter buried his wife and threw the infant into the hollow\ntree. After this the hunter had better luck, and continued to live in\nthe same place with his little boy. In the course of time he found that\nhis little son must have had company, for little foot-prints were to be\nseen around his wigwam. So he left a second small bow and arrow, which,\nin time, he found had been used, and his son told him that a small boy\nhad been playing with him. The next day the father watched and saw a\nlittle boy leave the tree where he had placed what he supposed to be the\ndead child. Then he entered his home and said to the child, \"You are my\nchild\"; but the boy could not understand him, and was frightened and\nuneasy, and ran away to the tree, where the hunter discovered he had\nbeen nourished and cared for by a friendly bear. The hunter would not\nkill the kind benefactor, but took some of the soft bed of dried bark,\nto which the child had been accustomed, to his home, whereupon the child\nwas happy and contented to remain with his father and brother.\n\nIn time the two excelled in hunting and brought home owls and strange\nbirds. Finally, they told their father they were going to the far west\nto kill the great beasts which were harming the human race. The hunter,\nwho perceived that the children were becoming very strange, was afraid\nof them and consented. Then they bade him go back to his native home and\nget three of the bravest warriors to follow them to the west, where the\nwarriors would find the carcasses of the animals which they would kill.\nSo he went home and told his story, and the warriors started out and\nfinally found traces of the boys, and in time found the carcasses of the\nanimals almost reduced to bones. Two of the men died of the stench.\n\n\nTHE MAN AND HIS STEP-SON.\n\nThis tale was narrated by a granddaughter of Brant.\n\nA certain man had a step-son whom he hated. He devised all means of\ngetting rid of him. At last an idea struck him. He went out hunting very\noften, and one day he saw a porcupine's hole. \"The very thing,\" said he.\nWhen he came home he called his step-son. \"See here,\" said he, \"I have\nfound a porcupine's nest. I want you to creep into the hole and catch\nsome of the young ones. Come, crawl in.\" The boy obeyed, and as soon as\nhis heels were in, the step-father closed up the hole and made him a\nprisoner.\n\nWhen he had found himself betrayed he cried and cried till he cried\nhimself asleep. When he awakened he found that he was in a room. He saw\nan old woman walking around. She brought him something to eat, but it\nwas so bitter that he refused. Then she called many animals around her\nto a council--wolves, bears, foxes, and deer. She told them that there\nwas a boy there who could not eat the food that she lived on, and asked\nwhat they would advise to give which might support a human being? The\nfox said, \"I live on geese and fowls. I'll take him, but still he can't\neat raw food.\"\n\nThe council decided that it was useless for him to assume the charge.\n\nThen the deer and each animal in turn told what they lived upon, but\nnone could offer proper food for a lad.\n\nLast of all the bear spoke. \"I live,\" said he, \"on nuts, and he can live\nwith my young ones.\" So this was agreed to. All the animals promised to\nassist in getting the nuts, and the boy was given over to the keeping of\nthe bear. He kept him for several years. One day the bear said, \"A\nhunter is coming; he means to chop down the tree.\"\n\nTrue enough, next day a dog ran barking up, and the tree was cut down\nand the old bear and two cubs were killed.\n\nThe hunter thought there might be still another cub, so he looked into\nthe tree. The boy made a noise just like the cubs. The hunter caught\nhim, and was so astonished at his appearance that, instead of killing\nhim, he took him to his wigwam, tamed him, and taught him to speak and\nto grow up like a man. After some years he forgot he had lived like a\nbear. He married a daughter of the hunter, but his mother-in-law was\nalways angry because he never brought home tender bear-meat. So at last\nhe went hunting and killed a bear, but on his return home he fell on a\nsharp stick and was instantly killed.\n\n\nTHE BOY AND HIS GRANDMOTHER.\n\nAn old woman lived with her grandson in the wilderness. The boy amused\nhimself by shooting with his bow and arrows, and was very happy. His\ngrandmother cooked and cleaned. She talked much to him of the future and\nthe time when he should go out into the world. \"Never, my grandson,\" she\nwould say, \"never go west--go always to the east.\" And the boy wondered\nvery much at this, because, he said, all other boys went west, and they\nfound much game there. But he promised.\n\nHowever, one day he asked his grandmother so often why she always\nforbade him to go west, that she told him: \"Far away in the west,\" said\nshe, \"there lives one who waits to destroy us, and if he sees you he\nwill injure you and me. I warn you do not go that way.\" But the boy\nquestioned how and why, and thought to himself that on the first\nopportunity he would see for himself. So he struck out for the west,\nkeeping a sharp lookout for the man, because his grandmother had taught\nhim he should always bow first.\n\nAs he neared the lake he heard the man's voice, but, although he looked\nall around, he could see no one. The voice said: \"Ah! ah! my little\nfellow, I see you.\" Still he could see no one. \"What shall I do now?\"\nthought he. Then the voice said, \"What would you think if I sent a\nhurricane to tear your grandmother's cabin all up?\" The boy replied,\n\"Oh, I should like it. We have hard work to get wood. It would be a good\nthing.\" And the voice replied, \"You had better run home and see.\" So he\nwent home to his grandmother. As he neared his cabin he heard a great\nnoise, and his grandmother called to him, \"Come in, come in; we shall be\nblown away. You have disobeyed me; now we shall be destroyed. The\nhurricane is upon us.\" But the boy only laughed and said, \"We will throw\nthe house into a rock.\" And he turned it into a rock, and when the\nhurricane was over they were unharmed, and found plenty of wood to burn.\n\nThen said the boy, \"Grandmother, we are all right.\" But the old woman\nsaid, \"Do not venture any more; next time he will destroy us.\" But the\nlad thought he would try again. In the morning he started off east as\nlong as his grandmother could see him, then he turned to the west, and\nkept a sharp watch right and left as he neared the pond.\n\nThen, all at once, he heard the man's voice again. \"What,\" it asked,\n\"would you say if a great hailstorm came down upon your mother's cabin,\nwith spears as sharp as needles?\" \"Oh,\" replied, the youngster, \"I have\nalways wanted some spears; I would be glad of some.\" \"You had better go\nhome and see,\" said the voice. So home he sped, hearing the gathering of\na great storm.\n\nThe grandmother said, \"We are going to be destroyed with a hailstorm of\nspears.\" But he laughed aloud and said, \"I need spears for fishing; let\nthem come. We will turn the house into a rock again.\" And he did, and\nwhen the storm was ended he and his grandmother came out and the ground\nwas covered with spears. \"No matter,\" said he; \"I will get poles and fit\nthem on for fishing\"; but when he brought the pole he could not find any\nspears. \"How is this?\" he asked. And his grandmother said, \"They are\nmelted--they were ice.\"\n\nThe boy was very much disappointed and mourned aloud. \"What can I do to\npunish the old fellow?\" he cried. \"Heed my warning,\" said his\ngrandmother, \"and leave him alone.\"\n\nBut the lad was determined. He started off once more, taking with him a\nstone round his neck as a charm. He watched the direction in which he\nhad heard the voice, and all at once he saw in the middle of the lake a\ngreat head, with a face on every side of it. He cried out, \"Ha! ha!\nuncle, I have you now. How should you like it if the lake dried up?\"\n\"That it will never do,\" said the voice. \"Go home,\" mocked the lad, \"and\nsee!\" And he threw the stone which he had. As it whirled through the air\nit became very large and fell into the lake, when, at once, the water\nbegan to boil.\n\nThen the boy returned to his grandmother's cabin and told her all about\nit. She said, \"It has been tried again and again, but no one has ever\nseen him before or has been able to hunt him.\"\n\nNext morning he went over to the lake and found it all dried up and all\nthe animals dead, and only a large frog remained, into which the man had\nbeen turned. So the boy killed the frog, and no more trouble ever came\nto him or his grandmother.\n\n\nTHE DEAD HUNTER.\n\nA man and his wife went hunting, and after a hard day's march they came\nto an empty wigwam. So they entered and found in it a dead man, laid out\nwith his tomahawk and all his fine things. They found corn in plenty,\nand the squaw made bread, and then they all went to bed, the man on one\nside and the woman and her baby on the other. They placed some of the\nbread between them, and in the middle of the night they heard a noise,\nand the dead man was sitting up and eating. The hunter sprang up. \"We\nare all dead folks,\" cried he, \"if we remain here\"; so he made a\npretense, and whispered to the squaw, \"You must go for water. I will\nmind the child.\" As soon as she was gone, he pinched the baby till it\ncried. \"Oh,\" said he, \"I must follow the mother or the child will die;\nshe is too long fetching the water.\" He hastened and soon caught up with\nthe woman, but behind him came the dead man, holding a lighted torch. To\nsave themselves they put the child down on the ground, and the hunter\nseized his wife's hand and hurried her on faster and faster, but the\nsound of steps behind them was plainer and plainer. So the man let his\nwife go, and fled on by himself as hard as he could. Soon he came to a\nhollow log, into which he crept. The steps came nearer and nearer,\nuntil at last he felt the strokes of the dead man's hatchet, and heard\nthe dead man's voice saying, \"Ah! you are here. I have caught you.\" Then\nthe dead man took a pole and tried to poke the hunter out of the hollow,\nbut he could not. At last his hatchet broke, and then the hunter heard\nhim say, \"I must go; my night is coming on.\" So, after a while, the\nhunter crept out of the hollow log and went after his wife and child,\nand returned to the settlement and told all about it; and the chief sent\nand burnt up the dead man's wigwam until it was nothing but ashes.\n\n\nA HUNTER'S ADVENTURES.\n\nThis was told by Mr. Snow, Seneca Reservation:\n\nA hunter far from home had expended all of his arrows, when he arrived\nat a lake. He saw a great number of wild geese. Having been\nunsuccessful, he now reflected upon the best means of capturing some of\nthese geese, and he finally concluded to pursue the following plan: He\nprocured a quantity of second-growth bass-wood bark, which he tore into\nwithes. These he fastened to his belt, then, swimming out into the lake,\nhe dove down under the floating flock and succeeded in tying a few of\nthe geese to his belt, whereupon the struggling geese, with their\ncompanions, flew up into the air, carrying the hunter with them. While\nunfastening a few of the tied ones, so that he might be let down to the\nground in a gradual manner, the whole of the captured ones broke away,\nand the poor hunter fell into a tall and hollow stump, from which he\nfound it impossible to free himself.\n\nHe remained in this miserable prison nearly two days, when he with joy\nheard a thumping sound upon the outside of the stump, and also the\nvoices of women choppers, who were cutting down the stump for wood, but\nthe cries of the man on the inside of the stump frightened the women so\nmuch that they went away in search of aid to secure the game which they\nsupposed they had found in the stump.\n\nThe hunter was finally delivered safely from his perilous situation, and\nhe remained with his kind rescuers until he had again provided himself\nwith a large stock of arrows, when he started anew for a hunt farther to\nthe south. Having arrived at his destination, he built a lodge and had\nexcellent luck in killing large numbers of deer, bears, and other game,\nthe oil of which he carefully preserved in leathern bottles. When he\nconcluded to return to his home and friends he remembered his experience\nin flying, so he prepared wings for himself, which wings he made from\nthinly-dressed deer-skin. Taking his bottles of oil for ballast, he\nstarted homeward, but as he passed over the lodges of the good women who\nhad rescued him, he threw down several bottles to these his good\nfriends, who to this day do not know from whence they came. After this\nthe flying hunter flew swiftly and safely to his home. His return to his\nclan was announced by runners, and all assembled to listen to the\nhunter's narration of his exploits and adventures.\n\n\nTHE OLD MAN'S LESSONS TO HIS NEPHEW.\n\nA man and his nephew lived together in a solitary place. The old man one\nday said to his nephew, \"You are now a young man. You should be hunting\nlarger game--a bear or a deer--for our support.\" And he replied, \"I will\ngo.\" Then the old man gave him the best bow and arrows, and in the\nmorning he departed. When he returned home he brought that which he had\nkilled--a deer--and thought himself lucky for a first attempt. \"I should\nlike,\" he said to his uncle, \"to go every day.\" Then the old man said,\n\"Now and again you may see a bear go up a tree; if you see a hole in the\ntree and the marks of the bear's claws you can be sure of the bear.\"\n\nSo one day as the young man was out he saw a hole in a tree, and he saw\nthe claw marks of the bear, showing that he had gone up, so he returned\nand told his uncle, and in the morning they started together. The old\nman said, \"I believe there is a bear inside now. Our plan is to knock\naround the outside of the tree and make the bear uneasy; presently he\nwill come out.\" So they knocked, and the first thing they knew the bear\nwas sticking his head out of the hole. \"Now,\" said the uncle, \"I will\ntell you when to shoot. If you will shoot just where there is no hair,\nyou will surely kill him.\" The young man saw that the paws were without\nhair and he hit the bear on the fore-paw. \"Shoot again,\" said the uncle.\nSo he shot the other paw. Then the old man pointed and said, \"Shoot\nhere.\" And the nephew aimed and shot the point of his uncle's finger.\nThen the old man's hand hurt him, so to direct his nephew he pursed out\nhis lips and pointed with them, and the young man shot through his lips.\nThen the bear came down and made his way off, while the uncle was\nexplaining that his meaning had been to shoot under the fore legs. The\nyoung man asked, \"Why did you not say so?\" Then they started home for\nthat day without game. \"To-morrow morning,\" said the uncle, \"watch, for\nif you will look between the roots of the large trees you may find a\nbear in that way.\"\n\nAccordingly, the next day-the young man found a hole near the root of\nthe tree and saw a large bear inside. So he went home and asked his\nuncle for instructions how to get at the bear. The old man began to\nexplain, but, unfortunately, in a way that he could not understand. He\nwent into the corn field, gathered the corn-stalks and stuck them around\nthe entrance to the hole, so that he surrounded the place where the bear\nmust come out. Then he knocked on the other side of the tree, and the\nbear came out, as, of course, there was no reason why he should not, for\nthe stalks fell before him. The young man took his arms and went home.\nThen the uncle asked what he had done, and he told. \"You did not\nunderstand,\" said the old man. \"You should have shot him as he left the\nden; first on one side then on the other.\" \"After this,\" expostulated\nthe young man, \"make your explanations clearer and do not give so many\nillustrations. Had you told me this at first all would have been right.\"\n\nOne day the old man said, \"I'm going to make a feast. You can invite the\nguests. I cut sticks to represent so many friends. You invite them. Go\nto the highest tree you can find and leave this stick there. Then go\nalong till you find a place all swamp--bad place, and leave one stick\nthere,\" &c.\n\nSo the nephew went around and used up the sticks and returned. \"Have you\ndone as I said?\" asked the old man. \"Yes,\" said he. Yet when the day\ncame and the feast was ready, nobody came. \"Why,\" asked the uncle, \"has\nnobody come?\" \"How,\" inquired the young man, \"could the tall tree and\nthe swamp come here?\" So they ate together, and then the young fellow\nwent off in the world to learn his lessons by experience, for he had\nbecome tired of his uncle's parables.\n\n\nTHE HUNTER AND HIS FAITHLESS WIFE\n\nOnce on a time there was a man whose name was \"Hemlock Bows.\" He used to\ngo hunting every day and always had good luck. He would kill so many\ndeer that he could not carry them all home. One day he killed thirty\ndeer. He was determined to carry them all home, so he took them and\nshook them, and shook, and shook, till they were as small as squirrels,\nand he carried them all home, and when he got there he shook, and shook,\nand shook, till they were good-sized deer again. Sometimes when he\nkilled so many he would sit up all night to fix the skins on his wigwam\nso he could make clothes for himself and his children. One day a boy was\nborn unto him; the father was very fond of him and he planted a few\nhills of corn and beans, but they lived mostly on meat. After the child\nwas born the mother slept alone with it on the other side of the\nfire-place.\n\nAfter three years more a little girl was born. After the birth of her\nsecond child the wife seemed to care no more for her husband. He was a\ngreat worker. He had a large boxful of skins all dressed for his\nchildren.\n\nWhen the father went hunting the mother would call the boy and make him\ngo and bring her some water, and she would wash and dress up very fine\nand take a long strap and an ax and leave the children alone all day\nuntil almost time for the father to come home. Then she would hurry home\nto cook for the man.\n\nOne night the little boy told his father all about his mother going away\nevery day. He felt very badly when he heard it, and at once resolved to\nfollow her the next day and find where she went. The next morning early\nhe left the cabin and went off. The woman soon sent the boy for some\nwater, and, after she had dressed, started with her ax and the long\nstrap which was used in drawing wood. She passed her husband on her way\nbut did not see him, but he tracked her very closely. Soon she came to a\nlarge black-ash tree, which was hollow, and upon which she pounded with\nher ax. A very nice-looking man came out of the tree to meet her. He\nwore a turban filled with bright feathers. He went up to her and kissed\nher, and seemed very much delighted to see her. Her husband was watching\nthem all the time, and when the man kissed her he drew his bow and arrow\nand shot at the man, and the arrow went between him and the woman. She\nwas very angry, and took a club and beat her husband till he could not\nsee. Then she went home, put the boy and girl out in the cold and snow,\nand then set fire to the cabin and burned it down and went off.\n\nSoon the father came and found the children. He felt very badly when he\nsaw them, but he told the boy he must mind the dog, for he must go after\ntheir mother. The dog fixed the boy and girl in a house in the snow, and\nthe next day they started on a long walk. While the boy was traveling\nalong with his little sister on his back she saw a flock of large white\nturkeys, and she wanted one. The boy put her down and ran in the bushes\nto find one for the little girl, but while he was after it a bear came\nand carried off the little girl, and the dog followed after the bear.\nThe boy felt very bad. He cried and cried, and wished that he might die.\nHe tried to hang himself, but the strap broke. Then he jumped down a\nsteep place onto a lot of stones, but still he was unhurt. He traveled\non and soon came to a lake. He plunged into the water, but it was very\nshallow. He walked a little way, when he saw a great fish coming towards\nhim with its great mouth wide open. Now, not far from this lake lived a\nwoman and her daughter. They had fences of osier fixed in the lake to\ncatch fish. In the morning the girl went out to see if there were any\nfish caught, and she saw a very large one. They killed and dressed it,\nand when they cut it up there they found the boy alive. They were very\nglad to find the boy, and soon he told them all about himself and\nfamily.\n\nSome time after this they heard that the boy's mother was going to be\nmarried to another man. The woman told the boy she thought he had better\ngo and kill the man and his mother. So they fixed him up and he went and\nfound them. There was a number of cabins and between two of them was a\nlong stick put up, and on it was an eagle, and the one that shot the\neagle was to marry the woman. She was very nicely dressed and sat on a\nraised platform. He saw his father near her, looking very sick and sad.\nThe boy went around among the wigwams, and in one he found his sister\nhanging to a crane in a chimney and near her the dog. He got his father,\nsister, and dog away, and then went back and set fire to the cabin his\nmother was in. It burned so fast that she could not get out and she\ndied. When her head cracked open it shook the ground, and out of the\nashes of his mother there rose up a screech owl. His father got well,\nand they all went to live with the woman and her daughter. The old man\nmarried the woman, and the boy the daughter, and so they were happy at\nlast.\n\n\nTHE CHARMED SUIT.\n\nAn old man brought up his son very quietly in a solitary place. As he\ngrew up, his father sent him daily into the woods and told him to listen\nand come home and tell what he had heard. So the boy sat on a log and\nwaited to hear what might come. He heard a sound at last, \"Ch-R-Ch,\" so\nhe ran to tell the old man and then thought he would wait till he heard\nit again. The Ch-R-Ch was repeated, and he ran to his home and cried\nout, \"I have heard it! I have heard it!\" \"Wait! wait!\" said the old man,\n\"till I get my pipe,\" and when he had lifted it he said, \"Now, what did\nyou hear?\" \"Oh,\" replied the lad, \"I heard Ch-R-Ch; twice it was\nrepeated.\" \"That,\" said the father, \"is not what I wanted you to hear;\nthat was only a snow-bird.\"\n\nSo the boy went, morning after morning, and heard various sounds from\nsnow-birds, wolves, owls, &c., but still never what the old man\nexpected. One day whilst he was listening he heard quite a new sound and\nas the sun began to rise, it was like a voice singing. \"That is\nstrange,\" said he, \"I never heard that before.\" The song was like this:\n\n    H\u0103-h\u00fbm-weh\n    H\u0103-h\u00fbm-weh\n    W\u0103-he-d\u016dm-n\u00e4\n      Sr\u00fb-gu\u0103 he.\n    H\u0103 h\u00fbm weh\n    H\u0103 h\u00fbm weh.\n\nWhich means:\n\n    I belong to the wolf clan.\n    I belong to the wolf clan.\n    I am going to marry him,\n    I am going to marry him.\n\nIt was a sweet woman's voice. So the boy listened and said to himself,\n\"Surely this is the song.\" So he shouted for glee, and ran and fell near\nthe door, he was so excited. \"Now,\" he cried, \"I bring the news\"; but\nthe father said, \"Wait! wait! till I get my pipe.\" \"Now,\" said he, as he\nsmoked, \"tell me.\" So the boy began. \"As I listened,\" said he, \"I heard\na voice from the west, a woman's voice, so I turned and listened to it\nsinging\":\n\n    H\u0103-h\u00fbm-weh\n    W\u0103-he-d\u00fbm-n\u00e4\n    Sr\u00fb-gu\u0103-hi.\n\n\"Ah!\" said the father, \"that was what I was waiting for. The chief of a\ndistant village sends his two daughters to see us. Run half way back and\nsee if you can hear them again.\" So he went and heard again the same\nsong.\n\n    H\u0103-h\u00fbm-weh, &c.\n\nHe returned at once and told his uncle. \"Now,\" said the old man, \"they\nare almost here. Sit down by the ashes.\" And he took the shovel and\nthrew ashes all over the boy's bed and put on him his best feathers and\nastonished the boy very much by saying, \"Do not look at the maidens when\nthey come in; they come to see me, not you; hold your head down while\nthey stay.\"\n\nThen they heard the song:\n\n    H\u0103-h\u00fbm-weh.\n    H\u0103-h\u00fbm-weh.\n    Sr\u00fb-gu\u0103-he.\n\nThe feathers were all on his head; still the old man repeated, \"Now,\nkeep still.\"\n\nSoon the maidens arrived and the old man opened the door. The younger of\nthe two carried a beautiful basket on her back; this she set down near\nthe old man. The boy looked around a little, and his father called out,\n\"Dirty boy; hold your head down.\" The visitors looked around and\nthought, \"What a place! what a place!\" \"Sit down, sit down,\" said the\nold man to the visitors, but although they removed the blankets they\nstood still. So he smoked on quietly.\n\nWhen they saw how dirty it was where the boy sat they began to go around\nand clear up, and as the evening passed the lad did not know what to do\nwith himself. They fixed themselves a clean bed on the other side of the\nwigwam. They refused to sit by the old man, and when at last the boy\nwent to sleep they lifted him out of his dirty bed, strewn with ashes,\nand put him into their clean bed.\n\nIn the morning the younger one admired him and said, \"What a beautiful\nyoung man!\" Then they said, \"We had better cook something.\" So they\ncooked corn and rice, and the boy ate with them, and the old father\nsmoked. After a while he said, \"Good woman; can clean up, can cook, can\nmake good wife.\" Then he let the boy look up. The younger visitor sang\nagain:\n\n    H\u0103-h\u00fbm-weh.\n    H\u0103-h\u00fbm-weh.\n\nSo the old man smoked his pipe and the sisters went back to their\npeople. Then the two lived quietly together, but the young man often\nthought of the beautiful maidens.\n\nOne day as they were conversing the old man said, \"Now you have become a\nyoung man you must go.\" \"Which way,\" asked he, and the uncle replied,\n\"You must go where those young maidens are who are chief's daughters.\nYou must have fine bows and arrows; here they are--try them before you\ngo. They give luck in hunting.\" Then he looked where he kept all the\nfine things for the young warriors and dressed him up well with a swan\nstuffed. \"Now,\" said he, \"when you take this outside it will be on your\nhead, but it will soon come back to life, and when that happens you must\nrun in a circle and return, and you will see that many deer and bears\nwill follow your track.\" So off he went. When he returned he said that\nso many bears and so many deer came out every time as he crossed the\ntrack and he shot them, and took the best out and sent them home to show\nthem to the old man. And all the time the swan was alive and beautiful.\n\nThe old man exclaimed at his luck as he told his tale. \"You have done\nwell,\" said his uncle. \"We must save all the meat. Now, hold yourself\nready to go to-morrow. I warn you there are dangers in your path. There\nis a stream that you must cross. There stands a man and he will try to\nkill you. He will call out to you that he has a couple of wild cats and\nwill say, 'My friend, come, help me kill these.' Pay no attention; go\nright on along, or you will be in danger and never get to the town.\" The\nnephew promised to obey, and his uncle brought out a curious thing, made\nof colored string and elk hair of deep red, about a foot long. \"I shall\nkeep this by me,\" said he, \"and so long as you are doing well it will\nhang as it is; but if you are in danger it will come down itself almost\nto the ground, and if it does reach the ground you will die.\" \"I will be\ncareful,\" said the young man, and so he started with his directions,\nfollowing his uncle's advice. He had almost reached his destination when\nhe heard a noise, and there in his path stood a man while he watched two\nanimals going up a tree, and he tried in vain to make them come down. As\nthe young man approached him he said, \"Please help me, if you can; but\nkill one of these animals; it will be a good thing. Do help me.\" So he\nbegged, and the young man thought it could do no harm, so he took out\nhis arrow and said, \"Don't be in a hurry.\" Then the old man handed him\nthe arrows and asked him, \"Where are you going?\" and he told him; and\nthe stranger said, \"Stop all night with me; that is a long way you are\ngoing; go on to-morrow.\"\n\nNow the uncle at home was watching the signal. He saw it go down almost\nto the ground, and he cried out in his alarm, \"Oh! oh! my nephew is in\ndanger, he will get into trouble with that old man.\" But the young man\nlistened to the persuasions of the tempter and agreed to remain with him\nall night, and the old man made up a fire and began to tell stories as\nthey sat beside it till the youth fell asleep. Before they sat down he\nhad gathered together some sharp prickly bark, pretending it gave a good\nlight, and as the young man slept he said to himself, \"Now, I can fix\nhim.\" So he took some of the sharp-pointed bark and placed it on him; so\nhe writhed in agony. Then he took off the young man's handsome clothes\nand dressed him up instead in his own old rags, dirty and rotten. \"I\nshall keep these things,\" said he; \"they are mine,\" and forthwith he\nstarted off to the chief's house where the beautiful women were, and he\nhad the young man's pipe and his spotted deer skin, and the handsome bag\nmade out of it, with little birds to light the pipe. When he reached\nthe chief's cabin he went in and the younger sister was there. She was\nso disappointed when she saw him, she said, \"This cannot be the young\nman.\" But her elder sister said: \"Yes, it is he. He has the fine clothes\nand the deer skin, and the deer-skin bag, and the little birds to light\nhis pipe.\" But still the younger sister was disappointed, and then the\npeople heard that the young man they expected had come from the east and\nmany came to see him and watched all his movements. At length he got his\npipe, which, when it was filled, the two little birds were expected to\nlight, but they would not for a stranger, so he said it was because\nthere were people all around, and he must be alone. The older sister\nbelieved him. Then he told her, too: \"When I spit it makes wampum, so\nspread out a deer skin and save my spittle.\" So he spat many times and\nshe did as he said and saved it up, but it never became wampum, although\nhe did it every night. Each day he went hunting, but he killed only\nthings not good to eat, and made the older sister, who became his wife,\ncook them. The younger one, however, would never go near him. Even when\nhe commanded the little spotted deer-skin bag to stand up she observed\nthat it did not obey him.\n\nOne day she went out to the fields to husk corn, and as she finished her\ntask she observed a man near a fire in the field. She drew near. He was\nfast asleep. She gazed at his face and recognized the beautiful young\nman, but how greatly changed! She stood for a while looking at him till\nhe awakened. \"Who are you?\" she asked; \"whence do you come? where are\nyou going?\" \"I come,\" said he, \"from the far east; I came only last\nevening.\" And he related his story, and told how nicely he had been\nstarted by his uncle, until she was quite satisfied of the truth of his\nstory. She did not tell him she was the daughter of the chief whom he\nsought, but she went home and fetched food for him. She laid meat and\ndrink before him, and while he ate she returned to her task of husking\ncorn. Then she went home. The old fellow meanwhile had asked often,\n\"Where is the young sister? Why does she never come to see me, or sit\nnear whilst I smoke my pipe? May be she has found for herself a sickly\nman out in the field.\"\n\nAt last the younger sister told the young man who she was, and that the\nold man that had robbed him was in the chief's cabin and had all his\nfine things; and the young man felt better, and said, \"I want my things\nback. I will make a dream. Go and tell the chief, your father, that I\nhave dreamed a dream and all the people must come to hear it, and I will\ntell how all the things the old man has are mine, and then the birds\nwill obey, and all the things will come alive again.\"\n\nThen the old chief listened to the entreaties of his youngest daughter,\nand called a great council and the young man told his story in the form\nof a dream, and when he spoke of the birds they came and filled his\npipe, and the swan skin when placed upon his head also came to life, and\nhis spittle became wampum. So the chief knew he was the rightful owner\nof the clothes and they were returned to him, and the impostor was\nobliged to resume his old rags. The young man was then married to the\nfaithful maiden, and returned to his home in safety, where he became in\ntime a noted chief.\n\n\nTHE BOY AND THE CORN.\n\nAn old man brought up his nephew in a solitary place. One day as they\nwalked through the field the uncle picked an ear of corn, but he did not\neat it. \"Strange,\" thought the boy, \"that I never see him eating\nanything;\" and he watched him when the old man thought he was asleep. He\nsaw him go to a hole and take out a kettle and a few grains of corn,\nwhich he put into it. Then he took a magic wand and tapped the kettle\ntill it grew big; then he ate some corn and again tapped the kettle till\nit became small once more.\n\nIn the morning when the uncle left home the boy got at the hole and did\nas he had seen him do, but as he tapped the kettle it grew so large that\nhe could not stop it, and it went on growing until his uncle came home,\nwho was very angry. \"You do not know what harm you have been doing,\"\nsaid he; \"we can get no more corn; it grows in a place that is so\ndangerous that few who go there come back alive.\" \"We have plenty in the\nhouse,\" said the boy. \"And when it is gone, what then?\" But the boy\npersisted that he knew where the corn grew, and could easily fetch some.\n\"So, uncle,\" he added, \"tell me how to proceed,\" \"I shall never see you\nagain,\" moaned the uncle. \"Oh, yes, you will,\" said the boy, and he\nstarted. Now, the uncle had warned him that he would come to a lake\nwhere the woman witches lived, and that he never could escape them. But\nhe made himself a canoe and picked some peculiar nuts and launched\nhimself upon the water. Then he threw the nuts before him to feed the\nfowls who guarded the shore, that they might not betray his coming. He\nlanded on the other side safely and filled his pockets with corn, and\nwas hastening to put off in his boat, but before he did so was curious\nto know what was in a lodge on the shore. So he peeped in and stole a\nbear's leg which he saw.\n\nNow, all his nuts were gone; so when he passed the birds they were\nalarmed and set up their call and out came the witches with their hooks\nand cords. But he launched his canoe, and when a hook reached him he\nbroke it off, and reached the opposite shore in safety. There he saw a\nnumber of ducks, and he stripped a tree of its bark and caught them and\nstarted home. As he neared his home he heard his uncle singing a\ndirge--\"My poor nephew, I shall never see him again.\" The animals had\nbeen telling the old man sad tales of his death, so when the boy knocked\nat the door he did not believe that it was his nephew. But the boy heard\nthe Hi-Wadi, and he knew his uncle. So he said, \"Uncle, I am coming, I\nam coming; stop your mourning.\" His uncle thought it was an animal on\nthe outside, and he called out, \"Put your hand through the hole.\" So the\nnephew put his hand through and caught hold of the rope and pulled it\nout and tied it to a post, and then opened the door. And when the old\nman saw his nephew he called out, \"So you have got home safe; where have\nyou been?\" and he made many inquiries. And the young man explained\neverything to him, and told how, at last, he had returned safely to his\nhome with plenty of corn.\n\n\nTHE LAD AND THE CHESTNUTS.\n\nThis is another version of the foregoing tale:\n\nA man lived with his younger brother alone in the deep wilderness. Game\nwas plentiful--very plentiful. The elder brother hunted it; the younger\nstaid home to gather sticks and build the fire against the hunter's\nreturn. When he came, bringing deer, the younger one said, \"I will cook\nthe venison; give it to me to prepare for supper.\" The elder one\nreplied, \"I will smoke before I eat.\" When he had smoked he went to lie\ndown. \"I should think,\" said the younger, \"you would want to eat now.\"\nBut no, he slept instead of tasting the food, and when he awakened he\nbade his brother go to bed, and leave him to help himself.\n\nThe lad wondered, but he obeyed. Still he found the same thing happened\nevery day. In the mornings the elder brother left without eating; in the\nevenings he bade the boy leave him alone. This awakened the curiosity of\nthe younger. \"I will watch,\" said he; and he watched. \"He must eat\nsomething,\" he added to himself, \"or he would die. He must eat at\nnight.\" So he pretended to take no notice. At bedtime he lay down and\nmade believe to sleep, but he kept one eye open, although he seemed to\nbe sound asleep.\n\nAfter a while the elder brother rose and opened a trap-door, and, when\nbelow the ground, he began to make strange motions, and presently drew\nout a kettle and commenced scraping it on the bottom. Then he poured\nwater onto it, and at last he took a whip and struck the kettle, saying,\nas he placed it over the burning wood, \"Now, my kettle will grow\nlarger\"; and as he struck it, it became bigger with every blow; and at\nlength it was very large, and he set it to cool, and began greedily to\neat the contents. \"Ah,\" thought the younger brother, as he watched,\n\"now, to-morrow, I will find out what he eats;\" and he went to sleep\ncontent.\n\nAt daylight the elder set off to hunt. Now was the opportunity.\nCautiously the boy lifted the trap-door, and there he at once saw the\nkettle. In it lay half a chestnut. \"Now I know,\" said he, \"what my\nbrother eats;\" and he thought to himself, \"I will fix it all ready for\nhim before he comes back.\" As night drew on he took the kettle and\nscraped up the chestnut, put in some water, and found the stick. He at\nonce commenced whipping the kettle as he had seen his brother do,\nsaying, \"Now my kettle will grow large;\" and it did; but it kept on\ngrowing larger and larger, to his surprise, until it filled the whole\nroom, and he had to go up on the roof to stir it from the outside.\n\nWhen the elder brother returned he said, \"What are you doing?\" \"I found\nthe kettle,\" replied the younger, \"and was getting your supper.\" \"Woe is\nme,\" said the elder, \"now I must die.\" He struck and struck the kettle,\nand reduced it by every blow, until at last he could restore it to its\nplace. But he was sorrowful. When morning came he would not get up, nor\neat of the venison, but asked for his pipe and smoked.\n\nDay by day passed. He grew weaker each day, and after each smoke sang,\n\"Hah geh-he geh, Non ta ge je \u00f5 dah!\" \"Bring me my pipe and let me die.\"\n\nThe younger lad was very anxious. \"Where,\" he asked his brother, \"did\nyou get the chestnuts? Let me go and seek some for you.\" After many\nquestions at length the brother said, \"Far, far away is a large river,\nwhich it is almost impossible to cross. On the further side, at a great\ndistance, stands a house; near it is a tree, a chestnut tree; there my\nforefathers gathered chestnuts long ago, but now none can reach it, for\nthere stands night and day a white heron watching the tree and looking\naround on every side. He is set there by the women folks; half a dozen\nof them take care of him, and for them he watches. If he hears a sound\nhe makes his Thr-hr-hr. Then the women come out with war-clubs and are\nalways on their guard lest any one should gather the chestnuts, as many\nfall on the ground. Even a mouse is suspected of being a man. There is\nno chance, no chance at all.\" But the brother said, \"I must go and try\nthis for your sake; I cannot have you die.\"\n\nSo he departed on his way, after he had made a little canoe about three\ninches long. He walked on and on, day and night, until at last he\nreached the river. Then he took out of his pouch his little canoe, and\ndrew it out and out until it was a good size, and in it he crossed the\nriver. Then he made it small again and put it in his pouch. On and on he\nwalked until he could see the house, and before it the chestnut tree.\nThen he called a mole out of the ground. The mole came and sniffed\naround a little plant, the seed of which the heron dearly likes. It is\nlike a bean. Some of these seeds the young lad took and then followed\nthe mole to its hole, and crept under the leaves until he neared the\nheron. Then he threw the seeds to the bird. The heron saw them and began\neating them. Whilst he was occupied and noticed nothing else, the boy\nfilled his bag with chestnuts and set off homewards; but now the heron,\nno longer occupied with his oh \u00f4\u00f1 hi, suspected danger and gave his\nwarning Thr-hr-hr. But the lad was already far away near the great\nriver. Once more he took out his canoe, and was on the water when the\nwomen rushed out. They threw a long fish line and caught his canoe to\npull him in, but he cut it and got loose. Again the second threw a line\nand caught him, but again he cut loose, and so on till they had no lines\nleft. So he reached home at length, fearful lest he should find that his\nbrother had died during his absence, but he found him still barely\nalive, and shouted, \"Now, brother, I'm home with the chestnuts, will you\nhave your pipe?\" And he began cooking just as his brother liked them,\nand he narrated all his exploits, and the brother said, \"You have done\nme a great favor, now I shall be well, and we will be happy.\"\n\n\nTHE GUILTY HUNTERS.\n\nThere was a certain tribe whose main occupation was to hunt and to fish.\nIn one of its hunting excursions two families of different clans of this\ntribe happened to pitch their respective camps quite near to each other.\nOne of these families, in which there was an infant, had very fine luck\nand the other poor luck. While the father of the child was out hunting,\nthe mother went to a neighboring stream to get some water, but before\nshe dipped her vessel she looked into the water and saw, peering up\nthrough the sparkling stream, a very handsome young man with painted\ncheeks. When her husband returned she told him what she had seen, and,\nafter a consultation, they came to the conclusion that something strange\nwas about to happen, for what the woman had seen was but the reflection\nof some one hidden in the branches overhanging the stream. They rightly\njudged that this was an evil omen, and naturally knew that something\nmust be done to avert the impending misfortune, for the woman said that\nshe recognized the face as that of a man from the adjoining camp.\n\nWhen night came the husband said to his wife, \"You and the child must be\nsaved. Go; I shall meet misfortune alone.\" She then started with the\nchild through the forest, and went on until she came to a hollow log,\ninto which she crept, and then she heard a great noise in the camp, and\na voice saying, \"You have bitten me.\" Soon she saw the light of torches\nborne by people searching for her and the child; nearer and nearer they\ncame, until they reached the log (her hiding-place), into which they\npushed their sticks, but the woman remained quiet, and heard them say,\n\"She must be somewhere near here; any way, she cannot live long.\" She\nwaited until they had left and all was quiet before she emerged from her\nrefuge, and then traveled on as fast as she could until morning, when\nshe came upon a trail, to which, instead of following it, she took a\nparallel course, and did not see any signs of life until she came to an\nopening, which appeared like a camping-ground. In the center of this\nclearing stood a large hemlock tree, into which she climbed, and made\nherself and child as comfortable as she could.\n\nSoon after ascending the tree she heard approaching voices, one of which\nsaid, \"We might as well stay here as to go further.\" They were hunters,\nheavily laden with skins, meat, &c. During the night one of them said,\n\"My thumb is painful; what shall I say bit me?\" The woman heard the\nanswer: \"Say a beaver bit you.\"\n\nIn the early dawn the men departed and the woman began to make her way\ndown the tree, but she saw one of the party returning, so she remained\nuntil he, finding his bow, again started homeward. When all were out of\nsight she brought her child down, and, taking again the course parallel\nto the trail, she hurried onward during the day and reached home just at\ntwilight. When once home she related what had happened to herself,\nchild, and husband, to her many friends who secreted her, and made\npreparations to have the matter investigated. The head chief was\ninformed, and he sent out \"runners\" to all the members of the tribe to\ncall them to a general council.\n\nWhen the time for all to assemble had come, none but the hunters were\nabsent, and they came after repeated and persistent requests to be\npresent. When they did come the head chief said, \"We have come to\ncongratulate you in that you have prospered and been preserved from\nharm. Now, relate to us all the things that have happened to you and\ntell why you have returned without the other party.\" The hunters refused\nto tell anything about their affairs and pretended to know nothing about\nthe other party.\n\nThe head chief, after severely cross-examining them, ordered that the\nwoman be brought forth to tell her story. When she had finished her\nnarrative of facts, as stated above, she told that one of them had his\nthumb bitten, explaining that he was bitten by her husband in defending\nhimself against these robbers, who took from her murdered husband the\nskins and the meats which they had brought home. Hereupon the head chief\ngravely said to the waiting and impatient warriors, \"Go, do your duty;\"\nand they, with their war-clubs and tomahawks, soon put to death the\nwicked hunters.\n\n\nMRS. LOGAN'S STORY.\n\nAn old man and his little nephew once lived in a dark woods. One day the\nman went hunting, and just before leaving told the boy he must not go\neastward. But the boy became tired of playing in one place, and was one\nday tempted to go in the forbidden direction until he came to a large\nlake, where he stopped to play. While thus engaged a man came up to him\nand said, \"Well, boy, where do you come from?\" The boy told him that he\ncame from the woods. Then the man said, \"Let us play together at\nshooting arrows.\" So they shot off their arrows up into the air, and the\nboy's arrow went much the higher. Then the man said, \"Let us see which\ncan swim the farthest without breathing,\" and again the boy beat the\nman. Then the latter said, \"Let us go to the island, where you will see\nmany pretty birds.\" So they entered the canoe. Now, on either side of\nthe canoe were three swans which propelled it. As soon as they were\nseated in the canoe the man began singing, and very soon they arrived at\nthe island, around which they traveled for some time, and then the man\ntook off all the boy's clothes, and, jumping into his canoe, said,\n\"Come, swans, let us go home,\" and he began to sing. When the boy\nperceived that he was deserted he went up the bank and sat down and\ncried, for he was naked and cold.\n\nIt began to grow dark very fast, and he was greatly frightened when he\nheard a voice say, \"Hist! keep still,\" and, looking around, he saw a\nskeleton on the ground near him, which beckoned him and said, \"Poor boy,\nit was the same thing with me, but I will help you if you will do\nsomething for me.\" The boy readily consented. Then the skeleton told him\nto go to a tree near by, and dig on the west side of it, and he would\nfind a tobacco-pouch full of tobacco, a pipe, and a flint; and the boy\nfound them and brought them to the skeleton. It then said, \"Fill the\npipe and light it;\" and he did so. \"Put it in my mouth,\" said the\nskeleton; and he did so. Then, as the skeleton smoked, the boy saw that\nits body was full of mice, which went away because of the smoke. Then\nthe skeleton felt better, and told the boy that a man with three dogs\nwas coming to the island that night to kill him, and in order to escape\nhe must run all over the island and jump into the water and out again\nmany times, so that the man would lose the trail. Then, after tracking\nthe island all over, he must get into a hollow tree near by, and stay\nall night. So the boy tracked the island all over and jumped into the\nwater many times, and at last went into the tree. In the early morning\nhe heard a canoe come ashore, and, looking out, saw another man with\nthree dogs, to whom the man said, \"My dogs, you must catch this animal.\"\nThen they ran all over the island, but not finding him, the man became\nso angry that he killed one of the dogs and ate him all up. Then, taking\nthe two remaining, he went away. The boy then came out from his\nhiding-place, and went to the skeleton, who said, \"Are you still alive?\"\nThe boy replied, \"Yes.\" \"Well,\" said the skeleton, \"the man who brought\nyou here will come to-night to drink your blood, and you must go down to\nthe shore where he will come in, and dig a long pit and lie down in it\nand cover yourself up with the sand so he cannot see you, and when he\ncomes ashore and is off, you must get into the canoe and say, 'Come,\nswans, let's go home,' and if the man calls for you to come back you\nmust not turn around or look at him.\"\n\nThe boy promised to obey and soon the man who had brought him came\nashore on the island. Then the boy jumped into the canoe, saying,\n\"Come, swans, let's go to our place;\" and as they went he sang just as\nthe man had done. They had gone but a little way when the man saw them.\nHe began to cry, \"Come back! Oh do come back!\" but the boy did not look\naround and they kept on their way. By and by they came to a large rock\nin which there was a hole, and the swans went up into the rock until\nthey came to a door which the boy proceeded to open. Upon entering the\ncave he found his own clothes and many others, and also a fire and food\nall prepared, but no living person. After putting on his clothes he went\nto sleep for the night. In the morning he found a fire and food, but saw\nno one.\n\nUpon leaving the cave he found the swans still waiting at the entrance,\nand, jumping into the canoe, he said, \"Come, swans, let's go to the\nisland.\" When he arrived there he found the man had been killed and\nnearly eaten up. He then went to the skeleton, which said, \"You are a\nvery smart boy; now you must go and get your sister whom this man\ncarried off many years ago. You must start to-night and go east, and by\nand by you will come to some very high rocks where she goes for water,\nand you will find her there and she will tell you what to do.\"\n\nThe boy started and in three days arrived at the rocks, where he found\nhis sister, to whom he called, \"Sister, come, go home with me\"; but she\nreplied, \"No, dear brother, I cannot go; a bad man keeps me here, and\nyou must go, for he will kill you if he finds you here.\" But as the boy\nwould not be persuaded to leave without her she allowed him to stay. Now\nthis very bad man had gone to a great swamp where women and children\nwere picking cranberries. The sister then went to the house and, taking\nup the planks over which her bed was made, she dug a pit underneath it\nsufficiently large for her brother to sit in; then she went to her\nbrother and bade him follow her, and to be sure and step in her tracks\nand not touch anything with his hands or his clothes. So she covered him\nup in the pit she had prepared for him, and made her bed up again over\nthe place. She then cooked a little boy for the man, put it with wood\nand water by his bed, and then went and lay down. Soon the man and dogs\nreturned; then immediately the dogs began barking and tearing around as\nif they were mad. The man said, \"You surely have visitors\"; she replied,\n\"None but you.\" And he said, \"I know better\"; and he took a stick and\ncommanded her to tell him the truth, but she denied it, saying, \"Kill me\nif you like, but I have none.\" He then went to his bed and sat down to\neat his supper; but he said to himself, \"She has some one hidden; I will\nkill him in the morning.\" He then called her to build a fire, but she\nreplied, \"You have wood, build your own fire.\" Then he said, \"Come, take\noff my moccasins\"; but she replied, \"I am tired, take them off\nyourself.\" Then he said to himself, \"Now I know she has seen some one,\nfor she was never so saucy.\"\n\nIn the morning he started off for the swamp to get some children for his\ndinner. A short distance from home he concealed himself to watch the\ngirl. As soon as he was gone she called her brother and said, \"Come,\nlet us take his canoe and go quickly.\" So they ran and jumped into the\ncanoe and went off, but the man saw them and ran, throwing a hook which\ncaught the canoe, but as he was pulling it ashore the boy took a stone\nfrom the bottom of the canoe and broke the hook. Then they proceeded\nagain very fast. Then the enraged man resorted to another expedient:\nLaying himself down upon the shore he began to drink the water from the\nlake, which caused the boat to return very fast. The man continued to\ndrink, until he grew very big with so much water in him. The boy took\nanother stone and threw it and hit the man so it killed him, and the\nwater ran back into the lake. When they saw that he was dead they went\nback, and the boy said to the two dogs, \"You bad dogs, no one will have\nyou now; You must go into the woods and be wolves\"; and they started for\nthe woods and became wolves.\n\nThen the boy and his sister went to the island. The boy went to the\nskeleton, which said, \"You are a very smart boy to have recovered your\nsister--bring her to me.\" This the boy did, and the skeleton continued,\n\"Now, gather up all the bones you see and put them in a pile; then push\nthe largest tree you see and say, 'All dead folks arise'; and they will\nall arise.\" The boy did so, and all the dead arose, some having but one\narm, some with but one leg, but all had their bows and arrows.\n\nThe boy then said to his sister, \"Come, let's go home.\" When they\narrived home they found their own uncle; he looked very old. For ten\nyears he had cried and put ashes upon his head for his little nephew,\nbut now he was very happy to think he had returned.\n\nThe boy then told the old man all that he had done, who said, \"Let us\nbuild a long house.\" And they did so, and put in six fire-places. Then\nthe boy went back to the island for his people and brought them to the\nhouse, where they lived peacefully many years.\n\n\nTHE HUNTER AND HIS DEAD WIFE.\n\nOnce upon a time there was a man and his wife who lived in the forest,\nvery far from the rest of the tribe. They used to go hunting together\nvery often, but after a time there were so many things for the wife to\ndo that she staid at home and he went alone. When he went alone he never\nhad good luck. One day the woman was taken sick, and in a day or two she\ndied. The man felt very badly and buried her in the cabin. He was very\nlonesome; and after a day or two he made a wooden doll about her size\nand dressed it in the clothes she used to wear. Then he put it down in\nfront of the fire-place and felt better. Then he went hunting; and when\nhe came back he would go up to the doll and brush the ashes off from the\nface, for as the wood fell down the ashes would rattle onto the face. He\nhad to do his cooking, mending, and making fire, for now there was no\none to help him; and so a year passed away. One day when he came home\nfrom hunting there was a fire and wood by the door. The next night there\nwas wood and fire and a piece of meat all cooked in the kettle. He\nlooked, all over to see who had done this, but could find no one. The\nnext time he went hunting he did not go far and went back quite early,\nand when he came in sight of the cabin he saw a woman going into the\nhouse with wood on her shoulders; he saw, and opened the door quickly,\nand there was his wife sitting in a chair and the wooden doll was gone.\nThen she spoke to him, saying, \"The Great Spirit felt sorry for you, so\nhe let me come back to see you, but you must not touch me till we have\nseen all of our people; if you do, you will kill me.\" So they lived\nalong for some time, when one day the man said, \"It is now two years\nsince you died. Let us go home. So you will be well.\" So he prepared\nmeat for the journey--a string of deer meat for her to carry and one for\nhimself; and so they started. It was going to take them six days to get\nto the rest of their tribe; when they were within a day's journey of the\ncamp it began to snow, and as they were very weary they lighted fire and\npartook of food and spread their skins to sleep; but the desire of the\nman to once more clasp his wife in his arms was too great, and he went\nup to her and put out his hands; but she motioned him away and said, \"We\nhave seen no one yet.\" He would not listen to her, and he caught her in\nhis arms, and, behold, he was holding the wooden doll! His sorrow was\nvery great. He pushed on to the camp and there he told them all that had\nbefallen him. Some doubted, and they went back with him and found the\ndoll; they also saw the track of the two people in the snow, and the\ntrack just like the foot of the doll. The man was ever after very\nunhappy.\n\n\nA SURE REVENGE.\n\nFar in the ages of the past, a tribe of the Senecas settled upon the\nbanks of Lake Erie. One eventful winter their enemies, the Illinois,\ncame in great numbers upon the peaceful settlement, surprised the people\nin their homes, and, in spite of a stout resistance, killed a large\nnumber of them and took a middle-aged woman and a boy captive. They\nstarted off with the prisoners, and the first day's journey was one of\npain and restlessness to the captives. They were foot-sore and weary\nwhen camp was pitched for the night. Then around a roaring fire the\nwarriors gloated over the bloody deed. They called the boy and bid him\njoin them in their songs of triumph, adding that they had no desire to\nhurt him; if he sang well he might enjoy himself. The lad pretended that\nhe could not sing their language, but said that he would sing their song\nin his tongue, knowing that they could not comprehend a word of it. To\nthis they agreed, and while they shouted out their jubilant delight he\nrepeated, again and again, \"I shall never forget what you have done to\nmy people. You have stolen a helpless woman and a little boy from among\nthem. I shall never forget it. If I am spared you will all lose your\nscalps.\" The Illinois warriors understood not a word; they thought he\nwas joining in their triumph, and were satisfied that he would soon\nforget his own people.\n\nAfter they had marched three days the woman became exhausted, and she\nwas too faint to be dragged further. The warriors held a council, and\nshe meanwhile spoke to the Seneca boy in earnest tones. \"Avenge my\nblood!\" said she; \"and when you return to your own people tell them how\nthe cruel Illinois took my life. Promise me you will never cease to be a\nSeneca.\" As he finished promising all she asked, she was slain and left\ndead on the ground.\n\nThen they hurried forward, nearing their own settlement early in the\nevening. Next day two runners were sent to the village to proclaim their\nsuccess and return, and all the population turned out with shouts and\ncries of joy to meet them.\n\nNow the fate of the boy had to be determined. He listened as the chief,\nwith exaggerated gestures and exclamations, gave an account of the\nsuccessful expedition. The people, as they listened, grew so excited\nthat they beat the ground with their clubs and wished they could\nexterminate every Seneca in the world. They longed to kill the boy, but\nthe chiefs held a council and decided that there was stuff in him, and\nthey would therefore torture him, and if he stood the test, adopt him\ninto their own tribe. The boy meantime had dreamed a dream, in which he\nhad been forewarned that the Illinois would inflict horrible tortures\nupon him. \"If he can live through our tortures,\" said the chief, \"he\nshall become an Illinois.\" The council fire glowed red with burning\nheat. They seized the captive and held him barefooted on the coals until\nhis feet were one mass of blisters. Then they pierced the blisters with\na needle made of fish bone and filled up the blisters with sharp flint\nstones. \"Now run a race,\" they recommended; \"run twenty rods.\" In his\ndream he had been told that if he could reach the Long House and find a\nseat on the wild-cat skin, they would vote him worthy of his life. His\nagony was intense, but up in his heart rose the memory of his tribe; and\nas the signal for his start was given he commenced singing with all his\nmight, saying, as they thought, their war song, but in reality the\nwords: \"I shall never forget this; never forgive your cruelty. If I am\nspared you shall every one of you lose your scalps.\" This gave him\ncourage. He forgot his agony. He bounded forward and flew so swiftly\nthat the Indians, who stood in rows ready to hit him as he passed with\nthorn-brier branches, could not touch him. He rushed into the Long\nHouse; it was crowded, but he spied a wild-cat skin on which an old\nwarrior sat, and he managed to seat himself upon the tail, remembering\nhis dream. The chiefs noticed his endurance and said again, \"If we spare\nhis life he will be worthy to become an Illinois; but he knows the\ntrail, so we had better kill him.\"\n\nA solemn council was held. All the warriors agreed that he had borne the\ntortures well, and had stuff in him to make a warrior. \"He may forget,\"\nthey said. Still others disagreed and gave their opinion that he ought\nto be tried still more severely. The majority finally decided that he\nmust die, and in three days should be burned at the stake.\n\nWhen the day arrived a large fire of pine knots was prepared, and they\nbound the lad to a stake, and placed him in the midst. Torches were\nready to set fire to them, when an old warrior suddenly approached from\nthe forest. It was the chief who had trained other captive Indians. He\nstood and looked at the boy. Then he said, \"His eye is bright. I will\ntake him. I will make a warrior of him. I will inflict our last torture\nupon him, and if he survives I will adopt him into the tribe.\" He cut\nthe thongs that bound the boy, and led him away to a spring. \"Drink!\" he\nsaid. And as the lad stooped, he pressed him down under the water until\nhe was well nigh strangled. Three times he subjected him to this\nbarbarity; then as he was still alive, although very weak, he took him\nto his wigwam and dressed his feet, and told him henceforth he should be\nan Illinois. No one guessed that revenge was in his heart.\n\nTime passed. He became a man. He had a chief's daughter as his wife. The\ntribe thought he had lost all memory of his capture. He followed the\ncustoms of the Illinois, and was as one of them. He was named\nGa-geh-djo-w\u0103. They did not permit him to join them in their warlike\nexpeditions, but he joined in their war dances when they returned. And\nso as the years passed on he was much esteemed for his feats as a\nhunter, and his strength and endurance were by-words among the Illinois.\n\nHe had been fifteen years among them when he heard them speak of an\nexpedition against the Senecas. He begged to join, and they listened\nwith delight when he declared that he, Ga-geh-djo-w\u0103, would bring\nhome more scalps than any. \"He is one of us,\" they said, and gave him\nthe permission he craved.\n\nEarly in the morning the warriors started, and, delighted with his\neloquence and readiness to go against his own tribe, they elected him\nchief of the expedition. They marched on and on for many days, little\nguessing how his heart beat as they approached the wigwams of the Seneca\nsettlement. He began to issue orders for the attack. \"Send scouts,\" he\nsaid, \"to the sugar camp, and let them hide in a bush, and return and\ntell us what they have seen.\"\n\nTwo warriors obeyed his directions, but returned saying there were no\nsigns of the tribe. Then he sent others in a different direction. Their\nreport was the same. Ashes everywhere, they reported, but no smoke and\nno fires. The Senecas must have left. Then at the council held that\nnight Ga-geh-djo-w\u0103 proposed to go himself, with another warrior.\nThis was agreed to, and they set out together. When they had gone five\nor six miles, the wily chief said to his companion, \"Let us separate and\neach take a different pathway. You go over the hills; I will go\nthrough, the valley. We will meet on the mountain at dusk.\" So they\nparted, and Ga-geh-djo-w\u0103, remembering his way, sped where he guessed\nhe should find some of his old tribe. He found, as he expected, a family\nhe knew. In hurried words he explained to them their danger: \"The\ntreacherous Illinois are upon you. Warn all the tribe of Senecas: bid\nthem come early and hide along the range above the valley. I will be\nthere with a heron's plume on my crest, and when I stumble it is the\nsignal for the Senecas to attack. Go and tell the word of\nGa-geh-djo-w\u0103. He is true.\"\n\nReturning to the appointed spot he reported that he had seen nothing,\nand hastened back to the camp. Then he said: \"I remember these hills. I\nknow where the Senecas hide. Give me the bravest warriors and we will go\nahead. I can track them to their hiding-place. See! there below rises\nthe smoke of their wigwams. Send two warriors after us at a short\ndistance. We will surprise the Senecas.\"\n\nEarly morning saw the camp in activity, every warrior panting for the\nscalps he yearned to procure. Little they dreamed that already five\nhundred Senecas awaited them in the valley. The march commenced. As they\nentered the valley Ga-geh-djo-w\u0103 gazed anxiously around and\ndelightedly caught sight of a face among the bushes. Now he knew the\nSenecas had heeded him. He led his men forward; then, pretending to miss\nhis footing, he fell. Instantly the war-cry sounded; the Senecas rushed\nfrom their ambush, and he left his treacherous foes and rejoined his own\npeople.\n\nThe slaughter was great. All the Illinois warriors but two in the rear\nwere slain. Three hundred scalps revenged the treachery of the Illinois.\nGa-geh-djo-w\u0103 was seized by the jubilant Senecas and borne in triumph\nto their settlement. Around the fires, as they displayed the scalps of\ntheir enemies, they listened to his recital of their cruelty, of his\ntortures, and of the woman's death. Never again did he leave them. He\nlived many years, the most esteemed warrior and chief of the Senecas,\nand when he died they buried him with the highest honors they knew, and\nhave kept his name sacred in the legends of the tribe to this day.\n\n\nTRAVELER'S JOKES.\n\nAn Indian traveler, tired of his uneventful journey, undertook to create\nan excitement after the following fashion: An old Indian custom is for\nrunners, or those carrying important news, to announce the fact and\ngather the people together by crying, in singing tones, \"Goh-weh,\ngoh-weh.\" This the traveler began doing, and when the crowd called upon\nhim to stop and tell his news, he began, \"As I came through the last\nvillage the people were so delighted with my news that they all danced\nfor joy, and shouted and kissed me.\" This he told so earnestly and\nsincerely that the people, not wishing to be outdone by any other tribe,\nalso began singing and kissing him and making merry; and while the\nexcitement was at its height, pleased with his success, the facetious\ntraveler escaped and continued his journeyings.\n\nArrived at the next village he again began calling, \"Goh-weh, goh-weh\";\nand the people and chiefs gathered around him, crying, \"Let us hear.\"\nAnd he answered, \"As I passed through the last town some people wept at\nmy news, others began quarreling, kicking, and fighting.\" Immediately\nhis contagious news produced its effect, and in the confusion he again\nescaped, saying to himself \"What fools people are.\"\n\nThat night, as he was preparing to camp out, a man passed who inquired\nthe distance to the next village; but the traveler said, \"You cannot\nreach it to-night. Let us camp together.\" As they were each recounting\nstories, and the new-comer was boasting of his superior cunning, the\ntraveler inquired, \"What log is that you now use for a pillow?\" and he\nguessed hickory, elm, &c. But the traveler said, \"No, it is everlasting\nsleep.\" In the morning the traveler took some pitchy resin and rubbed\nover the eyes of his sleeping comrade and left, laughing at the probable\nchagrin the man would feel when attempting to open his eyes, and in the\nrecollection of the warning regarding everlasting sleep and his boasts\nof superior cunning.\n\nNo further accounts of the traveler's jokes are told.\n\n\nKINGFISHER AND HIS NEPHEW.\n\nAn old man and his nephew were living together in a good home near the\nriver, where they enjoyed themselves day after day. One morning the old\nman said to his nephew, \"When you are a man, remember in hunting never\nto go west; always go to the east.\"\n\nThe young man reflected and said to himself, \"Why should this be so? My\nuncle To-b\u00e9-se-ne always goes west, and brings home plenty of fish. Why\nshould he tell me not to go? Why does he never take me with him?\"\n\nHe made up his mind at last that he would go, never minding about the\nadvice. So he set off in a roundabout way, and as he passed the marsh\nland near the river he saw his uncle. \"Ha!\" he thought, \"now I know\nwhere he catches his fish\"; and he watched him take from his pocket two\nsharp sticks and put them in his nose, and then plunge into deep water\nand come up with a nice fish. He watched him carefully and then returned\nhome. Presently the uncle came back, bringing some nice fish, but he\nnever guessed that the nephew had seen him.\n\nThe young man now felt certain that he could fish as well as his uncle.\nAccordingly, one day when the old man had gone deer hunting, he thought\nat a good opportunity to try the new method. He hunted among his\nuncle's things until he found two sticks, and then he set off to the\nsame log where he had seen his uncle sitting, which projected above the\nwater in the river. He saw the fishes swimming about, so he at once\nstuck the two sticks into his nose, and plunged in. Then the sticks went\ndeep into his nose and made it ache dreadfully, and he felt very sick.\nHome he hurried and lay down, thinking he should die of the agony. When\nhis uncle came home he heard him groaning, and said, \"What ails you? Are\nyou sick?\" \"Yes, uncle,\" replied he, \"I think I shall die. My head is\nsore and pains me.\" \"What have you been about?\" asked the uncle,\nseverely. \"I have been fishing,\" confessed the young man; \"I took your\nthings, and I know I have done wrong.\" \"You have done very wrong,\" said\nthe uncle; but he took the pincers and drew out the sticks, and the\nyoung man promised never again to fish in the west, and got well.\n\nAfter a while, however, he thought that he would go and see once more,\nalthough he had been forbidden. So he started west. He heard boys\nlaughing, and he had none to play with, so he joined them. They invited\nhim to swim with them and he accepted, and they had a very gay time\ntogether. At last they said, \"It is time to go home; you go, too.\" Then\nhe saw that they had wings, and they gave him a pair and said, \"There is\nan island where all is lovely; you have never been up there-over the\ntall tree up in the air; come.\" So they started up in the air, far away\nabove the trees, till they could see both sides of the river; and he\nfelt very happy. \"Now,\" said they, \"you can see the island\"; and he\nlooked down and saw the print of their tracks on the island; so he knew\nthey had been there. Then said they, \"Let us go in swimming again.\" So\nthey went into the water. Then they said, \"Let us see which can go down\nand come up the farthest\"; and they tried one at a time, and he was the\nlast, so he must go the farthest; and while he was in the water the rest\nput on their wings and, taking his also, flew up in the air. He plead in\nvain for them to wait; but they called, as though speaking to some one\nelse, \"Uncle, here is game for you to-night.\" Then they flew away in\nspite of his entreaties, and he thought to himself, \"I shall surely be\ndestroyed, perhaps by some animal.\"\n\nAs he looked around he perceived tracks of dogs which had clawed the\ndifferent trees, and then he concluded that perhaps they would tear him\nto pieces. In order to confuse them in their scent he climbed each tree\na little way, and so went on until he reached the last tree on the\nisland, in which he remained and listened in suspense. He soon heard a\ncanoe on the river and some one calling the dogs. Then he concluded his\nconjectures were true. After making a fire the man sent out his dogs.\nThe man had a horrid-looking face, both behind and before, which the\npoor nephew could see by the fire-light. Then the dogs began barking,\nhaving traced the tracks to the first tree; they made such a noise that\nthe man concluded they had found the game, and went to the tree, but\nfound nothing. So they went on to the next, and the next, with the same\nexperience, and this they continued the night long. Then the old man\nsaid, very angrily, \"There is no game here; my nephews have deceived\nme.\" And he returned, leaving the last tree.\n\nAfter sunrise the poor fellow came down from the tree, saying, \"I think\nI have escaped, for if those young fellows return I will watch them and\ncontrive to get their wings from them.\" He then concealed himself and\npatiently awaited their coming. He soon heard their voices, saying, \"Now\nwe will have a good time.\" They first jumped around to warm themselves,\nand then said, \"Let us all dive together.\" Then he rushed out, and,\ntaking all the wings, he put on one pair, and flew away, calling out,\n\"Uncle, now there is plenty of game for you\"; and when they entreated\nhim he replied, \"You had no mercy on me; I only treat you the same.\"\nThen he flew on until he came to his old home, where he found his old\nuncle, to whom he recounted the whole story; and after that time he\nremained peacefully at home with his good uncle, where he still resides.\n\n\"So many times my old grandfather, chief Warrior, told me that story,\"\nsaid Zachariah Jamieson to me on the Seneca Reservation.\n\n\nTHE WILD-CAT AND THE WHITE RABBIT.\n\n[Told by Zachariah Jamieson.]\n\nThe wild cat, roaming disconsolately in the woods, experienced the sense\nof utter loneliness which calls for companionship. A friend he must have\nor die. Cats there were none within speaking distance, but rabbits it\nmight be possible to entice. He commenced a plaintive ditty. His soul\ncraved a white rabbit above all else, and his song was pathetic enough\nto entice the most obdurate:\n\n    He gah yah neh\n    He gah yah! He g\u0103h y\u0103h\n    Di ho ni shu gu\u0103 da-se\n    He yah gah.\n\nHis meaning was simple as his song, \"When you are frightened, sweet\nrabbit, you run in a circle.\"\n\nHe was wise in his generation. A short distance off lay a white rabbit\nin his lair; hearing the melodious ditty he pricked up his ears.\n\"Heigho!\" exclaimed he, \"that dangerous fellow, the wild-cat, is around;\nI hear his voice; I must scud\"; and away he ran, turning from the\ndirection in which the voice came and hastening with all his might. He\nhad gone but a short distance when he stopped, turned back his ears and\nlistened. There was the song again:\n\n    He g\u0103h y\u0103h! He g\u0103h y\u0103h!\n    Di ho--\n\nHe waited to hear no more. On he sped for awhile; then once more he laid\nback his ears and halted again; surely this time the song was nearer. He\nwas still more frightened. \"I will go straight on\" said he; but he\nthought he was following an opposite direction. On and on he sped,\nscarce daring to breathe; then a pause; alas! the singer is\nnearer--nearer yet. Unfortunate rabbit! he could but follow his instinct\nand run in a circle which brought him each time nearer his enemy. Still\nthe song went on, until, circling ever nearer, white rabbit fell a\nvictim to the wild-cat.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nRELIGION.\n\n\nIn a former chapter it was concluded that the \"Great Spirit\" is the\nIndian's conception of the white man's God. This belief in God is common\nnow to all of the Iroquois, but the Christian religion is professed by\nonly about one-half of their number. The other half of the people are\nusually denominated \"pagans.\" The so-called Christian Indians are\ndistributed among various sects, worship in churches, and profess\nChristian creeds.\n\nThe pagan Indians worship the sun, moon, stars, thunder, and other\nspirits rather vaguely defined. But though in talking with white men\nthey frequently speak of the Great Spirit, yet in their worship there\nseems to be no very well-defined recognition of the same, the term being\nused in a confused manner. Their religious rites are chiefly in the form\nof festivals.\n\nAmong these so-called pagan Iroquois of to-day no private worship is\nknown, unless the offering of burning tobacco to Hi-nu\u207f, or the\noccasional solitary dance, as practiced by some of the squaws, be so\nconsidered.\n\nThe annual public national and religious festivals are eight in number,\nwith the occasional addition of those specially appointed. As the\nnucleus to the ceremonies observed at these festivals we find many of\ntheir ancient practices retained, such as dancing, games, the use of\nincense, &c. And upon these have been grafted, according to their\npeculiar interpretation, varied forms from the Romish, Jewish, or\nProtestant churches, which to them seemed suitable and adaptable.\nAlthough the Tuscaroras of western New York retain many of the old\nsuperstitions none of the national festivals are there observed, and\nhardly a trace now remains of their old religious customs.\n\nAbout half of the Senecas still adhere to paganism, but it is only among\nthe Onondagas that all the old festivals are strictly and religiously\nobserved, after the sequence and manner of the following account of the\nNew-Year Festival:\n\n\nNEW-YEAR FESTIVAL.\n\nAt the first new moon of the new year, which sometimes occurs three\nweeks after New Year's Day, the chiefs assemble and call what they term\na \"holy meeting,\" the order of which is as follows: A bench or table is\nplaced in the center of the circle of chiefs, upon which are placed\ntheir strings of Indian wampum. One then rises and makes a long speech,\nin which he introduces the sayings, maxims, and teachings of Handsome\nLake, who, nearly a century ago, introduced a new form into the Seneca\nreligion. Speeches of this kind occupy four days. On the fifth day the\nprincipal chiefs, taking hold of the wampum, say: \"I put all my words in\nthis wampum\"; \"I have been drunk\"; or, \"I have sinned,\" &c. On the sixth\nday the warriors go through the same form of confession. On the\nfollowing day the chiefs pass the wampum around among the assembly.\n\nAt the conclusion of this portion of their ceremonies the U-stu-\u00e4-gu-n\u00e4,\nor feather dance, sometimes called the dance of peace, is performed. For\nthis there is a particular costume, by which it must always be\naccompanied. The dance is simple. Two men are chosen to stand in the\ncenter and are encircled by dancers.\n\nAfter this dance the clans are divided for the games as follows:\n\n          Bear}         {Wolf.\n          Deer}         {Beaver.\n          Eel } against {Snipe.\n          Hawk}         {Turtle.\n\nThe clans thus divided hold their feasts in separate houses, even\nalthough husband and wife be divided. On the fourth day each of these\ndivisions, singing a chant, repairs to the Council House. The gambling\nthen commences and continues three more days. The gambling and betting\nconcluded, two Indians, costumed as medicine men, run into all the\nhouses, and raking up the ashes call on all to repair to the Council\nHouse. In the evening of this day begins the \"scaring of witches\";\nspeeches are made; Indian songs or chants are sung the while an old man\nor woman enters, appearing to wish or search for something, the assembly\nguessing at the object desired. Should the guess be correct, a reply of\n\"thank you\" is made. He or she receives it, and as a return proceeds to\ndance.\n\nOn the following evening a number of Indians in frightful costumes enter\non their knees, yelling and groaning. Shaking their rattles, they\nproceed to the council fire, where they stir up the ashes. The chiefs\nthen present to them Indian tobacco, and they are commanded to perform\nall the errands and act as the messengers for the evening.\n\nOn this same evening it is given forth that on the ensuing day, at a\ngiven hour, the white dog will be roasted. For this purpose a perfectly\npure, unblemished white dog is selected, and five young men of the most\nspotless reputation are chosen to kill the dog, around whose neck two\nropes are fastened, and the young men then pull the ropes till the dog\nis strangled. When dead it is presented to the victorious gambling\nparty, who proceed to comb out its hair carefully with teasels. It is\nthen decorated with wampum, ribbons, Indian tobacco, strips of\nbuckskin, small baskets, silver brooches, &c.\n\nThe four winning clans then form in a circle around the dog and the four\nleading chiefs. The first chief chants around the dog; the second puts\nit upon his back; the third carries an extra basket trimmed with beads,\nbrooches, and ribbons, and filled with Indian tobacco; the fourth chief,\nbareheaded and scantily clothed, follows as they pass in Indian file to\nthe other Council House, where the defeated division makes an offering,\nwhich is accepted by the fourth chief. All then proceed together to the\nappointed place for the dog roasting. While the fire is being lighted\nthe chiefs chant and praise the Great Spirit, after which, while the\nwarriors are shooting up at the sun, the dog is thrown into the fire,\nwhich ceremony unites all the clans. This is followed by chants. The\nleading chief then gives notice of the dance for the following day. At\nthis first day of rejoicing or dancing the \"feather dance\" is repeated,\nand a chant is sung which embraces almost the entire language of the\nProtestant Episcopal canticle, _Benedicite omnia opera Domini_; but the\ntranslation, in place of commanding the works of God to render him\npraise, praises the works themselves. Instead of \"O ye angels of the\nLord,\" that passage is rendered, \"O ye four persons who made us and have\ncharge of us, we praise thee,\" &c.\n\nThe feast then follows, consisting of meats garnished with sunflower\noil, &c. The third day of dancing is devoted to the war dance, which is\ndedicated to the sun, moon, stars, and thunder. The feather dance is\nagain introduced, the women this time participating in it. In itself the\ndance is very monotonous, except for the variety introduced by whooping,\nbeating the floor with the war clubs, occasional speeches, and offerings\nto the dancers.\n\nAt the conclusion of the feather dance the Si-ti-g\u0103-ni-ai, or shuffle\ndance, follows. This is executed solely by the women, who do not lift\ntheir feet from the floor. The men keep time by drumming and using the\nrattles. Then succeeds the guide dance, performed as follows: Two or\nfour men stand inside a circle and sing a dance song, while all the\npeople join in the dance in pairs, the couples facing each other.\nConsequently, two out of each four have to go backwards, but at a signal\nin the music all change places. This is invariably the closing dance of\nthe new year's festival, but it is then arranged that seven days later\nthe medicine men shall all reappear, and for a day and a night go about\nin the houses and chase away all diseases, &c. This closes by all\nrepairing to the Council House, where a large kettle of burnt corn,\nsweetened with maple sugar, is prepared for the medicine men, who eat it\nfrom the kettle. From this Council House fire the medicine men throw the\nashes upon the assembled people for the purpose of dispelling witches\nand disease. This concludes the new year's festival ceremonies after a\nduration of three weeks.\n\n\nTAPPING THE MAPLE TREES.\n\nThe next public service is at the tapping of the maple trees, and\nconsists of the war dance, the performance of which will, it is hoped,\nbring on warmer weather and cause the sap to flow.\n\nAs a special favor to ambitious parents, the dancing warriors often bear\nin their arms infant boys, who are supposed to become early inured and\ninspired with a desire for a warrior life.\n\nAt the close of the sugar season follows the maple-sugar festival, the\nsoups of which are all seasoned with the newly-made sugar. This\nfestival, in which a number of dances are introduced, lasts but one day.\n\n\nPLANTING CORN.\n\nThe corn-planting festival is very similar to that of the new year,\nintroducing the confession of sins by the chiefs, the feather dance, &c.\nThis lasts seven days.\n\n\nSTRAWBERRY FESTIVAL.\n\nDuring the strawberry season, at a time appointed previously by the\nchiefs, the women proceed to the fields and gather the berries. The\ngreat feather dance follows; afterwards two children carry about a\nvessel containing the berries, mixed with water and sugar, and present\nit to each person, who is expected to give thanks as he receives it.\nMore dancing ensues.\n\nThe bean festival next occurs and is very similar to the strawberry\nfestival.\n\n\nGREEN-CORN FESTIVAL.\n\nThis is preceded by a hunt by the warriors for deer or bear meat to use\nfor the soups.\n\nDuring their absence the ceremony of confession takes place, as in the\nNew Year's festival, and the women are engaged in roasting the corn\npreparatory to its being placed in the kettle with the beans for the\nsuccotash. If the weather is very warm the hunters bring home the meat\nready baked. On their return the feasting and dancing commence and\ncontinue for four days. The gambling, which is considered a religious\nceremony, is then introduced, silver brooches, war clubs, jewelry, bead\nwork, &c., being used as the wagers. Sometimes the clans play against\neach other, but frequently the women play against the men, and are\noftener the winning party.\n\nThis festival is the gala season of the Indian year, and all appear in\ntheir most fanciful decorations, some of the costumes having an\nintrinsic value of several hundred dollars.\n\n\nGATHERING THE CORN.\n\nThe last public festival of the year is at the gathering of the corn.\nAfter the thanksgiving dance there is a repetition of the confession of\nsins and the feather dance. In the latter the gayly-colored corn is\nused as a decoration, sometimes whole strings of it, still upon the cob,\nbeing worn as ornaments.\n\nThe above form the eight public yearly festivals of the Iroquois, but\noccasionally other dances are introduced. Among these are the raccoon\ndance and the snake dance, the latter being similar to the guide dance,\nbut partaking more of a gliding, snake-like motion.\n\nPrivate dances are held by the medicine men, in which are introduced the\nK\u00e2-nai-kw\u00e4-ai, or eagle dance; the Tai-wa-nu-ta-ai-ki, or dark dance,\nperformed in the dark; the Ka-hi-tu-wi, or pantomime dance; and the\nW-na-tai-nu-u-ni, or witches' dance. On the death of a medicine man a\nspecial dance is held by his fraternity, and, during the giving of\ncertain medicines, medicine tunes are chanted. No dances are held upon\nthe death of private individuals, but at the expiration of ten days a\ndead feast is celebrated and the property of the deceased is distributed\nby gambling or otherwise. Occasionally speeches are made, but no singing\nor dancing is indulged in, except during a condolence council, when\ndeceased chiefs are mourned and others chosen in their places.\n\nPrivate dances are not infrequently given by individual members of the\ntribe, who, having conceived a great affection for each other, publicly\ncement it by a friendship dance.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\n  A hunter's adventure; Iroquois tale 88\n  A sure revenge; Iroquois tale 104\n  Atotarho; Stone giant of the Iroquois 53, 54\n\n  Beille, O'Beille; authority for Iroquois myth 59\n  Boy and his grandmother; Iroquois tale 86\n          the corn; Iroquois tale 96\n      rescued by a bear; Iroquois tale 83\n\n  Case of witchcraft, Iroquois account of a 72\n  Charmed Suit; Iroquois tale 92\n  Confederacy of the Iroquois established by Hiawatha 54\n  Constellations; Iroquois myth 80\n  Corn, Green, festival of the Iroquois 115\n      , Iroquois festival of gathering the 115\n       planting 115\n  Cuoq, P\u00e8re, interprets the name Hiawatha 54\n  Cure for all bodily injuries, Iroquois myth      73\n\n  Dances of the Iroquois 112, 116\n  Dead Hunter: Iroquois tale 87\n  Dispersion of the great heads; Iroquois myth 62\n\n  Echo God; Iroquois myth 58\n          , Powers of the Iroquois 52\n  Extermination of stone giants; Iroquois myth 59\n\n  Festival in honor of three sisters, guardians of vegetables 53\n  Festivals, Iroquois; gathering the corn 115\n                     ; green corn 115\n                     ; New Year 112\n                     ; planting corn 115\n                     ; strawberry 115\n                     ; tapping the maple tree 115\n  Flies, Iroquois superstition concerning 74\n  Formation of Iroquois turtle clan, Myth concerning 77\n\n  God, Echo; Iroquois myth of the 58\n     , Thunder, of the Iroquois 51, 58\n  Gods of the Iroquois, Ancient and modern 51\n                      ; Echo 52\n                      ; Hi-nu\u207f 51, 58\n                      ; North wind 52\n                       of the mythologic age 52\n                      , Origin of the ancient and modern 51\n                      , Power of the 53\n                      ; T\u0103-rhu\u207f-hyi\u0103-w\u0103h-ku\u207f; Holder of the Heavens 52\n                      ; Thunder 51, 58\n                      ; West wind 52\n  Great Head; Iroquois myth 59, 62\n  Great Heads, Dispersion of the; Iroquois myth 62\n             , Power of the 63\n             , Shape of the 53\n  Guilty hunters; Iroquois tale 99\n\n  Hale, Horatio; Authority for Iroquois myth of the Thunderers 55\n  Hiawatha and the wampum belt; Iroquois myth 64\n          , Meanings of the name 54\n          , Multiplicity of Iroquois legends concerning 53\n          , Power attributed to, by the Iroquois 54\n  Hi-nu\u207f and Niagara; Seneca legend 54\n         destroying the giant animals; Iroquois myth 54\n         or Thunder god of the Iroquois 51\n  Holder of the heavens, Power of the Iroquois God 52\n  How the bear lost his tail; Iroquois myth 77\n  Human race, Origin of the; Iroquois myth 76\n  Hunter and his dead wife; Iroquois tale 103\n                 faithless wife; Iroquois tale 90\n  Hunter's adventure; Iroquois tale 88\n\n  Infant nursed by bears; Iroquois tale 84\n  Iroquois confederacy established by Hiawatha 54\n           Myths. _See_ Myths.\n          , Origin of the 52\n\n  Jamieson, Zachariah, authority for tale of wildcat and white rabbit 110\n  Jamison, Mary; Iroquois account of bewitchment of 72\n  John, Andrew, Iroquois account of bewitchment of 72\n\n  Kingfisher and his nephew; Iroquois tale 108, 110\n\n  Lad and the chestnuts; Iroquois tale 97\n  Legends. _See_ Myths.\n  Logan, Mrs., Story of 100\n\n  Man and his stepson; Iroquois tale 85\n  Man who assumed the shape of a hog; Iroquois tale 73\n  Maple trees, Iroquois festival of tapping 115\n  Medicine, Iroquois myth giving origin of Seneca 70\n  Mrs. Logan's story, Iroquois account of 100\n  Myth; Hi-nu\u207f destroying the giant animals 54\n      , Iroquois, of the three sisters, guardians of vegetables 53\n  Mythic tales, Iroquois; A hunter's adventure 88\n                        ; A sure revenge 104\n                        ; Boy rescued by a bear 83\n                        ; Infant nursed by bears 84\n                        ; Kingfisher and his nephew 108\n                        ; Mrs. Logan's story 100\n                        ; The boy and his grandmother 86\n                        ; The boy and the corn 96\n                        ; The charmed suit 92\n                        ; The dead hunter 87\n                        ; The guilty hunters 99\n                        ; The hunter and his dead wife 103\n                        ; The hunter and his faithless-wife 90\n                        ; The lad and the chestnuts 97\n                        ; The man and his stepson 85\n                        ; The old man's lesson to his nephew 89\n                        ; The Wild cat and the white rabbit 110\n                        ; Travelers' jokes 107\n  Mythologic explanation of phenomena, Iroquois 75, 82\n  Myths of the Iroquois; A case of witchcraft 72\n                       ; A superstition about flies 74\n                       ; A \"true\" witch story 71\n                       ; A witch in the shape of a dog 73\n                       ; Cure for all bodily injuries 73\n                       ; Dispersion of the great heads 62\n                       ; Echo god 58\n                       ; Extermination of the stone giants 59\n                       , fast disappearing 51\n                       ; Formation of the turtle clan 77\n                       ; Great head 59\n                       ; Hiawatha and the wampum belt 64\n                       ; How the bear lost his tail 77\n                       ; Man who assumed the shape of a hog 73\n                       ; Origin of constellations 80\n                       ; Origin of medicine 78\n                       ; Origin of plumage 79\n                       ; Origin of Seneca medicine 70\n                       ; Origin of the Human Race 76\n                       ; Origin of tobacco 79\n                       ; Origin of wampum 78\n                       ; Origin of witches and witch charms 69\n                       ; Seneca legend of Hi-nu\u207f and Niagara 54\n                       ; The North wind 59\n                       ; The pigmies and the greedy hunters 66\n                       ; The pigmy's mission 67\n                       ; The pole star 81\n                       ; The stone giant's challenge 63\n                       ; The stone giant's wife 62\n                       ; The thunderers 55\n                       ; The warrior saved by pigmies 65\n                       ; Why the chipmunk has a black stripe on his\n                           back 80\n                       ; Witch transformation 74\n\n  New Year festival of the Iroquois 112, 116\n  Niagara Falls, Origin of; Iroquois myth 54\n  North Wind; Iroquois myth 59\n            , Powers of the Iroquois God 52\n\n  Old man's lesson to his nephew; Iroquois tale 89\n  Origin of medicine; Iroquois myth 78\n            plumage; Iroquois myth 79\n            the constellations; Iroquois myth 80\n                human race; Iroquois myth 76\n                Seneca medicine; Iroquois myth 70\n            tobacco; Iroquois myth 79\n            wampum; Iroquois myth 78\n\n  Pigmies and the greedy hunters; Iroquois myth 65\n         , Power of the 65\n  Pigmy's mission; Iroquois myth 67\n  Plumage, Origin of; Iroquois myth 79\n  Pole star; Iroquois myth 81\n  Power of the gods of the Iroquois 51, 54\n\n  Religion of the Iroquois 112, 116\n  Revenge, A sure; Iroquois tale 104\n\n  Seneca legend of Hi-nu\u207f and Niagara 54\n         medicine, Iroquois myth giving origin of 70\n  Sorcery, Myths of the Iroquois concerning 68, 75\n          practices among the Iroquois 68, 74\n                   , Iroquois; A case of witchcraft 72\n                   , Iroquois; A cure for all bodily injuries 73\n                   , Iroquois; An incantation to bring rain 72\n                   , Iroquois; A superstition about flies 74\n                   , Iroquois; A \"true\" witch story 71\n                   , Iroquois; A witch in the shape of a dog 73\n                   , Iroquois; Man who assumed the shape of a hog 73\n                   , Iroquois; Origin of Seneca medicine 70\n                   , Iroquois; Origin of witches and witch charms 69\n                   , Iroquois; Witch transformation 74\n                   , Tuscarora names appertaining to 68\n  Spirits place in Iroquois myths 53\n  Stone giant of the Iroquois; Atotarho 53\n        giantess, _See_ stone giant's wife 62\n        giants, Extermination of; Iroquois myth 59\n               of the Iroquois mythology 53\n              , Powers of 53\n              , Shape of 53\n        giant's challenge; Iroquois myth 63\n                wife; Iroquois myth 62\n  Strawberry festival of the Iroquois 115\n  Supernatural beings of the Iroquois 51\n                                     ; Great heads 53\n                                     ; Stone giants 53\n  Sure Revenge, A; Iroquois tale 104, 107\n\n  Tales, Iroquois. (_See_ Mythic Tales.)\n  T\u0103-rhu\u207f-hyi\u0103-w\u0103h-ku\u207f; Holder of the heavens 52\n  The boy and his grandmother; Iroquois tale 86\n              the corn; Iroquois tale 96\n      charmed suit; Iroquois tale 92\n      dead hunter; Iroquois tale 87\n      guilty hunters; Iroquois tale 99\n      hunter and his dead wife; Iroquois tale 103\n                     faithless wife; Iroquois tale 90\n      lad and the chestnuts; Iroquois tale 97\n      man and his stepson; Iroquois tale 85\n      old man's lesson to his nephew; Iroquois tale 89\n      wild cat and the white rabbit; Iroquois tale 110\n  Thunder god of the Iroquois 51, 58\n                              compared with other gods 52\n                              or Hi-nu\u207f 52\n                             , Origin of 52\n                             , Powers of 52, 58\n                             , Worship of 52\n  Thunder, Iroquois myth concerning 55\n  Tobacco, Iroquois myth of origin of 79\n  Traveler's jokes, Iroquois tale of 107\n  \"True\" witch story, Iroquois account of a 71\n  Turtle clan, Iroquois myth of the origin of the 77\n  Tuscarora names appertaining to sorcery 68\n\n  \"Wampum belt, He of the,\" or Hiawatha 54, 64\n  Warrior saved by pygmies; Iroquois myth 65\n  West Wind, Power of; God of the Iroquois 52\n  Why the chipmunk has the black stripe on his back; Iroquois myth 80\n  Wild cat and the white rabbit 110\n  Witch in the shape of a dog, Iroquois account of a 73\n  Witch story; Iroquois myth 71, 77\n        transformation, Iroquois account of a 74\n  Witchcraft. _See_ Sorcery.\n            , Iroquois account of a case of 72\n  Witches and witch charms, Iroquois myth giving origin of 69\n\n\n\n\nCORRECTIONS\n\n\n  page      original text                correction\n  50        XIV.--Atotarha, war chief    XIV.--Atotarho, war chief\n  54, n1    as P\u00e9re Cuoq suggests        as P\u00e8re Cuoq suggests\n  61        she spoke and said           she spoke and said,\n  63        being useful until,          being useful until\n  65        Homo diluvi\u00e6 testis          Homo diluvii testis\n  69        in _Y\u00e4-sku\u207f\u00f1-n\u207f-n\u00e4_          in _Y\u00e4-sk\u00fb\u207f-n\u00fb\u207f-n\u00e4_\n  73        Hi-n\u00fb\u207f, pleased with         Hi-nu\u207f, pleased with\n  73        Hi-n\u00fb\u207f was considered        Hi-nu\u207f was considered\n  82        they could fine plenty       they could find plenty\n  87        with his tomakawk            with his tomahawk\n  92        \"That,\" said the father      \"That,\" said the father,\n  108       \"Why should this be so?\"     \"Why should this be so?\n  112       burning tobacco to Hinu\u207f,    burning tobacco to Hi-nu\u207f,","title":"Myths of the Iroquois. (1883 N 02 / 1880-1881 (pages 47-116))","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":33491}