{"collection":"Sacred Texts: Native American","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_nam_iro_sim_sim48_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_nam_iro_sim_sim48_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_nam_iro_sim_sim48_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/nam/iro/sim/sim48.htm","summary":"This is a Native American oral narrative, almost certainly from the Seneca (Haudenosaunee/Iroquois) tradition, given the character names and the figure of G\u00e1syondetha (Meteor). It follows Flying-squirrel, a poor hunter with no ability to feed his family, who is summoned to assist allies in a war and undertakes a long supernatural journey. Along the way he survives being swallowed by a monstrous creature, kills game through inexplicable abundance, and encounters four directional spirit-men \u2014 representing East, West, South, and North \u2014 each competing to become his guardian. The most distinctive element is the cosmological contest among these four figures: Meteor (the red-haired man from the West) defeats the others and reveals himself as the oldest and most powerful being in the world, granting Flying-squirrel shapeshifting power via a belt of flesh cut from his own body that instantly heals. The narrative presents a world densely populated with protective spirits, rivals, and predatory beings, where a seemingly weak protagonist accumulates power through persistence and divine patronage rather than innate strength \u2014 a pattern central to many Iroquoian hero tales. The text is truncated, so the war episode and the encounter with the old woman (likely a grandmother-figure with further supernatural gifts) remain unresolved.","tags":[],"text":null,"title":"Seneca Indian Myths: Flying-Squirrel and the Seasons","tradition":"Sacred Texts: Native American","translated_text":null,"word_count":4832}