Seneca Indian Myths: Flying-Squirrel and the Seasons

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This is a Native American oral narrative, almost certainly from the Seneca (Haudenosaunee/Iroquois) tradition, given the character names and the figure of Gásyondetha (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 — representing East, West, South, and North — 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 — 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.

Seneca Indian Myths: Flying-Squirrel and the Seasons

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