opened it and found a bundle of rags all saturated with fresh human
blood. In the middle of the bundle they found a sharp bone called
otnä´yont, and it was red with blood. It was the bone that had been
drinking the blood of Jesse’s children. The witch doctor then took the
bone and took care of it. After that there was no more sickness and the
last child got well. It seems that these sharp bones must be taken care
of and if neglected they will eat the blood of children until some one
finds the bundle and takes care of it.
65. WITCH WITH A DOG TRANSFORMATION.[57]
A sick woman with a wasting disease noticed that every night something
would peek in her window. Her husband could find no evidence of this
until one night after a snow storm he found the tracks of a large dog
outside the window. Following the tracks to the road he saw that they
became human footprints and were lost in the other tracks at the side of
the road.
The next morning among the friends that called upon the sick woman was
an old lady who lived near the creek in a small house. She was a widow
and lived alone. This old lady asked about the sick woman in such a
peculiar manner that the husband grew suspicious. After the old woman
left the sick woman began to feel much worse.
That night she screamed, “She is looking at me!” And the husband going
outside saw as before dog tracks running down to the road. He watched
and soon some men came by and he asked them if they had seen a large
dog. The men said they had; one had just ran down the road toward the
creek. Morning came and the husband determined to investigate further.
He crossed the road and walked down the other side until he came to the
Esther —— place. He noticed that a large dog had run along the fence and
had leaped over it. On the other side there were human footprints going
to the house.
Morning came and the old woman called again inquiring about the health
of the sick woman. This time the husband said, “If you don’t stop
witching my wife I will fix you.” The old lady asked him what he meant
and said that she was not a witch.
The husband then resolved to watch in the woodshed all night, if need
be, and to catch the dog looking into the window. He got some blankets
to keep himself warm and waited with his rifle. After a while he heard a
sniffing sound and presently heard something walking around the house.
Cautiously he looked out and saw the dog with its paws on the
window-sill of his wife’s room. Fire was coming out of the dog’s eyes.
The husband now ran out and chased the dog which ran down the road.
There were many people on the road, for it was moonlight and it was
sleighing time. They saw him chasing the dog. It ran to the fence and
jumped over. As it poised in mid air over the fence the man fired his
gun. There was a yelp and the people saw something shoot through the air
and jump into the window of the cabin. The people watched this and
looked over the fence but there was no mark or track on the snow, except
some dog hair. Three days later the people went to the house and found
the old woman dead on her bed with a bullet in her heart. There was dog
hair on the window where she had dived through. It was sure then that
she had been a witch. The sick woman recovered.
66. WITCH STEALS CHILDREN’S HEARTS.[58]
There was an old woman who always helped with children’s funerals, and
would sit up all night while the tired parents slept. She would lock the
door and stay with the dead children. Everybody thought she was a nice
old woman until one time a woman walking by her house saw a witch light
fly out of her chimney and go into the graveyard. “Hoh,” she said to
herself, “I guess old lady E—— must be a witch.”
Soon thereafter another child died and the old lady came as usual to
help with the funeral. That night she sat up with the corpse but this
time the woman who had suspected the old lady told her husband Gus to
watch her through a window.
Gus found a place outside where he could see into the room. At midnight
the old lady took a knife and cut the heart out of the child and then
ran out of the house while everybody else slept. She went to her own
house and shortly turned into a ball of fire and flew out of the
chimney. The light went to an old cemetery where there were many sunken
graves. Gus followed, though he was frightened. He saw the old woman put
something into a hole in a grave hollow and say, “There, I have got you
another. Now you are my friend and will have to show me where I can get
money.”
Soon the light soared overhead again and went back into the old lady’s
chimney.
The next morning Gus went to the father of the dead child and told him
what he had heard and seen. The father was very mad but after examining
the child could find no marks where the heart had been taken out. The
old witch had healed the cut. So then they went to the cemetery and
found the grave. Digging down where they saw the hole they came to a
corpse and it was all covered with blood and had a child’s heart in its
mouth, gnawing at it. The men poured kerosene from a lantern in the hole
and set it afire. Then they went to the old lady’s house and found
bloody rags on the table, but she was not there having gone back to the
house for the funeral. The father of the dead child then ran home and
found the old lady there.
“You are an old witch,” he stormed. “Now I know why you have been going
to children’s funerals. You must confess now or I will kill you.” He
grabbed her by the hair and swung her around. She burst out crying and
said, “Yes, I now confess. I took children’s hearts to give to my
friend. This friend gives me luck and I would starve without her.”
“You go home and quit this business,” said the father.
The old lady went home and after the child was buried the family called
in a witch doctor and they made a charm against the witch woman, and
soon she died.
67. HOTCIWAHO. (HAMMER IN HIS BELT.)
This was near a river. There lived Hotciwaho an old man. His house was
apart from all others and his grandson lived with him. Now this
Hotciwaho wore women’s clothes and beneath his skirt he wore a hammer
(mallet), and he would hide by the springs back of the rocks and kill
children when they came for water. He would strike them on their heads
when they stooped over to dip. Their bodies would be found at the spring
by the people who after a time found so many that they thought some
subtle poison must haunt the places where they drew their water. Now
this Hotciwaho would always go to the house where they were mourning
over the death of the child and he would weep. Now the people never saw
the tears fall from his eyes but they were always wet when he moaned
over the child and said, “Hagiă’´!” He did not truly cry but before
entering wiped his saliva over his cheeks and eyes so as to appear
grieving. This was his trick.
Now why did he kill people? He was lazy and loved good food. Now at
funerals the bereaved always provided a feast and afterwards the death
feast and the mourners could take away a portion of the soup, bread and
cakes. This is why he killed children. He wanted the food.
Now such a man when he does a wrong many times thinks it no offence. The
grandson thought this all wrong and being afraid that he too would be
killed stole his grandfather’s hammer and struck him a blow on the head
and killed him. So he died in the same way.
68. HOW AMERICA WAS DISCOVERED.
HANDSOME LAKE’S STORY.
According to Chief Cornplanter, Handsome Lake taught that America was
discovered in the manner here related.
A great queen had among her servants a young minister. Upon a certain
occasion she requested him to dust some books that she had hidden in an
old chest. Now when the young man reached the bottom of the chest he
found a wonderful book which he opened and read. It told that the white
men had killed the son of the Creator and it said, moreover, that he had
promised to return in three days and then again forty but that he never
did. All his followers then began to despair but some said, “He surely
will come again some time.” When the young preacher read this book he
was worried because he had discovered that he had been deceived and that
his Lord was not on earth and had not returned when he promised. So he
went to some of the chief preachers and asked them about the matter and
they answered that he had better seek the Lord himself and find if he
were not on the earth now. So he prepared to find the Lord and the next
day when he looked out into the river he saw a beautiful island and
marveled that he had never noticed it before. As he continued to look he
saw a castle built of gold in the midst of the island and he marveled
that he had not seen the castle before. Then he thought that so
beautiful a palace on so beautiful an isle must surely be the abode of
the son of the Creator. Immediately he went to the wise men and told
them what he had seen and they wondered greatly and answered that it
must indeed be the house of the Lord. So together they went to the river
and when they came to it they found that it was spanned by a bridge of
gold. Then one of the preachers fell down and prayed a long time and
arising to cross the bridge turned back because he was afraid to meet
his Lord. Then the other crossed the bridge and knelt down upon the
grass and prayed but he became afraid to go near the house. So the young
man went boldly over to attend to the business at hand and walking up to
the door knocked. A handsome man welcomed him into a room and bade him
be of ease. “I wanted you,” he said. “You are bright young man; those
old fools will not suit me for they would be afraid to listen to me.
Listen to me, young man, and you will be rich. Across the ocean there is
a great country of which you have never heard. The people there are
virtuous, they have no evil habits or appetites but are honest and
single-minded. A great reward is yours if you enter into my plans and
carry them out. Here are five things. Carry them over to the people
across the ocean and never shall you want for wealth, position or power.
Take these cards, this money, this fiddle, this whiskey and this blood
corruption and give them all to the people across the water. The cards
will make them gamble away their goods and idle away their time, the
money will make them dishonest and covetous, the fiddle will make them
dance with women and their lower natures will command them, the whiskey
will excite their minds to evil doing and turn their minds, and the
blood corruption will eat their strength and rot their bones.”
The young man thought this a good bargain and promised to do as the man
had commanded him. He left the palace and when he had stepped over the
bridge it was gone, likewise the golden palace and also the island. Now
he wondered if he had seen the Lord but he did not tell the great
ministers of his bargain because they might try to forstall him. So he
looked about and at length found Columbus to whom he told the whole
story. So Columbus fitted out some boats and sailed out into the ocean
to find the land on the other side. When he had sailed for many days on
the water the sailors said that unless Columbus turned about and went
home they would behead him but he asked for another day and on that day
land was seen and that land was America. Then they turned around and
going back reported what they had discovered. Soon a great flock of
ships came over the ocean and white men came swarming into the country
bringing with them cards, money, fiddles, whiskey and blood corruption.
Now the man who had appeared in the gold palace was the devil and when
afterward he saw what his words had done he said that he had made a
great mistake and even he lamented that his evil had been so enormous.
69. ORIGIN OF THE CHARM HOLDERS’ MEDICINE SOCIETY.[59]
There was in old times a young chief who was a hunter of great cunning,
but though he killed many animals he never took advantage of their
positions. He never shot a swimming deer or a doe with a fawn, he never
killed an animal fatigued by a long run nor took one unawares. Before
the hunt he always threw tobacco and made a ceremony to ask permission
to kill game. Nor was he ever ungrateful to the animals of the woods who
had been his friends for so many years. The flesh that was useless he
left for the wolves and birds, calling to them as he left it: “Come, my
friends, I have made a feast for you.” Likewise when he took honey from
a tree he left a portion for the bears and when he had his corn
harvested he left open ears in the field for the crows, that they might
not steal the corn sprouts at the next planting. He fed the fish and
water animals with entrails and offal. No ruthless hunter was he but
thoughtful. He threw tobacco for the animals in the woods and water and
made incense for them with the oyeñkwaoñ´we‘, the sacred tobacco, and
“threw it” even for the trees. He was a well loved chief for he
remembered his friends and gave them meat. All the animals were his
friends and all his people were loyal to him. All this was because he
was good and he was known as the “protector of the birds and beasts.” So
he was called. It is supposed that his own name was His-hand-is-red.
The southwest country is a land of mysteries. There are many unknown
things in the mountains there and also in the waters. The wildest people
have always lived there and some were very wise and made different
things. When, many years ago, the Oñgwe´ hoñwe‘, (Iroquois) began to
make excursions to this distant country they encountered many nations
that were friendly and more that were hostile. The Iroquois used to like
to go in this country for there they learned new things and found new
plants and new kinds of corn and beans and when they would fight and
destroy a tribe they would carry away curiously-made things and some
captives back to their own country.
[Illustration:
THE RESTORATION OF RED HAND.
In this drawing the animals whom Red Hand had befriended are shown
anxiously awaiting his revivification by use of the sacrificial
medicine made from the “life sparks” of their companions. The Bear
is shown raising him to his feet.
]
While one of these exploring parties was in the far southwest looking
for war and new things, a band of very savage people attacked them. The
young chief, the friend of the animals, was with the party, and, being
separated from the rest of his party, was struck down by a tomahawk
blow. The enemy cut a circle around his scalp-lock and tore it off. He
could not fight strong because he was tired and very hungry from the
long journey, so he was killed. The enemy knew him because he had been a
brave fighter and killed a good many of their people in former battles
so they were glad when they killed him and prized his scalp. Now he lay
dead in a thicket and none of his warriors knew where he was but the
enemy showed them his scalp. So they knew that he was dead but they did
not kill all the Iroquois.
Black night came and alone upon the red and yellow leaves the chief lay
dead and his blood was clotted upon the leaves where it had spilled. The
night birds scented the blood and hovered over the body, the owl and the
whippoorwill flew above it and O‘sh‘ă´dă’geă’, the Dew Eagle, swooped
down from the regions over the clouds. “He seems to be a friend,” they
said, “who can this man be?” A wolf sniffed the air and thought he
smelled food. Skulking through the trees he came upon the body, dead and
scalped. His nose was upon the clotted blood and he liked blood. Then he
looked into the face of the dead man and leapt back with a long yelping
howl,—the dead man was the friend of the wolves and the animals and
birds. His howl was a signal call and brought all the animals of the big
woods and the birds dropped down around him. All the medicine animals
came,—the bear, the deer, the fox, the beaver, the otter, the turtle and
the big horned deer (moose). Now the birds around him were the owl, the
whippoorwill, the crow, the buzzard, the swift hawk, the eagle, the
snipe, the white heron and also the great chief of all birds,
Oshadahgeah, who is the eagle who flies in the world of our Creator
above the clouds. These are all the great medicine people and they came
in council about their killed friend. Then they said, “He must not be
lost to us. We must restore him to life again.” Then a bird said, “He is
our friend, he always fed us. We cannot allow our friend to die. We must
restore him.” Then the Wolf came up to the body and said, “Here is our
friend, he always gave us food in time of famine. We called him our
father, now we are orphans. It is our duty to give him life again. Let
each one of us look in our medicine packets and take out the most potent
ingredient. Then let us compound a medicine and give it.” Then the Owl
said, “A living man must have a scalp.”
So the animals made a wonderful medicine and in its preparation some
gave their own lives and mixed them with the medicine roots. Now when
the medicine was made all of it was contained in the bowl of an acorn.
So they poured it down the throat of the man and the Bear feeling over
the body found a warm spot over his heart. Then the Bear hugged him
close in his hairy arms and kept him warm. The Crow had flown away for
the scalp but could not find it, then the White Heron went but while
flying over a bean field thought herself hungry and stopped to eat and
when filled was too heavy to rise again. Then the Pigeon Hawk, the
swiftest of the birds, said that he would go and surely find it. By this
time the enemy had become aware that the animals were holding a council
over their friend whom they had slain and so they carefully guarded the
scalp which they stretched upon a hoop and swung on a thong over the
smoke hole of a lodge. The Pigeon Hawk, impatient at delay shot upward
into the air and flying in wide circles discovered the scalp dangling
over the fire drying in the hot smoke. Hovering over the lodge for a
moment he dropped down and snatching the scalp shot back upwards into
the clouds, faster and further than the arrows that pursued him swift
from the strong bows of the angered enemy. Back he flew, his speed
undiminished by his long flight, and placed the scalp in the midst of
the council. It was smoky and dried and would not fit the head of the
man. Then Big Crow (buzzard) emptied his stomach on it to clean it of
smoke and make it stick fast and O’sh’ă´dă’geă’ plucked a feather from
his wing and dipped it in the pool of dew that rests in the hollow on
his back and sprinkled the water upon it. The dew came down in round
drops and refreshed the dry scalp as it does a withered leaf. The man
had begun faintly to breathe when the animals placed the scalp back in
his head and they saw that truly he would revive. Then the man felt a
warm liquid trickling down his throat and with his eyes yet shut he
began to talk the language of the birds and animals. And they sang a
wonderful song and he listened and remembered every word of the song.
This song the animals told him was the charm song of the medicine
animals and they told him that when he wished the favor of the great
medicine people and when he felt grateful, to make a ceremony and sing
the song. So also they told him that they had a dance and a dance song
and they told him that they would teach him the dance. So they danced
and some shook rattles made of the squashes (gourds) and though his eyes
were closed he saw the dance and he knew all the tunes. Then the animals
told him to form a company of his friends and upon certain occasions to
sing and dance the ceremony, Hadī’´dōs, for it was a great power and
called all the medicine animals together and when the people were sick
they would devise a medicine for them. Now they said that he must not
fail to perform the ceremony and throw tobacco for them. Now the name of
the society was Hadi’´dos. Then the chief asked the medicine people what
the ingredients of the medicine were and they promised to tell him. At a
time the animals should choose they would notify him by the medicine
song. Now he could not receive the secret because he had been married.
Only hoyahdiwadoh (virgin men) may receive the first knowledge of
mysteries. Now the chief greatly wished for the medicine for he thought
it would be a great charm and a cure for the wounds received in war.
After a time the chief was lifted to his feet by the hand of the bear
and then he recovered his full life and when he opened his eyes he found
himself alone in the midst of a circle of tracks. He made his way back
to his people and related his adventure. He gathered his warriors
together and in a secret place sang the medicine song of the animals,
the Hadi’´dos. So they sang the song and each had a song and they
danced.
After some time the chiefs decided to send another war party against the
enemy in the southwest to punish the hostile people who were attacking
them. Then the friend of the birds and animals said, “It is well that we
destroy them for they are not a reasonable people,” and so he went with
his party.