Ganogwioeoñ, a war chief of the Seneca, led a party against the
Cherokee. When they came near the first town he left his men outside
and went in alone. At the first house he found an old woman and her
granddaughter. They did not see him, and he went into the âsi and
hid himself under some wood. When darkness came on he heard the old
woman say, "Maybe Ganogwioeoñ is near; I'll close the door." After a
while he heard them going to bed. When he thought they were asleep he
went into the house. The fire had burned down low, but the girl was
still awake and saw him. She was about to scream, when he said, "I am
Ganogwioeoñ. If you scream I'll kill you. If you keep quiet I'll not
hurt you." They talked together, and he told her that in the morning
she must bring the chief's daughter to him. She promised to do it, and
told him where he should wait. Just before daylight he left the house.
In the morning the girl went to the chief's house and said to his
daughter, "Let's go out together for wood." The chief's daughter
got ready and went with her, and when they came to the place where
Ganogwioeoñ was hiding he sprang out and killed her, but did not hurt
the other girl. He pulled off the scalp and gave such a loud scalp
yell that all the warriors in the town heard it and came running out
after him. He shook the scalp at them and then turned and ran. He
killed the first one that came up, but when he tried to shoot the
next one the bow broke and the Cherokee got him.
They tied him and carried him to the two women of the tribe who had
the power to decide what should be done with him. Each of these women
had two snakes tattooed on her lips, with their heads opposite each
other, in such a way that when she opened her mouth the two snakes
opened their mouths also. They decided to burn the soles of his feet
until they were blistered, then to put grains of corn under the skin
and to chase him with clubs until they had beaten him to death.
They stripped him and burnt his feet. Then they tied a bark rope
around his waist, with an old man to hold the other end, and made him
run between two lines of people, and with clubs in their hands. When
they gave the word to start Ganogwioeoñ pulled the rope away from the
old man and broke through the line and ran until he had left them all
out of sight. When night came he crawled into a hollow log. He was
naked and unarmed, with his feet in a pitiful condition, and thought
he could never get away.
He heard footsteps on the leaves outside and thought his enemies
were upon him. The footsteps came up to the log and some one said to
another, "This is our friend." Then the stranger said to Ganogwioeoñ,
"You think you are the same as dead; but it is not so. We will take
care of you. Stick out your feet." He put out his feet from the
log and felt something licking them. After a while the voice said,
"I think we have licked his feet enough. Now we must crawl inside the
log and lie on each side of him to keep him warm." They crawled in
beside him. In the morning they crawled out and told him to stick
out his feet again. They licked them again and then said to him,
"Now we have done all we can do this time. Go on until you come to
the place where you made a bark shelter a long time ago, and under
the bark you will find something to help you." Ganogwioeoñ crawled
out of the log, but they were gone. His feet were better now and he
could walk comfortably. He went on until about noon, when he came
to the bark shelter, and under it he found a knife, an awl, and a
flint, that his men had hidden there two years before. He took them
and started on again.
Toward evening he looked around until he found another hollow tree and
crawled into it to sleep. At night he heard the footsteps and voices
again. When he put out his feet again, as the strangers told him to
do, they licked his feet as before and then crawled in and lay down on
each side of him to keep him warm. Still he could not see them. In the
morning after they went out they licked his feet again and said to him,
"At noon you will find food." Then they went away.
Ganogwioeoñ crawled out of the tree and went on. At noon he came to
a burning log, and near it was a dead bear, which was still warm,
as if it had been killed only a short time before. He skinned the
bear and found it very fat. He cut up the meat and roasted as much as
he could eat or carry. While it was roasting he scraped the skin and
rubbed rotten wood dust on it to clean it until he was tired. When
night came he lay down to sleep. He heard the steps and the voices
again and one said, "Well, our friend is lying down. He has plenty
to eat, and it does not seem as if he is going to die. Let us lick
his feet again." When they had finished they said to him, "You need
not worry any more now. You will get home all right." Before it was
day they left him.
When morning came he put the bearskin around him like a shirt, with
the hair outside, and started on again, taking as much of the meat as
he could carry. That night his friends came to him again. They said,
"Your feet are well, but you will be cold," so they lay again on each
side of him. Before daylight they left, saying, "About noon you will
find something to wear." He went on and about midday he came to two
young bears just killed. He skinned them and dressed the skins, then
roasted as much meat as he wanted and lay down to sleep. In the morning
he made leggings of the skins, took some of the meat, and started on.
His friends came again the next night and told him that in the morning
he would come upon something else to wear. As they said, about noon
he found two fawns just killed. He turned the skins and made himself
a pair of moccasins, then cut some of the meat, and traveled on until
evening, when he made a fire and had supper.
That night again he heard the steps and voices, and one said, "My
friend, very soon now you will reach home safely and find your friends
all well. Now we will tell you why we have helped you. Whenever you
went hunting you always gave the best part of the meat to us and
kept only the smallest part for yourself. For that we are thankful
and help you. In the morning you will see us and know who we are."
In the morning when he woke up they were still there--two men as he
thought--but after he had said the last words to them and started on,
he turned again to look, and one was a white wolf and the other a
black wolf. That day he reached home.--Arranged from Curtin, Seneca
manuscript.