the three so many they are sisters there she stood it-basket verily she it held. So that usually
dondayagoʼgonʹdăgoʼ neʻʹ găhăsʹʻhäʼ neʼʹ gĕⁿsʹ, giʼʹoⁿʻ, wăʼoñʹgăʼt neʻʹ
thence she brand took out of the fire the it-brand that usually, it is said did she it touch the
hāʻnoⁿʻʹdăkʼă&tco mma; neʼʹ gĕⁿsʹ waiʻʹ gaioñʹnĭʻ oʼtʻhăsĕⁿʹtʻhoʼ neʼʹ neʻʹ gĕⁿsʹ otkoʼʹäʼ daāgăʻsäit.
his arm-pit that usually truly it it makes did he weep that the usually it wampum thence he tears shed.
Neʼʹhoʻ, giʼʹoⁿʻ, gatgoñwăʼdădĕⁿʻʹd&amacr ;ʼ neʼʹhoʻ gĕⁿsʹ nāʹeʻ oʼgageonʹdăʼt neʻʹ otgoñwăʼdăʼʹgeʻ. Dāʹ
There, it is said, one buckskin spread (has) there usually verily did it in heap fall the it buckskin on. So
oʹnĕⁿʻ waiʻʹ neʻʹ yegĕⁿʹdjĭ goʼăsʹʻhägoñ wăʼagonʹdäʻ neʻʹ otkoʼʹäʼ.
now truly the she, old woman her basket-in did she it place the it-wampum.
Deyegāʹnēʼ nēʹyōʼ neʼhoʻʹsʻhoñ heyoʼʹdĕñ awĕñdoñʹnyăʼt ĕñʼʹ; neʻʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ hwăʼēʹyoⁿʼ neʻʹ
She it looked at her spouse there-just so it was it discouraging I think; the now thither she entered the
ganoⁿʹsăkoñ tchi-yedākʹheʼsʻhoñ wăʼoñwayeʹnañʼ djokʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ doñdaoñwayăʼditʹgĕⁿʻ neʼʹ neʻʹ ganoⁿʹsăkoñ.
it lodge-in while she running went just did she him seize at once now thence she him brought that the it lodge-in.
Dāʹ ganioʼʹsʻhoñ doñdāīyāʹgĕⁿʼt oʼdyagōʹēt, wăʼāʹgĕⁿʼ, “Hauʼʹ, gāʹoʼ dondāʹswēt
So as soon as-just thence they two came out did she shout, did she it say, “Come, hither thence do you come
swadjīʹnaⁿ neʼʹ neʻʹ agadäʼswăʻʹdoⁿ, Isʹ neʻʹ djotʻhoñwandoⁿ,” ganioʼʹ wăʼoñdwĕñnoʼkʹdĕⁿ& mlapos; dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ
you, brave ones that my guardian spirits, You the humming-birds,” as soon as did her voice die out so now
oʼtʻhiĕⁿʻʹdād oʼdyoñtʻhwădāʹseʼ heʻʹ ganoⁿʹsot neʼʹ-khoʻ neʻʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ wăʼāʹgĕⁿʼ, “Deʼsoñʹgaʼ
did they two run did they it circled where it lodge stands that-and the now did she it say, “Not any one
tʻhayeyāʹgĕⁿʼt sīʹgwā heʻʹ niyagotʹgoⁿʼ, neʼʹkhoʻ neʼʹ dĕⁿganĕñyoñʹdĕⁿʼ neʻʹ naⁿʼgoñʹgwā heʼtgĕñʹgwā-khoʻ.
shall one escape more where so one is a sorcerer, that and the wil l it red-hot the under-side upper-side-and.
Dāʹ djāʹgoⁿ diqʹ agadäʼswăʻʹdoⁿ. Hauʼʹ, djāʹgoⁿ diqʹ.”
So take courage too my guardian spirits. Come, take courage too.”
Djokʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ oʼwadīʹyoⁿʼ neʻʹ godäʼswăʻʹdoⁿ, “dauñʻʹ,” oʹdoⁿ heʻʹ odiyoʼʹdeʼ. Dyĕñgwăʹsʻhoñ
At once, now did they arrive the her guardian spirits, “dauñʻʹ,” it sounds where they are at work. Suddenly-just
oʹnĕⁿʻ oʼdyoʼdoⁿʻʹgwăk heʻʹ ganoⁿʹsot. Oʹnĕⁿʻ neʼʹ neʻʹ oñʹgyeʻ dewĕñnoⁿʻsĕñʹtwăʻso&sup n;
now did it burst into flames where it lodge stands. Now that the indoors they (fem.) were weeping severally
wäⁿnondatʻhāwăkʹsʻhoⁿ&mlap os;oⁿ, neʼʹhoʻ nāʹeʻ skĕñnoⁿʼoñʹsʻhoñ oʼgāiʻsdaʹgēēʼ, neʼʹhoʻ
they, mothers-daughters, there verily slowly-just did it sound die out, there
oʼgāiʻwăʻʹdoⁿʼ. Dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ wăʼāʹgĕⁿʼ, “Oʹnĕⁿʻ waiʻʹ ĕⁿdjidyăʻdĕñʹdĭʼ neʼʹhoʻ
d id it become destroyed. So now did she it say, “Now truly will thou-I depart homeward too there
hĕⁿdjidʹneʼ hĕⁿʹoñweʻ dyoñgwanoⁿʹsot.” Oʹnĕⁿʻ, giʼʹoⁿʻ, wayăʻdĕñʹdĭʼ. Sĕⁿʻʹgeʻ īʹeʼ
thither will thou I go, there where our lodge stands.” Now, it is said, did they two start. With difficulty he walked
soʼʹdjĭʻ oʼgoñwaĕⁿyăʹgĕⁿʼt tchi-haʻnĕⁿʻwăsʹʻh ĕⁿʼ neʼʹhoʻ.
too much did they him torment while he abode in his wife’s lodge there.
Dāʹ neʼʹhoʻ hoñsăʻhnīʹyoⁿʼ hĕⁿʹoñweʻ ganyodāʹeʼ. Oʹnĕⁿʻ wăʼāʹgĕⁿʼ neʻʹ yeksăʼʹ gōwā, “Hauʼʹ, gāʹoʼ
So there thither they two arrived there where it lake is. Now did she it say the she maiden, “Come, thither
dāʹset dagiyăʼdageʹʻhă, īsʹ näⁿʹgäⁿ sogwăʻdisʹgōwā syāʹsoⁿ.”
hither do thou come do thou us two aid, thou this, is blood sucker great thou art called.”
Neʼʹgwā neʻʹ neʼʹhoʻ dyĕñgwăʻʹ-se ganyodäʹʻhĕⁿ dawadoʼʹdaĕñʼ. Dăʼdjiăʹsʻhoñ neʼʹhoʻ oʼgāʹyoⁿʼ
That just the there suddenly it lake-middle thence (it) waves arose. Soon just there did it arrive
hĕⁿʹoñweʻ dēʹʻnit. Dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ wăʼāʹgĕⁿʼ, “Hauʼʹ, dagiyăʼʹdăgeʻhă neʼʹ neʻʹ oñgiʹdĕñstʻheʼt neʼʹ
there where they two stood. So now did she it say, “Come, do thou us two aid that the I poor am made that
näⁿʹgäⁿ deyagyaʹdĭʻ neʻʹ Dooäʼdanēʹgĕⁿʼ hayāʹsoⁿ, hoʻsĕñnăoñʹgăʼt neʼʹhoʻ. Dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ diqʹ
this, is one-I are one the “Two Feathers Together” he is called, his name famous (is) indeed. So now too
ĕⁿyagyadäʹdĕⁿʼ. Dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ, oʹnĕⁿʻ neʼʹhoʻ hoʼsadōʹgĕⁿt hĕⁿʹoñweʻ nidyoñgyăʻdĕñʹdyoñ.”
will we two mount. So now, now there hither do thou steer for there where there we two started from.”
Dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ, giʼʹoⁿʻ, deʼaonisʹʻheʼoⁿ oʹnĕⁿʻ oʼtgayaʻʹyăʼk. Oʹnĕⁿʻ nāʹeʻ oʼdyoñdĕⁿnoñʹnyoñʼ, “Niyāʹwĕⁿ,”
So now, it is said, not long after now did it cross over. Now verily did she thanks give, “I am thankful,”
wăʼāʹgĕⁿʼ, “Oʼtgonoñʹnyoñʼ oʼsgiyăʼdăgeʹʻhă&mlap os;. Dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ tchădādwĕñniʹyoʼ.”
did she it say, “Thee-I thank didst thou us two aid. So now again thou art free.”
Dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ nāʹeʻ neʻʹ deyāʹdĭʻ oʹnĕⁿʻ neʼʹhoʻ oñsāʹneʼ hĕⁿʹoñweʻ tʼhoñnăʻdĕñʹdyoñ.
So now verily the they two one (are) now there again they two went there where there they started.
Doskĕñoⁿʹsʻhoñ oñsāʹneʼ heʻʹ tganoⁿʹsot oʹnĕⁿʻ nāʹeʻ hoñnatʻhonʹdeʼ tʻhasdaʻʹhăʼ neʻʹ
Nearby-just again they two were going where there it lodge stands now verily they it heard there he weeps the
honoʼʹsĕⁿ hodĕñʹnot-khoʻ, hāʹdoⁿ, “Hiwâⁿʹdĕⁿʼ, hiwâⁿʹdĕⁿʼ, hiwâⁿʹdĕⁿʼ, wăsʹʻhĕⁿ nĕⁿyogĕnhâⁿʹgek oʹnĕⁿʻ
his uncle he sings-and he keeps saying, “Oh, nephew, oh, nephew, oh, nephew, ten will it seasons number now
ĕⁿwagadăʻdăgwăʻʹ dĕⁿʼ, wăsʹʻhĕⁿ nĕⁿyogĕnhâⁿʹgek oʹnĕⁿʻ ĕⁿwagadăʻdăgwăʻʹ dĕⁿʼ, hāʹgīʻ, giʼʹ.” Dāʹ neʼʹhoʻ
will I it cease, ten will it seasons number now will I it cease, alas, indeed.” So there
wanīʹyoⁿʼ neʼʹ neʻʹ hadadedjisdäoñʹtwăs honoĕñʼgĕñʹyat. Daāgawĭsōʹdjĕn gĕⁿsʹ neʼʹhoʻ
they two entered that the he himself coals cast on his head top of. He would dip a paddle-ful usually there
wäoñtʹʻhoʼ honoʼĕñgĕñʹyat. Oʹnĕⁿʻ nāʹeʻ hohĕⁿʻdjiʼädēʹgĕⁿ nāʹeʻ deʼʹdjōʼ neʻʹ honoʼʹsĕⁿ. Agwasʹ
did he it pour his head top of. Now verily he it scorched has verily not it is left the his uncle. Very
hăʼnigoⁿgwĕⁿʹdāʼ.
his mind was downcast.
Neʼʹgwāʹ neʻʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ saāʹyoⁿʼ neʻʹ hĕⁿwâⁿdĕⁿʼʹsʻhä&mlap os; oʹnĕⁿʻ wāāʹgĕⁿʼ heniyoʼʹdäⁿ. “Oʹnĕⁿʻ
That just the now again he returned the his nephewship now did she it say so it is. “Now
sāʹgyoⁿʼ hagnoʼʹsĕⁿ,” waiʹĕñʼ neʻʹ Dooäʼdanēʹgĕⁿʼ. Dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ nāʹeʻ dăʼaiⁿniʹʻhĕñʼ
again I have returned oh, my uncle,” did she it say the “Two Feathers Together.” So now verily not he it ceased
neʻʹ hagĕⁿʹdjĭ. Agwasʹ gwāʹ woōyeʹnâⁿʼ, waiʹĕñʼ, “Oʹnĕⁿʻ waiʻʹ sāʹgyoⁿʼ hagnoʼʹsĕⁿ. Iʼʹ
the he old man. Very just did he him seized, did he it say, “Now truly again I have returned oh, my uncle. I
niʹgĕⁿʼ sāʹgyoⁿʼ neʼʹ neʻʹ Dooäʼdanēʹgĕⁿʼ gyāʹsoⁿ.”
so it is, again I have returned that the “Two Feathers Together.” I am called.”
Dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ, giʼʹoⁿʻ, saoyĕñʹdeʼ neʻʹ hauñwâⁿʹdĕⁿʼ oʹnĕⁿ, diqʹ waiʹĕñʼ, “Wuʼʹ, Īsʹ neʼʹ giʼʹ. Dāʹ
So now it is said, again he him knew the his nephew now too did he it say, “Wuʼʹ, Thou that indeed. So
niyāʹwĕⁿ diqʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ săʹcyoⁿʼ. Dāʹ oʹnĕⁿʻ diqʹ sĕñnoⁿʹ-sʻhoñ oyăʼʹdjĭ hăⁿtcʹheʼ.
I am thankful too now again thou hast returned. So now too thou do not-just other place hence wilt thou go.
Ĕⁿdwĕñʼdyoñʹdăʼk-s&tcom ma;hoñ. Neʼʹsʻhoñ doskĕñoⁿʻʹsʻhoñ ĕⁿsadowäsʹʻhek. Neʼʹ waiʻʹ gaioñʻniʻ oʹnĕⁿʻ tʻhoʹhă
Will we remain-just. That-only nearby-only wilt thou to hunt use. That truly it it makes now almost
ĕⁿyoñdeʼʹdoñʼ neʻʹhoʻ, huiʹgĕñ dōʹgĕⁿs yeneʹoⁿ neʼʹ yegowāʹnĕñ.”
will she give birth in fact, that is certain she is enciente that she, elder one.”
Dāʹ neʼʹhoʻ niyawĕⁿʼʹoⁿ neʻʹ Dooäʼdanēʹgĕⁿʼ hoiʻwăʼʹgeʻ.
So thus (there) so it came to pass the “Two Feathers” his story.
Dāʹ neʼʹhoʻ nigagāʹis.
So (thus) there so it story long (is).
NOTES
1. Son of the Whirlwind. This “Son” married a daughter of man, showing
the belief that the sons of the gods marry the daughters of men. The
Being represents the evil side of the Whirlwind, while Sʻhagodiyowe
represents the beneficent side.
2. An exclamation of contempt.
3. A device of cannibalistic personages in myth tales. Compare story of
Sʻhagowenotʻha, p. 705.
4. It is plain that this story is made up of incidents common to
several other stories; for example, the reference to the robe of eyes,
and this metamorphosis into animals.
5. These guardians of the pathway to the Lodge of the Seven Sisters
also appear in other recitals; for example, in those describing the
alleged journey of the human soul to the Land of Souls. These obstacles
are, first, the Pine or other variety of tree having leaves or
thorn-like points charged with deadly venom; second, the two
Rattlesnakes or other monsters; third, the two Sʻhagodiyoweqgowa or
Benign Wind Gods (erroneously introduced in this category of malign
creatures); fourth, the two Blue Herons; and fifth, the inflated entire
skin of a human being, usually placed on a platform, to watch for
strangers. These wonder animals, creatures of fear and ignorance, bar
the way to some goal—to success—and test the spirit of him who seeks to
attain some desired end.
6. The reference to the wampum belt is in all probability a modern
touch, since there is no available evidence that wampum belts are
prehistoric.
7. The race of Whirlwind Man-Beings.
8. In the older time it was a common belief that these vermin were
always found in the medicine pouch or chest of a sorcerer.
9. It is alleged that this was a characteristic device of witches and
wizards for the purpose of rendering themselves immune from death;
sometimes they were concealed under a pet duck’s wing.
10. It was a common Seneca and Iroquoian belief that the Thunder Man
and his sons fed on the flesh of serpents.
11. The Skunk.
12. The Porcupine.
13. The Buffalo.
14. The Rattlesnake.
15. Black Face, a descriptive epithet in mythic lore applied to the
rattlesnake.
16. The public assembly lodge, or lodge of public meetings or councils.
In the literature relating to the Iroquois, the word “long-house”
generally designates this lodge. It never denoted the League or
Federation.
17. A dwarf man or pigmy.
18. The Great Mythic Bear Monster.
19. The Wind Man-Being.
19a. The expression, “one rib,” is intended to signify that there was
only a single rib on each side, broad enough to occupy the space
usually filled by the ordinary number of ribs in an animal body, in the
carcass of this mysterious being. The same statement is also made of
the Ganiagwaiʻhegōwa, the Monster Bear.
19b. This sentence is a very clear statement of the native Seneca
belief that the life of the animal world is something different from
the body of the flesh and blood and bones. The same belief is expressed
in other stories, especially in that of the child adopted by the Bear
Mother.
20. The Great Crow, or the Man-Being Crow.
21. The Follower (?).
22. “Stone Skin,” commonly called Stone Coat. Cf. characterization of
the stories in the Introduction.
23. Her magic power or potency.
24. This peculiar finger appears in most stories concerning the
so-called Stone Coats, Stone Giants, or Stone Skinned Beings.
24a. This is paralleled by the story in the Odyssey about the skins of
the cows of the Sun-god becoming alive. These had been killed by the
sailors of Odysseus, although he had forbade such an act.
25. This is also a Tuscarora story.
26. Blackbird, or the Man-Being Blackbird.
27. The Robin, or the Man-Being of that name.
28. The Sparrow.
29. This is in modern usage the Iroquoian name of the Christian devil;
it means “dweller in the soil,” i.e., under the surface of the ground.
30. Grasshopper.
31. A similar stratagem is employed in No. 10. Others appear in this
story.
32. This is the native Iroquoian name of the Meteor or Firedragon and
the Man-Being of this name; it signifies the traveling torch or light.
33. She who deceives as a habit.
34. She who thrusts into apertures.
35. Literally, The Shingled-Haired Female.
36. This alleged feat of disgorging quantities of wampum was one
essayed by all budding sorcerers while spending their honeymoons in the
lodges of their parents-in-law. Failure to do this task inevitably
stamped the luckless pretender as a fraud and weakling, in so far as
the arts of the wizard are concerned.
37. The living and inflated human skin, flayed entire, serving as a
guardian or watchman for its owners and the strawberry patch, appears
in a number of other recitals. In this story such a skin of a man bears
the name Hadjoqda.
38. The circumstances mentioned in this statement are not peculiar to
this story; with a change of names they appear in other stories. In
this paragraph, cannibalism is described as a habit of certain wizards.
Human flesh is preferred to that of elk, which are here a pest.
39. This is the literal meaning of the Seneca term. The original
personage was probably the Wolf Man-Being. But the hero and Hadjoqda
and the grandmother were Turkey people, while the others were Quail and
Partridge people.
40. Tradition relates that Hatʻhondas remained at the home of his
sister during the following winter and that during this time he was
visited by a stranger, who advised him to attend the great New Year
festival, at which one or more white dogs are immolated, not as a
sacrifice, as some report, but only as messengers to bear the
thanksgivings of the entire people to the Master of Life for the rich
gifts of life and welfare; he was further advised to walk around the
“new fires,” as ritually prescribed for persons suffering from the evil
effects of enchantment. This advice he followed, but he received no
immediate relief. As spring came, however, his sister was able to draw
out the bark dart from his spine, and Hatʻhondas at once recovered from
the malign influence of the evil spell cast upon him by Tehdoonh Oisʻha
(i.e., Woodchuck Its-Leggings), or, in the meaning of the tale,
The-Little-Old-Man-With-The-Woodchuck-Leggings, who was in collusion
with the notorious Great Witch to destroy this young man.
Tradition further says that on the first day Hatʻhondas heard the
clarion notes of the blue jay, Cyanocitta cristata (Dihdih); on the
second day the gleeful notes of spring made by the robin, Merula
migratoria (Djoñiaik); on the third day the notes of the chickadee,
Parus atricapillus (?Djidjoñkʹʻhwĕⁿʼ); and, on the fourth day, the
drumming of the partridge, Bonasa umbellus (Djoqkweʹʼiăniʼ). These
facts are interesting because it is said that the women came seeking
Hatʻhondas in the spring of the year; with his friends he followed the
women two days after their departure.
The people who shot at the eagle perched on the top of the tall hickory
tree went home before the beginning of the following winter. Such tests
of orenda or magic power following the acceptance of the challenge of
some great sorcerer or witch often lasted several months, and sometimes
were renewed in later years. The narrative relates that Hatʻhondas shot
the eagle by shooting through the lodge’s smoke hole. The old woman in
the lodge asked him to desist after he had made two attempts, saying,
“That will do for a while.” It is also said that when Hatʻhondas parted
from his uncle, Dooeʼdanegĕⁿʼ, the uncle told him that in the event
anything evil befell him the uncle would know it by the sky in the west
becoming red. See also Note 44.
41. This precaution was regarded as necessary in order to avoid being
made the victim of a spell, the “tobacco” used being medicated.
42. He-who-has-two-feathers-set-side-by-side. This is a man’s name.
43. It was customary for women who went to make proposals of marriage
to take with them loaves of corn bread of a specified form, prepared
from pounded corn meal and boiled, wrapped in corn husks; the form of
the loaves resembled modern dumb-bells.
The name Hatʻhondas, in which th do not form a digraph, may be more
correctly written Hatʻhondās; it is a modified form of the combination
Hatʻhonʻdāts, “He holds out his ear customarily.” As a name it
signifies, “The Listener,” and “The Obedient One.”
The name Dooehdanegen may be more correctly written Dooeʼdănēʹgĕⁿʼ; as
an appellative it signifies, “He who has two feathers placed side by
side,” or as a statement, “He has placed two feathers side by side.”
Dooehdanegen having a presentiment that a well-known witch, for the
purpose of attempting the destruction of his nephew, was about to make
a proposal of marriage between her youngest daughter and his nephew who
had been under his tutelage and protection since his nephew’s birth for
the purpose of teaching him the family medicines and orenda or magic
power of their fetishes, sent his nephew to the ravine to listen for
any premonitory sounds of the approaching messengers from the great
witch, since it was a custom to chant on the way words declarative of
their mission.
Dooehdanegen smoked not only tobacco but also potent medicines mixed
therewith, whose orenda or magic power was designed to thwart the
malign influences emanating from the great witch which had for their
object the destruction of Dooehdanegen and Hatʻhondas, for the old
uncle was the sole surviving custodian of the medicines and fetishes of
his ohwachira or blood kin, and was therefore solicitous of the safety
of his nephew until after reaching the age of puberty, when he could
demonstrate his ability to employ them fortified by his own inherent
orenda.
44. De LaMothe Cadillac (ca. 1703), in speaking of the tribes in the
neighborhood of “Missilimakinak et Pays Situés au dela,” writes that at
the feasts held periodically for the propitiation of the names of the
dead of the entire community they erect a cabin about 120 feet in
length of pieces of bark which are new and which have not been used
before for any other purpose; at either end of the structure they set a
pole, and another, exceeding these in height, in the middle; these
poles are greased, oiled, and painted; and at the top end of each is
fixed a prize, which belongs to the first who can reach and seize it
with the hand. (Margry, Découv., V, 104, 1883.) A similar erection of a
pole, which was greased and which held a prize at its top, is mentioned
in an account of a feast for the dead held by the Nipissings, Hurons,
and the Chippewa in 1642. (Jesuit Relations for 1642, 95, ed. 1858.) It
was on the top of a similar pole that the eagle was perched at which
Hatʻhondas was required to shoot to test his orenda or magic power.
45. Partridge.
46. This is a statement of the Iroquoian common law which placed the
value of a woman’s life, in case of murder, at twice that of a man.
47. This is a ritualistic phrase which is a summary of the statement
that there are grades of beings classified spatially; i.e., some live
and work below the surface of the earth, others on its surface, others
in the waters, others among the grasses and weeds and low shrubs,
others among the bushes and taller shrubs, others among the trees,
others in the air and winds, others in the clouds, and still others in
the sky where stands the lodge of the Master of Life.
48. In this story the following native words occur: Yegondji, meaning
the eldest woman, or the mother; Awaeh, the Swan; Donyonda, the Eagle;
Doendjowens, the Earth Cleaver; Tagonsowes, He, the Long-faced; and
Ohohwa, the Owl.
49. The Dwarf Human Being.
50. This story is an extravaganza.
51. Ooⁿʻdawiyo is the Seneca word.
52. This taboo of certain regions, places, directions, and times, is
clearly based on the well-known doctrine of tribal men that the
jurisdiction or sphere of action of the spirits or the nonhuman
beings—daimons, divine messengers, and gods—was limited to specific
places, regions, and times; tribal men habitually do not think in the
universal terms of modern thinking in the more intensively cultured
circles.
53. The words “nephew” and “uncle” in story-telling do not always
denote real kinship or relationship by affinity or consanguinity, but
rather a male person living in the same neighborhood with another who
is “uncle” or “nephew” according to relative age. The neighborhood
usually includes all accessible territory. This statement is true of
Iroquoian reciters and, perhaps, others.
54. The dice man, the ball man, and the ice pond man occur in other
stories, just as the use of the horn in the second preceding paragraph
is not unusual.
55. This is not an uncommon incident which is taken from the myth of
the beginnings and is there represented as the work of a
personification of one of the months, which are presented as 13
man-beings.
56. The signification of the two names in the title is respectively,
“He, the last or the remaining one,” and “She, the planter.”
57. Mush-eater.
58. Spotted.
59. A young hunter must not eat the first bird or animal he killed;
this was one of the first taboos learned by the youth.
60. Redbreast.
61. The Wild Pigeon.
62. Striped Rump.
63. Skin-headed (?).
64. Pendent Snout.
65. Having a tassel of pine leaves.
66. The Raccoon.
67. He who has a great headdress; i.e., antlers.
68. The Cloven-hoofed Ones.
69. The Buck = the Great-Horned-One.
70. The Large-footed Man, the Bear.
71. The Bear.
72. The Angleworm (?).
73. The Snipe.
74. The Chipmunk.
75. The Heron.
76. Long-snouted One.
77. Long-Upper-Eyelids.
78. The Netmaker = the Spider.
79. This is a proper name.
80. The nephew of Spider.
81. In the details of cannibalism in this and the other paragraphs of
this story there is no protest against the eating of human flesh; this
is probably a reflex of the attitude toward this abominable practice.
82. The three native terms are the descriptive epithet which was
applied to a cruel old wizard who was a cannibal; they signify,
“He-puts-them-on-an-island-habitually Potato-Duck or Tuber-Duck.” This
species of duck was enslaved by him.
83. The two native words together signify, “He is a man-eater,” hence,
a cannibal.
84. This deliberation in torturing a victim was characteristic also of
the burning of war prisoners; the latter being fed and cared for and
rested lest they should die too soon and so deprive the ceremony of its
sacrificial character and the company of full satisfaction at seeing an
enemy suffer.
85. This is the hell-diver, as some say, or the mudhen, as others say.
86. This term means simply “Great Duck.”
87. Canada Wild Goose.
88. The Great Blue Lizard, a mythical animal, which probably arose from
describing an ordinary lizard in terms of the alligator.
89. The Humming Bird.
90. This is another mythical animal, which appears under various forms
in different stories.
91. This is the common name of the meteor, the so-called firedragon;
but as a Man-Being, the meteor endowed with human life and faculties,
it is prominent in many stories.
92. The original meaning of this term is “He is master or controller or
ruler of it”; i.e., any object of conversation. It is now a name of the
God of the Christian Church, and so is applied here to the one whom the
earlier story-tellers would have called ‘Teʻharoⁿʻhiawăʹʼgoⁿʼ’, the
Master of Life.
93. This native term at present is applied to the imported idea,
“devil,” which was quite foreign to the thinking of the early Seneca.
It is also the name of the muckworm.
94. This native term is an epithet applied to a mythical character well
known in story-telling. It signifies “The Trickster,” or, more
literally, “He who abuses people by craft often.” Cf. Note 155.
95. This long epithet signifies, “He is the ruler” or “the chief
personage.”
96. The Rattlesnake.
97. The Large Woodpecker.
98. The Locust, literally, “Corn-ripener.”
99. The Crow.
100. The Large Owl.
101. The Vulture (?), or other high-flying, large, half-mythical bird.
102. The Great Bumblebee.
103. The Winged Ant.
104. Phebe (?) Bird; some say, the Gull.
105. The Speaker or Preacher and the Definer or Interpreter.
106. This paragraph shows that even trees and shrubs were endowed with
human speech.
107. This is a vague statement of the change held to be needful in the
human body before it can enter the realm of the departed—of those who
have died.
108. See preceding note.
109. The Master of Life.
110. In this and the immediately preceding paragraphs are stated some
ideas concerning the world of the departed—heaven.
111. There are a number of other tales in which these ideas are set
forth in slightly varied form.
112. The Speaker and the Interpreter, as already explained in the
title.
113. This is the Man-Being represented by the husk mask in various
forms.
114. The Stone Coats are the Genonsgwa, which are a class of beings
developed from the conception of the Winter God, Tawiskaron, of the
Iroquoian genesis myth.
115. This paragraph shows plainly a reminiscence of the defeat of the
forces of Winter by the powers of the Spring, evidenced in the thawing
and sweating of ice and snow banks.
116. This description of the Whirlwind applies well to the wooden masks
which represent the Wind Powers.
117. This statement emphasizes the constant taboo against women seeing
or touching the utensils and implements and medicines which belong
strictly to the activities of the men.
118. In story-telling the white deer is ever endowed with superior
orenda or magic power.
119. The devices employed in this and the several following paragraphs
for deceiving pursuing enemies are not peculiar to this story.
120. The Toad.
121. The Crow.
122. The Fox.
123. These birds were the great ancestral Man-Beings of a mythic past
cosmic age; a study of the language of this paragraph shows this to be
a statement of the action of great nature forces. The next three
paragraphs will bear out this remark. Blood is obtained from a mythic
cornstalk.
124. Here the singing of the birds is made the sign of the exercise of
the orenda of these animals to bring about Springtime; and this orenda
is declared to be efficacious.
125. Here again singing is made the evidence that these so-called
animals are exercising their powers, but these powers are the
life-giving activities of nature.
126. This injunction is still observed among the medicine priests of
the Iroquoian peoples.
127. This is the name of the Evil Trickster, whose delight is to abuse
and to deceive innocent people. Compare note 94.
128. The Yellow Hammer or Yaril.
129. This statement of the leaving of a trail in the air by arrows and
by persons who are aided by such arrows probably refers to the sun’s
rays coming from behind broken clouds in the morning or evening.
130. See preceding note.
131. This indicates belief in transmission of thought.
132. Cannibalism taken for granted.
133. In this sentence there appears one of the Wind Goddesses.
134. In many stories this use of boiling oil to destroy monsters
appears; hot oil or grease was probably the hottest common thing known.
135. Doonongaes for Doonăʼʹgāes signifies “He has two long horns,” or
“His two horns are long,” or, as appellative, “The one whose horns are
long,” but restricted by the pronominal affix to persons of the male
sex.
One of the most firmly held beliefs of the Seneca and other Iroquoian
peoples was that there is a species of serpent of monstrous size,
having horns like a buck, which dwells in the depths of deep rivers and
lakes and springs of water, and which comes on land for its prey and
also to bask in the sunshine. It may be suggested that such a peculiar
notion may have been derived from noting the hornlike fixtures on which
the eyes of the snail are fixed. The poetic license of legend would, of
course, exaggerate these details. This inference is strengthened by the
circumstances mentioned in this story that Doonongaes stole a lodge by
bearing it away on his horns; the snail in somewhat similar fashion
bears its shell along. The common Iroquoian name for the snail is
onoⁿʻsăgeʹʻteʼ, i.e., “It bears a lodge along by means of the
forehead-strap.” Doonongaes was a reptile that haunted “Long Lake,” and
was probably a water moccasin.
But this reptile should not be confounded with the so-called
firedragons or meteors which were believed to dwell also in the deepest
portions of lakes and rivers; these were known under the name
Gaasyendietʻha by the Seneca and other northern Iroquoian dialects; the
Tuscarora name is kahăstiʹnĕⁿs, a corrupt form of the Mohawk word,
Kăhăserīʹneʼs, “It-light-goes-about-habitually.”
These firedragons (i.e., the meteors of nature) were forced by an
inflexible spell or enchantment, exercised by the orenda or magic power
of the God of Life, to remain in these watery depths because the
shedding of sparks of fire and lambent flames by their bodies would
otherwise set the world on fire were they permitted to dwell out of the
water for any great length of time, so they are permitted only to fly
from one deep river or lake to another through the air.
These mythical horned serpents were reputed to have the power to assume
the human form and faculties and sometimes even to marry among men, and
so they form the burden of many weird tales and stories which are told
around the fires of the lodge during the winter season. This
circumstance, so it is said, gave rise to the custom of telling legends
only during the winter months, for the reason that these reptiles, like
the natural serpent, hibernated during the winter months and so could
not overhear what might be said about them in these legends. Thus
legends become in some measure “sacred,” or what is the same thing,
“tabooed,” within limits.
These mythical serpents were reputed to have been endowed with most
potent orenda or magical power which was usually inimical to human
welfare. So great was this imputed potency that at times it would even
infect the waters in which these serpents abode, and that water became
an active agent in defense of these serpents when attacked by some
adversary; and so the stories repeat the statement that some hero was
attacked by a flood rising from some body of water in which resided
some such serpent which was the object of the hero’s attack. The flood
usually soon spent itself and did not pursue its adversary far. Such
infected water was reputed to have the power of annihilating whatever
thing it might come in contact with; should it fall upon the leg of an
adversary of its master the leg of the victim would simply disappear.
The Thunder God, Hiʹʼnoⁿʼ, and his sons were regarded as the active
enemies of these and other reptiles. And so in some of the stories are
found accounts of the rescue of some woman or human being from these
mythical serpents. It is even said that these serpents serve as a part
of the food of the Thunder Man-beings. But the Thunder Man-Beings had
but little power to attack these reputed serpent monsters below the
surface of the water, i.e., outside of their jurisdiction. It is said
that these monsters stood in great fear of the Thunder Man-beings, and
when the serpents were out of the water, i.e., out of their
jurisdiction, basking in the sunshine on the shore, and heard in the
horizon the voice of Hiʹʼnoⁿʼ, the Thunder God, they would lose no time
in seeking safety in the depths of the water.
The firedragon (i.e., the meteor of nature) was regarded as one of the
most powerful sorcerers known to mankind, but they were not regarded as
persistent foes of the welfare of men. There are tales in which the
firedragon befriended some unfortunate human being from his pursuing
enemies. Like all the fanciful or rather poetic creations of these
legends, the firedragon became multiplied into a large group and some
were reported to have been killed by some very powerful human sorcerer.
136. Ganyodaes for Skăniōʹdaes or Tkăniōʹdaes is a proper name. The
prefixed s-sound has an intensive force that is characteristic of
descriptive appellatives; it denotes a marked degree of the quality or
property named by the adjective or a noteworthy proficiency in the
action stated by some verbs; with nouns it connotes the meanings,
“large,” “important,” or “noted.” Hence, Skăniōʹdaes signifies, “It is
a very long lake,” or idiomatically, “It is the well-known long lake.”
The prefixed t-sound in Tkăniōʹdaes is the affix t or ti of remote
place, meaning approximately, “there,” “yonder,” and it is applied to
sentence words of the second and third persons. So Tkăniōʹdaes means,
literally, “There it-lake long (is),” or freely, “There where the long
lake (is).”
137. Skahnowa is correctly written Skăʼnōʹwā, which is not the usual
Seneca form of the name. Hăʼnōʹwā is the customary form of this word
denoting the turtle. But the text form is that employed in proper
names. The initial s-sound is an intensive affix which is explained in
note 136. The following kă is the zoic pronominal affix of the singular
third person, meaning, “it” or “its.” And -ʼnōwā is the noun stem,
denoting “the carapace of the turtle.” The whole means, “Its carapace
(is) very great,” freely, “It is the-great-turtle.” The initial hă of
the customary form is the anthropic pronominal affix of the singular
masculine third person, meaning “he.”
138. In story and tradition the fungus growing on trees and rocks was a
favorite substance with which those who sought to deceive intended
victims, in the matter of food, prepared dishes inviting to the eye but
deadly when eaten. Puffballs, mushrooms, and lichens, especially
Umbilicaria arctica, or rock tripe (i.e., the tripe de roche of the
French voyageurs) were not infrequently made into stews and soups for
food, and so they readily lent themselves as a means of deception of
the unwary.
139. Djidjoʹgwen, correctly written Djidjōʹgwĕⁿʼ, or as pronounced by
some, Djidjōñʹkʻhwĕⁿʼ, is the fishhawk or osprey, Pandion haliaetus.
The Seneca term is apparently a compressed form of a sentence word
meaning, “What habitually takes fish out of the water.”
140. A “gift in payment” is required because the magic power of the
thief has been overcome by the wronged individual and the life of the
culprit is forfeited to him.
141. Dediosteniagon, correctly written Dediioʻstĕñniăʹʼgoⁿ, is a name
of the Seneca for Wolf Run, New York. The name signifies literally
“There in-two it-it rock has broken,” and is a common descriptive
appellation of rock cliffs or steep precipices or deep chasms of broken
rocks.
142. The Seneca, like all the other Iroquoian peoples, apply the term
oñʹgweʻ, “man,” “human being,” not only to human beings like themselves
but also to such beings as arise from the personification of the
phenomena of nature and life which assume the form and faculties and
activities of human beings. It was a habit of these languages to
qualify this term oñʹgweʻ by the adjective oñʹweʻ, meaning “native,
original, true, natural,” to distinguish the real human beings from the
creations of their poetic fancy; and upon the advent of trans-Atlantic
peoples the term oñgweʹʻoñweʻ remained to distinguish the Indian man
from the newcomer.
143. See Note 138.
144. The word “opening” is a literal rendering of the Seneca for a
“clearing” surrounding a lodge or village; in formal or ceremonial
language it is sometimes used for “village” or “settlement.”
145. The meaning of the Seneca words of this song is, “Now, the game
animal has come in to visit us”; a cannibalistic reference.
146. The correct written form of Gaintho is Gāĕñʹtʻhoʻ; it signifies,
“Let the wind cease blowing,” “Let there be a calm.”
147. The correct form of “Hwu” is hwuʹʼ; it is an exclamation
indicating that the act of a sorcerer is recognized in whatever may
have taken place, expressing surprise at the power exhibited.
148. The name Gwidogwido, correctly written Gwidōʹgwidoʼ, is an
onomatopoetic word, designating the flicker, highholder, or
golden-winged woodpecker (Colaptes auratus).
149. The word Djihonsdonqgwen, correctly written Djiʼhoⁿsdoñʹʻgwĕⁿʼ, is
the Seneca name for the ant or emmet.
150. The word Djoñiaik, correctly written Djoñʹiaik, is the Seneca name
of the robin redbreast (Merula migratoria). In the story it is called
by the epithet of the “Laughing Man,” which refers to a certain series
of notes of this bird, which resemble exultant laughter among men.
151. This reference to the use of the pipe calls attention to a
well-known habit of reputed sorcerers of smoking in order to gain
immunity from the apprehended spell or enchantment in the presence of
strangers. Every sorcerer of any repute prepared his tobacco with magic
herbs which were supposed to protect him from any malign influence
which might be exercised by a visitor or visitors. Hence the custom of
smoking when about to hear some startling information.
152. The expression “hindered by the lake” is a veiled reference to the
fact that this lake, or rather its waters, had been charged with magic
power or orenda to defend its owner. The particular method by which
this orenda or magic power accomplished this object was by rendering
its victims unconscious, as the epithet, Ganigonhadontha Ganiodae
(i.e., Găʼnigoⁿʻäʻdoⁿʼʹtʻhăʼ Ganiōʹdaeʼ), meaning, “It it-mind
to-be-lost causes,” or the “delirium-causing” lake, indicates. Thus,
the haunts of the allies of sorcerers were usually made impenetrable to
persons who possessed a lesser measure of orenda or magic power.
153. The name Ganiagwaihegowa, written Niāʼgwaiʼhegōwā, or correctly
Ganiăʼgwaiʹhegōwa, is the name of a mythic monster which was described
as a huge bear, being vulnerable only in the soles of its forefeet;
keen of scent, it never allowed anything to escape that crossed its
circular track or path; it was represented as hairless except as to its
tail, and that it had over its forequarters a large ridge or fold of
flesh. These characteristics sufficed to make this fanciful creature a
source of abject terror. Its reputed form may have been due to a
confusion of buffalo form and that of a grizzly bear. The meaning of
the sentence here is that this monster was one of the animal fetishes
of the speaker. The final -gōwā, meaning “large, great,” signifies here
“the well-known” or “the noted,” bear monster.
154. The word Hasʻhonyot, correctly written Hasʻhoñʹʼiot, is an
epithet, meaning “His back stands out, is protuberant,” which is
applied by story-tellers to the crawfish or lobster because its back
ever seems turned toward the observer. The name Odjieqdah, correctly
written Odjiʼeʹʻdăʼ, is the common designation of the lobster or
crawfish and crab; the word signifies “The claw.”
155. The word Sʻhodieonskon, correctly written Sʻhodieʹoⁿskoⁿʼ, is the
name of a fanciful creature who went about playing tricks on all kinds
of people. He was reputed to be a brother of Death. He was in fact the
God of Mischief.
156. The word sentence Hasdeaundyetʻha, correctly written
Hăsdeauñdiēʹtʻhăʼ, is an epithet applied to Hiʹʼnoⁿʼ, the Thunderer,
and signifies “He it to rain causes,” or the Rainmaker. But here it may
possibly refer to a species of worm which bears this name.
157. The expression or epithet, “Complete power,” does not in the least
convey the idea of a single overruling Being, but rather of a Being who
possessed such exceptional power as to require no outside aid in
accomplishing his purposes. In this Bloodsucker episode there is a
touch of the extravaganza in story-telling.
158. The Seneca words signify “Now, it has returned, that by which he
lives; so now again he shall stand upon the earth.”
159. The expression “blew into the mouth” indicates how closely life
and breath were connected in the minds of the story-telling ancestors
of the Seneca.
160. The expression “of stone” is probably an exaggeration of the clay
or mud shelters of the crawfish or lobster.
161. See Note 149.
162. The expression “end of the earth” evidently can mean the horizon
only; it could not mean aught else here. This expression perhaps
strengthened the tendency to belief in a limited earth. And this is,
too, a good example of the reification of an illusion.
163. The word Tsodiqgwadon, correctly written Tsodĭqʹgwãdoⁿʼ, is the
name of a species of copperhead snake.
164. The question to be decided with all sorcerers is that of the
potency of the orenda or magic power possessed by them.
165. The reference here is to the implied challenge in the contest just
ended with the life of the loser as the conceded prize of the winner.
So Doonongaes having lost in the test of the power of his orenda must
make, if possible, composition for his life with his vanquisher.
166. This struggle continuing “day and night for one month” is probably
a reference to the fact that the moon once a month waxes and wanes and
yet is not overcome or destroyed.
167. The expression “people of orenda, or magic power,” signifies that
these are people who make a business of sorcery, and so the line should
begin, “We sorcerers,” etc.
168. The word Dagwanoenyent, correctly written Dagwanoʼĕñʹiĕn, is the
name of the Cyclone as a personified thing. The name seems to refer to
the habit of cyclones to hurl things against the heads of people. The
term means apparently, “What habitually hits or knocks our heads.”
169. This term “Niagwaihe” is evidently an error for the full form
“Ganiagwaihegowa.” See Note 153.
170. The word Djainosgowa, correctly written Djaiʹnosgōwā, is the name
of a more or less fanciful creature. It probably received its
characteristics from hearsay reports of the alligator which were
transferred to the fence lizard, or swift. The native interpreters
usually translate the word by the words “blue lizard.” In story and
legend it is a most ferocious antagonist, because of its reputed
invulnerability. The final two syllables, gōwā, signify “large, great,”
while the remainder of the word means, “lizard,” so that literally the
combination signifies, “The Great Lizard,” and in legend, “The
Monstrous Lizard.”
171. The reference here to the power of “becoming alive again” very
probably rests on the hibernating habits of reptiles, shedding their
skins, indicating change of bodies.
172. The word Hanondon, correctly written Hanonʹdoⁿ, is the ordinary
Seneca name for the water snake, probably the Tropidonotus sipedon.
173. The word Hawiqson(t), correctly written Hawiqʹson, is the common
Seneca and Iroquoian name of the milk snake, Ophibolus doliatus.
174. The word Gasaisdowanen, correctly written Gasʻhaisʹdowănĕⁿ, is the
name of a large serpent in Iroquoian mythic lore. The name signifies,
“It-serpent great (is),” or “The Great Serpent.”
175. Diagoisiowanens, correctly written Diagoiʻcioʹwănĕⁿs, is a
descriptive epithet applied as an appellative to the meadow lark,
signifying, “Her-leggings-large (are),” or “She whose leggings (are)
large.”
176. Hononeowanen, correctly written Honoⁿʼeʹowanĕⁿ, is the name of a
species of snake, probably the copperhead, and signifies,
“His-head-large (is),” or popularly, “Big Head.”
177. One of the dominant notes of these stories is that when one of the
great sorcerers, mentioned so often in them, is cornered, stress of
circumstances force them to resume their true natures; so Doonongaes
must do here.
178. The native word rendered “man” here is the ordinary designation
for “human being.” These deities were classified with the human race of
beings. See note 142.
179. The word Hostoyowanen, correctly written Hostoiōʹwănĕⁿ, is an
epithet used as an appellative noun, descriptive of the buck of the
deer; it signifies, “His headdress large (is),” referring to the crown
of antlers.
180. This statement evidently refers in an exaggerated way to the long
periods of fasting which hibernation enforces on snakes and other
reptiles.
181. The expression Deyenegonsdasden, correctly written
Deyenegoⁿsdăʹsdĕñʼ, is a descriptive appellative which is applied to
the partridge; it signifies, “Her two wings large (are).”
182. The erection and use of a pole in this manner was quite common at
great feasts or holidays. And the great wizards and sorcerers employed
this means, too, for testing the orenda or magic power of visitors and
guests. The statement that this one reached the clouds shows that it
was an adjunct to the means of amusement and of testing out at the same
time the orenda or magic power of those who came seeking the hand of
the Partridge’s daughter. Shooting at an eagle on such a pole is a
common incident in the stories.
183. He sent a woman in order to neutralize the malign infection given
his arrow by being touched by alien wizards.
184. The usual rule among Iroquoian tribes is for the mother or some
other female kin to superintend the marriage of a girl. This may be a
story which has been modified by ideas of father right, or descent in
the male line, possibly adopted from an alien people having this
custom.
185. This reference is to the chief’s lodge.
186. The number 16 is unusual in stories of this character. It was
probably a vague estimate of the size of the earth’s surface—16 days in
one direction from the speaker, roughly a half month.
187. Dedyosdenhon for dedyoʻstĕñʹʼoⁿ was a place name, which signified
“At the place of the fallen rock.”
188. The Partridge people are here represented as weak in sorcery.
189. Deienensowanens for Dienĕⁿsoʹwănĕⁿs signifies “Her shoulders (are)
large or broad.”
190. Deanohdjes for Deanoʹʼdjes is the descriptive name of the walrus;
the term signifies “His two teeth (are) long.”
191. Geia is the generic name for a walrus.
192. The time of one year here apparently refers to the period of
hibernation—the absence from his ordinary home.
193. Nitgendasadieha for Nitgĕñdăʹʼsădieʹʼa signifies “At the narrow
opening or clearing.”
194. The numeral “10” here and in the fourth line above appears to be
simply a round number indicative of a long time.
195. Osigweon for Oʻsiʹgweon is the name of the rattlesnake, and
signifies “What has a (?) spear affixed to it.”
196. The smoke from the pipe would have magically overpowered
Doonongaes, and so it must not arise without protest.
197. Hinon for Hiʹʼnoⁿʼ, one of the oldest names among Iroquoian
peoples for the Thunder Man-Being, was the uncompromising enemy of all
serpents, and was at the same time the especial guardian of mankind.
198. Gendagwen(t) for Gĕñdăʹgwĕn is a place name, signifying “At the
broad or flat clearing or field.” The final t-sound of the original is
elided in modern Seneca pronunciation.
199. The meaning here is not clear, but it would seem to refer to the
fact that a cyclone in a forest embraces in its sweep all manner of
birds.
200. Ganos for gāʹnoʼs is the name of a species of frog.
201. This is a reference to a native notion that the earth was a flat
surface not more than 16 days’ journey from the center to the edge.
202. This number “10” is probably only a round figure denoting a long
time and a difficult journey. Compare Note 194.
203. This number is probably a reflex of the last number mentioned.
Sixteen days were consumed in the outward journey. The use of definite
numbers for these journeys is perhaps an attempt to make unhistorical
dates seem probable.
204. Gaisonhe for Gaiʻsoⁿʹʻheʼ is the daddy-long-legs (harvest-man,
carter, and grand-daddy-long-legs are other names for this insect).
205. Ohohwa ohnoh for Oʼoʹwāʼ Oʹʼnonʼ mean “Owl its arrow.”
206. Odjiʼeqʹdăʼ is the name of the crab and signifies “It (is) the
claw.”
207. Sʻhodieonskon for sʻhodiʹoⁿskoⁿʼ is the name of a mythic character
whose chief activities were to play pranks on all persons. In some
tales he is represented as a brother to Death. See note 155.
208. Odauhdjah for Odauⁿʹdjăʼ is the name of a small white root.
209. Deiehnies for Deieʹʼnies is a proper name signifying
“Her-two-claws-(or hands) (are) long.”
210. This was because her magic power or orenda was overcome by that of
Doonongaes.
211. Dagwennigonhge for Dagwĕⁿʹʼnigoⁿʹʻge is the name of a lizard about
18 inches long; the name signifies “What deceives us,” literally, “What
gives us two minds.”
212. These were cyclones, and the behavior of such phenomena perhaps
gave rise to the epithet cited in Note 168.
213. Hahnyusdais for Haʼniuʻsʹdais is a proper name and denotes “His
upper lip (is) long.”
214. Deagonstwihes for Deagoⁿstwiʹʼes is the name of the lobster, and
signifies “His whiskers (are) long.”
215. Haunhdji for Hauⁿʹʼdji signifies “He (is) black,” possibly
referring to the blacksnake, but the name of the rattlesnake in
disguise is “His face black (is).”
216. This was the epithet applied to the robin who had killed
Doonongaes, taken from its note in flight.
217. Hatkwisʹdowanen for Hatkwisʹdowănĕⁿ is a proper name, signifying
“His belly (is) large.”
218. Hushewathen for Hosʻhewāʹtʻhĕñ is a proper name, signifying “His
paunch is dry.”
219. Every reputable sorcerer possessed a pouch of the entire skin of
some rare beast, in which were kept all his charms, fetishes, and
medicines.
220. Hagondowanen for Hagoⁿʹʼdowănĕⁿ signifies “He whose forehead is
large or high.”
221. These words signify “Now all those animals which are game have
returned,” which has a seasonal reference—return from hibernation.
222. Gonyahsgweont for Goniăʹʼsgweon is the descriptive epithet applied
to the toad, signifying “Her throat is swollen.”
223. Nosgwais for Nosʹgwais is the common name of the toad.
224. The time of sunrise marked, in the belief of the early Iroquois, a
change in the exertion of orenda or magic power; so the flint knife was
withdrawn because the bewitching power was off guard at this
moment—among wizards.
225. Yondekhonyatha Ganondayen for Yondekhoñniaʹtʻha Gananʹdayĕⁿʼ
signifies “They use it for eating It-village-(is).”
226. This expression is not modified or influenced by European thought;
the native conception requires the name of such a power.
227. Stone Coat is the name of a mythic being commonly called by the
Seneca Gĕⁿnoⁿʹʼsgwāʼ. See the Introduction for an explanation.
228. Other instances occur in these stories in which basswood is
employed to overcome individuals of the Stone Coat people.
229. Hinon for Hiʹʼnoⁿʼ is the name of the Thunderer; later in Iroquois
thought there were four who bore this name and who were the foes of all
manner of reptiles and snakes, and the friends of mankind. The word is
singular in form but with a plural implication, according to the
context.
230. These words, correctly written Ogwēʹnioñ dĕⁿkēʹnooñk ganioʹʼsʻhoñ
ĕⁿkeʹgĕⁿʼheioĕñʹdjădeⁿʼ, signify, “It is permitted to scalp a person if
it be so that I will see him here on earth.”
231. Gendagahadenyatha for Gĕⁿʼdagaādeniăʹʼtʻhăʼ is the name of the
common scarabæid beetle, usually called the tumblebug.
232. These Seneca words signify, “It is not possible that I should
scalp you, although I have now, indeed, entered the place where you
abide.”
233. Nanisheʹonon for Neʹ hanisʻheʹonoⁿʼ signifies “He who dwells in
the earth, or in the ground,” and it is the name of the muckworm, the
larva of the scarabæid beetle (Ligyrus relictus). The name being that
applied to the Christian concept of Satan, the story-teller here endows
the larva with the character of Satan, based solely on the etymology of
the term.
234. Deanoʹʼdjes, “He who has two long teeth,” is the name of the
walrus.
235. Haiwanenqgwi for Hāiwăʼnĕⁿʻqʹgwĭʻ is the name of the council
messenger, meaning, “He who sweeps away the affairs.”
236. Gaha Gastende for Gäʹʻhăʼ Tgaʻstĕñʹdeʼ signifies, “Wind Cliff,”
literally, “It-Wind There-It-Rock-Stands.”
237. Gahsgwaa Tgawenot for Gaʼsgwāʹāʼ Tgawēʼnot signifies “It-Rock
There-It-Island-Stands,” or Rock Island.
238. Othegwenhdah Tgawenot for Otʻhägwĕⁿʹʼdăʼ Tgawēʹnot signifies
“It-Chert or Flint It-Island-Stands,” or Flint Island.
239. Oosah Tgawenot for Oōʹsäʼ Tgawēʹnot signifies “It-Basswood
It-Island-Stands,” or Basswood Island.
240. Gaiⁿsoⁿʹheʼ is the name of the daddy-long-legs.
241. Nitgawenosatieha for Nitgawenoⁿʼ satiēʹă signifies “There at the
Narrow Island.”
242. Djinonhsanon for Djinoⁿʹsănoⁿ is the name of the cricket, meaning
literally “Lodge watch or guard.” The name was given because this
insect cries when the lodge or house becomes silent.
243. Tgawenogwen for Tgaweʼnōʹgwĕn is a place name signifying “There,
at the Broad Island.”
244. Onowehda for Oʼnoweʹʻdăʼ is the name of the angleworm.
245. Djisdaah for djisdāʹa is the name of the grasshopper. So that
Djisdaah Tgawenot means “Grasshopper Island.”
246. See note 237.
247. Hoonkgowanen for Hooⁿʼkgowāʹnĕⁿ is the name of the Pelican (?) and
signifies, “His throat or gullet is large.”
248. See note 239.
249. Shayades for Sʻhayăʹʼdes is the name of the blacksnake, meaning
“His body (is) notedly long.”
250. Deanohsgwis for Deanoⁿʼsʹgwis is the name of a kind of grasshopper
(?), meaning “His jump (trajectory) (is) long.”
251. See note 243.
252. See note 244.
253. Hononhengwen for Honoⁿʼĕⁿʹʼgwĕn is a proper name, meaning, “His
head (is) broad.”
254. Ganehdaiikhon Tgahadayen Tgawenot for Ganeʻdaiikʹhoⁿʼ Tgahādāʹiēⁿʼ
Tgawēʹnot is a place name, meaning, “It is green It-forest-is
there-it-island-is,” or “The Island of the Green Forest.”
255. Degatengowa for Degatĕⁿʹʻgōwa is the name of the large
dust-colored grasshopper, about 2 inches long. Its habit of leaping up
in the air 3 or 4 feet and remaining almost stationary by a fluttering
of the wings is referred to in the next line in the story.
256. Henhgadji for Hĕⁿʹʻgädji signifies, “His tail (is) black,”
referring to the marking of the tail.
257. See note 245.
258. The use of the pipe was to fortify himself against any evil
influence that might be employed by the stranger.
259. Hodehondasiowanen for Hodeʻon dăsiōʹwănĕⁿ signifies “His quid (is)
large.”
260. Gaasyendietʻha for Gaăʻsioñdieʹtʻhăʼ is the name of the meteor or
so-called firedragon, and signifies, “He emits or casts out flames of
fire.”
261. Gaonhiahge Tgastendeh for Gäoⁿʻiăʹʼgeʻ Tgaʻstĕñʹdeʼ signify “On
the Sky, or in the Sky, there It-Rock-Island Stands forth,” or freely,
“The Rock Cliff or Peak in the Sky.”
262. Tkwendahen Niohsiowesiohden for Tkwĕⁿʻdäʼʹĕñʼ Nioʻciowecioʹʼdĕñ
signify “His jacket (is) red.”
263. Gaahgwa Tgawenot for Gääʹʻgwāʼ Tgawēʼnot signify, “Sun
there-it-island,” or “Island of the Sun.”
264. Djahgwiyu for Djăʹʼgwiyu is the name of the tanager.
265. Ohnonqgon(t) Tgawenot for Oʼnoⁿʹʻgon Tgawēʹnot signify, “Bumblebee
There-It-Island,” or “Bumblebee Island.”
266. Djihtkwahen Niothwahasyohʹden for Djiʼtkwäʹʼĕñʼ
Niʻotʻwahăʻcioʹʼdĕⁿ signify, “His belt is yellow”, which is the name of
a kind of bee.
267. Gainhdoya Tgawenot for Gaiⁿʼdoʹʼiăʼ Tgawēʹnot signify “At Blanket
(or perhaps better Robe) Island,” i.e., “It-Robe There-It-Island.”
268. Djihtkwahen Haos for Djiʼtwăʹʼĕñʼ Hāós signify “His robe or
blanket is yellow,” the name of a kind of bee.
269. Hahnowa Tgawenot for Haʼnōʹwa Tgawēʹnot signify “At the Turtle
Island.”
270. Honoʼtsăgagiʹyĭt, the correct form, signifies “His teeth (are)
sharp;” but it may signify “His tooth (is) sharp.”
271. Ohneqsah Tgawenot for Oʼneʹʻsăʼ Tgawēʹnot signify “At Sand
Island,” or “It-Sand There-It-Island.”
272. Sowek-shohon for Sōʹwĕk-sʻhoʼoⁿ, the plural form of Sōʹwĕk,
signifies “Ducks,” but sometimes meaning “All kinds of ducks.”
273. Hahnyahses for Hāniăʹʼses signifies “His neck (is) long.”
274. Awaeh for Awäʹʼeʼ denotes “the Swan.”
275. See note 264.
276. See note 262.
277. This was done by means of sorcery. A reed was a usual means for
“shooting” a person by sorcery.
278. Goanyahge Diyoendjadeh for Gäoⁿiăʹʼgeʻ Diioʻĕñʹdjădeʼ signify “It
Sky-On There-it-Land-Stands.”
279. Sʻhadahgeah for Oʻsʻhāʹdăʼgeāʼ signifies “Pertaining to the region
of the clouds,” or, perhaps, “On or against the clouds.”
280. Odahnoqgwiyah Haos for Odäʼnoⁿʻgwiʹiäʼ Hāʹos signify “His Robe
(is) of down.”
281. The number “7” is sometimes used, while at other times the number
“4” is latterly used, to represent the number of people who are called
Hinon or the Thunder People. See note 229.
282. Shedwaqsot for Shedwăʹʻsot signifies “Our grandfather.”
283. Hahasdensyowanen for Hăʼsʻhasdĕⁿsʹiowanĕⁿ signifies “He whose
power (is) great.”
284. Odonseh for Odoⁿʹseʼ is the name of a kind of worm.
285. Shagoewatha for Sʻhagoewatʹʻhăʼ signifies “He punishes them
(mankind)” and is the name of the muckworm. This peculiar office is
probably due to the identification of this worm with Satan.
286. Sʻhagodiyoweqgowa for Shagadiioweq gowa is the name of the Wind,
or Whirlwind.
287. Ganiagwaihegowa for Ganăiʼgwaihēʼgōwā is explained in Note 153.
288. Oqtchihgah Ongwe for Oqtciʹʼgäʼ Oñʹgweʻ signify “It-Cloud Human
Being”, or “Cloud Man”, i.e., a personified cloud.
289. Sadjāʹwĭskĭ is the name of the thousand-legged worm.
290. See note 285.
291. The word “man” here signifies “human beings” of the “first
people.”
292. Odjisdanohgwah for Odjisdanoʹʻgwăʼ is the name of a star.
293. Gaaqgwaah for Gääʹʻgwāā is the name of the orb of the sun. But as
its derivation shows that it is the name of anything that is present to
view, the word is also applied to the orb of the moon. Strictly used,
it requires the limiting term, “daytime,” to denote the sun, and
“nighttime,” to denote the moon. So the expressions, “day sun” and
“night sun,” which are sometimes heard or seen, are inaccurate, as the
word simply means “What is present to view.”
294. See note 169. Niagwaihegowa of this line differs from that cited
in Note 169 by having the adjective gōwā “great, large, monstrous,”
suffixed to it.
295. Tgawenosdenh for Tgawēnōsʹdĕñʼ signifies “At the broad island,” or
“At the great island.”
296. Othowege for Otʻhowēʹgeʻ signifies “At or in the north,” literally
“At or in the place of cold.”
297. Hathogowa for Hatʻhoʹʼgōwā signifies “He is the Great Cold,” which
is evidently the name of the Winter Power (God).
298. Otho for Otʹʻhoʼ signifies “It is cold.”
299. Onenonhge for Onēʹnaⁿʼgeʻ signifies “At the place of sunshine.”
300. Dedioshwineqdon for Dedioʻsʻhwineqʹdoⁿ is the name of the “Warm
spring wind.”
301. Ongwe Honwe for Oñgweʹ-ʻHoñweʻ signifies “real, or native,
people,” people in contrast with pseudohuman beings, or beings that
assume or have had the human form and attributes belonging to the
myth-making epoch. In modern times, the name was applied to the native
Indian person in contrast with the European person.
302. Gaasyendietʻha for Gaăʻsioñdieʹtʻhăʼ is the name of the
firedragon, or the meteor. See note 260.
303. Stone Coats is the legendary name of the sons of the Winter God.
This brood of harmful fictitious creatures owe their being to an
erroneous folk-etymology of the word Tawiskaroⁿʼ, the name of the
Winter God. Cf. Introduction.
304. Ongwe Hanyos for Oñʹgweʻ Hāʹnioʻs signify “He is in the habit of
killing human beings,” sometimes meaning a cannibal.
305. There is a well-known Wyandot tradition that in some former
country of their ancestors the winters were very severe and the snows
fell excessively deep—so deep sometimes that the poor people had to dig
their way out of their wigwams in quest of sustenance. Consequently,
food was often scarce and famine rife, because the hunters were unable
to go out on account of the great depth of the snow. And, in some
instances, it is said, the pangs of hunger were so pressing that some
famishing persons were driven to kill and devour some of their own
neighbors and friends. Others, more fortunate, learning of these
cannibalistic acts, decided to leave the country at once. So, digging
their way out through the drifted snows, they finally reached,
southward from their former homes, a river which they crossed and,
continuing their journey some time, they at last reached a land in
which they found a much milder climate. But those who remained became
monsters—man-eaters, giants, stone coats, stone giants—and were very
strong in body. This is the popular explanation of a lost myth
incident—the activity of the Winter God.
In later times, it is said, one of these Stone Coats found his way to
the river which the fugitives had crossed and stood on the farther
bank, where he was seen by one of the fugitive hunters. The Stone Coat
would not attempt to cross the river for he was afraid of water, but he
called out across the river to the hunter, who had escaped from the
northern country, saying, “Cousin, come over here.” It is held that he
wanted to eat the hunter, who, however, did not obey his summons. But,
in a canoe, he went close to the opposite shore of the river, carrying
with him a quantity of hot deer fat, which he gave to the Stone Coat,
telling him to drink it. When the Stone Coat drank it his coat or skin
of stone fell off from him, and he ceased being a man-eater, and he
then was willing to cross the river with the hunter, whom he called his
cousin. In the course of time the shows melted in that northern country
and the Stone Coats dispersed in various directions.
Afterwards, an old Stone Coat woman came to the village of the
fugitives on the south side of the river (which is said to be the St.
Lawrence River), and the people dwelling there at once surmised that
she came there with the desire of eating some one of its inhabitants.
But a young man and his wife took a basswood paddle (basswood is
reputed in legendary lore as having the power of depriving a Stone Coat
of strength and life) and they beat the old Stone Coat woman until she
fell, exclaiming, “The Little Turtles are killing me.” Then the Stone
Coat woman arose and fled northward and escaped. The other Stone Coats
also departed northward, going to their native home, which was in the
far northland.
306. In addition to these striking characteristics this peculiar
monster was said to have only a single rib on either rib, which filled
the space occupied by the normal number.
307. It is said that this monster was vulnerable only in the soles of
its feet.
308. This statement that a warrior’s courage was in inverse ratio to
the size of the shield he carried is true to-day among the
shield-bearing tribes of the United States.
309. The notion expressed here that the members of the human or other
animate body, possessing marked orenda or magic power, have the uncanny
potency to fly back into place when dismembered, unless prevented from
doing so until cold, is not uncommon among people having strong faith
in sorcery.
310. Protest is here made against the abuse or mutilation of the dead.
311. See Note 52.
312. Turkey.
313. This use of a horn to pierce the foot of a competitor is not
uncommon in these stories.
314. This statement is probably only a waggish addition of some relator
rather than the expression of a belief that the sun may be pushed back
by any means.
315. This is another instance of the use of the eyes of living birds
instead of the usual plum pits in this game.
316. This incident occurs in another story of this collection. See Note
118.
317. This statement gives this incident a cosmical implication.
318. This implies plainly that the so-called “naked dance” was a fetish
of this person.
319. This term signifies, “He, the Cold One.” It is a name of Winter.
320. This is a story of the Wind-Beings or Gods.
321. The number 10 is connected with certain rites pertaining to the
lifting of the period of mourning.
322. This is not the historical origin of the “Mask” societies among
the Iroquois.
323. There is here also a vague cosmical implication.
324. This shows that the Iroquois and the Seneca believed that the
personality was different from the flesh of the body.
325. This term with the suffix -gowa signifies, “Great Whirlwind or
Cyclone,” and is here used to awe the Genonsgwa or Stone Coat kidnaper.
326. This is the plural, or rather distributive plural, form that is
added to the noun Genonsgwa, making it signify “all kinds of Stone
Coats.”
327. The meaning of this title is “Thunder, His Son and his
Grandmother.”
328. This title means “He, the Chief, and Flint.”
329. These two words signify “At the high rock.”
330. He spears fish.
331. Turtle.
332. The meanings of the names of these ten sons of the Chief who
married Hongak, the Wild Goose woman, are, in their order, as follows:
(a) Red-headed; (b) Long-headed; (c) Long-billed; (d) Long-mandibled;
(e) Long-footed; (f) Bow-legged; (g) Long-clawed; (h) Large-clawed; (i)
Fat-headed; and (j) Flint. With the possible exception of the last,
these names are not inappropriate for goslings.
333. The Dagwanoenyent is the Cyclone or Whirlwind which is here
represented as striking the vault of the sky with a crash, as the sky
was regarded as a solid body.
334. This whirlwind of snakes is a weird conception, like some other
incidents of the story.
335. These two native terms signify, respectively, “At the deep lake”
and “There where it has passed through the earth.” The last meaning is
that the water is so deep that it protrudes on the other side of the
earth.
336. Blue Jay people.
337. “At the Mountains.”
338. Partridge.
339. This is not a Seneca word.
340. Mosquito.
341. “Having roots” and “He who plants.”
341a. In the Odyssey Odysseus constructed his dwelling place in a
similar way and place.
342. This is a name of Winter = “He, the Cold.”
342a. This name signifies, “They (fem.) are clouds going about from
place to place.”
343. This trail is the dramatizing of the sun’s rays in the morning or
in the evening passing through broken clouds and casting rays and
shadows across the sky. An illusion arising from regarding what is
visible as having a solid surface.
344. One of Okteondon’s men had just paid the penalty of disobedience
of his leader’s order.
345. This name seems to mean “He has lost his leggings.”
Hoisʻhäʻtoñʹniʻ is the correct form.
346. This is the name of a large bird which soars so high that it has
won the name “pertaining to the clouds.”
347. This is evidently reminiscent of an earlier age when human pelts
were regarded as trophies of cannibal hunters.
348. The Seneca terms signify, “Human beings, they, both men and women,
eat,” i.e., both men and women were cannibals.
349. This method of bringing dry bones to life again, so frequent in
these stories, is not, of course, peculiar to the Seneca.
350. Blood and the color red appear to be signs of ill omen in the
belief of the early story-tellers.
351. The method of the dream testing is virtually identical with that
in legend No. 70, even to the words used.
352. This method of destroying the lodges of vanquished sorcerers is
frequently employed in these tales.
353. “He whose body is bright” and “Thousand-legged worm.”
354. This word signifies “He who tortures them.” According to the
following line he belonged to the Toad people.
355. Here there is implied a mythic reference in the use of the number
7.
356. Blue Jay.
357. Crow.
358. The superheated flint lodge to destroy evil-minded wizards by some
hero is a common device in these stories.
359. This native term is very broad in its extension, as it includes
the Man-Beings of the first cosmic period, the first people, the
ancients, as well as mankind of the last cosmic period of these tales.
360. This statement that blood and pain were given the body for its
protection is singular, to say the least.
361. This story resembles No. 11, “The Snake with Two Heads,” in some
of its details.
362. Raccoon.
363. Deer.
364. The Great Heads were the Dagwanoenyent.
365. The Arrow.
366. This term signifies “People of the Land of Reeds.” It Is not at
all certain that the name applied to any place in the southland, for
the modern Iroquois apply it to certain people coming from
Ononʻhoʻgwaʹʼgeʻ near Binghamton, N. Y.
367. The Roué.
368. These two words signify “‘Cherokee’; there they dwell.” That is,
it was the country of the Cherokee.
369. The words “Ne Hononhsot” signify “the lodge tenant,” but “Endekha
Gaahgwa” signify “the sun,” i.e., “Diurnal It-Orb-of-Light.”
370. This is an official title; it denotes “the chiefess”; that is, the
woman chief, who is such by election, and not by being a wife of a
chief.
371. This conception of a river of land is picturesque, to say the
least.
372. This is a protest against prevalent cannibalism.
373. Hăʼdegaunʹdăgeʻ, i.e., “All kinds of trees,” and the Dwarf Man,
respectively.
374. “She, the Proud One.”
375. This story is identical with one published by Lafitau in his
“Moeurs, etc.”
376. Thunder or the Thunder Man-Being.
377. This is the statement of an early form of anthropic
parthenogenesis; its enduring implication is that air (wind)—that is,
breath—is the source of life. In later development it becomes an
immaculate conception.
378. The Wind Man-Being and Winter Man-Being.
379. The use of the epithet “cannibal” is justified only by the thought
that persons are killed to be eaten; a natural inference to
cannibalistic peoples.
380. The name is not easily translatable; it was probably partly
misunderstood.
381. A Fishhawk.
382. Flint-worker or Flint-maker, i.e., Arrow-head-maker.
383. Net-Maker.
384. He, the Eunuch.
385. Corn soup.
386. The Thunderers = They whose voices go about.
387. Crow and “The Other Side,” sometimes Left-handed.
388. Cyclone and Meteor.
389. This is the descriptive epithet applied to a dark or black
cyclonic wind cloud.
390. A Hawk.
391. A cloud or fog.
392. The Great Blue Lizard, a mythic being.
393. The Mother or Eldest Woman of the Whirlwind People and She, the
Stone Coat.
394. This is a very good definition of faith.
395. “The Lake Where the Stone Giants Lie Buried.”
396. This is the usual description.
397. The Great Head is only another name of Dagwanoenyent, who is the
Tornado or Cyclone.
398. This particular method of raising the dead is common to a large
number of other stories. They differ only in minor details; in this a
number of trees is mentioned, while in other stories only a single tree
is mentioned.
399. These two words together signify “He eats human beings as a
habit;” i.e., he is a cannibal.
400. This name is sometimes applied to a person who after being in a
long swoon regains consciousness.
401. This refers to the grinding of the rocks and stones by the force
of cyclonic winds.
402. This signifies “the small dose.” It is the name of a famous
medicine, and it is so called because only a very small dose is
required. Erroneously it has been commonly rendered “the small water.”
403. The term hochinagen is the name commonly applied to the native
healer and exorcist.
404. A maid or woman during the period of her catamenia became sacred
or taboo to all men and ill persons; it was therefore dangerous to have
her around; her sacredness or taboo was infectious.
405. This is an abbreviated form of the name Ganyăʼgwaiʻheʹgōwā, the
great monster-bear.
406. This denotes the spike of a flowering plant.
407. This was an underhanded method of ascertaining whether a person
lying near a fire was sound asleep or not; it was practiced chiefly by
wicked persons in order to injure other persons.
408. These perils barring a path are employed in a number of other
stories. The same monsters are not always mentioned, but their common
provenance seems to be indicated, nevertheless.
409. This human skin flayed off whole is an example of the methods of
torture practiced by the ancestors of the story tellers. It was
believed that wizards and sorcerers could remove the flesh-body from
the skin without destroying the life of the victim, which then was
supposed to animate the empty skin. These skins retained the powers of
the body and were usually called “a pouch.” This retaining of life by
these skins, flayed whole, is mentioned in the Odyssey of Homer, where
he speaks of the slaughter of the cows of the Sun. In the native
conception this was regarded as a refined species of slavery.
410. It was customary in some families making pretensions to sorcery to
conceal the child who had been born with a caul. This was done in such
manner that no one other than one of the nearest of the child’s kin
should be charged with the wardship of the hidden child, and so should
have access exclusively to the initiate. One of the means employed in
shielding the initiate from the view of other persons was to strew
carefully about the place of concealment cat-tail flag down in such
wise that any displacement of it would indicate intrusion by some
unauthorized person. Thus is derived the epithet “down-fended,” or
“warded by down.” Secondarily, it may have meant “mat-warded,” because
mats were in some instances made from this kind of flag. (See 21st Ann.
Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 127.)
411. This is literally what the native term signifies.
412. It was believed, and so reported traditionally, that usually the
arrow of a sorcerer could not be removed from a wound except by its
owner without injuring the arrow.
413. This is the literal meaning of the native term, and was the name
of a ceremonial feast, the virtues of which were believed to be rooted
in the fact of the complete consumption of the food offered by those
who had been invited to eat up what was set before them. It was
permissible for such a guest, however, to pay another to eat up what he
himself or herself was not able to devour, for if anything of the feast
should be left over the purpose of the feast would be defeated—by the
malign influence of hostile sorcerers.
414. See note 409.
414a. This is one form of what is commonly called kinnikinic, a term
which signifies “a mixture,” although it is also applied to the several
plants which commonly form the ingredients in the mixture.
415. The native term here rendered “amulet” has a number of meanings,
another being the dried spike of a plant—that of the mullein, for
example. So this might be translated “The Spike-Hitter.” It also is
applied to any black object or toy.
416. This feature of the shrinking path is interesting.
417. The rendering of the native term by “owls” is literal, but the
word “owl” is taken in the sense of any nondescript bird of ill omen.
418. The Seneca for this name is Hotkwĕⁿʼdadegĕⁿʼʹăʻ, i.e., “He, the
Burnt Belly, Small.” Otherwise, “Small Mr. Burnt Belly.”
419. It was a common belief among the Seneca and the other Iroquoian
people that a sorcerer was usually aware of what another was doing,
even though they might dwell far apart.
420. This returning of human life to the body of a simulated animal is
also quite common in stories recounting the fanciful exploits of
sorcerers.
421. This is the name of a woman who belonged to a class of ferocious
women who gained notoriety by seeking to destroy their sons-in-law on
their wedding nights. This name denotes the habit of these women of
casting themselves into the fire as a challenge. The name signifies,
“She who is burned in many places.”
422. See note 410. This is the masculine form of the Seneca expression.
423. This is the indefinite form of the expression cited in the
preceding note.
424. This is the Seneca form of the name for a human skin, flayed off
whole, which was made to serve as a warder for some noted sorcerer or
sorceress. See note 409.
425. This method of heating and hardening wooden instruments was
employed by Ulysses. See Homer’s Odyssey.
426. This expression is the nearest approximation in sense to the
native term which signifies, literally, “He who has achieved or
perfected our faculties.”
427. This description recalls the Homeric contests for prizes between
the Greek warriors before Troy.
428. The following recital of the obstacles along this mysterious path,
occurring in slightly varying versions elsewhere, reminds one of the
seven guarded passageways along the path of Ishtar’s descent to the
regions of the dead.
429. The term rendered “mother” denotes in the vernacular the “matron”
or head woman, although “mother” is better.
430. The Partridge.
431. The Seneca name is Oʻsoʹon(t). The “t” sound is obsolescent.
432. These are offerings to the genii of the place.
433. He is the last remaining person.
434. This is the method formerly used to “guess” the meaning of one’s
dream.
435. It will be noted that most of the proper names in this story
indicate reference to some process or object of nature.
436. This rising and falling of the sky appears as an incident in a
number of other tales of this character.
437. This term is used as both noun and adjective; here it is used as a
noun; it signifies, “What customarily uses its orenda or magic power
destructively.”
438. This term refers to the Wind God whose activities earned for him
the epithet, “Evil-minded.”
439. This form of the generic noun oñʹgweʻ signifies “The male
Man-Being.”
440. This address is made as a part of the ceremonies at the harvest
festival, commonly called the “Green Corn dance.” In this expression
the word “green” stands for “new,” i.e., newly harvested corn.
441. This woman in the original story is Mother Earth. Here she has
become the representative of the expression of Mother Earth—the
offspring of her life-giving powers.
442. This appears to be a sort of parable teaching the virtue of
gratefulness for what one receives of the bounties of nature on earth.
443. The evil of one man is visited on the members of the community to
which he belongs; this represents the method of avenging a wrong by the
early Iroquoian people.
444. This old woman was the matron of the family, or ohwachira.
445. This is the Winter God, but here he is called “He who is robed in
flint.”
446. This has reference to the dances of the women and maids in which
they dramatize the waving of the stalks of standing corn.
447. The expression “You two cousins” denotes the two symbolic sides of
the tribe—the two phratries, or, rather, sisterhoods, of clans.
448. It will be noted that the framework of this story is in some
respects exactly like that of the next preceding.
449. This is a fine example of the native regard for all living things;
even the plants find a place in their sympathy.
450. This story has a number of interesting weather signs.
450a. This is a very interesting statement, because it connects this
mythic porcupine with Sunlight. The porcupine, the mythic being, is
usually connected with sunlight in American myths, especially the
quivering or dancing spring sunlight.
451. This is the act of exorcism by blowing up the evil persons.
452. The native word literally means, “One—it one’s word uses to make,”
i.e., “One uses it to make one’s word”; briefly, it is one’s pledge,
the token of a vow.
453. The imitative sounds or utterances which certain activities were
thought to emit are no small part of the interest these stories have
for the students of the origin of words and sentences. The recorder was
at all times careful to write down these very naïve but most expressive
sounds.
454. The remainder of this incident belongs to the story of
Sʻhodieonskon; this version, however, is much longer.
455. This circumstance gave rise to the name of this hero,
Hahadodagwatʻha, i.e., “He who pulls out the branch customarily.”
456. This name signifies “Standing Rock” or “Projecting Rock.”
457. This native word is usually rendered variously in popular
translations as “Stone Coat,” “Stone Shirt,” “Stone Giant,” “Giant,”
“Monster Man.” Its real significance and correct translation has been
given in the introduction to these stories.
458. As explained in the introduction, this represents poetic license,
i.e., the use of the word for flint or chert for ice.
459. The foregoing recital details certain customs pertaining to
ambassadors to hostile tribes, which are of marked interest.
460. The matter of this symbol is fully carried out in the dedicatory
language of the League or Federation of the Iroquois.
461. The following incident on the island is found in other stories,
especially in that of Hayanoweh.
462. This incident shows that the story-tellers believed that the
so-called dead were really not dead, and that these well knew what was
transpiring on earth among mankind.
463. This is the psychological counterpart of the familiar “Fear not”
of the Sacred Scriptures.
464. This is the slavery or servitude imposed by the evil use of orenda
(or magic power) by a hostile person; in its original sense the English
“spellbound” had this signification.
FOOT-NOTES
[1] The manuscript of this Journal was discovered in Amsterdam in 1895
by the late Gen. James Grant Wilson, who published it in the Annual
Report of the American Historical Association for the year 1895, under
the caption “Arent Van Curler And His Journal of 1634–35.” But the Van
Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, edited by the learned Mr. A. J. F. van
Laer, show that van Curler could not have made the journey, as he did
not reach Rensselaerswyck until 1637, then a youth of only eighteen. It
seems probable that Marmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, the surgeon of
the fort, was the author of the Journal. Consult the Introduction to
this same Journal as published in “Narratives of New Netherland,
1609–1664,” ed. by J. Franklin Jameson, in Original Narratives of Early
American History (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1909).
[2] This village of Ongniaahra (Ongiara, Onguiaara, and Ondgiara are
other forms found in the literature of the Jesuit Fathers) was situated
very probably on or near the site of the village of Youngstown, New
York. It is the present Iroquoian name of this village, but not of the
river nor of the Falls of Niagara.
[3] The Aondironnon probably dwelt at or near the present Moraviantown,
Ontario, Canada, although some Iroquois apply the name to St. Thomas,
some distance eastward. Another form of the name is Ahondihronnon. The
nominal part that is distinctive is thus Aondi or Ahondin, as written
in the Jesuit Relations. The modern Iroquoian form is ĕⁿʻ.tiʹhĕⁿ, ‘The
middle or center of the peninsula.’
[4] Curtin, Jeremiah, Myths and Folk-Tales of the Russians, Western
Slavs, and Magyars, p. vii, Boston, 1890.
[5] Ibid., p. x.
[6] Ibid., pp. x–xi.
[7] Curtin, Jeremiah, Myths and Folk-Tales of the Russians, Western
Slavs, and Magyars, p. ix, Boston, 1890.
[8] Ibid., p. xvii.
[9] Curtin, Jeremiah, Hero-Tales of Ireland, pp. ix, x, Boston, 1894.
[10] Curtin, Jeremiah, Hero-Tales of Ireland, pp. x, xi, Boston, 1894.
[11] Ibid., p. xi.
[12] Ibid., pp. xii, xiii.
[13] Ibid., p. xiii.
[14] Curtin, Jeremiah, Hero-Tales of Ireland, p. xiv, Boston, 1894.
[15] Ibid., p. xv.
[16] Ibid., p. xvi.
[17] Ibid., pp. xlix-l.
[18] Curtin, Jeremiah, Hero-Tales of Ireland, p. xlviii, Boston, 1894.
[19] Ibid., pp. xlvi, xlvii.
[20] Curtin, Jeremiah, Creation Myths of Primitive America, pp.
xxxi–xxxii, Boston, 1898.
[21] Ibid., p. xxxii.
[22] Curtin, Jeremiah, Creation Myths of Primitive America, pp.
xxxvii–xxxviii, Boston, 1898.
[23] Ibid., pp. xxxviii–xxxix.
[24] Curtin, Jeremiah Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland, pp. 22–27,
Boston, 1890.
[25] Ibid., p. 22.
[26] For an extended etymologic demonstration of the facts stated in
the text, consult articles Tawiskaron and Nanabozho by the editor in
the Handbook of American Indians (Bulletin 30 of the Bureau of American
Ethnology).
[27] Handbook of American Indians, pt. 2, p. 720.
[28] The superior figures refer to notes on pages 791–812.
[29] Woodworker and Long-Tooth.
[30] Small-dose medicine.