85. Genonsgwa
Three men were hunting in the woods. One of them, who was married, had his wife and child with him. While the men were off in the forest the woman and child remained in the lodge. The child was small and swathed to a cradleboard. [[438]]
One day when the woman returned to the lodge with water from a near-by stream, she heard talking, and, looking into the lodge, she saw a woman dressed in stone. The woman had taken up the baby and was rocking it on her knee, singing, Aʼuwah, aʼuwah (such good eating). Every little while she would take a bite out of the child’s cheek. The child screamed. Then spitting on her hand and rubbing the cheek, it became whole again, and the child stopped crying. The mother stood near the door, and seeing all this, was terrified. “Now we are going to die,” said she to herself. The Genonsgwa (Stone Coat Woman) looked up, and on seeing the mother bade her come in and be not afraid, as all would be well. Toward night the hunters returned. When they saw the woman dressed in stone, they were afraid, but the Stone Coat Woman said, “I have come to help you in hunting.”
So they all lived together. The men went hunting day after day and had good luck in finding game and bringing home meat.
One evening during this hunting season the men said, “We have found a pond not far away that has a great many beavers in it.” The Stone Coat Woman said, “I will go with you tomorrow.” The next day she went to the pond, and having cut a small circular hole in the ice, called to the beavers to come out. A number came out; these she caught and killed. Then she called again and more came out; she killed them, too, and so she continued to do till the hunters had as many as they wanted. The men skinned the beavers and kept the furs. The Stone Coat Woman fell to eating the bodies raw.
One morning the Stone Coat Woman said to the hunters: “A visitor is coming, and you must do all you can to defend yourselves. My husband is mad, and perhaps he will kill us all. When I left him, I ran away and came to you; he is angry, and when he comes I will fight with him as well as I can. You must be ready with a basswood stick. Sharpen it and harden it in the fire a little to make it effective. When he throws me to the ground, as he will do, you must spear him from behind and kill him. He will come some time this afternoon. Then you must be on the lookout for him continually.” At last they saw him approaching; he came up and talked with his wife. She begged him not to make any trouble, saying she would go home with him, but he would not listen to her words. He saw there were two men there; so he became jealous and began fighting. He knocked down his wife, and as he leaned over to beat her, the men ran the basswood spear into his body, thus killing him. Then the woman, having gotten up, said: “I do not know what will happen to us now, for my husband has two brothers, who know he is dead, and who will come here and kill us. The river is open; you have canoes and must escape that way.” [[439]]
The Stone Coat Woman then went off alone; the others took to their canoes. As they were pushing out into the river, a man came to the shore, calling to the oarsman to come back a moment; refusing to do so, he pushed farther out. Thereupon the other man called out, “It is lucky for you that you did not come back, for I came to eat you.” So these people had a narrow escape.