He lived a long time in this way, until at last he said to his grandmother: “I have an uncle living in the west; some witch stole him from you. I must go to find him.” So he went to the west to search for his uncle. He went on till he came to a lodge in which he saw a woman sitting by a fire, with her head resting on her hands. She would not answer when he asked where his uncle was. Soon afterward he went out, and taking his war club from his pouch, he knocked her on the head, killing her. When he had killed the woman he went out and walked all around the lodge, mourning and looking for his uncle. At last he heard the moaning of a man. He looked into the trees, for he could not see any one on the ground, but could not find him. Soon he came to a large slippery-elm tree, the great roots of which held down a man, his head coming out between two roots on one side and his feet between two on the other side, while the tree stood just on the middle of his body. He was calling to his nephew to give him a smoke. The latter answered: “Oh, poor uncle! how badly off you are. Oh, poor uncle! I will give you a smoke very soon.” Then he kicked over the tree, saying, “Rise, uncle!” at which the uncle rose, well. Taking out his pouch, Hinon Hohawaqk gave the old man a smoke, which pleased and strengthened the uncle very much. He told his nephew how the woman had beguiled him to go with her, pretending that she wanted to marry him. When she had him at her lodge, however, she ate him, putting his bones under the elm tree. Then both the uncle and the nephew went home to the long lodge. The old grandmother was surprised and glad to see them.
All lived happily in their home till one day when the Son of Thunder went off in a storm. When it was over he brought home a wife. After that, when he went away in a storm his wife was uneasy, not knowing where he was, for her husband had brought her home on his back such a long distance in the storm. In due time she gave birth to a son. When the boy was large enough to run about, the old man, the uncle of the Son of Thunder, whose bones had lain under the elm tree, began to teach him, and soon he was able to make [[376]]a noise like thunder. One day the boy followed his mother out of the lodge. They had a small dog, and as the boy was running after his mother, somebody seized him and rushed away; but the dog ran after him, and, contriving to seize his feet, pulled off his moccasins, which he carried home. This was the first indication the woman had that her boy was gone. Hinon Hohawaqk was off with a storm at the time, and when he came home his wife asked whether he had taken the boy. “No,” said he. “Oh! he is lost,” cried she. “Oh, no! he is all right,” said Hinon Hohawaqk; “he has many relations around the world—uncles and cousins.” The boy stayed away all winter. One day when the winter was over he came home with his father. Then Hinon Hohawaqk said to the people of his family, “We must all move away and live with my father.” The old woman said, “No, we can not go; it is so far and I am so old.” “I will carry you there in a little while,” said the grandson. Thereupon Hinon Hohawaqk began to thunder, and lightnings flew around. The lodge was torn to pieces and blazed up in flames. All the rocks and lodges in the opening were broken to pieces. Hinon Hohawaqk and all of his people rose in the air. The east wind began to blow, bearing them to lofty mountains in the west, where they found old grandfather Hinon. All live there in the caves of the rocks to this day.
69. Hagowanen and Otʻhegwenhda[328]
At Hetgen Tgastende[329] lived a man named Hagowanen, who possessed potent orenda (magic power), and who belonged to the Donyonda people. One day he set out to hunt. In his canoe he sailed across a broad lake in front of his lodge, and then, leaving his canoe on the other side, he traveled five days toward the west. Then he collected wood and made a camp.
On the first day of his hunting he killed five bears and deer, which he brought into his camp, saying, “What bad luck I have had today!” On the second day he killed 10 bears and 12 deer and brought them home and skinned and roasted them to dry the meat of the 15 bears and 18 deer which he had killed, finishing the work before daylight. The next morning he said, “I must go after more meat.” That day he killed 24 deer and 20 bears and brought them into camp, and skinned them and finished roasting the meat precisely at midnight. Then he said, “I think I have enough now.” Putting all the meat into one heap, he tied it up with bark ropes. Then he shook the package, saying, “I want you to be small,” at which it shrank into a small package, which he hung in his belt. In the same way be made the skins into similar bundles, which he hung to his belt, and then set out for home.
When Hagowanen reached the lake he could not find his canoe; he looked everywhere, but he could see nothing of it. At last, he [[377]]saw on the shore a man whose name was Handjoias.[330] When they met, this man asked, “What have you lost?” “My canoe,” answered Hagowanen. “Well, the man who lives on that island yonder was here yesterday, and he took your canoe,” replied Handjoias. “Who is the man on the island?” said Hagowanen. “He is one of the Ganyaqden[331] people,” was the answer. “How am I to get my canoe back?” inquired Hagowanen. “Give me what meat you have, and I will get it for you,” said Handjoias. “What am I to eat if I do that?” replied Hagowanen. “I will do better, I will bring the canoe. Take your meat home, and roast it, keeping half and putting the other half outside of the door of the lodge for me,” declared Handjoias. “Very well,” answered Hagowanen. Handjoias, who himself had taken the canoe to the island, now brought it back, saying: “That man on the island is a very ugly fellow. He almost killed me.” Getting into his canoe, Hagowanen sailed home; on arriving he drew up his canoe safely on the rocks. Then he untied and threw down the bundle of meat, which in a moment regained its natural size. The meat he piled up inside of the lodge, and tanned the skins, but he never paid Handjoias for bringing back the canoe.
After a time a woman of the Hongak (Wild Goose) people came to Hagowanen’s lodge, bringing a basket of marriage bread, and saying, “My mother has sent me to Hagowanen to ask him to take me to wife.” Hagowanen hung his head a while thinking, and mused, “I suppose nothing ill-starred will come of this.” Then, looking at her, he said, “It is well; I am willing to do what your mother wants me to do.” On hearing this reply the woman was glad. She placed the basket of nuptial corn bread before him. In accepting it he said: “I am thankful. For many years I have not tasted bread which was made by a woman.” So he ate some of the bread, whereupon they became husband and wife.
At the end of the first year the Hongak woman bore a son to Hagowanen, and so she did every year until at last they had ten sons, whom they named in their order from the eldest to the youngest, as follows: (a) Tgwendahenh Niononeoden;[332] (b) Hononhwaes; (c) Haniodaqses; (d) Hagondes; (e) Dahsihdes; (f) Dahsinongwadon; (g) Daheqdes; (h) Oeqdowanen; (i) Donoengwenhden; and (j) Otʻhegwenhda.
They lived together for some time at Hetgen Tgastende, until one morning when Hagowanen, who was sitting on a stone outside the lodge with drooping head, said to himself: “Well, I have many children now. I did not think that woman would have so many. I must go home again.” So he rose, and going aboard his canoe, sailed away across Ganyodaeowanen (“The Big Lake”). After a while his wife, missing him, said, “Where is my husband?” She looked out and around everywhere but could not find him. The eldest son was then a youth and the youngest a lively little boy. [[378]]