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.
86. Genonsgwa
A long while ago, while some Seneca were out hunting, a Stone Coat came up to them, saying: “I should like to remain here with you, and I think that you will derive good luck from me. You can have all the skins you need and meat enough to live on. I will take the rest.” The Seneca agreed to this.
The next morning the hunters had great luck in hunting. When it was time for them to go home for the season, the Stone Coat said, “I will pack each man’s load of meat and skins.” They had dried meat, buckskins, and furs. The Stone Coat packed in a single bundle what he thought each man could carry; then he shook each bundle till it became small. He told the men to cast their bundles on the ground when they got home, and that they would become as large as when he began to pack them. Bidding them good-by, the Stone Coat said, “I hope you will all come to this place next winter; then we can all be together again.”
The next winter these hunters went back to the same hunting-ground, whereupon another Stone Coat came to them, who said, “My father has sent me here to bring one of you hunters to his home; he wants him as a son-in-law.” One of the men volunteered to go, saying, “Probably we shall be better off; perhaps we shall live longer by doing as he wishes”; so he accompanied the Stone Coat. When they came to the Stone Coat’s house, the old man said, “I sent my son to bring you here. I want you to marry my daughter. You must not be afraid. I will make my people understand that they must not touch nor harm you.” So the man married the Stone Coat’s daughter, although the old man said that his people would be surprised at his giving his daughter to a Seneca.
The Stone Coat rubbed his son-in-law’s hands, feet, and body with an object like a bone, and then told him to go out hunting. The young man felt himself growing so strong that he felt he could carry off everything he laid his eyes on. There was a certain young man of the Stone Coats who loved the old Stone Coat’s daughter and wanted to marry her. Being angry with the Seneca, he came up to him, saying, “You and I must have a foot race. If I should outrun you, thereby winning, I shall cut your head off and take your wife. If you win you may cut my head off.” The appointed day came, and [[440]]all the Stone Coat people assembled to see the race. The young man’s father-in-law said, “You need not be afraid. I will help you.” Taking some substance out of a stone box, he rubbed it over the man’s body. Thereupon he and his opponent, locking arms, ran until they reached a tree, when they were to have let go and run on, but the Stone Coat held on to the man’s hand, so that their locked arms bent over the hemlock tree. When they got nearly to the end of the tree the Stone Coat let go, causing the tree to spring back, throwing the man backward a good distance. The young man, hurrying forward, outran the Stone Coat, and cut his head off in the presence of all.