Seneca Fiction, Legends, and Myths / Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology; 1910-1911

by Unknown

So the band of Dehaenhyowens and their host started. They walked leisurely along, noting the many strange things which attracted their attention on every side. They had not gone far before they reached a very large lodge, into which their host led the party; here they saw a very old woman who presided over the lodge. On [[615]]entering, the host of Dehaenhyowens and his friends said to the old woman: “I have brought here those persons who, I said, would take up their abode here when they arrived in this country. They shall remain here under your care and keeping.” The aged woman, the mistress of the lodge, replied: “It shall be even as you have said. These, my grandchildren, shall be one with me here in this lodge.” Then, the man who had brought the visitors there said: “Now I will go away. Make yourselves at home.” And he left the lodge at once to attend to his own affairs.

The mistress of the lodge said to her guests, to make them feel more at home: “I am not quite alone, you see, in caring for the lodge, which is very large. The male persons who dwell here are absent hunting; they will soon return for the night. I will now prepare something for you to eat.” Thereupon she set before them what was ready cooked in the lodge.

When they first entered the lodge the band of Dehaenhyowens noticed that the old woman was busily engaged in making a mantle for herself; at intervals she held the work up at arm’s length to note the effect of her labor. The visitors discovered also that human hair was the material out of which the old woman was making her mantle. They saw, too, that their aged hostess possessed a very small cur, which lay near by on her couch. They were astonished to see that, when the old woman left her work for a few moments, the cur quickly arose and, going over to the place where the old woman had left her hair work, began to unravel hurriedly but steadily all the work that the old woman had done on her mantle. When the dog had nearly unraveled all the work the old woman returned to continue her task.

While the visitors were eating what the old woman had set before them the male members of her household returned, each bearing a bundle. On entering the lodge they said to the old woman: “We have returned. We were fortunate throughout the entire expedition in killing much game.” The mistress of the lodge said in reply: “Verily, be it known that a short time ago Teharonhiawagon brought to this lodge the human beings (oñgwe), who, he said, were coming to this country, and who, he said, would abide in this lodge when they should arrive. They have arrived, and these men here are they. Talk with them and become acquainted with them.” Thereupon the men who had just returned to their lodge drew near the visitors and conversed with them, saying: “We are, indeed, thankful that you have arrived here safe. It is now a long time that we have kept watching you on your way hither. Moreover, be it known, now that we have seen one another, we are greatly rejoiced.” Then they mutually stroked one another’s bodies, as was [[616]]customary on such occasions, and greatly rejoiced to become acquainted.

Then the old woman began to prepare food for the returned hunters; and when it was cooked the old woman called the men, saying, “Now, of course, you will eat the food which I have prepared for you”; and the men began to take their nourishment. Their manner of doing this seemed most peculiar to the band of Dehaenhyowens; hence they intently watched the hunters, who did not eat the food set before them. Instead, they merely absorbed the exhalations of the food, it being the odor or effluvium of the food that satisfied their hunger. When they had finished their meal the old woman said to them, “It is now time, perhaps, that you should go out to hunt game which our human guests can eat, for you know that they do not eat the same kind of things that you do.”

Accordingly, the hunters started out of the lodge to seek game for their guests. As soon as the men were gone the old woman took from the headrest of her couch a single grain of corn and a single squash seed. Going to the end of the fireplace, there she prepared in the ashes two small hills or beds, in one of which she placed the grain of corn and in the other the squash seed, and carefully covered them with rich soil. In a very short space of time the visitors were greatly surprised to see that the seeds had sprouted and shot out of the ground small plantlets, which were growing rapidly. Not very long after this they saw the cornstalk put forth an ear of corn and the squash vine a squash. In the short space of a few hours these plants had supplied the old woman with ears of corn and squashes. These she prepared to cook.

By this time the men who were out hunting returned to the lodge, bringing with them the carcass of a fine deer which they had killed. This they speedily set to work to skin and quarter. As soon as they had finished this task, the old woman set the venison, corn, and squashes over the fire to cook in kettles on stone supports and hastened the cooking by putting hot stones into them. When these things were cooked she placed them in fine bowls of bark, which she set before the visitors, bidding them to eat heartily. So Dehaenhyowens and his friends ate their fill.

It now came to pass that the aged woman said, “It is time, you will agree, I think, for you to go again to hunt.” This she said to the male members of her family. Then the visitors saw something very strange. They saw the old woman take from under her couch a large quantity of corn husks and carry them to what appeared to be an added lodge or separate room and there push aside the door flap. In that room the visitors saw what seemed to them a lake, round in form. The old woman made a circuit of the lake, heaping the corn husks around its edges. When this task was finished [[617]]she set the corn husks on fire and they quickly burst into flames, and these flames consumed all the water of the lake. Next she said to her men folks, “Now, I have again completed the preparations. Do you start now. You must be careful. In the course of your excursion you must not injure any person.” These words she addressed to the men of her lodge, and they departed on their usual trip through the land.

It came to pass that the band of Dehaenhyowens remained in the lodge of the old woman during the entire time they were in that country.

Furthermore, it happened that when they took a stroll in the country while the men of the lodge were absent they came on a spring of water which formed a large pool. One of the party, using his bow as a rod, thrust it into the pool to see whether he could find any living thing in it; but he saw nothing to attract his attention. When they returned to the lodge they again stood their bows in the usual place, in a corner of the room. When the men of the lodge had returned home from their excursion into the country one of them said, “There is something in this lodge that has the smell of game (i.e., something to be killed),” and he at once began looking around from place to place. Then the others after sniffing the air exclaimed, “It is true; there is something in here that smells like a game animal.” At this one went to the place where the bows belonging to the band of Dehaenhyowens were standing and, taking one of the bows in his hand, said, “It is, indeed, this bow that has the scent.” Turning to Dehaenhyowens, he said: “To what place have you been? What is the place like where you touched something with this bow?” Answering, Dehaenhyowens said, “Yonder, not far away, you know, there is a cliff, and on the farther side of it there is a spring of water, forming a deep pool.”