There was a little boy, Hodadeñon, who lived with his elder sister, Yenyentʻhwus, in a bark lodge.
When the sister went out to plant, she would fasten the door of the lodge so that nothing might harm her brother. She did not allow him to go out alone. To amuse him she got a raccoon’s foot, and also brought him a bow and some arrows. In playing he tossed up the raccoon’s foot, telling the arrows to strike it, and the arrows always hit the foot before it fell to the ground.
One day while Yenyentʻhwus was at home, a voice was heard in the upper part of the lodge, saying, “Mush, brother! Mush, brother!” Hodadeñon asked, “How is this? I thought we were alone in the lodge?” The sister said, “It is our poor brother; he is only just alive.” “Well, my sister, make him some mush,” said the little boy.
Uncovering a place under her couch, the sister took out a very small pot and a little fragment of a chestnut. Putting the least bit of meal scraped from the chestnut into the pot with water, she boiled it. While doing this she stirred the meal and tapped the pot, which increased in size until it became as large as any pot. When the mush was cooked the sister took it off the fire and put it all into a [[200]]bowl, saying to Hodadeñon, “Go up the ladder and feed your brother.” Climbing the ladder, he found a man lying in the upper room or attic. The little fellow said, “I have brought you mush, my brother.” The brother, whose name was Hadjisgwas,[57] took two or three mouthfuls of the mush and it was all eaten. Then, after exhaling his breath two or three times and rubbing his arms and legs, he began to sing.
Hodadeñon heard the singing and the beating of time overhead. A little later they heard Hadjisgwas call out, “Tobacco!” and the little boy said, “My sister, our brother wants to smoke.” “Oh!” said she, “Our poor brother! he is barely alive; he lives on chestnut meal and tobacco.” Going aside, she got a big pipe, into which she put tobacco. Lighting it with a coal of fire, she gave it to the little boy, saying, “Take this up to your brother.” Hodadeñon went, with the words, “My brother, I have come with a pipe for you.” “Thank you,” said Hadjisgwas, and with one puff he so filled the room with smoke that he nearly smothered the boy, who had to hurry down to escape. Soon they who were below heard a sound as though Hadjisgwas blew through the pipestem and rapped out the ashes from the pipe. After rubbing his arms and legs, he began to sing. They thought his voice was stronger. Then Yenyentʻhwus went out planting, having first fastened the door so as to keep in her little brother.
When his sister had gone, Hodadeñon thought he would like to make some chestnut mush for his brother in the loft and to sing and dance for him. Finding the little pot under his sister’s couch, he took from it the piece of chestnut, every bit of which he scraped into the kettle. As it boiled he tapped the pot, which grew as large as any vessel. When the meal was cooked he poured it out—a great bark bowl full of chestnut mush. This he took up to the loft, saying, “My brother, I have made you another bowl of mush.” “Thank you, brother,” said Hadjisgwas, who ate the mush and, after rubbing himself, began to sing. He was stronger now, so he could sing a regular song. After Hodadeñon had come down and put away the kettle, he thought, “My brother must have a smoke.” Therefore he cut up all the tobacco there was and put it into the pipe, which he carried to the loft, saying, “My brother, I have brought you a pipe.” His brother said, “Thank you.” “After you have smoked, I wish you would sing while I dance,” said Hodadeñon.
Hadjisgwas sent out such a puff of smoke that the little boy had to hurry down the ladder to escape it. He had not been down long before his sister came in. He said to her, “Oh, my sister, I have made our brother some pudding.” “How did you make it?” she asked. “I cut up all the chestnut and boiled it,” he replied. “Oh, now he will die on your account,” she said. “After he ate the mush,” said Hodadeñon, “I gave him a smoke.” “How did you do that?” asked [[201]]Yenyentʻhwus. “I shaved up the piece of tobacco, put it into the pipe, and gave it to him,” said he. “Now we shall surely lose our brother on your account,” said Yenyentʻhwus; “you have done great mischief.” “Well, my sister, where are the chestnuts? I will go and get more of them.”
“Those chestnuts,” she said, “grow at the eastern end of the world; and on this side of them, where the tobacco grows, are many wizards. Before you come to the lodge of the wizards is a river, over which trees are thrown to walk upon. Just beyond the river are two great rattlesnakes, one on each side of the path, which attack every one who goes that way. If you pass them safely, you will come to a great rocky mountain, so steep that no mere man can climb it. There is but one pass through that mountain, and just beyond the pass stand two Sʻhagodiyoweqgowa, each one half as tall as a tree. If you should succeed in passing these, going farther you would come upon two men at the edge of an opening or clearing, who give the alarm the moment they see anyone, whereupon the wizards run out to attack whomsoever they find approaching. If you should make your way past these men and reach a knoll from which the lodge of the wizards can be seen, you would find there a woman walking back and forth on a platform in front of the lodge, who begins to sing as soon as she sees a stranger; straightaway the wizards, rushing out, kill him who is approaching.”
The next day when Yenyentʻhwus went to plant she fastened the door, shutting in Hodadeñon. While she was gone, hearing some living thing outside, he tried to get out to shoot it. Then he heard a noise on the lodge roof and, looking up, he saw some kind of creature—he did not know what—with its eyes fixed on him. Then he said, “You are Odyaqgweonion,[58] anyhow,” thinking to himself, “I will shoot at the game.” Drawing his bow, he said to the arrow, “I wish you to go straight to the game.” The arrow struck the creature, killing it; thereupon he rushed to bring it in. Not being able to open the door, he dug a hole in the earth close to the door, through which he got out. Bringing in the game, he put it into the corn mortar and covered it. When Yenyentʻhwus, his sister, came, he said, “My sister, I have killed game.” “Well, where is it?” she asked. “Here in the corn mortar,” answered Hodadeñon. Running thither, he brought the game to his sister. “Oh! that is a chickadee,” said she. Having dressed and cooked the bird, Yenyentʻhwus began to eat it. Hodadeñon stood there watching her eat, and asked, “Is it good?” “Yes,” she replied. After looking on a while longer, he asked, “Are you not going to give me some?” “No,” she replied, “this is the first game you have killed, and you must not eat of it; it would not be right.”[59] [[202]]
The next morning the boy said to his sister, “You will have to tie a belt around me now; I am going out.” She had to do what he asked, for she could not help doing it. Putting the belt on him and preparing him for the day, she said, “You must not go north nor far away; stay near the lodge.”