looker] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 147 



them kindly and, after all had exchanged compliments, he told them 

 to hide in a corner; otherwise he would not answer for their lives. 

 Toward evening Aataentsic arrived and, perceiving that there were 

 guests in the house, took the form of a beautiful young girl, hand- 

 somely adorned, with a beautiful necklace and bracelets of wampum. 

 She asked her son where the guests were. He replied that he did not 

 know what she meant. After she had left, louskeha told the men 

 and thus allowed them to escape (JE, 10 : 135). 



Although the house of Aataentsic and louskeha was very far away, 

 they nevertheless attended the feasts and dances in the villages. 

 There Aataentsic was often badly abused. lousheha threw the blame 

 on a certain horned ohi named T ehonrressanden. But at the end of 

 the tale, it was lousheha who in this disguise insulted his mother 

 (JR10:135). 



In spite of this, lousheha was esteemed. Some said that the begin- 

 ning of the earth was dry and all the waters were under the armpit 

 of a large frog. lousheha could not have a drop of water except as 

 was given by the frog. One day, he decided to change this and he 

 made an incision under the frog's armpit. The waters flowed out in 

 such abundance that they spread throughout the whole earth, creating 

 the rivers, lakes, and seas. The Huron also believed that lousheha 

 learned from the turtle the process of making fire. Were it not for 

 him, the Indians would not have such good hunting or such ease in tak- 

 ing animals. In the beginning, the animals were shut up in a great 

 cavern that lousheha guarded. One day he let them free so that they 

 might multiply and he wounded them all in the foot with an arrow. 

 The wolf, however, escaped the shot and this was why the Indian 

 had such difficulty in catching him when hunting (JR 10: 135-137). 



lousheha also made the corn grow. In 1636, lousheha was seen 

 quite dejected and as thin as a skeleton and carrying a poor ear of 

 corn in his hand. Some also said he was carrying a man's leg and 

 tearing it with sharp teeth. All this was a sign that it would be a 

 very bad year (JR 10: 137-139). ^^ 



In another case, the Mohawk and Andastocrrhonon had been 

 brought one epidemic by Aataentsic. She had passed through all the 



"Compare Connelley's (1899 b: 41) statement that the Wyandot twin brother — 



often manifested himself to them, being seen in the forests, fields, laljes and 

 streams. If the stalk of corn seen in his hand was full-eared, well-grown, and 

 perfectly grained, a bountiful harvest was indicated ; but if it was blasted and 

 withered, no corn was to be expected, and famine was Imminent. If he carried in 

 his hand the bare bone of fish or game, it was certain that none of either could 

 be taken or killed for a season. If, pale and gaunt, he entered any village gnaw- 

 ing the shrunken, withered limb of a human being, he thereby foretold famine so 

 dire that many Wyandots must perish from hunger and plague before it was 

 stayed. 



