HEWITT] MYTH OF THE EARTH-GRASPER 609 



devil, goblin, wUch, wizard. The term has found a peculiar use in a translation of the Gospels by one Joseph 

 On;iSiikennit into the Iroquois tongue (^^ontrcal, IHSO), where it is employed to translate Spirit and Holy 

 Spirit; this is done also in a Mohawk Catechism by the Abb6 F. Piquet (Paris, 1926). In both it is made 

 the equivalent of the English "spirit," and in both works Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is rendered Jiotkou, 

 "he, a human being, isano/fcon,'* i.e., "a demon, or spirit," modified either by lioiatatokenti, "his boiiy is 

 holy." or by Jionikonratokenti, " his mind is holy." The initial o~- in otkon is a pronominal afE-\, denotive 

 of number, person, and gender, and meaning here the singular number, third person, and 7oie gender. 

 When the term is to be used with reference to persons or anthropic beings, the affix changes to to~, ago-, 

 hoilna-, or fconno-, signif>ing, respectively, "he," "one," "they (masculine)," and additionally to every 

 one of these last definitions, the anthropic gender. So that Rotkon denotes "he, a human being, is an 

 otkon," i.e., a demon or spirit. Ingrammatic form the term otkon is an adjective or attributive; its correct 

 nominal form requires the suffix -/ctTO'.-f^era', or-(cfta',according to dialect, denoting state of being; whence 

 otkontcera\ etc., usually written otkonsera', is formed; by Missionary influence, the latter modified by the 

 attributive -ksen "bad," "evil," "wicked," "ugly," is the common name for the Devil of Christian 

 belief. The following are some of the forms of this term found in the Jesuit Relations (Thwaites ed.); ocki, 

 okki, oki, onkaqui (pl.)» oqui, oski, otkis; and in Lafitau's Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains, 1724, okki and 

 otkon occur. Preceded by an expression denoting " verily" the term otkon is used as an expletive, or, per- 

 haps, mild curse. 



XoTE 0.— I. e.. He who has a Standing Tree, so named from the fact that the Great Tree whose flowers 

 supplied the light of that world stood in his dooryard. 



Note 7.— Literally, He who causes the Earth to quake, or briefly, He the Earthquake. 



Note 8. — He accuses the daughter of leading a wayward life in the absence of her mother. 



Note 9. — This was one of his disguises. 



Note 10. — This consisted in an attempt by those challenged to divine the dream of the challenger with 

 its interpretation. It was understood that failure to achieve this task brought severe penalties, even 

 the death of the challenged. 



Note U. — This referred to the Meteor Man Being, sometimes called the Fire Dragon. 



Note 12. — This refers to the Bittern Man Being, one of the creative First People. 



Note I3. — These were the Man Beings of the upper world who were cast out ahead of this Woman Man 

 Being. Man Being must be taken to mean one of the First People who were mythic or poetic human 

 beings. 



Note H. — Literally, He who keeps looking at the sky, referring to a characteristic pose of the Bittern. 



Note 15. — This was the Turtle Man Being. 



Note 16.— By "immune" is meant the power inherent in the person to resist and disregard all attacks 

 by 'sorcery or by other occult means. 



N'ote 17. — This is a peculiar deprecative form of the pronoun. 



XoTE 18. — This flint-pointed arrow typifies the piercing power and effect of the extreme cold of winter. 



Note l9.^Consult the article Tawiskaron in the Handbook of American Indians, Bull. 30, Bur. Amer. 

 Ethn.. for a lexical demonstration of this statement. 



Note 20.— The use of the word "apple" does not necessarily detract from the value of the story, for 

 the account was dealing with the best known fruits and berries; fine, large fruit would render the native 

 term as well. 



Note 21.— See Note 20. 



Note 22.— This, of course, refers to the hibernation of the animals, etc.. in the time of winter, which 

 naturally hibernate to avoid coming under the sway of the Winter God. 



Note 23. — This use of the term "bodies" is an idiomatic expression. 



Note 24.— L e.. He who holds the Earth dually (by the two hands). 



Note 25.— This is merely a figure of irony. 



Note 26.— This is done in order to show his giandmother the proper method of dressing each different 

 kind of game animal. 



Note 27.— This refers to the apparent standstill of the Sun at high noon. This is sometimes called his 

 resiling place. 



Note 2S.— This denotes the sky world whence came all things on this earth through change and meta- 

 morphosis. The race of the First People — the Ancients of Days— were transformed into the objects an- 1 

 phenomena of this earth. 



Note 29.— The name for the First People in Iroquoian speech is their only word signifying human l)eing. 

 So that in ordinary usage it has two very difTerent meanings: One designating an ordinary human being, 

 and the other one of the poetic beings of primal time — one of the First People. 



Note 30.— This name literally means He who causes the Earth to quake. He was therefore a personi- 

 fication of the Earthquake. 



Note 31.— This "bridge" or float was the production of O'ha'ii'. But besought to blame it on the Dark- 

 ness of Night. The power to freeze over the surface of water was one of the Winter God's weapons. Ilenco 

 thegp'at anxiety shown by O'ha'3' when the Sun caused the air to be hot. as appears in the fourth para- 

 graph following this one. Portions of this "bridge" or float appear in literature as "stone" canoes, and 

 also as flint canoes. 



Note 32. — This great poetic bet or gamble is faithfully commemorated in the great Havrest Festival as 

 well as in the New Year Ceremony of the various Iroquoian tribes. It is a memorial celebrating the 

 victory of the Life God in his great struggle to keep control of the food supply of the earth. 



