80 SENECA FICTION, LECENDS, AND MYTHS 1 Kill. ANN. 3J 



sliould it rain fire)." 'I'lie old iiiaii said, " Hoi Certainly, I ean do 

 nothing about it. Come then, so be it." Anil the boy shouted, say- 

 ing, ■■ Let it rain fire,"' and at once it began to rain fire. 



Then the boy hid himself with his brother under the rock. In a 

 very short time the body of the old man took fire and the dead Dag- 

 wanoenyent fell down there. Tiien the lK)y and his twin brother 

 went home again to their gi-aiidmotiier. Now the younger of tlie 

 twins began to relate what iiad taken place on their journey. He 

 said that his elder brothei', the other twin, had killed Dagwanoenyent. 

 The old woman said, "Now he wag, indeed, my elder brother"; and 

 she wept and kept saying, " You two have killed my elder brother." 



After a while, as the twins were again going from place to place to 

 play, they saw a cave which seemed to be a lodge. At once one of 

 tlie boys said to his brother, " Let us enter it." On going in they 

 were surprised to find a number of persons who were all blind, 

 and in very wretched condition, for indeed they were scarcely 

 alive. The elder twin asked the inmates of the cave, " What great 

 calamity has taken place that you are all blind?" One of them 

 answered, " It is a fact that our eyes have been taken from us by 

 those false women who are making a robe spangled with human 

 eyes, and furthermore Shagowenotha has robbed us of our sister 

 younger than we are." The elder twin then asked the blind people, 

 "In what direction do the eye-robe-making women live? " Ilis uncle 

 (his mother's brother) replied, " Directly thither, toward the north." 

 The boy said, " I shall make the attempt tcj go to get them." 



So they two, the twins, started. In time they arrived at the lodge 

 of the women who were making a robe of human eyes; and one of 

 the twins said, " I .shall go there." When they reached the place 

 where these women obtained their water, he tiansformed himself, 

 becoming a very small, young, blue duck. When the youngest of 

 these sisters, the makers of the robe of human eyes, came to draw 

 water she of course saw this pretended cluck and chased it around, 

 but failed in her attempt to catch it. Thereupon the water became 

 turbid and she wholly lost sight of the duck. The young water girl 

 started back to the lodge. Having arrived there, she related what 

 she had seen, saying, " Verily, indeed, I think there must be some- 

 thing hidden here (in my body). I do not know what it is that stirs 

 about inside." The eldest of the sisters asked her, " How long has it 

 been so? " The youngest sister answered, " Just now." So the eldest 

 sister examined her, and then said, " Indeed, you arc pregnant, it 

 would seem." In a very short time she began to have labor pains, 

 and it became evident that .she would give birth to a child. She did 

 give birth to a male child, a fine boy, and all the sistei-s were pleased. 



Then, it is said, the new-born infant began to cry, and to quiet 

 him they showed him various things. They kept this up during the 



