104 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth ann. S2 



is the wife of one of his sons. You run over and tell the chief that 

 iiis dau<^htcr-in-law's two sons have come after her." He went and 

 told his message. " Have you ever had any children ? " asked her 

 father-in-law and her husband. " Xo," she said in a faint voice*. 

 " Go home," said the chief, " and tell them my daugliter-in-law never 

 had any children. She is a young woman. How could she have two 

 sons? " Then, turning to the warriors, he said: " Bun over and kill 

 those lying children. I do not want to have them around here." 

 When his sons came home the Gagahgowa said : " They will kill those 

 two boys. It is a pity. Let us hide them." When the warriors 

 came the Gagahgowa said. "They have gone: they went back home, 

 I think." 



The Crows cared for the boys. After a while tiie old Crow said : 

 " Let us go away from here. Let us go far away into the woods 

 where there will be good hunting. These little boys will bring us 

 luck." The Crow family moved far away into the deep woods; they 

 planted corn and beans and had good crops. The boys grew up and 

 hunted; they had great luck and obtained much game. The whole 

 Crow family were fat and happy. 



After several years the old chief at the village said one day : " I have 

 not seen that Crow family for a long time. Run over, somebody, and 

 see how they are getting along." A runner, Haheshe,'^ went over and, 

 finding the Crow place in ruins, came back and said that their lodge 

 had tumbled down and that thej' had gone away somewhere. " Go," 

 said the chief, " a number of you, and find them. They must be 

 somewhere. Do not come back until you know where they are living 

 now." After a long search they found the Crow family living in 

 happiness and plenty, far away in the woods. AVhen they told the 

 chief he said, " Let us all go tliere. There must be good hunting in 

 that place." 



As soon as they were on the road it began to snow and to grow 

 cold. It continued to snow heavier and faster, the snowflakes being 

 almost as large as a man's hand. The young chief and his wife hur- 

 ried on ahead. She had a child on her back. They reached the 

 Crows' lodge almost frozen to death and covered with snow. The 

 rest of the family were either frozen to death, buried in the snow, or 

 forced to turn back. The snow was light near the Crows' lodge, but 

 as there was a great pile of deer carcasses near it, they had to carry 

 them in. The elder brother was employed at this work when his 

 mother and her husband came. Calling out. " My son ! " she came 

 near him. He pushed her back M'ith a forked stick. She put her 

 baby on him. He threw it on the ground in the snow. Just then the 

 old woman of the Crows came out and said : " Yoiz should not do so. 

 If your mother is wicked, you should not be likewise. Let them come 

 in." And Gagahgowa, the old Crow, allowed them to live there. 



