142 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [bth. ann. 82 



pointed out the great hickory tree, the top of which could be seen 

 above the forest, seemingly not more than 200 or 300 rods away. 



The next day, on looking toward the tree, he could see that some 

 arrows came very near the eagle, some not so near, and others far 

 away from it. At last he said, " I must shoot an arrow at that 

 eagle." "Oh!" said the-sister, "you can not hit it from here." But 

 he would have his own way, and going outside of the lodge with his 

 bow and arrow, he said to his sister's daughter: "Go out into the 

 crowd. When I shoot the arrow and the bird falls to the ground 

 run and bring it here with the arrow sticking in it, and let no one 

 take it from you." The girl went. Her uncle shot, and his arrow, 

 flying through the air, struck the eagle. When she grasped the bird 

 after it had fallen to the ground a man pushed her aside, and snatch- 

 ing the bird from her disappeared in the crowd. She cried out, but 

 no one heeded her. Now, the crowd gathered at a mound, a short 

 distance from the tree. On this mound the great witch woman was 

 sitting with her friends to witness the shooting. The people stood 

 in a circle. The stranger came up with the eagle and claimed her 

 youngest daughter, who, insisting that he was not the right man, 

 refused to mari-y him; but the old woman said her promise must be 

 kept, and had the marriage proclaimed. 



When, in the evening, the 3'omig wife would not remove her desig- 

 nated husband's clothing, the old woman did so. On taking off the 

 moccasins, and throwing thi'm, tied together, over a crossbar near 

 the couch, they became owls, so wretchedly weak that they were 

 barely able to hold on to their perch; and so with the panther, the 

 wildcats, and the otter ; they seemed scarcely alive. 



The young woman would not go near her designated husband, but, 

 rolling herself up in a bearskin, slept apart. The next morning the 

 mother-in-law, addressing hei' intended son-in-law, said : " Wliat can 

 you do for me [in thaumaturgy] ? " He opened his pouch, from 

 out of which came the girls, who were barely able to bi"ing a coal 

 of fire, and the pigeons, nearly lifeless. He smoked, and cast spittle 

 on a deerskin which was spread before him, and spittle it remained. 

 Again he tried, but with the same result. Then the mother-in-law, 

 growing angry, went away in disgust and chagrin. 



The evening after Hat'hondas was robbed the slcy was red, and 

 his uncle at home knew that his nephew was in great trouble — that 

 his life was in danger. He sat down by the fire, throwing ashes 

 on his head, and wept, saying, " Oh ! nephew, I shall mourn for you 

 ten summers." But now the sky was not so red, and the old man 

 knew that his nephew had gained some relief. 



The second night the young woman slept apart from her designated 

 husband. 



