156 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS (bth. ann. S2 



near they cried out in bitter anger : " Oh ! she smells strong of a man. 

 She can not deny that she has been talking again to a man." There- 

 upon they threatened to turn her away and not to let her enter their 

 lodge again. But she begged them not to do so, saying: "What if I 

 do marry? I shall not bring my husband into this lodge, for he will 

 take me away to his own lodge." But they would not listen to her 

 pleading, their only answer being, " Tomorrow we shall go once more 

 to pick huckleberries, and if you again talk to a man we shall never 

 permit you to come again into our home." 



All that evening and night she sat pensively thinking of her situa- 

 tion and of the young man. She could not bring herself to the point 

 of giving him up. Finally she decided to cast her lot with his people, 

 saying to herself, " Well, they may do as they like, but as for me I 

 shall accept the young man as my husband." Collecting a small 

 bundle of her belongings, she carefully concealed them outside the 

 lodge, so that in case they would not let her return to the lodge she 

 could get them. During that same evening and night her sisters kept 

 saying: "Oh! what a disgusting smell that is. How can she stand 

 it?" and they made fearful grimaces at the odor. 



The next day the seven sisters went again to gather huckleberries. 

 The elder sisters were so incensed at their youngest sister that the}' 

 paid little attention to her beyond murmuring continually against her 

 reprehensible conduct. 



On her part she went directly to the usual place, where she met 

 the young man, who was impatiently waiting for her. After hear- 

 ing how bitterly opposed his sweetheart's sLsters were to her love- 

 making, he said to her, " If they do not let you go to your home, 

 come to me, and I will be most happy to care for you." 



Whea the time came for the sisters to go home and they made 

 the usual call, she would not go near them, telling them to go on and 

 that she would make her way home by herself. Then they said: 

 " She has been with that man again. She will indeed bring shame 

 upon us." At last some of the younger sisters, relenting a little, said : 

 "What shall we do? She is our youngest sister. She is very proud. 

 If we turn her away from home, she will never come back again. 

 We shall then lose her forever"; and they were very sad and dis- 

 consolate. But the elder sister, more conservative than the}', said, 

 " We must turn her away from us, because if we do not do so, some 

 other sister here will be doing the same thing as she has done." She 

 was able to bring them, as least outwardly, to her view, and so when 

 the erring one came to the lodge, they said, " You must not come into 

 this lodge any more." 



Deeply grieved, the youngest sister replied, " If you have thus 

 deliberately cast me out from you, I will go away," and true to her 

 unswer, she started away. Weeping bitterly thus to leave her sisters, 



