162 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS Inn. ann.32 



w lien he saw other boys running, he huighed, thinking, " That run- 

 ning is nothing; I can run faster than any other living man." 



One night he heard some one come and strike the door post near 

 the bed. He did not speak. Then a second knock, and the visitor 

 spoke, saying, "Who is there?" "I am here," answered the boy. 

 ■' AVell, I challenge you to nni a race witli me. because you think that 

 you are the swiftest runner living. We will start from the second 

 mountain and run from sunrise to sunset." declared the stranger. 



In the morning the boy asked his grandfather whether he had 

 heard a man talking in the night. " No," came the answer. " Well, 

 a man challenged me last night to run a race," said the boy. " Oh ! 

 I do not believe it is a man. It is a beast. Perhaps you will get 

 killed," said the old man. "Well, I must be ready," said the boy; 

 •' we run on the third morning from this." The youth made ready 

 ten pairs of moccasins, put flint on his arrows, and took prepared 

 parched corn to eat. 



On the third morning he went to the appointed phice. As he drew 

 near he saw there a great dark mass. When nearer he saw an im- 

 mense creature, but he did not know what it was. When daylight 

 came, he saw that it was a great bear. When the sun appeared the 

 bear said, " Now, we will start." At once he leaped straight across 

 the valley to the next hill. The ground sank where he struck. He 

 leaped from hill to hill all the time, but the boy had to run through 

 tile valley. At noon the great bear was ahead, and the boy was 

 falling behind. The latter began to think, "I am lost; I wish my 

 friend Gaha would come." At that moment Gaha came in a whirl- 

 wind and carried the boy far ahead of the bear. Gaha threw all the 

 trees down, and the bear was delayed jumping over them. The boy 

 called to the great bear, " You must do better than that." The great 

 bear then gave up, telling the boy that he might have his life; so the 

 l)oy killetl him. Then he took some burned tobacco to his friend Gaha. 

 and, after doing this, asked tc be taken home. His friend, carrying 

 him in a whirlwind, set him down in front of his grandfather's lodge. 

 The boy said: "I have come, grandfather. I have killed the great 

 bear, and you must send and get his body." The grandfather sent 

 eight men to get his body. They were twenty days going and twenty 

 days returning. The boy was not one day coming, for Gaha carried 

 him over the woods and under the clouds. 



28. The Old Man and the Bot 



In the past an old man and a small boy lived together in a lodge 

 by themselves. AVith great affection they passed the time. P^ach 

 called the other " friend." They were not blood relatives, only 

 cousins. 



