188 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS Ieth.a.vn. si- 



ller head. The arrcw [jiei'^ed the bag and the oil (lowing out fell 

 upon the woman's head and face. This made hei- very angry, but she 

 did not speak. 



Now, all the meat in tiie lodge was the game which tlie uncle of the 

 j'oung man killed and brought in every day. lie never came there 

 until late in the day while the nephew went home early, so that in all 

 these years they had never met at the Long Lodge. When the uncle 

 came that evening he found the bag broken and the oil spilt ovei- the 

 woman. He suspected that his nephew had been there. On reaching 

 his own lodge that night he asked. "Have ,vou been at the Long 

 Lodge? " " Oh, yes," saitl the nephew ; " I have been going there for 

 the last 13 years. I ha\e always eaten of the meat there. I 

 have not eaten fungus for many years." The >mcle was very angry, 

 and asked him whether he broke the bag containing the bear's oil. 

 " Yes." the young man answered. " Oh ! you have destroyed us both, 

 I fear. That woman is an awful witch. She can not be killed. She 

 will ruin us both." said the uncle. 



The next day the uncle went off again. But that time the nephew 

 remained at home. During the day. raising the cover of his uncle's 

 couch, he found a great pot. This he filled with water, putting in 

 also a good-sized piece of the chestnut, for he was very angry with his 

 uncle. When the pot boiled, he began to strike it, saying, "' Swell, 

 Pot! Swell, Pot I '■ When it came up as high as the bed, he climbed 

 on the bed. On the pot rising higher, he climbed on the slielf. 

 which extended ai'ound the side of the lodge. When it rose as high 

 as that, he climbed out of the smoke hole on the roof, enjoying 

 immensely the increase of the pudding. Imowing how terribly angry 

 his uncle would be when he returned in the evening. 



When his uncle came home he said to the boy. " What have you 

 been doing?" "Making chestnut pudding." declared the nephew. 

 •' Oh ! it is too bad." exclaimed the uncle. " Oh ! that is an old story 

 with me. I have been eating chestnut pudding for 15 years." de- 

 clared the boy. " By doing this you will destroy us both," said the 

 uncle, who was more angry than ever before. " You have eni'aged 

 that woman. She will never stop her revenge until she has killed 

 us both," continued the uncle. 



They went to bed, the old man feeling very bad. Just at day- 

 break the* next morning they heard a terrible noise away off in the 

 distance. The trees began to moan. The sound grew louder and 

 louder. The two anxious watchers heard the cracking of branches 

 and the falling of trees. They said the most awful tempest they 

 had ever heai'd was coming, with the woman I'ight in the midst of 

 (he storm. Sweeping down on the lodge and tearing it up from 

 the ground, she caught up the uncle and bore him away. The 

 rtephew had hidden, .so she did not find him. 



