354 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS Feth. ANN. S2 



more, but the nephew, refusing him, proceeded to cut off the old 

 man's head with his flint knife. Then placing the head and body 

 of the old man in the lodge, he set it on fire. When the head burst 

 open, out flew an owl. Then the youth took the six eyes back to the 

 river, and calling up the ducks to him, he moistened the eyes with 

 spittle and replaced them in the heads of the ducks. Thanking the 

 ducks for the aid they had given him. he dismissed them, and they 

 flew far away. 



The j'outh now went home, where he told his grandmother what 

 he had done. After hearing his story she said: "I am well pleased 

 with what you have done, my grandson. You can now hunt with 

 freedom in all directions, for there is now no one to harm you. You 

 had a number of brothers, but their uncles destroyed them without 

 mercy." 



She sent him to hunt, as u.sual. Being now quite a man, he could 

 kill deer, bear, and other large game, but he had to go so far away to 

 find them that he always returned late at night. Not liking this, 

 he thought of a method by which this might be avoided. He went 

 into the forest, after telling his grandmother that he was tired of 

 going so far to hunt, that he would merely sing, and that the game 

 would come to him. In the forest he made arrows, and by the time 

 night came he had as many white-ash arrows as he could well cany. 



The next morning, bringing out a deerskin, he caused his grand- 

 mother to sit on it. Then, covering her head with the skin, he said 

 to her: "Now, you must not look out. If you do I shall leave here, 

 never to return." First, placing the great bundle of arrows on the 

 ground outside the lodge, he began to sing: "Come to me, you elk. 

 Come to me, you bears. Come to me, you raccoons. Come to me, 

 you deer." As he stood singing, soon there arose a great com- 

 motion in the forest, caused by the sound of many feet running 

 toward the singer. The animals were coming from every direction. 

 As they were drawn near him by his singing he began to shoot his 

 arrows. When he had shot away about half of his arrows, and 

 while the animals were near him — l)cars, raccoons, deer, and elk — ■ 

 and while hedgehogs were climbing the lodge roof, the grandmother, 

 becoming frightened at the strange sounds, removing the buckskin 

 covering from her head, looked up through the smoke-hole to see 

 what was the cause of the tumult. In an instant a great white deer 

 sprang over the other animals, and, taking the youth on his antlers, 

 ran off with him into the forest.'*'" All the other animals followed the 

 man, who was singing as they ran. Then the grandmother rushed 

 to the doorway, and, looking out, saw all the game killed, but she 

 did not see her grandson anywhere. Then she remembered his words, 

 but it was too late. 



