390 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS I irni. ANN. ?,2 



fire. About the time that the hominj' was ready three young men 

 came into the lodge, who were invited by liaiefit'hwus to eat. When 

 Oicteondon, the young men, and ILaient'hwus had eaten the boiled 

 hominy, the old man began to pack some garments in a /small 

 bundle. When he had finished his parcel, he said to his nephew, 

 " AVhen any one of your friends is in need of things such as these 

 you will find tliem in this parcel." 



Then Okteondon, after putting on his snowshoes, instructed his 

 friends, saying : " You must follow me, and in doing so you must 

 step in mj' tracks:" then he started. The three young men in step- 

 ping in his tracks found that it was like walking on solid ground, 

 although the earth was covered deep with snow. Toward evening 

 they came to a place where they saw smoice floating like clouds among 

 the trees. When the}' drew near to an opening they saw a number 

 of fires, around which were four young women. Thereupon Okteon- 

 don, addressing his companions, said: "We will stop here and kindle 

 our fires near these women.'" When their fires weie burning briskly 

 Okteondon, going up to the four young women, who had kettles of 

 hominy boiling over their fires, overturned the kettles and scattered 

 the fires with his feet. This greatly angered the women except the 

 last, who was the youngest. After doing this Okteondon returned to 

 his friends, and remarking that he was going out to hunt, for fresh 

 meat, started off into the forest. He had not gone far when he came 

 to a tree on which he saw marks made by the claws of a bear. 

 Walking up to the tree he exclaimed : " Thou who art in this tree, 

 come forth." In a moment a bear came forth, which he killed; after 

 dre.ssing it he brought the meat to the camp. Then he said, " T am 

 going to fetch my uncle's kettle," and passing around a big tree 

 standing near the camp, he returned with a large kettle. In this 

 kettle they placed the meat to cook over their fire. When the meat 

 was cooked they sat down and ate it. After they were through eating 

 Okteondon said : " Let us now go to our wives. I wish you to follow 

 my advice, too. Take none of this meat to your wives, for if you do 

 we shall have bad luck. Some misfortune will befall us." When 

 they reached the camp of the young women they found that the latter 

 had hominy cooked and were cooling it. They sat with their backs 

 turned toward the men. The youngest sister, whom Okteondon 

 claimed as his wife, asked him to come over and eat with her. The 

 others said nothing. Okteondon ate, but the other men did not. 

 That night they slept with the women. Hot'hoh."*- one of the three 

 men who accompanied Okteondon, was naked. He had a hole slit 

 through the skin of his hip. in which he carried his war club. He 

 chose the eldest of the AVadi'oniondies '*-=' sisters, and Okteondon the 

 youngest. The women kept their canoe near the four fires, and when 

 they undressed they placed their outdoor garments in the canoe. 



