S^«TS] LEGENDS 399 



ing, and by the great orenda (magic power) of Okteondon, all the 

 bones sprang up living men. " Now," said Okteondon to them, 

 " You have come to life, friends, and you can now go to your 

 homes." ^^' At this they departed. 



" We will go home, too," said Okteondon to his wife and two 

 friends ; so they went to the lodge of his uncle, Haient'hwus. AMien 

 Okteondon left his home his uncle hung up in a corner of the lodge 

 a wampum belt, with the remark, '' The deeper j'ou are in trouble, the 

 nearer will this belt come to the ground, and if you die, it will 

 touch the ground." Of course it had been low and had even 

 touched the ground; hence the old imcle had concluded that his 

 nei^hew was dead and had mourned for him. But at this time 

 the belt was again hanging high. While the nephew was ab- 

 sent many persons had come, pretending to be Okteondon, in order 

 to deceive the old man; so now when the real nephew asked him to 

 open the door-flap he'would not believe his ears, but said, " Put your 

 arm through the hole in the door." Okteondon did so, whereupon the 

 old man tied it, saying, " Now, I have you," unfastening the door- 

 flap so he could strike. But .seeing Okteondon and his wife and his 

 two friends, he exclaimed with delight. " Oh. nephew ! wait a mo- 

 ment, until I clean up somewhat inside." Saying this, he went in- 

 side and pushed away the ashes and dirt. (End.) 



71. Okteondon and Haient'hwus — II 



(Another version of the first part of the legend) 



Okteondon lived with his uncle. Haieiit'hwus, in the forest. Be- 

 side his uncle's lodge stood a large, tall elm tree. Okteondon, the 

 nephew, always remained at tlie foot of this tree, and finally its 

 roots grew over and around his body, thus binding it firmly to the 

 ground. 



Xow Haient'hwus. being very fond of his nephew, always brought 

 him everything that he liked to eat and drink — roasted venison, 

 boiled squashes, dried berries, broiled fish, and all kinds of shellfish. 

 The first thing that Haient'hwus did in the morning was to put corn 

 into a wooden mortar for the purpose of making cornmeal for 

 boiled cornbread : then with a wooden pestle he struck it a single 

 blow, which crushed the corn to fine meal. The people far and near, 

 it is said, heard this blow, and would say, " The uncle of Okteondon 

 is well-to-do and .strong." The old man made Ijread with the meal 

 which he boiled ; when it was cooked he brought some of it to 

 his nephew and also ate some himself. On certain days he went to 

 the forest for firewood. It was a practice with him to burn logs 

 into pieces of such length that he could bring them to his lodge. 

 When the fires on one log were burning well he would light fires on 



