406 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. ann.32 



shall mourn for him." In attempting to enter the lod^e they found 

 the door-flap fastened. The lad called out, " Oh, uncle ! I have 

 returned." But the uncle, long annoyed by wizards in the form of 

 animals, replied : " Be off ! You have deceived me enough.". But the 

 young man begged him to unfasten tha door-flap, assuring hini that 

 lie had brought his brothers. Again the uncle shouted : " Be off ! 

 You shall not get in here." Finally, the old man relented, and 

 making a hole in the skin door-flap, called out : ■" Thrilst your arm 

 in. 1 shall see if you aie my nephew." The nephew willingly com- 

 plied with the imcle's request, whereupon the uncle tied his arm with 

 a bark thong, The youth finally cried out: "Oh, uncle! do not tie 

 my arm so tight. You hurt me." Opening the door-flap, the old 

 man saw that it was really his nephew, and exclaimed, " Oh, nephew ! 

 wait a moment until I clean up a little." Then, having brushed off 

 the aslies, he welcomed his nephew and his party. 



73. Deotadastat'iie and IIadjowiski ^^^ 



Hadjowiski lived with his family, consisting of his wife and seven 

 children, in a large lodge in the forest. Only the youngest of the 

 seven children had a name — Deoyadastat'he. He was so small that 

 he never went outside the lodge, nor did he play within it. He 

 remained under the bed at all times, where he j^laj'ed with his 

 dog, which was a flea. The father of the family, Hadjowiski, was 

 very poor, for although he went forth to hunt at sunrise, sometimes 

 even before, he brought home ])ut little meat. 



One morning his wife, who was chagrined l)y the failure of her 

 husband to provide a sufficiency of food for herself and little ones, 

 said to him: " Can you not bring home more meat than you do? We 

 are very, very hungrj'." Hadjowiski, dissembling, replied, " No ; I 

 can not kill more game, for I have not efficient orenda (magic 

 ])ower)." But the suspecting wife persisted in her questioning: 

 " Well, your back always looks as if you had killed plenty of game. 

 AAliat do you do with it after j'ou have killed it? " To this the 

 liusband answered : " Nothing. I never have good luck." The wife 

 did not believe him, however, so she retorted, " I think that a'ou are 

 doing something wrong with what you kill." 



That day Hadjowiski did not bring any game home, but his 

 liack bore traces of fresh blood. In further chiding him his wife 

 said : "There is fresh blood on your back, so you must have killed 

 .some game today." But he replied : " No ; I killed nothing. That 

 blood came from my getting hurt by a hemlock tree falling on me." 

 But she did not believe him at all. 



The next morning he was on the trail long before sunrise. His 

 wife, now thoroughly aroused, stealthily followed him. Just at 

 midday she saw him kill with a small stone a large bear. Taking the 



