412 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. axn. 32 



from her appearance that she was pregnant. Being questioned 

 about her condition, she told her mother the whole story of her 

 marriage, concluding with the statement that the last time they 

 had met she had turned to look at him as they parted, whereupon 

 she saw only a great turtle walking where she expected to see her 

 husband. 



The time for her confinement having arrived, the prospective 

 mother heard a conversation being carried on within her body. One 

 speaker said : " Let us go out now," but the other replied : " You go 

 first, and I will follow you." Then she heard one say, "Let us go 

 out by the waj' of the armpit, for I see a little light there," but the 

 other answered, "No; we should kill our mother in doing so." 

 Finally, one came into the world in the natural way, but she heard 

 the one who was left say, " I am going out through the armpit, for 

 I can go quicker in that way." This statement he repeated a number 

 of times, and at last he tried to issue through the armpit with his 

 head. Twice he failed, but the third time he succeeded, although his 

 mother died immediately. He possessed a peculiar head, in the form 

 of a rough flint. The grandmother had to draw this child out of his 

 mother's body, for he could not get out unaided. Both children 

 lived. 



Before the twins were born, while they were conversing in her 

 body, the woman told her mother that she was going to die and that 

 she should be buried and covered well with earth. She said further 

 that a stalk would sprout out of the ground over her which would 

 produce white corn; that a second stalk would grow which would 

 produce red corn ; that one of these stalks would grow from each of 

 her breasts; and that each stalk would bear an ear of corn, which the 

 grandmother must pluck, giving one to each of the children. A short 

 time after her burial the two stallss appeared above the ground, just 

 as she had foretold. 



The boys grew up strong and healthy, but the younger was an 

 awkward, ugly, disagreeable fellow ; he was ill-tempered, often strik- 

 ing his brother in anger. 



One day while the elder brother was away, the younger one became 

 lonely, so he decided to make something. Seating himself on the 

 ground, from a portion of earth he formed an object which was in 

 shape like a grasshopper. After he had finished it, he set it down, 

 saying, "Can you not jump? " Then he blew on it until at last the 

 grasshopper did jump. As the grasshopper flew away, the youth 

 decided to try to make a creature that would fly higher. So he made 

 a bird of red clay, which is the cherry bird. After he had finished it 

 he set it up, telling it to fly. Obeying him, the bird flew up in the 

 air, alighting on a bough. This was the first land bird. Thus the 

 youth made one after another all the birds of the air. Then he re- 



