428 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [kth. ANN. 32 



first, and the old woman after him. So when the old woman rolled 

 into the fire, the young wife said, " Now, strike her with the pestle 

 for pounding corn." At this he struck her a blow with the pestle 

 while she was rolling about among the ashes and fire, and groaning 

 as if in great agony. The old woman, pretending to awake, said, 

 "Oh ! I have dreamed that my son-in-law entered the sweat-lodge — 

 he first, and then I." Making light of her dream, the young man 

 said, " Oh I go to bed, mother-in-law. I will attend to this matter in 

 the morning." Early the following morning the sweat-lodge was 

 heated hotter than it had ever been before. When the son-in-law 

 entered, the old woman sang and danced around it, saying, '• Let 

 there be heat enough in there to smother him." In a couple of hours 

 she cautiously pushed aside the door flap of the sweat-lodge, remark- 

 ing, " He must be dead by this time." But she was deeply chagrined 

 to find that he sat inside very comfortably, and that he had not even 

 ()erspired. It was now the old woman's turn to enter the sweat-lodge. 

 As she did so, the son-in-law began to sing and to dance around it. 

 He sang. "Let this lodge become flint; let it be red hot at first; and 

 then let it be at white heat." As it grew hotter and hotter the old 

 woman begged for mercy, but none was shown her, and thus she 

 was burned to death. 



Now the young husband, addressing his wife, said, " As you 

 brought me the most of the way hither on your back, and as you 

 know the way, take me home." So she bore him on her back over 

 the fields, over the forests, past the fishing-grounds where he said 

 he and his grandfather had fished, past the raccoon trees, and at last 

 brought him to the lodge of his grandfather. The aged grandfather 

 welcomed his grandson and his wife, being very glad that his grand- 

 son had lived through all, the difficulties which he knew he had met 

 while he had been absent. There they lived in peace and contentment. 



This is the story of the Great White Beaver and the Lake of the 

 Enchanted Waters. 



TRADITIONS 



80. Ganon, the Seneca War Chief 



Ganon was a Seneca war chief. Having called a council, he said, 

 " We must go to see the Cherokee, and find out whether we can not 

 agree to be friendly and to live in peace hereafter." The people 

 consenting, the chief continued, " We must purify ourselves thor- 

 oughly before we start ; this will take ten days." Thereupon a great 

 many went off into a deep forest. All were men. There was no 

 woman in the company. When they got into the deep forest they 

 took medicine to make them vomit. This they did every morning 

 for ten days, in addition to bathing and swimming and washing their 

 bodies each day. 



