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



the women first, then the men. After fastening the door the old man 

 asked the three men about their huntino;. He said they should dance 

 once more, and then they would talk a little. All felt free and 

 happy, and one of the three men was talking pretty loud. The 

 people danced again, and having finished, sat around a while. Then 

 the old man said, " I will ask these three men whether they are free 

 of crimes during their absence." They replied, "We are; we hunted 

 all the time." Thereupon the old man brought out the woman, who 

 told all. The old man next called on the warriors present to kill 

 the.se three men, and they did so, afterward scalping them one after 

 another. Then the people, going to the lodge in the woods, brought 

 home the body of the dead man in a robe. 



93. HiNON ^'^ AND THE IrOQDOIS 



In olden times there was in a certain village an orphan lad, who 

 had always been regarded as a very peculiar child by all his friends. 

 H-i was, moreover, without relatives and very destitute, so he was 

 cared for largely by the kindness of the people in general. 



The boy seemed to laiow intuitively many things that other and 

 older people did not know, and it was a custom for him to bring 

 up and talk about many mysterious topics. Quite often when it 

 rained he would say that he could see Hinon walking about in 

 the clouds above their heads, and he would ask those who might be 

 near him whether they, too, did not see Hinon, at the same time 

 pointing him out to them. 



At last the orphan requested the people to be so good as to make 

 him an arrow of red willow and also a bow, assuring them that 

 he would shoot Hinon. So they made him a bow and an arrow out 

 of red willow. One da}', while standing in the doorwa.v of the bark 

 lodge which he called his home, during a passing storm he suddenly 

 shot at Hinon, the arrow swiftly winging its way into the clouds. 

 Soon the people saw it come down near a large tree some distance 

 from the lodge. Eushing to see it, they found it sticking in the 

 ground, but there was no man nor other object near it; but they 

 could not pull the arrow from the ground, no matter how much they 

 tried. Thereupon, returning to the boy, they told him what they 

 had discovered, and that they could not draw his arrow from the 

 ground. As an answer to them he accompanied them back to the 

 tree and, taking hold of the arrow, drew it forth without trouble; 

 but as he did so there appeared the body of a dead human being, 

 Avhich had been shot through the heart by his arrow. It was the 

 body of a small person, not more than four or five feet in height, 

 beautifully ornamented with the finest feathers they had ever seen. 

 The people constructed a neat little lodge of bark, which they lined 



