460 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS Ieth. ann.32 



she was then brought out and became free to marry again. The 

 watcher often died in the excavation, however, for it Was dark and 

 foul. 



Once a man left with the body of his wife heard, after a time, an 

 occasional noise of craunching and eating. The next time his friends 

 came with food he told them of this. There\ipon they held a council, 

 and the chief sent several men into the excavation to ascertain the 

 cause of the noise. They found that the bodies had been eaten, and 

 that a deep hole led down into the ground, which must have. been 

 made by a great serpent. After that the Seneca ceased to bury in 

 this way and put their dead into the ground as they do at present. 



When it was the custom to place bodies in the bark lodges the hus- 

 band or wife had to remain in the lodge and look after the dead for a 

 year. At the end of this period the bones were taken out and fastened 

 to a post in an erect position, and a great dance was held around 

 them. 



MYTHS 



98. A Tale of the Sky World 



A long time ago human beings lived high up in what is now called 

 heaven. They had a great and illustrious chief. 



It so happened that this chief's daughter was taken very ill with a 

 strange affection. All the people were very anxious as to the outcome 

 of her illness. Every laiown remedy was tried in an attempt to cure 

 her, but none had any effect. 



Near the lodge of this chief stood a great tree, which every year 

 bore corn used for food. One of the friends of the chief had a dream, 

 in which he was advised to tell the chief that in order to cure his 

 daughter he must lay her beside this tree, and that he must have the 

 tree dug up. This advice was carried out to the letter. While the 

 jieople were at work and the young woman lay there, a j^oung man 

 came along. He was very angrj' and said : " It is not at all right to 

 destroy this tree. Its fruit is all that we have to live on." With this 

 remark he gave the young woman who lay there ill a shove with his 

 foot, causing her to fall into the hole that had been dug. 



Now, that hole opened into this world, which was then all water, 

 on which floated waterfowl of many kinds. There was no land at 

 that time. It came to pass that as these waterfowl saw this young 

 woman falling they shouted, " Let us receive her," whereupon they, 

 at least some of them, joined their bodies together, and the young 

 woman fell on this platform of bodies. When these were wearied 

 they asked, "Who will volunteer to care for this woman?" The 

 great Turtle then took her, and when he got tired of holding her, he 

 in turn asked who would take his place. At last the question arose as 



