464 SEKECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. ann. 32 



Now Hot'hoh (Cold Weather) was a brother of these men who lived 

 not far away. He always went naked. His only weapon was a toma- 

 hawk, which he carried in a hole or slit in the skin of his hip. It is 

 he who makes the trees crack with such loud noises in winter, for he 

 is striking them with his mallet or tomahawk. The two men now 

 went to Hotiioh, whom they asked to protect their wives from S'ha- 

 godiyoweqgowa. Some time after this they went hunting again. On 

 this occasion S'hagodiyoweqgowa, coming to the lodge, said to the 

 sisters, " Come and eat with me. I live near here. You can eat and 

 return in a little while. Not recognizing him, tljey went. He took 

 them to his lodge in the woods, where he shut them up. The young- 

 est sister escaped and had gone some distance before S'hagodiyoweq- 

 gowa found it out. Then he followed, screaming as he ran. She 

 was terribly frightened and ran directly to Hot'holi. He told her to 

 go home, and that he would meet S'hagodiyoweqgowa. They met, 

 and then began a terrific battle. S'hagodiyowecjgowa fought with 

 his rattle and Hot'hoh with his mallet. They uprooted the trees for 

 miles as they went toward the east. At last S'hagodiyoweqgowa was 

 conquered and promised never to trouble his brothers' wives again. 



100. The Morning Star and the Cannibal Wife 



Once far off in the woods there lived by themselves a husband and 

 wife. It was the custom of the husband to hunt, while the woman 

 devoted her time to raising corn and beans. 



One day, while the wife was baking a cake in the ashes, a large 

 spark from the fire fell on her hand as she sat in front of the hearth. 

 The pain caused her to rub the spot with her finger. Soon it began 

 to blister, whereupon she wet her finger in her mouth and rubbed the 

 burned spot ; in this way she got a taste of her own blood, and strange 

 as it may seem, she took a liking for it and craved more of it. So 

 with a knife she cut out pieces of the burned flesh, which she ate 

 ravenously. The taste for the flesh grew on her so that she put a 

 coal of fire on another spot on her hand, where it burned more flesh ; 

 thus she continued to cut out pieces of her own flesh and erit them. 

 She persisted in this unnatural practice until she had eaten all the 

 flesh from her legs and arms. 



The husband had a dog, which was very wise and faithful to him. 

 Now this dog eagerly watched what the woman was doing. When 

 about half through eating the flesh off of her limbs, the unnatural 

 wife, turning to the dog, said : " You would better go and tell your 

 friend and master to escape from this place at once. You must go 

 with him, for if you do not hurry away I shall eat you both." Obey- 

 ing this warning, the dog started and, running as fast as he could into 

 the forest until he came to the place where the husband was hunting, 



