470 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. ANN. ai 



spealfs. When you haA'e done that, hurry to this place." The next 

 morning the luisband said, " I am going into the ground. I want you 

 to stay in the lodge all the time I am away," and turning around 

 where ho stood, he disappeared in the ground. After doing as she 

 had been told to do by the stranger, the wife went to the spring, 

 where she found the man. Putting her into the top of an arrov.', and 

 saying, " When the arrow falls, get out and hurry along the lake as 

 fast as j'ou can," he shot it into the air. 



Soon the husband called to his wife, "Are you there?" at which 

 the moccasin answered in her voice, " Yes." After a time he called 

 again, "Are you there?" "Yes," was again her reply. He was away 

 several days, during which many times did he ask, "Are you there?" 

 always receiving the same answer. When he appeared above the 

 ground and asked, "Where are j'ou, wife, are you here?" a voice 

 answered, " Yes." Looking around, he could not see her ; then sud- 

 denly he discovered what had been talking to him. He was very 

 angry and began to search for the woman's tracks. He followed 

 them to the spring, whei'e they disappeared. After looking for a 

 long time he became discouraged, and calling his dog Onhagwio.^^" he 

 said, " You failed to watch my wife while I was gone. Now you 

 must find her." Then he watched the dog as it ran round and round, 

 coming back to the spring; finally it stopped scenting the ground, 

 and looking into the air, it sniffed. All at once the dog ran off north- 

 ward, looking up all the time as if it saw tracks (but trailing a faint 

 scent in the air). The man followed. After a while they came to the 

 spot where the arrow fell. There were tracks on the ground. The 

 dog barked and began to run faster, the man urging it on. As they 

 neared the woman, the man who h:\d been at the spring stood before 

 her. He put her again into an arrow, saying, " You will come down 

 on an island in a lake, and you must run across this island in all 

 directions." When the husband and the dog came to the place where 

 she met the man they lost her track. Again the dog scented, and 

 finding the trail in the air, followed it. When they reached the lake, 

 the man changed himself into a flea, and going into the hair behind 

 the dog's ear, held on. Then the dug swam to the island, on reaching 

 which the ilea turned to a man again. Coming to the spot where the ar- 

 row fell, they found her tracks, which they followed across and around 

 the island. As they neared the woman, the man again stood by her, 

 and putting her once more into his arrow, said, " You will come down 

 on the shore of the lake ; then run as fast as you can. I can help you 

 no longer, but you will soon I'each a village, where you will find 

 some one to help you. You may see now who I am." As he turned 

 to go away, she saw that the man was a Djondjongwen.^'^ 



The dog arrived at the place where the tracks disappeared on the 

 ground; here he found the woman had crossed the lake. Again the 



