478 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. ANN. 32 



over and fall on the monster, killing it. " That is what I said ; 

 there is nothing that can overpower nie," the young man thought. 

 He then went back to his hut very happy. His wife asked what had 

 happened to him. " I have killed a monster bear that came to de- 

 stroy me," he replied. 



Now all went on as usual. One day after the man returned from 

 hunting, as he and his wife sat by the fire they heard a man ap- 

 proaching the hut, and they kept listening until he came to the 

 door. When the man opened the door, there stood his friend. For 

 the first time now the woman saw him. They greeted each other. 

 The guest said : " The time has come when your life is again in 

 danger, but I will try to save you and your wife. I will tell you 

 what to do. Rub your hands on j'our wife's head and she will turn 

 to Os'hada ; ^"^ then you must tell it to follow you whei'ever you go. 

 It will not be well for you to stay here; you must go away, but 

 remain here as long as you can after your wife has gone. She must 

 start immediately after you change her into Os'hada, and when 

 you have given up all hope of being able to stay, then flee directly 

 toward the south. Tomorrow morning as soon as you get up, you 

 must do as I have told you. I shall go now and we shall meet 

 again." 



Thereupon the visitor started off. The man and wife began to 

 talk. They did not know what to do. In the morning the man 

 rubbed her head, saying, " Let my wife become Os'hada." At once 

 she became Os'hada and rested on his hand, while with the other hand 

 he rubbed it off in the direction it was to go. Then piling up all his 

 meat, he said in a loud voice, " I give this meat to you, all flesh -eating 

 animals that live in the woods." He now went toward the southeast 

 from his lodge to a A-ery large elm tree, which was smooth up to a 

 great height, where branches formed a crotch. Climbing the tree, he 

 sat in this ci'otch. Soon he noticed that he felt faint and very weak 

 at intervals, and he thought that there must be near him something 

 mysterious. He looked around everywhere, but saw nothing. Taking 

 out the tooth Gaasyendiet'ha had given him, he dampened it with 

 spittle; then having rubbed his finger over the tooth, he passed it 

 over his eyes, saying, ," Now I can see everything that is going on, 

 even down in the ground." On looking into the ground, he saw, 

 deep down, a tree and on the tree a great monster. He sat still, 

 watching it as it slowly climbed the tree. As it came near the top, 

 the faint feeling grew stronger on the man. He saw that the animal 

 was a Djainosgowa,^^- the greatest of the Djainos family of monsters. 

 This Djainosgowa had determined to overpower the orenda of the 

 man. It came up out of the ground and up into the heart of the 

 tree on which the man was sitting. As it came nearer and nearer, 

 the man leaped to another tree. At that instant the Djainosgowa, 



