482 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS Ceth. anv. s2 



told her so, but she said : " Oh ! we shall soon come to the place where 

 she is." The Yenonsgwa woman went very far into the woods, and 

 the boy began to cry for his grandmother; he cried so hard that 

 Yenonsgwa told him to get off her back. She did not like to hear 

 him cry, and, moreover, she wanted to eat him. But he did not get 

 off, for he could not do so. Yenonsgwa could neither get her hands 

 around to pull him off, nor could she turn her head to bite him; she 

 could not get at him in any way. Knowing this, the boy clung to the 

 middle of her back, for he knew also that she would eat him if he 

 slipped down. They traveled thus for many days. 



When the grandmother returned home she found that the boy 

 and girl were not in the lodge, and she became very uneasy. She 

 searched everywhere, but found no traces of either. After a while, 

 finding the tracks of the Yenonsgwa aroimd the lodge, she guessed 

 what the trouble was. The old woman followed the trail of the 

 Yenonsgwa, saying that she was bound to get her grandchildren 

 back. 



Yenonsgwa tried to get the boy off, even rubbing him against a 

 hickory tree, but the boy said : " Oh ! I like that. Rub harder." At 

 this she stopped rubbing and went on. The grandmother, in the 

 form of a whirlwind, followed her, and Yenonsgwa told the boy 

 that his grandmother was following as a whirlwind, and would strike 

 and kill both. The boy was silent. Then looking aroimd for a refuge, 

 Yenonsgwa found a hiding place in a deep ravine. There she dug a 

 hole, into which she went and covered herself with the earth which 

 slipped down from above. Now Yenonsgwa heard Dagwanoenyent- 

 gowa coming, and said to the boy : " You can hear your grandmother 

 coming if you listen." Then the Dagwanoenyentgowa rushed over the 

 place where they lay. The boy shouted to his grandmother, who heard 

 him. Changing her course, she came back straight to the spot where 

 they were, blowing the earth off the hiding place, so that Yenonsgwa 

 was visible on the surface of the ground. When the grandmother 

 asked the boy whether he was there, he answered : " Yes." The 

 Yenonsgwa, however, lay still, whispering to the boy: "Be quiet! 

 Your grandmother will see us." The grandmother then called to 

 the boy by name: " Dagwanoenyentgowa, get off Yenonsgwa's back." 

 Having done so, he went a short distance from her inside the cavern. 

 Then the old woman, his grandmother, hurled great stones at 

 Yenonsgwa, rending all her clothes of rock and killing her. There- 

 upon the old woman took her grandson with her toward home. On 

 the road she said : " Never allow yourself to be treated in this way 

 again. Never let anyone maltreat you. You can master all those 

 people if you only use your orenda (magic power), for you are a 

 Dagwanoenyentgowa like myself." The old woman remained at 

 home a few days with her grandson. 



