484 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. ann. 32 



" DagwanoenVentgowa ! Dagwanoenyentgowa ! Dagwanoenyent- 

 gowa ! " The girl did not know what that meant, so she asl^ed her 

 grandmother, who told her, " I am calling your relatives to help us. 

 You are a Dagwanoenyentgowa, too." They came one by one. When 

 all had come they numbered GO, besides the old woman and her grand- 

 children. Dagwanoenyentgowa S'hagodigendji said that each one 

 must have a round stone to strike with, just heavy enough to handle 

 well. They had barely gotten the stones when the Yenonsgwa began 

 to appear, thousands and thousands in number. The Dagwanoen- 

 yentgowa were frightened when they saw them, but the old woman 

 who led them said, " We must separate and attack them singly. You 

 must keep the stones in your hands. Be firm and have the faith that 

 you will kill with one blow each one you hit and you will do so." ^^* 

 Then the Dagwanoenyentgowas ran off in different directions, with 

 the Yenonsgwa chasing them. Whenever they had the chance the 

 Dagwanoenyentgowa struck and killed a Yenonsgwa, and so they 

 kept retreating and killing the Yenonsgwa for a long distance. The 

 old woman told all her people to go up a high mountain on the south 

 ahead of them and to continue fighting as they w ent, saying, " When 

 we all reach the top we will go down a little on the other side, and 

 the Yenonsgwa will come to the top, and we shall then strike them. 

 One part of us will strike them from the east and the other from 

 the west side, and we will get behind them and drive them into the 

 great ravine on the south side of the mountain, where a river runs, 

 and they will all perish there." On coming to the mountain top, 

 where there was a large space, and looking around the Yenonsgwa 

 saw nothing of the Dagwanoenyentgowa. They looked on every 

 side, but could see no one, whereupon they thought that the Dag- 

 wanoenyentgowas had gone for good. They had not stood there long, 

 however, when they heard the sound of wind below them on the 

 mountain on both sides of them. The sound grew louder and louder, 

 and presently the Dagwanoenyentgowa struck them on both sides, 

 and uniting in their rear struck them there also. So terrible were 

 the attack and the power of the Dagwanoenyentgowa that they tore 

 all the trees out by their roots and swept the earth from the top of 

 the mountain, hurling the trees and earth into the ravine and river 

 below. The dead Yenonsgwas were piled up on one another like 

 rocks in the river bed and along its banks. The Dagwanoenyentgowa 

 were now dancing on the mountain top, when the old woman ^aid, 

 " We have hurled the Yenonsgwa down there now and we would 

 better finish them. Let half of you go along the ridge running south 

 from this mountain east of the river and the other half on the west- 

 ern ridge and blow all the trees and stones and earth into the great 

 ravine." They did so, and when they came together they had 

 stripped the mountain spurs naked. The river forced everything 



