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



forward from the direction he had come and corpus ejus (mulieris) 

 ille ita convertit ut pedes ad animal appropinquans spectarent; 

 eoque tempore cruribus mulieris expansis omnibusque vestimentis 

 ab ea sublatis corpus ejus sanguine mentruo opertum vidit. Then 

 He-the-Fleet-footed said to her, " Now, you must remain perfectly 

 quiet; do not move under any circumstances." So saying, he con- 

 cealed himself behind a large tree near by, behind which he awaited 

 developments. 



Looking back to the spot where the woman lay, he heard the 

 sounds, Woq', woq', woq\ approaching nearer and nearer and 

 resounding very loud. While looking back to see what was in pur- 

 suit of him, he saw at last an animal following his tracks on the 

 run. It was very large, without a tail, and it had no hair on its 

 body; there were only a few bristles, which stood along the center 

 of its back. 



It came up to the place where the woman lay and it stopped there 

 [tum se gessit tamquam si aliqnid insoliti odoraretur, cruoremque 

 circa corpus mulieris concretum intuitum est. Jam brevi tempore 

 corpus animalis tamquam frigore tremuit, iterumque sanguinem 

 •odorans] ; its body again quivered violently, and the great creature 

 became nauseated. It vomited a great quantity of blood, and in a 

 short time fell over dead, and its feet resounded on the ground. 



The youth, who watched these things from his position behind 

 the great tree, now went to the place where the animal lay; when 

 he placed his foot on the body the entire carcass moved to and fro, 

 showing that the beast was dead. Then the boy removed the 

 woman to a spot some distance from the place where she first lay, 

 saying to her for her comfort, " Lie here a while. I will pursue our 

 kinsfolk to learn whither they have gone." Thereupon he started 

 on the trail with great fleetness of foot. He had not followed the 

 trail very far when he overtook them; they were in large number, 

 and among them was his elder brother. Coming up to them, he 

 said, "You must, all turn back to see what kind of an animal it 

 was against which I ran the foot race." 



So all the people turned back, going directly to the place where 

 they had left the woman who was ill. When they reached the spot 

 the ancients held a council and, after carefully examining the 

 animal, said, " This is what is called Ya'gwai'he.**"^ It is this thing 

 which you overcame in the foot race, the conditions of which have 

 now been fulfilled. You two wagered your heads on the issue of 

 the trial of speed. So, then, we will now kindle a huge fire. Let 

 each one bring a piece of dry fuel." So, going out into the neighbor- 

 ing forest, each brought back a piece of dry wood; with this wood 

 they kindled a great fire. As soon as the fire had become very 

 large they cast into it the body of this animal, and then they threw 



