502 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. avn. S2 



to watch the old man and to continue doing so during the approach- 

 ing night, as the young boy had concluded that his uncle ate his 

 meals at night. The boy mused to himself, saying, " Tonight I will 

 watch my uncle during the whole time." 



So in the evening, when Gajihsondis lay down for the night, he 

 wrapped himself up in an old piece of skin; he lay on one side of 

 the fire and his uncle on the other. There was a rent in the skin 

 covering of Gajihsondis, probably a hole which he had made in it 

 for the occasion, and through this he peered as he watched his uncle. 

 This hole in the skin was very, very small. The boy did not sleep, 

 but kept a watch on his uncle to learn on what the latter fed to 

 sustain life, for they two had never taken a meal together. 



At midnight, possibly a little past that time, the small boy, who 

 was on the watch, was surprised to see his imcle blow with great 

 force on the fire in the fireplace.*"' At once sparks shot up from the 

 fire, some of which fell on the boy as he lay there. But the little 

 hero kept quite still, although his uncle, in order to see whether the 

 boy was awake, said, " Gwe"', my nephew, you will burn ; look out ! " 

 But still the boy kept still. Then, after the lapse of a long time, the 

 uncle arose and while watching the seemingly sleeping boy, drew 

 from beneath his couch a bark case, such as was in use in the early 

 times. He took therefrom a small kettle and from the kettle some- 

 thing which the watching boy did not recognize. The old man hung 

 the kettle over the fire, and then he again blew on the fire and the 

 flames began to burn briskly; and he kept on blowing the fire until 

 it had become hot enough to cook a meal. He had placed water in 

 tlie kettle when he set it over the fire — just the right amount for his 

 purpose. Then the old man began to scrape some object and per- 

 mitted the scrapings to fall into the kettle. The old man was acting 

 just as one would have acted while making chestnut mush. All 

 the time he was being watched by his nephew, who was called 

 "Gajihsondis." 



When the mush was cooked the old man removed the kettle from 

 the fire and set it aside, and then he took out what he had cooked in 

 a bark dish and began to eat. When he had finished his meal, he 

 blew on the kettle and it began at once to grow small in size; then, 

 blowing on it a second time, the kettle became as small as it was at 

 first, which was very, very small. When it had returned to its nor- 

 mal size the old man wrapped it up in something which the watching 

 nephew did not recognize, but before doing so he placed in the kettle 

 the something out of which he had made the mush which he had 

 just eaten. Then he again drew out the bark case from beneath his 

 couch and replaced therein the kettle and its contents. Having done 

 this, he pushed the case back into its hiding place. Thereupon the 

 old man lay down again. His nephew had observed him carefully 



