532 ■ SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. ann. 32 



the valley, where he stopped again to view the country around. At 

 this point he heard a sound coming from the farther side of the 

 valley, made by the blows of a club on a dead tree, and also the voice 

 of a man who sang: "I am indeed lucky. On the opposite side of 

 the valley there is a human being going along." This song was 

 repeated by the unknown singer. Thereupon the younger brother 

 of Honenhineh said to himself: "It is strange that my two brothers 

 have not given notice of this thing. It indeed seems certain that 

 they have chased a bear to its lair; let me, then, go thither." 



So the young man started on a run down the slope leading into the 

 valley along the trail made by his two brothers. Having run some 

 distance, he suddenly noticed pieces of bark falling around him. 

 At this he came to a halt and, looking up into a tree which stood 

 near, saw high up on the trunk a small bird, a flicker or yellow- 

 hammer, now clinging to the tree trunk, and now flitting from place 

 to place. As he raised his eyes to it the flicker, smiling, said, " Ho 

 carries a bow and arrows pretentiously (as if he knew how to use 

 them), although he is notoriously a very bad marksman." Quickly 

 stringing his bow the young man said to his tormentor, " Do not 

 say anything more." But the flicker only laughed, saying, " There 

 is nowhere on this whole earth among the inhabitants a person li\ing 

 who has the ability to kill me." The young man replied, " Be care- 

 ful of thyself," and he at once nocked his arrow. The flicker be- 

 came visibly agitated and kept glancing at the young man furtively 

 as it slowly crept around the tree trunk. Thereupon the young 

 man shot at it, and then he saw not far from the spot occupied by 

 the flicker the two shocks of arrows which belonged to his two 

 brothers. The aim of the young man and his orenda were such 

 (liat the arrow hit its mark, becoming fixed in the body of the flicker, 

 which uttered a loud wail of despair and fell to the ground. 



The young man did not withdraw his arrow, but took it up with 

 the flicker's body transfixed by it and placed it on his shoulder, thus 

 to carry his victim. In the meantime the flicker kept saying, " You 

 should let me go free again. I am doing nothing wrong." But the 

 young man replied, " No. I will not let you go free. I desire to 

 show you to my two brothers." With these words he resumed his 

 journey. 



He had not gone very far when he reached a clearing, at the 

 border of which he stopped to look around. He saw at some distance 

 a lodge, out of which smoke arose, whereupon he said, " I will go 

 thither to the lodge. My two elder brothers are certainly idling 

 away their time, for I believe that they are both there in that lodge." 

 He came to this conclusion because he noticed that the tracks of his 

 two brothers led to the lodge. Having reached the side of the lodge, 

 he came to a halt. He had no sooner stopped walking than a man's 



