544 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth A>.\. S2 



Tliei-e came a day, while the six normal brothers and their sister 

 were absent, and while there was no one in the lodge except the 

 recluse, when a young wcman, daughter of the noted witch, 

 Gaho"'dji'dri"ho"k, came to the lodge bearing a huge basket of mar- 

 riage bread. There were, of course, eight beds to accommodate the 

 seven brothers and their sister, which were properly arranged along 

 the sides of this long lodge. The bed occupied by the youngest 

 brother, the recluse, was nearest to the doorway on its side of the 

 lodge. The witch's daughter had been instructed by her mother to 

 take her seat on this bed. But upon entering the lodge the yoimg 

 woman, after looking around, set her basket down in front of the 

 third bed and took her seat thereon. This bed was the third one 

 from the doorway, counting from the entrance on the left side of the 

 lodge. Feeling, however, that she had not followed her instructions. 

 the young woman did not sit there long, but took her seat on the next 

 bed. because she imagined that it had a better appearance than the 

 one on which she had been sitting. But she kept on shifting her 

 position from bed to bed until she finally came to the seventh bed. 

 Here the second of the seven brothers and his sister found her on 

 their return to the lodge. 



Seeing her seated on the bed and noticing the basket of marriage- 

 proposal bread, they inferred that she had come to marry their 

 brother on whose bed she sat, so they said to her kindly, " We are 

 very thankful that you have come to our lodge, oh, our sister-in-law." 

 She made them no reply but by her actions showed her appreciation of 

 this welcome reception on their part. In the order of their ages the 

 other brothers returned to the lodge, and with the exception of the 

 eldest one all saluted her with words of welcome in the same manner 

 as the first two had expressed their delight at having her for their 

 sister-in-law. 



The eldest brother was the last to return to the lodge, and by the 

 young woman's own choice seemingly by sitting on his bed with a 

 basket of marriage-proposal bread before her, he was her chosen 

 husband, so he addressed her as his accepted wife. Noticing at 

 once that he was blind in one eye, she was chagrined for not having 

 obeyed her mother's instructions with regard to the bed on which 

 she should await her future husband. She thought it best, however, 

 to seem to ignore her disturbing discovery and her unhappy feelings 

 in consequence, so she b^gan to study her surroundings in the 

 lodge. She saw that some one whom she had not noticed before was 

 lying on the bed next to the doorway on the left-hand side of the 

 entrance, the one on which she had been told to sit on entering this 

 lodge. She made the discovery also that the person lying on this 

 bed was the recluse of the family, that in fact he was deanoa do"'' , and 

 as such was " secluded " from all persons. She noticed, too, that no 



