572 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. ann.sz 



will flee from me should they discover that you are here." So the 

 woman lay quiet under the bark cover. 



When night came the approaching whoops of the gathering 

 ghosts could be heard. Finally, one by one they began to enter the 

 lodge of the Mother of Ghosts. At once the hostess began to sing 

 and to beat on the drum used in the Great Feather dance. Then the 

 concealed guest heard the ghosts begin to dance. The ghost of her 

 husband, however, had not yet entered the lodge. When they had 

 danced through a number of songs there was a short recess, to give 

 the dancers an opportunity to rest and to readjust their apparel and 

 ornaments. At last, the hostess asked the bystanders: " Where is the 

 newcomer T' They answered that he was outside of the lodge, being 

 still bashful among so many strangers. The hostess then said : 

 " Bring him into the lodge ; let him, too, dance and be merry." So 

 they persuaded him to enter the lodge, and when the hostess again 

 began to sing and beat the drum he joined in the dancing 



After dancing a short time the dancers, sniffing the air, said: 

 " What now? W^e smell the odor of a human being!" At once they 

 started to flee fi-om the room, but the hostess chidingly said: "Oh, 

 pshaw ! It is only I that you smell, for I am now getting very old 

 again." So they did not leave the room, but began to dance again. 

 When the ghost of the newly arrived husband approached quite 

 close to the hostess, she attempted to grasp him, but he deftly eluded 

 her hand, and the dancers all fled from the room. But the hostess 

 remonstrated with them, saying : '* Oh, pshaw ! It is only I scratch- 

 ing myself. Why do you flee from me?" 



The ghosts were finally persuaded to reenter the lodge and re- 

 sume the dance. Before long another opportunity presented itself, 

 and the hostess succeeded in seizing the ghost of the newly arrived 

 husband, while all the other ghosts escaped from the room. Quickly 

 uncorking the gourd bottle, the hostess soon compressed the ghost 

 therein, and securely closing it with its tendon stopper she called 

 the embodied guest from her place of concealment and hurriedly 

 gave her the gourd containing the husband's life, and also the small 

 gourd which contained the oil of the body of man. Then she said 

 to the now highly excited woman: "Be you gone now! Be quick, 

 lest they see you ; the man at the first passageway will fully instruct 

 you what to do to have your desire fulfilled. So go." 



Hurrying from the lodge into the darkness the woman followed 

 the narrow trail. When she reached the first passageway, its warder 

 said : " When you arrive at your home stop up with fine clay the 

 nostrils, the ears, and every other opening or outlet of your hus- 

 band's body, and then rub the oil of man over his body. When you 

 have finished this task, carefully uncork into his mouth the gourd 

 bottle containing his life, in such manner that his life can not escape, 



