580 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTilS [eth. ann. 32 



smoke. The times that he smokes are a year apart. But now you 

 have used all the tobacco. This is the reason that I say you are 

 careless and inattentive. Moreover, you have killed him, for I think 

 there is no more left of that on which he must live-" Hodadenon 

 answered: "How far away is the place where that thing abounds?" 

 She replied : " It is distant." He persisted : " Come, tell me in what 

 direction it grows." She answered, " It is of no use for me to tell 

 you. You could never have the power to accomplish the task of 

 getting some." " C'm'm'.'" he exclaimed; "you seem to have a great 

 contempt for my al)ility. Come, tell me, please." Thus they spent 

 the entire day disputing about the matter. The sister kept on saying: 

 " It is of no use for me to tell you." 



Finally the lad stopped talking. It was a long time before the 

 elder sister spoke again, saying: " Now my mind is troubled. I shall 

 now tell you and make you understand, too. Look at this lodge of 

 ours, which is a long lodge. It was full of our kin and relations, 

 who are no more. Your brothers were many. They have all been 

 lost in the region where the tobacco abounds. That place is full of 

 what are called female sorceresses. So it is impossible for you to 

 accomplish the task of getting the tobacco. The lad replied : " So 

 be it. I shall make the attempt. I shall succeed in this matter, as 

 is known [that I can]. Just look at what I can do; no matter how 

 dark it may be I can slaughter the fleas, a task which no one else has 

 been able to do." The sister responded : " Do the best you can." To 

 this the lad said : " Tomorrow you must pi'epare provisions for me ; 

 I shall start then." At once she began preparing food for the jour- 

 ney. The lad added : " You must make me a pack — one that is called 

 a wrapped bundle." So she made such a bundle and placed meat 

 and bread in it. In the morning the two arose, whereupon the lad 

 said : " I shall start. You and I are now to eat together for the last 

 time." When they had finished their meal the sister exclaimed: 

 " My younger brother, do your best." 



Then he set out on his journey. Around the lodge he walked with 

 his pack, murmuring as he went from place to place. Thus he spent 

 the day. In the evening he reentered the lodge, with the words: 

 " Oh, elder sister ! I did not start. Tomorrow, I think, I shall surely 

 start." So saying, he laid his pack down. In the morning he said: 

 " My elder sister, I am about to start. You say that the path leads 

 directly south?" She replied: "That is what I have said. In 

 certain places there are yet visible spots where fires have been 

 kindled and where forked rods or crotched sticks are set in the earth, 

 on which are fixed pieces of bread which are of many degrees of 

 fetaleness. You also shall affix bread there to such rods. Such is the 

 custom." *" The lad replied : " So be it. You shall be suddenly 

 startled; the ashes where you have kindled a fire shall be scattered 



