598 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. ann. 32 



" It may be, perhaps, that you desire what I have prized highly, 

 too, for a long time, namely, the otter fur which is white in color? " 

 But the nephew replied : " No ; that is not what I desire as answer to 

 the demand of my dream.'" Again looking up at the sun to see how 

 near midday it was, and finding that it was very near the time for 

 the contest to close, the old man said: " It may be, perhaps, that you 

 desire what, too, I have prized and kept carefully in divers places, 

 namely, my marten fur? " The nephew impatiently answered: " No; 

 that is not what I desire at all." At once he began to sing, for the 

 time was about up. He said as he sang, " Yu'^hen, yii'^hen, he and I 

 are bartering by exchange; yu'^hen, yu''hen, S''hogo''^'gw(Vs, my 

 uncle, yu"'henj yu'^hen." Now the uncle was moving around on 

 the opposite side of the fire. Suddenly, after the singing had com- 

 menced flames burst up all around the old man with the sound 

 daun^'/ At once he protested to his nephew, saying, "Go slow, go 

 slow, with that, oh, nephew ! " As the time had not quite expired, 

 the nephew permitted the flames to go down again, whereupon the 

 uncle said, " Oh, my nephew ! you have been exceedingly rude with 

 me." But the nephew replied : " I can do nothing in this matter, for 

 this has all been planned for me in advance. So I can do nothing." 

 As the time (midday) was soon to expire, the nephew again began 

 to sing the song he sang at first, " Tu'^hen, yu"'Mn, he and I are 

 bartering by exchange; yu'^heii, yu'^hen, S^ho(/o''^'gwffs, my uncle, 

 yu'^heil, yu'^hen." As before, flames at once burst all around 

 the uncle as he stood on the opposite side of the fire. At once he 

 exclaimed, " Oh, my nephew ! do not be so hard in this thing." But 

 the youth again began singing: "The time is now up. Yu'^hen, 

 yu'^heri, he and I are bartering by exchange; yu''hen, yu'^hen, 

 S^hogo"'''ffwa's yu'^hen, yu"'fien, my own uncle, yu'^hen. yM"At"n." 

 Thereupon the old man fled to the top of his bed, on which he 

 jumped around in an effort to avoid the pursuing flames. From that 

 spot he spoke to his nephew, saying, " Oh my nephew ! I have now 

 overtaken your 'dream word.' You indeed desire — I have thought 

 so all along — what I have planted, native squashes called djisgonfd'', 

 which has now its fruit." At once the youth said, " AV, I am thank- 

 ful for this fulfillment of what my dream word required." There- 

 upon each resumed his seat in his wonted place, and the uncle said, 

 " Do you know the history of the custom of ' seeking for one's dream 

 word'?" The youth replied, "Yes, I know it — one shall give up 

 at once what the dream has indicated when he shall have divined 

 what it desires." The old man, in an attempt to outwit his ne])hew. 

 said, " It is customary too, I know, for me to make something iden- 

 tical with what you demand as your dream word." But the youth 

 could not be moved, saying. "Now; that is not at all right." The 

 old man persisted, however, saying: "It is, nevertheless, customary 



