600 SENECA riCnON, legends, and myths [eth. ANN. 32 



Night having come, the two retired to rest, each on his own side 

 of the fire. About midnight the youth again began to moan and 

 groan loudly, and the moaning became louder and louder. In a 

 short time he got off liis bed and crawled around on his hands and 

 knees. Next, without further warning, he threw himself on the fire, 

 scattering the firebrands over the place where laj^ his uncle, who at 

 once arose, saying, "What has happened?" Taking down his war 

 club and seeing the head of his nephew close to him, he struck it a 

 blow with the club, which resounded with a very loud ha" ! As ho 

 raised the club for a second blow, the youth exclaimed, " Oh, my 

 uncle ! it has now ceased," whereupon the uncle addressed him, say- 

 ing, "What is causing you to see visions?" His nephew replied, 

 " What it commanded me to do is baleful unto death if not fulfilled." 

 The uncle asked further, "What did it command you to do?" The 

 nephew answered : " The thing it commanded is that j'ou shall again 

 'seek to divine the word of my dream' tomorrow; and if you shall 

 not have divined the ' word of my dream ' before the sun shall have 

 reached the zenith evil shall befall your person." The old man 

 mockingly retorted, " Let it be so," drawing out the expression. 

 Thereupon they both returned to their beds, on which they again lay 

 down for the rest of the night. 



The next morning the youth arose, and after making his usual 

 morning preparations, said to his uncle, "The time has now ar- 

 rived for what I have been commanded to do; so let us begin." 

 As before, the uncle mockingly said, " So let it be," once more 

 drawing out the expression to indicate his contempt for his nephew. 



After a moment of silence the old man said, " Oh, my nephew ! you 

 will just give a small clue to the 'word of your di-eam.'" His 

 nephew i-eplied, " You know that is not the custom on such occasions, 

 for the reason that it would be of no use to make ' seeking the word 

 of a dream ' a test if one should furnish a clue. Come, then, let us 

 begin." This he said with some impatience, knowing full well that 

 the uncle was only seeking to cause him to make some error in the 

 test. 



So the old man began by asking, "Perhaps you may mean in 

 your desire, suggested by the ' word of the dream,' the flesli of the 

 moose? " But the youth replied, "No; that is not what is desired." 

 The old man asked again, "Perhaps you mean in your desire, sug- 

 gested by the 'word of the dream,' the flesh of the bear? " And the 

 youth answered, " No ; that is not what is desired." The uncle once 

 more asked, " Perhaps you may mean in your desire, suggested by 

 the 'word of the dream,' the flesh of the raccoon? " But the youth 

 answered, "No; that is not what is desired." Then the uncle asked 

 the same question regarding the flesh of the deer, the turkey, the 

 fat entrails of the bear, the liver of the bear, and various other 



