644 SENECA FICTIOIT, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS ' [eth. ANN 32 



SO called, had this same dream or vision, hence she came to regard it 

 as a direct intimation to her regarding the disposition to be made 

 of the corn on the ear which she had found on the bank of the river. 

 So forcibly did the injunctions impress her that she planted the corn 

 in the ground as directed; and she carefully followed the directions 

 of the Corn Maiden as to the care required by the growing corn to 

 enable it to mature and to prevent it being choked to death by weeds. 



In the autumn the old woman *" harvested her corn, and taking it 

 into her lodge she divided it into as many portions as there were 

 families in the village of her people. Then she gave a portion to 

 the chief matron in each lodge, telling each that the corn should be 

 used in the spring for seed and also how it should be planted and 

 cultivated. Afterward she returned to her own lodge. She was 

 greatly rejoiced at the prospect of her people having something 

 which would supply them with a staple food, if they would only 

 properly care for it. 



In a short time after reaching her own lodge she lay down on 

 her couch to rest for the night; but she had hardly fallen asleep 

 before she had another dream, or vision, of the Corn Maiden. In 

 this dream the Corn Maiden said to her : " You must tell my children 

 (the human beings) that they must not waste in any manner the 

 corn which shall grow to maturity in the future. It is well known 

 that those who do not honor and properly care for me invariably 

 come to want and destitution ; for unless they act so toward me when 

 I leave I shall take all the corn and other seed away. And, grand- 

 mother, you must tell all those things to your people and kindred." 



Some time after this event the old woman said to her nephew ( ? ) : 

 " Do not travel aroimd from place to place, for it is a well-known 

 fact that there are beings roaming about which have the disposition 

 to overcome and destroy men by the exercise of their orenda." But 

 the nephew ( ? ) replied : " Oh ! there is nothing going about from 

 place to place which has the power to kill men." 



Then there came a time many days after this that the Corn Maiden 

 saw her brother arrive there. He was a human being, tall beyond 

 measure, and in other respects of corresponding size. He said to 

 her: " Do you now come forth (out of the lodge)." She obeyed him 

 by leaving her lodge, whereupon he took her up in his arms. He saw 

 there a stone ax and an arrowhead of flint. After carefully examin- 

 ing these he asked : " Have these things, simple as they are, the power 

 to kill a person? " She made no reply to this question, and the giant 

 departed, carrying away captive his youngest sister. On the way 

 she began to sing : " Oh, elder brother ! have you not been in the 

 habit of saying that there is nothing that roams about which has tlie 

 power to kill persons? How do you explain this? " Now the name 

 of the person who stole this woman is Doode"nehya'ho°' *" (Ga-mefi- 



