646 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. ANN. 32 



as a i)rccioiis thing) ;" and lier husband assured her tliat he would 

 indeed comply with her request and his duty. 



Then they returned to the lodge of Mother Bean, which they 

 reached by traveling on the river a long distance. Mother Bean 

 said to them : " You two must carry back with you some beans, which 

 you must take to that distant land, where you shall leave them." 

 On their return to their own lodge the bridegroom carried the beans 

 to that other land in which his wife had left seeding corn, and after 

 performing his mission returned to his own wife and lodge. 



Afterward the bride wife heard her sister singing beside a planted 

 field : " Is there jDerhaps anyone who will marry me again ? let him 

 ask me." She had not been singing long when T'ha'hyon'ni' 

 (Wolf) replied: " I will marry you if you will accept me." To this 

 she answered: "If I marry you, what will be my usual food?" 

 T'ha'hyon'ni' reijlied : " You shall have meat for your usual food." 

 Her answer was: " I shall die if I am compelled to eat that kind of 

 food." 



Thereupon the maiden resumed her singing: "Is there perhaps 

 some one who will marry me again? Let him ask me to do so." 

 Nya'gwai' (Bear) answered her: "I will marry you if you will 

 accept me." The maiden answered: "If I marry you what will be 

 my usual food?" Nya'gwai' said in reply: "Your usual food will 

 be various lands of nuts." She said : " In the event that I am com- 

 pelled to eat that kind of food I shall surely die." 



Again she began to sing: "Is there perhaps anyone who will 

 marry me again? Let him ask me." While she sang Ne'oge"' 

 (Deer) answered her: "I will marry you if you will accept me.' 

 The maiden said in reply : " If I should marry you what would be 

 my usual food?" Ne'oge"' replied: "Your food would be buds 

 and sprouts and the moss growing on trees." The maiden's response 

 was : " In the event that I am compelled to eat that kind of food I 

 shall surely die." 



After thus refusing each of these proposals of marriage, once 

 again she began to sing: "Is there perhaps anyone who will again 

 marry me? If there be one such, let him ask me." While she sang, 

 expressing the impulses of her heart, a man named Corn answered 

 her challenge, saying: "I will marry you if you will accept me, 

 for I know that you are circumspect in making your selection of a 

 husband." In reply the maiden asked : "If I should marry you 

 what shall be my usual food?" Corn answered: " If you will marry 

 me your food shall be corn; corn shall be your sustenance." The 

 maiden replied : " I accept you, and I am thankful for my good for- 

 tune in finding just what I want. For a long time I have been lonely, 

 for I desired to see a human being, to be in a position to mingle 



