706 SENECA FICTION, LEGENIKS, AND MYTHS [ f.th. ann . 32 



yuu to do." The uncle answered : " Return again to the dealings to 

 plant the seeds. As there are no more left in the lodge you must pick 

 up those which you dropped fi'om your baskets." He referred to the 

 10 small baskets in which he had himself placed the various kinds of 

 seeds. 



So as soon as the young man had gathered up all the seeds Avhich 

 he had spilled along the path as he had hastened toward the lodge 

 he again began to plant them in hills. Again, as he had nearly 

 finished seeding, he heard the voice of his uncle singing: " Now, now, 

 now I believe that I have arisen, now indeed." 



The nephew at once started on the run for the old lodge, but when 

 he had gone only half the way he heard a loud report, &«".' caused by 

 the breaking of the roots which had been holding his uncle down. 

 ^Vhen he arrived at the lodge he found that his uncle was not there. 

 This grieved him greatly, for he felt that he would become very 

 wretched and poor without the aid and advice of his uncle. So he 

 began to weep and mourn for his uncle, but at last he ceased to do 

 so. He then entered the lodge to think upon his situation, and finally 

 came out to see whether he could not learn whither his uncle had 

 gone by noting the tracks he had left on the ground. For this pur- 

 pose he went carefully around the lodge, examining the ground as 

 he went. At last he found his uncle's tracks, which showed the direc- 

 tion he had taken, for they had made very deep impressions in the 

 ground as he fled in haste. From the tracks he learned that his 

 uncle had taken a course directly westward. The young nephew 

 then said : " So be it. . I suppose it is for me to go to the place 

 whither my uncle has gone. I will follow the tracks of my uncle, my 

 mother's brother." 



Thereupon the young nephew, having gotten his bow and arrows, 

 at once started on a run on the trail of his uncle. He kept the trail 

 in the forests for three daj's, when he reached the shore of a lake, 

 and there indeed the trail ended so far as the nephew could see; so 

 he stopped there and stood looking around; thus he stood for some 

 time 



At last he was somewhat startled at seeing not far away a canoe,^"^ 

 which was being paddled toward him quite swiftly, and which con- 

 , tained what appeared to him to be a man. The canoe stopped at 

 some distance from the spot where the young nephew was standing. 

 He saw that a number of wild geese supplied the propelling power for 

 the canoe, six wild geese being attached to one side of the canoe and 

 six to the other side. Then he overheard the man who was in the 

 canoe address the geese with these words : " My servants, you may 

 now go forth to seek something to eat." The wild geese at once 

 obeyed and flew upward, making the sound stum''. 



