746 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. asn. 32 



dusty from disuse and from lying around among his belongings. 

 When they were nicely cleaned he jireened them, and then, taking his 

 headgear, he set these feathers, two in number, side by side in the 

 front of it. When he had finished this task he put the headgear back 

 in the bark case containing his various belongings. In like manner 

 he cleaned and furbished up all his raiment and arms and orna- 

 ments. 



He had hardly completed his renovations and cleaning of his 

 belongings when suddenly they heard a woman sing not far away 

 from the lodge. In the song the woman said: '■'■ Ila^fwwe, hdhowe, 

 hxtiho-we, I am seeking the body of a young male person, hdhowe, 

 Jidhowe. It is He-who-listens, Ile-who-listens, h/i^howe, haihoweP 

 Then the uncle said to his nephew : " Oh, my nephew ! now you must 

 keep very quiet; you must not talk nor move around." Suddenly 

 there came sounds at the doorway, which seemed to be the footsteps 

 of two women. All at once the doorflap was thrust aside, and a 

 woman stepped into the lodge followed by another woman, and there 

 the two women stood in the lodge. One of the women said : " Behold 

 it is not certain on which side of the fire sits Doiidanegeii. Indeed, 

 this one who is sitting here is verily not the one. That one sitting 

 in yonder place is, indeed, the one who is called Doiidanegefi. This 

 one is called Hat'hondas (i. e., He-who-listens). So, as long as you 

 think this one is Doiidanegen, you go to him; but I myself will go 

 to that one." The two sisters were not of the same opinion as to the 

 identity of the two male persons before them. The younger desired 

 to go to one of tlie men, while the other sister wished to go to the 

 other. Now, Doiidanegen overhearing these remarks of the two sis- 

 ters, and meanly seeking to deceive tliem as to his own identity, kept 

 saying : " This is the right side of the fire. Come here." 



Finally, the younger sister, who carried the marriage bread in a 

 large basket (which women customarily carried when they went to the 

 lodges of men to seek for husbands) , going over to the place where 

 Hat'hondas sat, took a seat beside him. All at once the elder woman 

 also ran in that direction and took her seat beside him. So each 

 woman now sat on one side of him. 



Then the uncle, Doadanegefi, went over to the place where the 

 three were sitting, and seizing the hand of his nephew, pushed the 

 youth away aci'oss the fire, ordering him to remain there. He him- 

 self took the seat between the two maidens. But they both arose at 

 once and went to the place where Hat'hondas was then seated and 

 again sat down on each side of him. Now the old man again arose, 

 and going over to the place where the three wei-e seated he seized the 

 young man, his nephew, by the arm and shoved him across the fire- 

 place to tlie other side of the fire, while he once more seated himself 

 between the maidens. But as the maidens did not come to marry 



