798 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS 



The Tliunder God, Hi"iw"\ ami his sons were regarded us the active enemies 

 of these and other reptiles. And so in some of the Stories are found accounts 

 of the rescue of some woman or human being from these mythical serpents. 

 It is even said that these serpents serve as a part of the food of the Thunder 

 Man-beings. But the Thunder Man-Beings had but little power to attack these 

 reputed serpent monsters below the surface of the water, i. e., outside of their 

 jurisdiction. It is said that these monsters stood in great fear of the Thunder 

 Man-beings, and when the serpents were out of the water, i. e., out of their 

 jurisdiction, basking in the sunshine on the shore, and heard in the horizon 

 the voice of Hi"no"'. the Thunder God, they would lose no time in seeking 

 safety in the depths of the water. 



The firedragon (i. e., the meteor of nature) was regarded as one of the 

 most powerful sorcerers known to mankind, but they were not regarded as 

 persi.stent foes of tlie welfare of men. There are tales in which the tiredragon 

 befriended some unfortunate human being from his pursuing enemies. Like all 

 the fanciful or rather poetic creations of these legends, the tiredragon became 

 multiplied into a large group and some were reported to have been killed by 

 some very powerful human sorcerer. 



136. Ganyodaes for SkaniO'dncK or Tkanio'daes is a proper name. The pre- 

 fixed s-.sound has an intensive force that is characteristic of descriptive appel- 

 latives ; it denotes a marked degree of the qimlity or property named by the 

 adjective or a noteworthy proficiency in the action stated by some verbs ; with 

 nouns It connotes the meanings. " large," " important," or " noted." Hence, 

 Skanio'daes signifies, " It is a very long lake," or idiomatically, " It is the well- 

 known long lake." The prefixed f-sound in Tkanio'daes is the affix t or ti of 

 remote place, meaning approximately, " there," " yonder," and It is applied 

 to sentence words of the second and third persons. So Tkanio'daes means, 

 literally, "There it-lake long (is)," or freely, "There where the long lake (is)." 



137. Skahnowa Is correctly written ^ka'no'wd, which is not the usual Seneca 

 form of the name. Hd'no'ica is the customary form of this word denoting the 

 turtle. But the text form is that employed in proper names. The initial 

 «-sound is an intensive affix which is explained in note 136. The following ka 

 is the zoic pronominal afhx of the singular third person, meaning, " it " or " its." 

 And -nova is the noun stem, denoting " the carapace of the turtle." The 

 whole means, "Its carapace (is) very great," freely, "It is the-great-turtle." 

 The initial ha of the customary form is the anthropic pronominal affix of the 

 singular masculine third person, meaning " he." 



138. In story and tradition the fungus growing on trees and rocks was a 

 favorite substance with ^^•hich those who sought to decei\e intended victims, in 

 the matter of food, prepared dishes inviting to the eye but deadly when eaten. 

 Puffballs, mushrooms, and lichens, especially Umbilicaria arctiea, or rock tripe 

 (i. e., the tripe de roche of the French voyageurs) were not infrequently made 

 into stevi's and soups for food, and so they readily lent themselves as a means 

 of deception of the unwary. 



1.39. Djidjo'gwen, correctly written Djtdjo'gui"'. or as pronounced by some, 

 DjidjoiVk'hwe"', is the fishhawk or osprey, Pandlon haliaetus. The Seneca 

 term is apparently a compressed form of a sentence word meaning, " \\"hat 

 habitually takes fish out of the water." 



140. A " gift in payment " is required because the magic power of the thief 

 has been overcome by the wronged individual and the life of the culprit is 

 forfeited to him. 



141. Dediosteniagon, correctly written Dediio'stei)nia"go". is a name of the 

 Seneca for Wolf Run, New York. The name signifies literally " There in-two 



