SMITH) A "true witch story. 71 



pearauce of being inhabited. On the one hand was a hill of corn, on 

 the other a large squash vine with three squashes on it, and three ears 

 of corn grew apart from all the others. He was unable to guess what 

 it meant, but started ofi' on his hunting once more, determined to re- 

 turn some evening, being both curious and uneasy. In the night, as he 

 slept near by, he again heard a noise, and awakening, saw a man look- 

 ing at him, who said, "Beware! I am after you; what you saw was 

 saci'ed ; you deserve to die." But the people who now gathered 

 around said they would pardon it, and would tell him the secret they 

 possessed : " The great medicine for wounds," said the man who had 

 awakened him, '' is squash and corn ; come with me and I will teach 

 you." 



He led him to the spot where the people were assembled, and there 

 he saw a fire and a laurel bush which looked like iron. The crowds 

 danced around it singing, and rattling gourd-shells, and he begged 

 them to tell him what they did it for. 



Then one of them heated a stick and thrust it right through his cheek, 

 and theu applied some of the medicine to prove to him how quickly it 

 could heal the wound. Then they did the same to his leg. All the 

 time they sang a tune; they called it the "medicine song," and taught 

 it to him. 



Then he turned to go home, aud all at once he perceived that they 

 were not human beings, as he had thought, but animals, bears, bea\ ers, 

 and foxes, which all flew off as he looked. They had given him direc- 

 tions to take one stalk of corn aud dry the cob and pound it very fine, 

 and to take one squash, cut it up and pound that, and they then showed 

 him how much for a dose. He was to take water from a runningspring, 

 and always from up the stream, never down. 



He made up the prescription and used it with very great success, and 

 made enough before he died to last over one hundred'years. 



This was the origin of the great medicine of the Senecas. The people 

 sing over its preparation every time the deer changes his coat, and 

 when it is administered to a patient they sing the medicine song, while 

 they rattle a gourd-shell as accompaniment, and burn tobacco. Burn- 

 ing tobacco is the same as praying. In times of trouble or fear, after 

 a bad dream, or any event which frightens them, they say, " My mother 

 went out and burned tobacco." 



The medicine is prepared now with the addition of meat. 



A "true" witch story. 



Among the Senecas dwelt an old woman who was very stingy. All 

 at once she began to suffer great pain in her eye. She consulted a con- 

 jurer, who went out to a bush aud covered it with a tent and then began 



