86 MYTHS OF THE IROQUOIS. 



THE BOY AND HIS GRANDMOTHER. 



Au old woman lived with her grandson in the wilderness. The boy 

 amused himself by shooting with his bow and arrows, and was very 

 hapi)y. His grandmother cooked and cleaned. She talked much to 

 him of the future and the time when he should go out into the world. 

 " Never, my grandson," she would say, " never go west — go always to 

 the east." And the boy wondered very much at this, because, he said, 

 all other boys went west, and they found much game there. But he 

 promised. 



However, one day he asked his grandmother so often why she always 

 forbade him to go west, that she told him : "Far away in the west," said 

 she, " there lives one who waits to destroy us, and if he sees you he will 

 injure you and me. I warn you do not go that way." But the boy ques- 

 tioned how and why, and thought to himself that on the first opportu- 

 nity he would see for himself. So he struck out for the west, keeping 

 a sharp lookout for the man, because his grandmother had taught him 

 he should always bow first. 



As he neared the lake he heard the man's voice, but, although he 

 looked all around, he could see no one. The voice said : "Ah ! ah ! my 

 little fellow, I see you." Still he could see no one. " What shall I do 

 now 1 " thought he. Then the voice said, " What would you think if I 

 sent a hurricane to tear your grandmother's cabin all up ? " The boy 

 replied, " Ob, I should like it. We have hard work to get M'ood. It 

 would be a good thing." And the voice replied, " You had better run 

 home and see." So he went home to his grandmother. As he neared 

 his cabin he heard a great noise, and his grandmother called to him, 

 " Come in, come in ; we shall be blown away. You have disobeyed me ; 

 now we shall be destroyed. The hurricane is upon us." But the boy 

 only laughed and said, " We will throw the house into a rock." And he 

 turned it into a rock, and when the hurricane was over they were un- 

 harmed, and found plenty of wood to burn. 



Then said the boy, ' Grandmother, we are all right." But the old 

 woman said, " Do not venture any niorej next time he will destroy us." 

 But the lad thought he would try again. In the morning he started 

 off east as long as his grandmother could see him, then he turned to 

 the west, and kept a shai'p watch right and left as he neared the pond. 



Then, all at once, he heard the man's voice again. " What," it asked, 

 " would you say if a great hailstorm came down upon your mother's 

 cabin, with spears as sharp as needles?" "Oh," replied the youngster, 

 "I have always wanted some spears ; I would be glad of some." " You 

 had better go home and see," said the voice. So home he sped, hearing 

 the gathering of a great storm. 



The grandmother said, "We are going to be destroyed with a hail- 

 storm of spears." But he laughed aloud and said, " I need spears for 

 fishing ; let them come. We will turu the house into a rock again." 



