HULL. 30] 



TEHAKONHIAWAGON 



721 



shape of fine-looking young men. But, 

 by her mother's advice, she rejected the 

 suit of all, until a young man of the race 

 of the Great Turtle sought her to wife. 

 He was accepted, and bidden to the lodge 

 of her mother. In the twilight he came 

 bearing two, some say three, arrows, of 

 which one was tipped with a flint point. 

 As the young woman lay down he passed 

 two of the arrows, including the flint- 

 tipped one, over her body ; others say that 

 he placed them in the lodge wall just 

 above her body. Then he departed, say- 

 ing that he would return the next day. 

 At twilight he returned, and, taking his 

 arrows, at once withdrew, saying that 

 he would not return again. In due time 

 the young woman gave birth to twins, one 

 of whom caused her death by violently 

 bursting through her armpit. The name 

 of the culprit was Tawiskaron (q. v.), 

 and that of his brother, the elder, was 

 Teharonhiawagon. Awe°'hiVi, the grand- 

 mother, being greatly enraged by the 

 death of her daughter, asked the twins 

 whicn of the twain had committed this 

 act. Tawiskaron quickly replied, accus- 

 ing his innocent brother. So seizing the 

 supposed culprit, the grandmother cast 

 him far away among the shrubbery. He 

 did not die there, but grew rapidly to 

 manhood; his grandmother hated him 

 bitterly, but was very fond of Tawis- 

 karon. 



In time, Teharonhiawagon was taught 

 by his father how to build a lodge, to 

 kindle tire, and to plant and cultivate the 

 ground, his fathergivinghim bean, melon, 

 squash, tobacco, and corn seed. He gave 

 his son likewise the third arrow, by 

 which he must destroy the great water 

 serpent, the Fire-dragon of the White 

 Body, when it should begin to destroy the 

 things he was to create and cause to grow. 

 Teharonhiawagon then toiled at his tasks, 

 forming the animals and birds, and mak- 

 ing the useful trees, shrubs, and plants. 

 In all this his grandmother and his twin 

 brother sought to thwart him by all man- 

 ner of devices, but by the timely counsel 

 of his father he was able to defeat all their 

 efforts. His labor was to prepare the earth 

 for man, whom later he was to create. 

 For ease of transit for man, he had made 

 the rivers and sti-eams with double cur- 

 rents, the one running in one direction 

 and the other in an opposite one; but his 

 brother changed this by jiutting falls and 

 cascades in the rivers and streams. The 

 grandmother, seeing that Teharonhiawa- 

 gon had produced great ears of perfect 

 corn, immediately blighted his work, 

 saying, " You desire the people you are 

 about to make to be too happy and too 

 well-provided with necessaries." Not- 

 withstanding the opposition of his brother 



and grandmother to his work for the good 

 of man, he thwarted all their schemes. 

 Finally, the grandmother, who had ex- 

 hausted all her methods of opposition, 

 challenged her grandson, Teharonhiawa- 

 gon, to play a game of the bowl and plum- 

 pits, the prize of the winner to be the 

 rulership of the world. The grandson 

 willingly accepted the challenge. Ac- 

 cording to custom ten days were allowed 

 the contestants to prepare for the strug- 

 gle of orendas. At the end of this time 

 the grandmother came to the lodge of her 

 grandson, bringing her bowl and plum- 

 pits. He would use her bowl, but not her 

 pits, as they were something alive and un- 

 der the control of the mind of the grand- 

 mother. His own were the crests of 

 chickadees, who had responded to his call 

 for aid. He took six of these crests, and 

 they magically remained alive. When he 

 and his grandmother were ready, Teha- 

 ronhiawagon called in a loud voice, "All 

 you whose bodies I have formed, do you 

 now put forth your orenda in order that 

 we may conquer in this struggle, so that 

 all of you may live!" Then when it came 

 his turn to shake the bowl, he exclaimed, 

 " Now, verily, shall appear the good or ill 

 fortune of all the things that I have done 

 or made ! " The grandmother failed to 

 score, while Teharonhiawagon made the 

 highest score possible at one shake of the 

 bowl, and so won the government of all 

 living things. 



Teharonhiawagon, in going from i)lace 

 to place viewing his work, one day found 

 that all the animals he had formed had 

 disappeared. He went at once in many 

 directions seeking them. While thus 

 unsuccessfully engaged, a bird told him 

 that they were shut up in a vast cavern 

 in a rocky cliff, wherein his brother had 

 concealed them. Having discovered the 

 place, he removed the rock that closed 

 the mouth of the cavern and then ordered 

 the animals and the birds to come forth. 

 While the creatures were issuing in obe- 

 dience to the command of their maker, 

 Tawiskaron and his grandmother, notic- 

 ing that the animals were again becoming 

 plentiful, and divining the cause, has- 

 tened to the mouth of the cavern and at 

 once closed it with the great rock. The 

 few creatures which did not have the op- 

 portunity to escape became changed in 

 their natures, which thereafter were evil, 

 uncanny, monstrous, and otkon (q. v.). 

 This incident is seemingly a figurative 

 description of the annual forced hiberna- 

 tion of certain animals and reptiles and 

 the migration of certain birds, and shows 

 that Teharonhiawagon had the power to 

 change the seasons by bringing back the 

 summer. 



As the animals were intended to serve 



3456— Bull. 30, pt 2—07- 



46 



