722 



TEHARONHIA WAGON 



[b. a. e. 



for the sustenance of human beings about 

 to be formed, Teharonhiawagon enjoined 

 on them the duty of permitting them- 

 selves to be taken, provided men in kill- 

 ing them did it with despatch. In fur- 

 therance of this contract he questioned 

 some of the animals to learn in what man- 

 ner their posterity would defend them- 

 selves against human beings. The answer 

 of the Bear was that his posterity would 

 flee to escape; thereupon, Teharonhia- 

 wagon stuffed the Bear's legs full of fat 

 and meat in order to make him slow and 

 clumsy in running. The Deer answered 

 that his posterity would stand and not 

 flee, and would bite human beings who 

 hunted them; then Teharonhiawagon 

 twisted out the teeth of the Deer's upper 

 jaw, thus rendering his bite harmless. 

 A similar change was made in the buffalo 

 and the elk. 



According to the recorded beliefs of 

 the Hurons in the early decades of the 

 17th century, it was louskeha (ISskeha) 

 who provided them with so many fine 

 rivers and lakes and fertile fields. 

 The earth was dry, for a monstrous Frog 

 had gathered all the waters under its 

 arm-pit, so that louskeha and his people 

 could obtain no water except through its 

 agency. To free himself and his people 

 from this bondage, louskeha made an 

 incision under the arm-pit of the Frog, 

 through which the waters issued in so 

 great abundance that they overflowed the 

 earth, forming rivers, lakes, and seas. 

 Without louskeha, they said, their ket- 

 tles would not boil, for he had learned 

 from the Turtle the art of kindling fire, 

 and this art he had taught them; by his 

 aid alone their hunting was successful: 

 were it not for him they could not so easily 

 have captured game animals, for they 

 had not always enjoyed freedom, having 

 been confined in a vast cavern. In free- 

 ing them louskeha so charmed them by 

 an arrow stroke in the foot as they came 

 forth that he might easily afterward con- 

 trol and dispose of them at will. The 

 Wolf escaped this stroke, hence it is dif- 

 ficult to take him in the chase. It is 

 from louskeha, they said, that they had 

 their verdant fields, corn, beans, tobacco, 

 squashes, and sunflowers; abundant corn 

 harvests and lodges filled with matured 

 ears of corn they owed to no one but 

 louskeha. Early in 1636 these Indians 

 were greatly perturbed by the reputed 

 omens of an approaching famine. lou- 

 skeha had been seen in vision, sad, and as 

 lean as a skeleton, holding in his hand a 

 shriveled ear of corn, and some even 

 added that he carried the leg of a human 

 being, which he tore with his teeth. 

 All these were to them infallible signs of 

 a year of great scarcity. Among these 

 same Hurons, Aw6'"'ha''i, the grand- 



mother of louskeha or Teharonhiawagon, 

 was known by the name Ataentsic or 

 Eataentsic (i. e. Eia'tag6°'^tci', 'She 

 Whose Body is Ancient'), which in ac- 

 cordance with the custom of avoiding the 

 utterance of a person's proper name, sup- 

 planted her real name. These Hurons 

 believed that their louskeha and hig 

 grandmother dwelt in a great lodge situ- 

 ated at the eastern (some said western) 

 extremity of the world — that is, not 

 much farther away than the bounds of 

 their hunting grounds; this lodge of 

 louskeha was built on the model of their 

 own, and it was reputed to be stocked 

 with an abundance of corn, beans, 

 squashes, sunflower oil, and various dried 

 meats — with all things to support life in 

 great plenty; they believed that he and 

 his grandmother planted and cultivated 

 land, worked, drank, ate, slept, and 

 were lascivious like themselves; that all 

 the animals of the world belonged to 

 them; that louskeha was very kind and 

 gave growth to all things, sending fine 

 weather and other good gifts; that he 

 had charge and care of the living, and of 

 the things that concerned life, and so he 

 was judged good. On the contrary, his 

 grandmother had charge of the souls, the 

 manes, and because the Indians believed 

 that she ( the Earth ) caused men to die, 

 they ad judged her wicked and destructi ve, 

 and not because she sometimes sent bad 

 weather or at times undid the good things 

 done by her grandson; they believed that 

 louskeha grew old like all living things, 

 but that he had the power instantly to 

 rejuvenate himself, and so he never 

 died; that at death the soul of man went 

 directly to the lodge of louskeha and 

 Aw6°'ha^i to dance in the presence of this 

 Woman Ancient of Days for her health. 

 These are substantially the current Iro- 

 quois beliefs regarding Teharonhiawagon. 



One of the most important and far- 

 reaching of the final labors of Teharon- 

 hiawagon on this earth was his great 

 victory in a contest of orendas over the 

 hunchback Hadu'^i', the unborn primal 

 being. Disease and Death, whose forfeiture 

 of life was redeemed by his promise to 

 aid man by curing, on certain conditions, 

 diseases arising from the infection of the 

 earth with the malign potency of the 

 body of Hadu'^i' by his having first 

 wandered over it. To this event the im- 

 portant Masked-face Society of exorcists 

 of disease owes its origin. At the New 

 Year ceremony its members essay to ex- 

 orcise and banish disease and. death- 

 causing agencies from the community. 



The great and most important New 

 Year ceremony among the Iroquois who 

 still hold to their ancient faith and cus- 

 toms, at which is burned a pure-white 

 dog as a sacrifice, is held in honor of 



