82 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Then Dekanahwideh said: "We shall now conclude the object 

 of this message." He then asked the question : " To whom among 

 us did the message of the Good Tidings of Peace and Power first 

 come?" 



The lord answered and said : '" It is to the man who was guard- 

 ing the cornfield." 



Then Dekanahwideh said : " Where is the man ? You shall now 

 bring him here." So the lord called him in and when he had come 

 the lord said: "This is the man who guarded the fields of corn 

 so that our children might live on the harvest." 



Dekanahwideh said : " I now ask you if you are indeed the man 

 who guards the cornfields and what your magical power is when 

 you are so guarding the cornfields." 



Then the man answered and said : " I rely entirely on my bow 

 and arrows and when I go to the cornfields I take all my arrows 

 with me." 



Then Dekanahwideh asked the question : " How or in what 

 manner do you carry your power?" (meaning his bows and 

 arrows). 



The man then answered and said : " I place them in a quiver 

 and place the quiver on my back." 



Then Dekanahwideh said : " You shall now therefore be called 

 " Oh-dah-tshe-deh " ^ (meaning, the quiver bearer), as your duty 

 as a guardian of the cornfields is now changed because the Good 

 News of Peace ^nd Power has now come. Your duty hereafter 

 shall now be to see that your children (instead of fields) shall live 

 in peace." 



Then Dekanahwideh again asked the lord: "In the past (dur- 

 ing the long time he had been guarding the cornfields), what did 

 you do with reference to that part of the crops which were 

 damaged ? " 



Then the lord answered and said : " I used to send the war- 

 riors to gather the damaged crops and they brought them to me 

 and I would divide the corn in equal shares among the people." 



Then Dekanahwideh said : " You shall now therefore hereafter 

 be called Ka-non-kwe-yo-da.^ It shall therefore now be your duty 

 to propagate the Good Tidings of Peace and Power so that your 

 children may live in peace." 



Then Dekanahwideh said : " Where is the man for whom you 

 have been waiting ?" The lord then called this man and when 



1 Odatce"te', quiver bearer, principal Oneida chief. 



2 Kano^kwe^iyo'do^', A row of ears of corn standing upright. 



