THE CODE OF HANDSOME LAKE I35 



Upon another village. Their own people were there, and they went 

 into a council house and talked. They told their story ; and no one 

 knew them except their own sister, who was an aged woman. 



" The war of which you speak took place fifty years ago," the 

 sister said. 



The brothers did not care for the earth now, but wished them- 

 selves back in the upper world. They were not like other men, for 

 they never grew tired. They were very strong and could chase 

 animals and kill them with their hands. Nothing could kill them, 

 neither arrows nor disease. After a while, both were struck by 

 lightning, and then they were both killed. 



It seems quite likely that there are modern features in this legend ; 

 but my informant assured me that the portion relating to the sk}^ 

 and the sun was very old. He said also that he had always heard 

 the upper world described as related in the legend. He added that 

 the sun loved the sound of war, and would linger in his morning 

 journey to see a battle, but that after he reached midheaven he 

 traveled at his usual speed. 



]\Irs Asher Wright, who spoke Seneca perfectly, and who labored 

 as a missionary among them for fifty years, recorded two Seneca 

 myths as they had been related to her by Esquire Johnson, an old 

 Seneca chief. One describes the origin of good and evil, and says 

 that the sun was made by the Good-minded spirit from the face of 

 his mother. That legend makes the first woman the mother of 

 the twins. The second manuscript, dated 1876, relates practically 

 the same story, but mentions the Sky-woman as having borne first 

 a daughter, who became, without any knowledge of man, the mother 

 of the twins. The mother, having died at their birth, was buried by 

 her mother. The Sky-woman, the grandmother, then turned and 

 addressed the Good-minded spirit, according to Esquire Johnson, 

 quoted by Mrs Wright, as follows : 



" Now you must go and seek your father. When you see him, 

 you must ask him to give you power." Pointing to the east, she 

 said, " He lives in that direction. You must keep on until you 

 reach the limits of the Is-land, and then upon the waters until you 

 reach a high miountain which rises up out of the water, and which 

 you must climb to the summit. There you will see a wonderful 

 being sitting on the highest peak. You must say, ' I am your son.' " 



The " wonderful being " appears from the succeeding text to be 

 the sun, although not specifically so named. 



\\q thus have three conflicting ideas presented — the sun as the 



