IKOQUOrs MYTHS AND LEGENDS II 



and aimless through the forest. To listen to stories in the summer 

 time made trees and plants as well as animals and men lazy, and 

 therefore scanty crops, lean game 'and shiftless people resulted. 

 To listen to stories made the birds forget to fly to the south lands 

 when winter came, it made the animals neglect to store up winter 

 provisions and grow their warm winter coats of fur. All the 

 world stops work when a good story is told and afterwards in mar- 

 veling forgets its wonted duty. Thus On-gweh'-o-weh-ka', the 

 Iroquois, loyal to old-time custom, reserves his tales of adven- 

 tures, myth and mystery for winter when the year's work is over 

 and all nature slumbers. 



When the story-teller finds an audience about him or wishes to 

 call one, he announces his intention to recite a folk tale (ga-ga/, or 

 in the plural, ga-ga'-sho-o) by exclaiming "Ha-nio'!" and the 

 eager reply is " Heh," which is an ardent request that his 

 " Hanio" take immediate effect, and the relation of a ga-ga/ ensues. 



At intervals during the relation of a story the auditors must 

 exclaim " Hah!" This was the sign that they were listening. 

 If there was no frequent response of " Hah," the story-teller 

 would stop and inquire what fault was found with him or his story. 



It was not only considered a breach of courtesy for a listener to 

 fall asleep, but also a positive omen of evil to the guilty party. 

 If any one for any reason wished to sleep or to leave the room, he 

 must request the narrator to tie the story, " Si-ga'-hah." Failing 

 to say this, and afterwards desiring to hear the remainder of the 

 tale, the narrator would refuse him, for if he related it at all it 

 must be from the beginning through, unless tied. Thus si-ga'-hah 

 was the magic word by which a legend might be told as a serial. 



Methods of recording folklore 



There are several ways in which folk tales may be recorded, as 

 indeed there are several purposes for which they are written. To 

 satisfy strictly scientific requirements, the method employed by 

 the Smithsonian Institution and other progressive ethnological 

 institutions, is undoubtedly the best. The native text is recorded 

 with an exact translation interlined, word beneath word. This 

 method is most satisfactory to the student of languages but from 

 the standpoint of literature it falls short. The resulting English 

 is extremely awkward as it must necessarily be in an attempt to 

 parallel two radically different systems of grammar and word 

 compounding. No idea of the native beauty is preserved in such 



