114 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



stone, and lie in great heaps at the bottom; but a large number, 

 aided by some great power, were given new bodies, and rejoined 

 the survivors of their new council fire far from Ga-nun-do-wa 

 mountain. 



An Iroquois will go far out of his path to avoid meeting a snake, 

 and will rarely kill one, fearing he may release the spirit of the 

 monster Ka-is-to-wan-ea which still exists in the snake life of the 

 earth. 



In this ancient legend, the Iroquois recognize a prophecy of the 

 coming of the white man, and the extermination of the Indian. 



Ka-is-to-wan-ea is the white man who, in his greed unsatisfied 

 with the lands the red man gave him, has gradually encroached until 

 in the relentless pursuit, the red men have been thrust away, even 

 to the limit of the last lands of their once broad possessions! 



GA-YE-WAS AND GI-DA-NO-NEH, THE FISH AND THE INDIAN 



MAIDEN l 



When Hah-gweh-di-yu was adorning the earth with his beautiful 

 creations, in a rock on his fairest land, he scooped a deep hollow 

 and therein set a lake ever to be nourished by the rich mountain 

 streams whose virgin waters would send it their most precious 

 offerings. To Ga-ye-was, the most mighty of all fish, was given 

 the controlling power of this beautiful lake and, being also the guard- 

 ian of all the mountain streams, he could assume the mortal form 

 and visit the lands surrounding his domain. 



Although free to the land and water, still Ga-ye-was was not 

 happy, his life was a lonely one. His possessions, though vast and 

 beautiful, failed to satisfy his desires; he had no companions. His 

 authority separated him from his subjects and only the solitude 

 of power was his. 



But to Ga-ye T was there came a new dominion; Ga-ye-was loved! 

 One day when floating on his lake and singing his power song, he 

 saw standing on the shore a graceful sad eyed Indian girl who 

 seemed sobbing her sorrows to the waters, and, as if enchanted by 

 the tranquil rhythm of the waves, was listening as they bore the 

 song to the shore. 



^his myth strongly resembles the Abenaki legend of The Woman and the Serpent, one 

 of the A'tosis stories. It probably came to Mrs Converse through Mohawk sources. The 

 Algonquin original has the lover a serpent insteadjof a fish. 



