THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FIVE NATIONS 73 



be a sign of proof, and the people may see your power. If you 

 live to see tomorrow's sunrise then I will accept your message." 



Then Dekanahwideh said, " This shall tru 1 .y be done and carried 

 out." He then climbed the tree anc 1 when he had reached the 

 top of the tree 1 he sat down on a branch, after which the tree was 

 cut down, and it fell over the cliff with him. 



Then the people kept vigilant watch so that they might see him, 

 but they failed to see any sigm of him. Then the chief warrior 

 said, " Now my proposition has been carried out and Dekenahwideh 

 has disappeared and so now we will vigilantly watch at sunrise 

 tomorrow morning. Ther the Lord Hahyonhwatha said, " We 

 shall now return home." 



Now when the new aay dawned one of the warriors arose before 

 sunrise and at once went to the place where the tree had been cut 

 and when he had arrived there he saw at a short distance a field 

 of corn, and near by the smoke from a fire 2 toward which the 

 warrior went. When he arrived there he saw a man sitting by 

 the fire and after seeing the man he at once returned to the Lord 

 Hahyonhwatha and when he arrived there he said that he had 

 seen the man sitting by the fire, and that it was he who was on the 

 tree which was cut the evening before. 



Then Hahyonhwatha charged him to convey these tidings to his 

 colleagues and all the people and in a short time all the people had 

 assembled. Then the Lord Hahyonhwatha said, "We will now 

 call Dekanahwideh," and he then commissioned the chief warrior 

 and the. deputy chief warrior to go after him and they went to 

 where Dekanahwideh had his fire and when they arrived they told 

 him tha.t the Lord Hahyonhwatha had sent them to bring him and 

 that they would escort him to the home of Hahyonhwatha. 



Then Dekanahwideh said : " It is right. I shall go with you." 



They then returned and when they arrived back at the abode of 

 Hahyonhwatha, the chief warrior spoke and said, " We have re- 

 turned with Dekanahwideh, and he is now in your charge." Lord 

 Hahyonhwatha then said : " I am now surely ready to fully accept 

 the Good News of Peace and Power, and it now rests with you as 

 your opinion in this matter." 



1 This event took place on the cliff overlooking the lower falls of the 

 Mohawk. The tree was a bitter hickory, (gus'thik), which stood at the door- 

 way of a woman named De'siio'. When Dekanawida climbed the tree he 

 sang the air of " the six songs of the pacification hymn." 



2 The column of smoke from Dekanawida's fire is said always to have 

 " pierced the sky." The term is, Wagaye n gwa'i'de n wagaiyaesta', It forms 

 smoke, smoke pierces the sky. 



