7 6 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



pierces the skies) had come amongest them and that it was due to 

 the visit of the bird that his daughter was killed. 



Then Hahyonhwatha answered sadly and said: "I have now 

 lost all my daughters and in the death of this, my last daughter, 

 you have accidently and unwittingly killed two beings." 1 



And Hahyonhwatha further said : " I must now go away to the 

 west," and he started immediately on his way. He met Dekanah- 

 wideh on the trail and Dekanahwideh warned him of the danger on 

 his way, especially with reference to a certain man who was watch- 

 ing, saying as follows : 



" There is danger in front of you, there is a man watching your 

 way in front of you. It is necessary for you to approach him 

 without his becoming aware of your coming until you get to him. 

 If you can get up to him while he is unaware of your approach 

 then we shall surely prosper in our mission. You will then speak 

 to him and ask him what thing he is watching for. He will answer 

 you and say that he is watching to protect the fields of corn as the 

 people of other nations and also animals destroy the crops and he 

 is watching therefore that the crops might be preserved, so that the 

 children might live from the harvest." 



Then Hahyonhwatha proceeded on his journey and when he 

 arrived where the man was sitting beside a fire near a big tree and 

 watching; he quickly spoke, asking, " What are you doing?" And 

 the man answered and said : " I am watching the fields of corn 

 to protect them from other nations and also from animals that our 

 children might live from the harvest." 



Hahyonhwatha then said to the man : " Return home now and 

 tell your lord that the Good News of Peace and Power has come." 

 So he returned and told his Lord the message given to him by 

 Hahyonhwatha. Then the lord said : " Who is it who told you 

 this strange news ? " Then the man who had been watching said : 

 "A man suddenly appeared to me when I was watching the fields 

 of corn and he told me the news." 



Hahyonhwatha went to the other end of the corn field and there 

 met Dekanahwideh. Dekanahwideh said : " We have now an- 

 nounced the (Ka-ya-ne-reh) Good Tidings of Peace and Power, 

 therefore you shall abide in this hut near these corn fields, which 

 you will only leave when you receive an invitation from the people. 



1 Other versions say that this event took place before Hiawatha met 

 Dekanawida. his grief over his losses, driving him into a self-imposed exile, 

 during which he lamented all evil conditions. Later he met Dekanawida. A. 

 Cusick, and Baptist Thomas, New York Onondagas, both concurred in this. 



