IROOUOIS MYTHS AM) I.KGKXDS 



35 



there, saying, " You shall rule here where your face will shine 

 forever." But Hah-gweh-da-et-gah set Darkness 1 in the west 

 sky, to drive the Sun down behind it. 



Hah-gweh-di-yu then drew forth from the breast of his Mother, 

 the Moon and the Stars, and led them to the Sun as his sisters 

 who would guard his night sky. He gave to the Earth her body, 

 its Great Mother, from whom was to spring all life. 



All over the land Hah-gweh-di-yu planted towering mountains, 

 and in the valleys set high hills to protect the straight rivers as 

 they ran to the sea. But Hah-gweh-da-et-gah wrathfully sundered 

 the mountains, hurling them far apart, and drove the high hills 

 into the wavering valleys, bending the rivers as he hunted them 

 down. 



Hah-gweh-di-yu set forests on the high hills, and on the low 

 plains fruit-bearing trees and vines to wing their seeds to the 

 scattering winds. But Hah-gweh-da-et-gah gnarled the forests 

 besetting the earth, and led monsters to dwell in the sea, and 

 herded hurricanes in the sky which frowned with mad tempests 

 that chased the Sun and the Stars. 



The Animals and Birds 



Hah-gweh-di-yu went across a great sea where he met a Being 

 who told him he was his father. 2 Said the Being, " How high 

 can you reach? " Hah-gweh-di-yu touched the sky. Again he 

 asked, " How much can you lift? " and Hah-gweh-di-yu grasping 

 a stone mountain tossed it far into space. Then said the Being, 

 " You are worthy to be my son; " and lashing upon his back two 

 burdens, bade him return to the earth. 



Hah-gweh-di-yu swam for many days, and the Sun did not 

 leave the sky until he had neared the earth. The burdens had 

 grown heavy but Hah-gweh-di-yu was strong, and when he reached 

 the shore they fell apart and opened. 



From one of the burdens flew an eagle guiding the birds which 

 followed filling the skies with their song to the Sun as they winged 

 to the forest. From the other there came animals led by the deer, 

 and they sped quickly to the mountains. But Hah-gweh-da-et-gah 



1 Darkness, called either So-son'-do-wa, great darkness, or De-io-da-son-dai-kon, thick 

 night. 



2 In the writer's version the Good Mind (Light One) was bidden by his father " to the 

 East " and when he found him, to ask for power. The father was found in the top of a high 

 mountain in the east ocean and appeared in a blinding glare of light. The Light One was 

 ordered to prove himself a son, commanded to cast skyward great rocks, withstand winds, 

 floods and flames. He triumphed in the ordeal and his father gave him power over the 

 four elements. This is nothing less than a sun myth, the sun being the father of light. 



