IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



51 



curl, and fall in rains to your rivers and streams. My shield is 

 vast, and covers your land with its yellow shine, or burns it brown 

 with my hurrying flame. My eyes are wide, and search every- 

 where. My arrows are quick when I dip them in dews that nourish 

 and breathe. My army is strong, when I sleep it watches my 

 fields. When I come again my warriors will battle throughout 

 the skies; Ga-oh will lock his fierce winds; He-no will soften his 

 voice ; Go-ho-ne will fly, and tempests will war no more ! 



As I sleep down to my dreams, the paths of my sky land slant 

 crooked and small; the breath of my ah-so-qua-ta grows slow, 

 its panting fire dies black, its ashes are pale, the trails grow dark, 

 and my sleep spirit watches near! 



DEH-OH-NIOT 1 , THE EVIL SOUL GATHERER 



Sky color is the Deh-oh-niot, who haunts the tall tree tops and 

 the high mountain crests. 



With the face of a wolf, the wings of a vulture, the body of a 

 panther and claws like a hawk, the Deh-oh-niot wanders in the 

 " pathway of spirits," 2 and is one of the emissaries Death 3 sends to 

 the earth to gather souls. 



The sick fear him, the dying hear him clawing at the door, 

 where he whines like a cat if the spirit is departing, or barks like 

 a wolf if it is not ready to travel. 



Although Deh-oh-niot watches for his victims, and knows the 

 death path which leads from every lodge door, there are other 

 Invisibles, guardians of the departing soul, who guide it to its 

 further condition where it may assume whatever form it is to 

 inhabit before reaching its final rest place in the Happy Hunting 

 Ground. 



When watching the lodge of the dying, there is a continual 

 struggle between Deh-oh-niot and these Invisibles. 



By the law of Death, before whom all departing spirits must 

 pass on their journey, Deh-oh-niot can seize only the evil of a 



1 This is a variation -from the writer's version of the myth which makes Ga-sho-dee'to, not 

 De'-on-iot, the Soul Gatherer. Rather is he the herald of disaster. An extract from my 

 manuscript notes may be of service in giving an idea of the myth. " And did no warning 

 sign appear ? " asked Ohoosta. " Yes, but we did not know it was an omen until too late. 

 Then we remembered a blue (sky colored) panther floating high over the trees. He had 

 no face but from his tail shot flames of fire." (A comet). " So now then you will remember 

 to offer (throw) tobacco upon a fire," said Ohoosta. " Tobacco incense is a sign that death 

 and trouble are not wanted and when he has breathed it Ga-sho-dee'to will go away and 

 turn aside the danger." 



2 The milk way 



3 Son-do-wek'-o-wa is the angel of death. 



