58 



NEW YORK STATIC MUSEUM 



In their pursuing one day they saw the bear. It had pushed 

 under a snow bank, and was ravenously devouring a deer. So 

 certain were they of its capture, that they cut down a small pine 

 and made ready the fire for cooking it, but when they resumed 

 their hunt, the bear had vanished, and there was no trail of it in 

 the swift falling snow which had covered its track; and chagrined 

 that they had been so near and had failed, they decided not to 

 stop again till they had captured it. 



Having thus determined, they bundled the fire brush on the 

 shoulders of one of the brothers, 1 and to their belts tied their strong 

 bags of o-na-oh, 2 the roasted corn flour which would sustain them 

 whi e they were running, and again set out on the chase. 



At night they slept not ; during the day they rested not ; for the 

 elusive shadow of the rapid running bear could be seen on the 

 snow hills as they ran to the north sky. 



As if avenging, the freezing winds pursued them, the ice weighted 

 down their moccasins, and the pitiless snows drifted near to the 

 skies; but impelled by their dream, the intrepid hunters faltered 

 not until they had reached the end of the flat earth where it edges 

 close to the north sky. Then the shadow of the bear disappeared, 

 and the distant paths seemed enveloped in a vaporous mist like a 

 hiding cloud that floats over the water. 



Yet the tireless hunters would not rest, but climbed higher and 

 higher and farther away from the earth, when again they saw the 

 bear, who was now slow in its path, vet mighty as it pushed the 

 white clouds before it, weaving an invisible net which it cast over 

 the skies and crawled under to rest. 3 



Astray in the strange place, the untiring hunters, who knew not 

 fatigue nor hunger, rejoiced when they came near the bear to find 

 him sleeping. " We will not lose it now, 4 and will carry it back to 

 our people," was their victorious cry. 



1 Hos'-to', the youngest, bore the fagots and Ho-we-ta- ho', the next older, carried the kettle 

 in which to cook the bear. 



2 O-nii'-o' means corn. The parched corn cake is called o-na'-so'-kwa by the Senecas 

 and o-na-gwitz-ora by the Mohawks. It was made by roasting dry shelled corn on a flat 

 stone and afterward beating it to a meal in a mortar. The flour was mixed with maple 

 sugar, wet, pressed into cakes and dried. Dried chokecherries were sometimes pulverized 

 and added. This food must be eaten sparingly and with plenty of water to prevent cramps. 



3 The net in my version is a cave and is the constellation of Corona borealis. 



4 The older brother is the actual hunter, his next younger brother carries the kettle in 

 which to cook the bear while the youngest bears the fagots for the fire. The boastful older 

 brother fell behind in the chase and the youngest passing by his next older brother hurried 

 on and killed the bear with his chunks of fire wood. The blood dripped down and turned 

 the maple leaves red while the fat, melted to oil in the heat of the chase, dripped down and 

 turned others yellow. The bear miraculously revives before the fire is kindled and the 

 pursuit goes on again. 



