IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



75 



their distress, determined to relieve them of the merciless invaders, 

 and transforming himself to a stone giant, came down to the 

 earth and united with their tribe. 



Wonderstruck at his marvelous display of power, they made 

 him their chief; and he brandished his club high in the air, saying, 

 " Now we will destroy the Iroquois, make a great feast of them, 

 and invite all the Stone Giants of the sky." In pretense of this 



Member of the False Face Company impersonating the Stone Giant 



intention, the Sky Holder led them to a strong fort of the On-on- 

 da-gas where he bade them hide in a deep hollow in the valley 

 and await the sunrise, when they would attack and destroy the 

 unsuspecting people. But before day, he scaled a high place above 

 them and overwhelmed them with a great mass of rocks. Only 

 one escaped, who fled to the Alleghany mountains. There he 

 secreted himself in a cave, where he remained and grew in huge 

 strength, when he was transformed to the myth Giant, Ga-nus- 

 quah. 



