IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



8i 



she do? She threw it her blanket, in rage it tore it to fragments; 

 then her doeskin dress, her leggings, moccasins, piece by piece all 

 the clothes she wore as still she ran through the brush tangles, 

 tearing wounds that were bleeding and weakening, and the Head 

 had nearly overtaken her when, despairing, she remembered the 

 charm of an infant's moccasin to avert danger, and hastily remov- 

 ing one from her child's foot, threw it behind her. At its sight the 

 Head stopped, and in rage beat the air with its great paws. In 

 vain it tried to avoid the moccasin, and reeling and wandering as if 

 blinded, fell to the ground. 



Hurrying on through the shade of the forest, De-wan-do climbed 

 a tall pine where hidden in the branches she rested ; but there soon 

 came the terrible creature, and lying down at the base of the tree, 

 fell asleep. Thinking the Head was too tired to wake, De-wan-do 

 drew her child to her, intending to flee from the tree, when the 

 child brushed down a bunch of pine needles which falling on the 

 Head, wakened it. Said the Head, "A porcupine dwells in this 

 tree, and I will kill it"; and hurling stones at the tree, it broke a 

 large branch which in falling tangled the Head fast, when De-wan-do 

 dropped from the tree and fled toward her home. But the fero- 

 cious Head soon freed itself from the branch, and spreading its 

 fiery hair down to the bushes, they were soon in flames, burning a 

 path as they spread and following De-wan-do to her lodge. This 

 the Head knew, and guided by the fire trail, it soon reached the 

 lodge and stealthily entered. 



But De-wan-do heard not. Suffering with hunger from her 

 long fasting, she was at the hearth fire roasting acorns, while her 

 infant lay sleeping near the fire. One by one as they burst their 

 shells she drew them away and ate them, and the astonished Head, 

 approaching behind her, wondered, for it thought she was eating 

 the live coals. " They must be good," thought the Head, " and 

 I'll have my share"; and gathering the hot coals with its paws, 

 thrust them into its mouth when, screaming in agony, it fled from 

 the lodge in a great blaze of fire which drifted into the night ! 



And the Head never returned. It is believed that the live coals 

 it had mistaken for acorns burned it to death. 



THE FACE IN THE /WATER AND THE DEATH DANCE 



In the hollow of a rock in a forest, was a health-giving spring 

 known to all red men. 



This spring, which possessed mysterious power, was protected 

 by two spirits. From sunrise to noon, Oh-swe-da, spirit of the 

 spruce tree, was its guardian, and this was its "charm time"; but 



