IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



87 



they covered with furs, laid the body upon it, saying, for they 

 knew that the ghoul could hear and was listening, " we will now 

 leave the spirit to rest, and will bar fast the door for fear of the 

 prowling wolves." 



Silently guarding the lodge until the sun had gone away, they 

 lighted the brush which had been thrown upon it, and it was soon 

 enveloped in flames. As the burning increased, the cries of the 

 ghoul could be heard pleading for release, and then they knew that 

 their medicine men were wise. 



The doomed ghoul continued its cries until the lodge was con- 

 sumed, when there came a loud " crackling " shriek, the head of the 

 evil Ton-da-yent flew high in the air, bursting into fragments 

 and dropping a white rabbit 1 which ran fast to the swamps. 



The twin souls of the Ton-da-yent exemplify the Iroquois In- 

 dian's theory of the duality of a human life, the good and the 

 evil. He believes evil to be of the earth, only, and that good, alone, 

 is immortal. 



The myth rabbit, the evil of the Ton-da-yent, lives in the swamps, 

 and during the summer it assumes the color of the grasses ; in the 

 winter it changes to white, as the Indian says " white like the snow." 

 It is very wary, fleet of foot, and rarely ever to be seen. From its 

 eyes gleam luring red fires which float over the marsh lands. 



Its death call " ga-weh, ga-weh," is said to be heard preceding a 

 calamity. At all times it is an ill omen, and a death is expected to 

 follow its warning cry. 



The good spirit of the Ton-da-yent passed to the skies with his 

 death, and now abides there as the Rabbit, or Hare, in the celestial 

 constellation situated directly under Orion. 



JI-JO-GWEH,' THE WITCH WATER GULL 



It was a bird of night. Its vampire wings sucked the air in its 

 noiseless flight. Its prey was life, bird, beast, or human, and blood 

 its craving. 



When its wings touched the waves, the waters would hiss. 

 When it followed the streams through the valleys, vapors would 

 rise and screen it from sight. Its breath was poison and would kill. 



1 Another version of this story relates that the evil spirit was transformed into the screech 

 owl. The burning of otgont beings is common in myth tales and the bursting of their 

 heads, from whence a beast or bird typifying their evil disposition flies, is another common 

 feature. 



