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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



In the few seconds of a dream, the Ott-wais-ha can relate the 

 experiences of a lifetime. If their revelation be of special impor- 

 tance, the dreaming human will remember it when he awakes, will 

 relate it to a tribal dream prophet who will interpret its significance 

 which may prove a guidance for the entire life of the dreamer. 1 



Should an Indian threaten " the rattlesnake warns but once," 

 it may be the caution of a dream revelation which has taught him 

 the mercy of a warning before the thrust of death. Should an 

 Indian become hopelessly depraved and fail to heed the warnings 

 of his dreams, it may occur that the Ott-wais-ha, unable to endure 

 his depravity, will abandon him and descending to his mere mortal 

 existence, he will be compelled to live out his earth life bereft of 

 his immortal soul. 



But the Ott-wais-ha will not desert its mortal unless by a continu- 

 ous abuse of its goodness ; and conscious of this, the Indian more 

 frequently makes his offerings and sacrifices to his evil spirit than 

 his good, for to pacify his evil is the war wail of his battle for 

 eternity. 



By a legend of the Ott-wais-ha: One night two hunters were 

 resting by the side of a small stream in the forest ; they were waiting 

 for the day dawn. One was drowsy in a half sleep, when his wake- 

 ful companion, who was watching the east sky, saw a small spark 

 of fire pass from the mouth of the sleeper and float in the air to the 

 edge of the stream, crossing it on a silvery willow leaf 2 which was 

 drifting to the opposite bank. Hovering there for a moment as if 

 confused it finally entered the skull of a small bird which lay bleach- 

 ing on the bank and disappeared. The watching hunter did not 

 disturb his sleeping companion, and when at the sunrise he awoke, 

 he related a strange dream that had come to him. 



The dream 



He had left the forest in a great light and, as if with wings, had 

 soared to a far away land, and a peaceful water whose borders 

 reached from horizon to horizon. There he found waiting him a 



1 The mystery of dreams was one that profoundly impressed the Iroquois but in this 

 they did not differ from most primitive people. With them every dream had a meaning 

 which the dream interpreter could reveal. One of the ceremonies at the midwinter festival 

 was the guessing of dreams. The Jesuit missionaries have left some interesting accounts 

 of this custom. Dreams determined the assembling of several of the secret societies and 

 some are said to have originated thus. 



The influence of dreams upon primitive minds can hardly be realized by any one but the 

 close student of savage races. Some seem to be in a perpetual daze and almost unable to 

 distinguish between the imaginative happenings of their sleep and the actual happenings 

 of the waking state. 



2 According to Iroquois lore the soul in crossing water must have some material boat or 

 bridge, howsoever small. 



