IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



IOI 



Some writers have credited this legend to the Ojibwas, but for 

 many generations the Iroquois have claimed it as their own. 



NEH JO-GA-OH, THE MYTH-DWARF PEOPLE 

 GA-HON-GA, THE STONE THROWERS 



Among the fable folk of the Iroquois, the Jo-ga-oh, or invisible 

 little people are beings empowered to serve nature with the same 

 authority as the greater spirits. 



These little people are divided into three tribes, the Ga-hon-ga 

 of the rocks and rivers, the Gan-da-yah of the fruits and grains 

 and the Oh-dan-was of the underearth shadows. 



The Ga-hon-ga, guardians of the streams, dwell in rock caves 

 beside the waters and though dwarf in being are gigantic in strength. 

 They can uproot the largest tree by a twist of the hand and hurl 

 massive rocks into the rivers to lift the waters when floods threaten. 

 They have frequently visited Indians in awake dreams and led 

 them to their dwelling places and then challenged them to feats 

 of strength, such as playing ball with the rocks, often hurling them 

 high out of sight in the air. Because of this fondness, the Indians 

 often called them " Stone Throwers." 1 



When a drought parches the land, the Indian, wise in mystery 

 ways, goes far into the forests and searches along the mountain 

 streams until he finds the signs of the Ga-hon-ga. These are little 

 cup-shaped hollows in the soft earth that edges the streams and 

 are the promise of rain. The Indian carefully scoops up these hol- 

 lows in the mud and dries them on a fragment of bark in the sun. 

 They are the " dew cup charms " that placed in a lodge attract 

 the Gan-da-yah of the fruits and grains who begin immediately 

 their activity in the ground of the garden. 



In their province of watchfulness they instruct the fish, direct- 

 ing their movements and giving them shelter in their deep 

 water caves if pursued by merciless fishermen or confused in the 

 whirl of the flood. They know the twists of every trap and will 

 loosen them to release the captive fish, when they deem it wise to 

 do so. They can command a fruitful or barren season and unless 

 propitiated frequently punish negligence with famine. 



1 The Stone Throwers are a band of elves who are fond of playing harmless pranks. 

 Should one offend them, however, the prank may cease to be harmless. An Indian who 

 discovers that he has been punished by them at once holds a proper ceremony for their 

 propitiation. Mr M. R. Harrington who questioned the Oneidas regarding their belief 

 in the Jo-ga-oh was told that when a good round stone was needed for a hammer or corn 

 crusher that an Indian would go down to a creek and place an offering of tobacco beneath 

 a flat stone and returning the next day find within the radius of a man's length a stone just 

 suitable for his purposes. 



