IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



III 



braves who had banded together commenced to dance with a slow 

 shuffling movement that gradually increased until the twist- 

 ing, bounding, leaping, sliding, gliding feet seemed scarcely to 

 touch the ground. The assembled throng gazed breathlessly at 

 the astonishing spectacle. Never before had their eyes beheld so 

 wonderful a scene. Faster and faster they danced until at last in 

 the wild delirium of the intoxicating whirl they leapt into the air 

 like demons, and as the last tap of the water drum sounded upon 

 the taut, wet head of woodchuck skin, they brought their feet down 

 in unison and finished their dance. The multitude gave a great 

 shout and cried, " They have won, they have excelled as men never 

 have before ! " Then the evil thing occurred. Filled with the 

 spirit of the Evil Minded the wild dancers sounded a signal with 

 their rattles, raised their clubs and struck down a score of warriors, 

 struck them dead upon the ground, and turning to slay others, 

 were halted by the angry thundering voice of the Sky Holder. 

 " Cease," he commanded and summoning the offenders before him 

 he called the clans about him. Then addressing the culprits he 

 said, " Without cause you have made the ground red with the lives 

 of your cousins and brothers. You have made the nation mourn. 

 Your deed is the blackest that men-beings have ever known. You 

 have chosen a time of peace for a time to kill. We were gathered 

 to strengthen our friendship and become of one mind again but you 

 by your treachery have endeavored to start a war. You have 

 won the lands on either side of the river but you shall not enjoy them 

 as men. You are outcast, you shall forevermore be despised, hated, 

 stoned and trodden under foot. You shall be hunted and killed 

 whenever you are seen for you have the evil mind within you. So, 

 go out from among men and crawl in the dust of your domain. 

 Unlike others of your kin, when you are transformed into sais-tah- 

 o-noh, 1 you will warn your foes before you strike them by shaking 

 your rattles, even as you did when you murdered your relatives. 

 Depart outcasts, and take the lands you have won but go not as 

 victors but as an hated, accursed tribe upon whom war will ever be 

 waged ! " The bloodguilty culprits shuffled into line and one by 

 one took up the song Ji-ha-yah 2 and danced into the shadows. 

 When they had passed from the sight of the mourning people the 

 Sky Holder shook the earth and the evil dancers fell upon their 

 bellies, dropped their rattles at their feet and with their faces in the 

 dust trembled as they felt the power of the Sky Holder grip them. 



1 The snake people. Some of the older Senecas say that this legend alludes to the 

 Cherokees. The Seneca name for the Cherokee tribe is Cave or Hole Dwellers. 



2 Devil song. 



