IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



123 



When an Iroquois child loses a tooth, it carries it to a marsh 

 where the frogs are croaking, and throwing it in the water will say, 



Nos-gwais, Nos-gwais, I give you my little tooth, send me an- 

 other as strong as a bear." And the child in his simple belief 

 knows that Nos-gwais, who craves small teeth, will hear him and 

 grant his request. 



When Teh-do-oh " paints his shadow " on the snows, the Indian 

 knows that spring is near. 



NYA-GWA-IH, HOW THE BEAR LOST ITS TAIL 1 



Nya-gwa-ih, the bear, who was hunting the forest for his winter 

 store of nuts and honey, had traveled far from his home when he 

 met an aged fox who informed him that he had just passed the 

 river where he saw some strange little animals dive down to a 

 burrow beneath the water. He thought they were young otters, 

 and had watched for their return but they had not appeared, and 

 he urged the bear to go with him and endeavor to entice them 

 from their hiding place. 



The credulous bear, smacking his lips and licking out his tongue 

 in anticipation of a feast, hunched himself down to the water 

 where upon looking in he saw the reflection of his own face, and 

 believing it to be one of the little mysteries which the fox had seen, 

 sat himself down to watch for its reappearance. 



Untiringly he waited, as the artful fox encouraged. At length 

 it occurred to the bear to allure the unknown little creatures by 

 fishing for them and the bear was a genial fisherman. He had the 

 patience to wait all the day by a stream, and the cunning to 

 watch breathlessly, fearing to shadow the water, but now, alas, 

 he had no bait! What was he to do? The artful fox suggested 

 that he should swim to a log that was floating near, and after he 

 had fixed himself firm, to drop his tail in the water. Soon some- 

 thing would seize it, when he was to lift it up to the log and whip 

 the game over to the shore where he would remain and protect 

 it for him. 



By the persuasions of the wily fox, the unsuspecting bear swam 

 out to the log where he secured himself and dropped his tail into 

 the water, and the tail of the bear was broad, and so long it reached 

 near to the bottom of the river. 



Soon a something shook the tail, and as the bear lifted it up, he 

 saw a wriggling little animal, not a bird, nor a fish, but a something 

 of flesh very like a young otter, and he slung it across the stream 

 to the fox. " That is fine!" said the fox. Again and again the 



This legend is probably from European sources. 



