IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



Ongwehoweh, (Iroquois) began to make excursions to this distant 

 country they encountered many nations that were friendly and 

 more that were hostile. The Iroquois used to like to go in this 

 country for there they learned new things and found new plants 

 and new kinds of corn and beans and when they would fight and 

 destroy a tribe they would carry away curiously made things 

 and some captives back to the Ho-de-no-sau-ne, their own country. 



While one of these exploring parties was in the far southwest 

 looking for war and new things, a band of very savage people 

 attacked them. The young chief, the friend of the animals was 

 with the party and being separated from the rest of his party was 

 struck down by a tomahawk blow. The enemy cut a circle around 

 his scalp lock and tore it off. He could not fight strong because 

 he was tired and very hungry from the long journey, so he was 

 killed. The enemy knew him because he had been a brave 

 fighter and killed a good many of their people in former battles 

 so they were glad when they killed him and prized his scalp. Now 

 he lay dead in a thicket and none of his warriors knew where he 

 was but the enemy showed them his scalp. So they knew that he 

 was dead. 



Black night came and alone upon the red and yellow leaves the 

 chief lay dead and his blood was clotted upon the leaves where it 

 had spilled. The night birds scented the blood and hovered over 

 the body, the owl and the whip-poor-will flew above it and Sha- 

 dahgeah, the Dew Eagle, swooped down from the regions above the 

 clouds. " He seems to be a friend," they said, " who can this 

 man be?" A wolf sniffed the air and thought he smelled food. 

 Skulking through the trees he came upon the bod)'', dead and 

 scalped. His nose was upon the clotted blood and he liked 

 blood. Then he looked into the face of the dead man and leapt 

 back with a long yelping howl, the dead man was the friend of 

 the wolves and the animals and birds. His howl was a signal call 

 and brought all the animals of the big woods and the birds dropped 

 down around him. All the medicine animals came, the bear, the 

 deer, the fox, the beaver, the otter, the turtle and the big horned 

 deer (moose). Now the birds around him were the owl, the whip- 

 poor-will, the crow, the buzzard, the swift hawk, the eagle, the 

 snipe, the white heron and also the great chief of all the birds, 

 Shadahgeah, who is the eagle who flies in the world of our Creator 

 above the clouds. These are all the great medicine people and 

 they came in council about their killed friend. Then they said, 

 ' ' He must not be lost to us. We must restore him to life again. ' ' Then 



