IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



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claimed as the ancestor of any special nation, but is acknowledged 

 by all tribes to be the " governor " of the medicine. His influence 

 among the Indians yet endures as the " Doer of the Good." 



Notwithstanding his vigilance, this chief one day during a hunt, 

 was suddenly overcome with exhaustion and fell in a dead stupor. 

 At this moment the chief of a hostile nation chanced to pass by, 

 and lifting his stone axe, dealt him a death blow, took his scalp and 

 fled with the trophy to his own people. 



" By the good that comes," as the red men say, a wolf found the 

 dead chief, and recognizing him as the friend of his tribe, gave a 

 piteous death cry that summoned other animals and birds to his aid. 



A bear, hurrying to the chief, discovered warmth in the body 

 and clasped it close in his hairy arms and commanded life to 

 return. 



An eagle fanned his great wings above the chief's head and sum- 

 moned the noon air to bring back his breath. 



A swift hawk flew to the camp of the enemy where the chief's 

 scalp, painted with red blood and stretched on a hoop, was fluttering 

 from a pole around which the warriors were celebrating a victory 

 dance. The quick wings and keen eyes of the hawk were too cunning 

 for the flying arrows of the warriors. With one swoop he seized 

 the scalp in his beak, softening it with his feathers dipped in a 

 gentle stream, he carried it to the forest doctors, who quickly 

 restored it to the gaping wound on the chief's head. 



In the council held by these forest folk it was determined to 

 compound a medicine to which each bird and beast should con- 

 tribute some vital portion of its own body. To this was added 

 curative herbs, and then the mixture was administered to the chief 

 in the cup of an acorn, and it quickly restored him to life. 



The legend states that the chief persuaded these forest doctors to 

 reveal to him the secret of this wonderful " life creator. " The story 

 of his night journey to obtain this secret is the foundation of the 

 initiation ceremony of the Ne-gar-na-gar-ah society. 



The date of the organization of the order, Indian history does 

 not tell. But it has existed for centuries and there is reason to 

 believe that as far as is possible with the encroachments of the 

 " paleface " into the territories of the red man, the exercises at the 

 conventions today are conducted according to the primitive rules 

 of its origin, and the seasons at which these gatherings are held 

 are the same among all the North American Indian nations and 

 the watchwords and signs are recognized everywhere. 1 



'r i Medicine societies existed among most Indian tribes but they were not uniform in 

 character nor did they usually recognize each other. 



