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look outside her wigwam for four days, might not freely gaze on anyone 
except her mother or older sister, might not take a child in her arms, look 
at any game, or listen to geese and other fowl that passed over her head. 
Her mother or sister braided her hair for her each morning, for she might 
not touch her hair or body except with a special scratching-stick. She 
drank from a special cup of birch bark, and ate sparingly of the scanty 
food that was brought to her, for if she ate eagerly she would be gluttonous 
in later life. Fresh food of all kinds was forbidden her; her meat and 
fish were dried or at least smoked. To the Indians she was filled with a 
mysterious power like a manido. Any young boy or girl who approached 
her wigwam might be crippled for life, and loud noises at the home of her 
parents might draw the power thither. If she touched a tree it would die ; 
if she touched a pot of soup it would turn to water , 1 and whoever drank 
of it might dislocate his spine; if she touched the carcass of an animal 
those who ate of it would be crippled, or at least have bad luck all the 
rest of their days. Even she herself was in grave danger. If a fox or a 
snake happened to cross her tracks outside her wigwam she would become 
‘foxy’ and wanton all her days unless a wabeno drove out the contagion 
by his medicine-power. 
“ While I was living with my foster-parents at Shawana-ga one of their daughters 
reached maturity. My foster-mother put wild ginger in all our food to prevent any 
ill-effect, and she gave me wild ginger to chew” (Pegahmagabow), 
Yet this mysterious power was not always harmful. It might be 
diverted, the Indians say, to heal a middle-aged man suffering from an 
apparently incurable weakness of the spine that rendered him helpless. 
He was laid in the girl’s hut, face downward, so that neither he could see 
her face nor she his while she walked slowly up and down his spine. Her 
power then penetrated his frame, healed his malady, and enabled him to 
rise to his feet with all the vigour of a young man. 
Girls who obtained visions during their periods of seclusion some- 
times gained considerable influence in their bands, particularly if their 
visions seemed to call for participation in warfare and to promise them 
victory in battle. The forefathers of the Parry Islanders followed such 
women leaders with alacrity, believing that they enjoyed a twofold power, 
the mysterious power inherent in all women and the special supernatural 
power they derived from their visions. 
“ At the time of the wars with the Mohawks a young girl named Odobidodge 
went into seclusion. There she dreamed that she heard Grandmother Moon say to 
her ‘My granddaughter, you shall establish peace throughout this wide land.’ She 
gave the girl two brooms and added ‘ With one of these brooms you shall sweep up 
all the dirt. Leave the other at home, for you will need it in the ages to come. 
Now follow me and I will show you this wide land that you must clean up.’ The 
girl followed her invisible guide, whose voice alone she could hear, and they visited 
all the Indian camps scattered throughout the country. At certain camps Grand- 
mother Moon said to her ‘These are the trouble-makers whom you must sweep 
away.’ She then conveyed the girl back to her wigwam, and told her that after four 
days she would die, and four'days later would come to life again. 
Four days later the girl died. As she lay in her wigwam, dead, she saw all the 
harm that the trouble-makers were inflicting on her people. She saw the Mohawks 
and their allies destroying her countrymen and roasting little babies alive. She telt 
i The touch of a young baby will also turn soup to water (Pegahmagabow). 
