Читать книгу Seneca Fiction, Legends, and Myths - Jeremiah Curtin - Страница 31

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9. A Woman and Her Bear Lover

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A man and his wife with two sons—one on the cradle-board yet, and the other three or four years old—lived in the woods.

After a while the elder boy became puny and sickly. The man was much troubled by this and began to think that his wife was to blame. Every day he set out to hunt, and the woman went to get wood and to dig wild potatoes.

One day the man resolved to watch his wife; so he hid himself near the lodge instead of going to hunt. In a couple of hours the wife came out, gayly dressed, her face washed, and her hair oiled; she walked quickly to the woods. He followed her stealthily. She stopped at a large tree on which she tapped with a stick and said, “I am here again.” Presently a noise as of scrambling was heard in the tree, and a great Bear came out of the hollow in the trunk and slipped quickly to the foot of the tree. After a while the woman went away, and the Bear again climbed the tree. The man set off, seeking wild potatoes. Finding a place where there were many good ones, he dug up a large quantity.

The next day he took the woman there and dug up as many as she could carry; he then sent her home, saying that he would go hunting so that they could have a good supper. The hunter then went straight to the tree in which lived his wife’s lover, the Bear, and, tapping twice on it, said, “I am here again.” The Bear soon stuck his head out, and the man shot an arrow at him which brought him to the ground. The hunter left the skin of the Bear; he merely opened his body and took out the entrails, which he carried home.

The woman was glad and said to the little boy, “Your father has brought us a good dinner.” She cooked the entrails and the wild potatoes. They all sat down to eat, and the woman ate very heartily; but the man said that he was sick, and did not eat of the entrails. When she had nearly finished eating and her hands were full of fat, her husband said to her, “You seem to like to eat your lover.” “What?” she said. “Oh! eat more, eat plenty,” he replied. “I shall eat two or three mouthfuls more,” she said. As she was doing this, he said again, “You seem to like to eat your husband.” She heard him this time and knew what he meant. Jumping up, she ran out and vomited and vomited. Then she ran off into the woods to [103]the westward. The next day she took medicine, which caused an abortion, resulting in delivery of two bear cubs. Leaving them on the ground, she cut off her breasts and hung them on an ironwood tree.

A couple of days later the father said to the elder boy, “I think I must go after your mother; you stay in the lodge and take care of your little brother.” Then he brought a bowl of water and put feathers in it, saying, “If anything evil happens to me the feathers will be bloody.”

He started west. The first day he found the cubs and breasts on the ironwood tree, which he knew came from his wife.

After leaving the cubs the woman went on until she came to a village. She stopped in the first lodge at the edge of the village, where a family of Crows lived. The woman said that she was looking for a place to live, and, being a young woman, would like to get a husband. The old Crow said to one of his sons: “Run over to the chief’s lodge, and tell him that there is a young woman here who would like to get married. Perhaps one of his sons would like to have her.” The boy did as directed. “All right,” said the chief, “let her come over here.” The woman went over. She had her hair pulled back and tied tight at the back so there were no wrinkles on her face, and as her breasts were cut off, she looked like a young woman. One of the chief’s sons married her.

Two days later her husband appeared at the lodge of the Crows, asking whether they had seen such and such a woman. “I have come looking for my wife, who left me four days ago,” said the man. “Yes, such a woman came here two days ago. She is married to one of the chief’s sons.” “Go over,” said the Gagahgowa20 to one of his sons, “and tell the chief that his daughter-in-law’s husband has come.” The young Crow went over and delivered the message. “Have you ever been married before?” asked the chief of his daughter-in-law. “No,” replied the woman. “Then he lies,” said the chief to the Crow’s son. Turning to some of the warriors, he said: “We do not want such a fellow as that hanging around; go over and kill him.” The warriors went over to the Crow’s house, killed the man, and threw his body away.

Immediately the feathers in the bowl were bloody, and the boy knew that his father was dead. The next day he started westward, carrying his little brother on his back. Following the trail, they found the two cubs lying on the ground. Then the little fellow on the cradle-board looked at them, then at the breasts on the tree, and he knew that they belonged to his mother. They went on until they reached the Crow’s lodge, where they inquired, “Have you seen our father, who came after our mother?” “Oh, yes; the chief has killed your father, and your mother is at the chief’s lodge. She [104]is the wife of one of his sons. You run over and tell the chief that his daughter-in-law’s two sons have come after her.” He went and told his message. “Have you ever had any children?” asked her father-in-law and her husband. “No,” she said in a faint voice. “Go home,” said the chief, “and tell them my daughter-in-law never had any children. She is a young woman. How could she have two sons?” Then, turning to the warriors, he said: “Run over and kill those lying children. I do not want to have them around here.” When his sons came home the Gagahgowa said: “They will kill those two boys. It is a pity. Let us hide them.” When the warriors came the Gagahgowa said, “They have gone; they went back home, I think.”

The Crows cared for the boys. After a while the old Crow said: “Let us go away from here. Let us go far away into the woods where there will be good hunting. These little boys will bring us luck.” The Crow family moved far away into the deep woods; they planted corn and beans and had good crops. The boys grew up and hunted; they had great luck and obtained much game. The whole Crow family were fat and happy.

After several years the old chief at the village said one day: “I have not seen that Crow family for a long time. Run over, somebody, and see how they are getting along.” A runner, Haheshe,21 went over and, finding the Crow place in ruins, came back and said that their lodge had tumbled down and that they had gone away somewhere. “Go,” said the chief, “a number of you, and find them. They must be somewhere. Do not come back until you know where they are living now.” After a long search they found the Crow family living in happiness and plenty, far away in the woods. When they told the chief he said, “Let us all go there. There must be good hunting in that place.”

As soon as they were on the road it began to snow and to grow cold. It continued to snow heavier and faster, the snowflakes being almost as large as a man’s hand. The young chief and his wife hurried on ahead. She had a child on her back. They reached the Crows’ lodge almost frozen to death and covered with snow. The rest of the family were either frozen to death, buried in the snow, or forced to turn back. The snow was light near the Crows’ lodge, but as there was a great pile of deer carcasses near it, they had to carry them in. The elder brother was employed at this work when his mother and her husband came. Calling out, “My son!” she came near him. He pushed her back with a forked stick. She put her baby on him. He threw it on the ground in the snow. Just then the old woman of the Crows came out and said: “You should not do so. If your mother is wicked, you should not be likewise. Let them come in.” And Gagahgowa, the old Crow, allowed them to live there. [105]