Читать книгу Seneca Fiction, Legends, and Myths - Jeremiah Curtin - Страница 39

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16. Ohohwa (the Owl) and the Two Sisters

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Two sisters of a tribe lived near the edge of a village clearing. The chief dwelt near the center of it. The mother of these two sisters was accustomed to pick up deer droppings to put into the hominy instead of venison or fish. This was a custom practiced only by widows and by families who from some misfortune were too poor to obtain meat or fish.

One day one of the sisters asked her mother to let her have some of the droppings to mix with the hominy which she was preparing. Her aged mother, who was a widow, replied, “You should be ashamed of yourself to ask for such things, for you are a fine-looking woman and should marry the chief’s son; then you would not be obliged to seek such things for meat, for you would have a good hunter to provide you with all the meat and fish you required.”

Somewhat abashed, the daughter answered, “Well, if my sister will go, I will go; and if he will take us both, it will be well.” So they set to work and prepared the usual marriage bread, and when they were ready to start they asked their mother how the young man looked. She replied: “He is a handsome man, with a hooked nose. Beside the fire he has two deer heads, which are alive and open and shut their eyes whenever fuel is placed on the fire. This young man is very strong in magic—is possessed of potent orenda, and so he has many wild deer around his lodge. You must be very careful lest you be deceived by his uncle, who also has a hooked nose and very closely resembles his nephew. He will attempt to seduce you on the way. The first large lodge you see is the one to which you must go.”

So the daughters started and went along slowly. At last they saw a man running around old stumps trying to catch something. He did not see them coming. Shortly after they came in sight of him he stood up—protruding from his mouth was the tail of a mouse. Seeing the girls, he said, “Ho, ho, where are you two going?” “We are going to propose to the chief’s son,” they replied. “Well, what is his appearance?” was his next question. “Our mother said that he had a hooked nose,” came their answer. The wily old man said, “Look at me! Is not my nose hooked?” “Yes,” said the elder sister, “perhaps this is the man.” So they went to his lodge, which was an old, ugly-looking place. He said to them that he had to get his deer heads, so he got some old heads which his nephew had cast away. His mother and his little boy sat by the fire. He told them to keep quiet and they would have bread shortly. The child cried out, “Father, give me some bread.” The old man said, “Why do you not call me brother? I am your brother.” Then the old man shoved the little boy aside and sat down near the girls. One of them said, “We want to see the live deer you have around the lodge.” So they went [116]outside. This place was not far from that of the nephew. The old man called the deer, but they ran away. Then he said to the girls, “You are not mystically pure enough to come near those deer, for they are very subtle.”

The girls spent the night with the old man. His bed had but few skins, and one of the girls asked him, “Why do you not have a better bed?” “Oh, my mother is washing the turkey-feather blanket in the creek,” he declared.

During the night some person came to the door and said, “Old man, you are wanted at the lodge of your nephew.” The old man paid no heed to the summons. He was again summoned by the words, “Come! your nephew wants you.” Then he declared that he supposed that the people had become frightened at something and wanted him to call a council; so he started off. After he had gone the girls said, “Let us go over and see what is happening.” When they arrived at the lodge they heard loud peals of laughter, and so they peeped through crevices in the bark walls; they saw the old man dancing and before the fire a number of mice roasting on spits. As the old man passed them in his dance he would grasp one and eat it hot and burning, and everybody would laugh.

The girls ran back to the lodge of the old man and placed rotten logs full of ants in their bed in order to deceive him into thinking that they were lying there asleep. Then, taking their basket, which still contained some bread, they went outside the lodge to watch. When the old man returned they peered into the lodge to see what he would do. They saw him quietly creep into the bed between the two logs. Soon he began to be bitten by the ants. Thereupon he turned over, saying, “Do not be jealous of your sister”; but as the biting continued, he repeated his injunction. Finally, the ants made it so uncomfortable for him that he sprang out of bed, and then realizing that he had been lying between logs of wood full of ants, he bitterly upbraided his mother, although she knew nothing of the matter.

The girls then went to the lodge of the nephew, who willingly took them for his wives.

It was not long after this that the old man informed the people that they must close up the smoke-holes of their lodges, for a great pestilence was coming among them. So they did this. Then the old man, after sharpening a beech rod, carried it wherever he went. He made a great noise, saying: “Blue beech is coming. Blue beech is coming.” When he arrived at his nephew’s lodge he cast the beech rod down the smoke-hole, and it entered the breast of his nephew and killed him.

The next morning, when the people heard of the death of their chief, everyone began to weep for him. By the death of the nephew [117]the old man became the chief. He said that some one must marry the girl wives of the dead chief; so he called all the young men together, but before they could speak their minds the wily old reprobate exclaimed, “None of you will do.” He had asked each one for an expression of opinion, but would not permit anyone to answer him. Then he closed the conference by saying, “I must marry them myself.” But the girls would not remain and quickly escaped to their own home.

The old man was an owl, but the nephew was an eagle.