Читать книгу Seneca Fiction, Legends, and Myths - Jeremiah Curtin - Страница 45

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In the olden time an uncle lived in a lodge together with two nephews, the one 2 or 3 and the other 15 or 16 years of age. They dwelt happily in a forest. When the uncle went out to hunt the elder nephew would remain at home and when the elder nephew was out hunting the uncle would not leave the lodge, for the younger nephew was too small to leave alone during the day.

One day the elder nephew said to his uncle: “Mother’s brother, will you kindly kill a turkey gobbler for me? If you will, I will make a robe for my little brother.” “How will you do that?” queried the uncle. “Oh, I shall skin him and make a feather coat for my little brother,” declared the elder nephew.

The next day the indulgent uncle brought home from his hunting a beautiful white wild turkey gobbler and his nephews were delighted to see it. Then the elder nephew skinned the fine bird, leaving the head, legs, wings, and tail attached to the skin. He rubbed and carefully prepared in the usual manner the skin with the feathers in place, and when it had been thoroughly cured and tanned with smoke he placed the turkey-skin robe on his little brother, whom it fitted very well. The boy thrust his feet into the skins of the legs and his arms into the skins of the wings. The skin was a close fit, because the little boy was just the size of a turkey gobbler, and now he looked [128]just like one. The little fellow was able to walk around looking for beechnuts and he could also fly up into trees, so his uncle and elder brother called him “Turkey Brother.”

The uncle and his two nephews lived together until the elder nephew was of an age to be married. Then the uncle said: “Oh, I am tired of cooking and of doing other kinds of woman’s work. I would like to have something prepared by a woman. You, my nephew, are now old enough to marry; so now go off among the people and seek a suitable wife. There is a chief living not far from here who has three excellent daughters, and you can get one of them for the asking.” The nephew, after a moment’s hesitation, replied, “It is well; I am willing to go to seek a wife.”

Now it happened that the Turkey Brother earnestly desired to leave home in quest of a wife, but his elder brother deprecated his desire to go at this time, saying, “Oh, my Turkey Brother, it is better that you remain at home with our uncle, who is now in need of our company—how can we leave him entirely alone?” But the Turkey Brother, unmoved by this plea, answered, “I do not want to stay with my uncle; my wish is to accompany you.” No matter how much the elder brother coaxed or how bitterly he scolded him for his great desire to leave home at this time, the Turkey Brother was determined to go at all cost, so finally he was permitted to leave. The uncle said to him: “Now, my nephew, you must have a suitable outfit of raiment and a fitting stock of weapons, for people must see that you are a great man. I will now bring what I have prepared for you for an occasion of this character.”

Then the uncle brought forth a fine coat or robe of wildcat skins and placed it on his nephew. Stepping back in order to see better how his nephew looked in it, he declared, “That is not good enough.” Then he brought out a beautiful lynx-skin robe and placed it on his nephew’s shoulders. Again stepping back to get a better notion of the set of it, he exclaimed: “This, too, is not befitting the occasion. Oh, I have another, which is just the thing for you.” Thereupon he took from his bark chest of treasures a magnificent panther-skin robe, with the head of the animal formed into a cap or hood. When the wearer of this remarkable robe became excited this head would cry out in anger. In this cap the uncle placed two loon feathers, which sang at all times. This fine robe the uncle put on the shoulders of his nephew and, after critically inspecting him, he exclaimed, “This is befitting and needful, and it will suit the purpose of your journey; now, the people will see you as you are.” To complete the outfit the uncle now brought out a pair of handsome moccasins and a pair of beautiful leggings to match them and an ornamented pouch of a whole fisher’s skin, which, whenever an enemy came near its wearer, snapped at and bit him. In this pouch was a stone pipe, the bowl of [129]which represented a bullfrog and the stem a water snake; when this pipe was smoked the bullfrog would croak and the snake would wriggle and try to swallow the frog. Lastly the uncle gave his nephew a fine bow and a quiver full of arrows, and a war club.

Then, addressing his nephew, the uncle said: “Now, my nephew, go directly toward the west. It is six years’ journey to the country whither you are going. For a long distance from here on all sides the people have been carried off, and we are the sole survivors of our tribe; this is the reason you must go so far to obtain a wife. There is a dangerous spring halfway between here and your destination; it is close to the path, but you must not under any circumstances stop there or touch the water. Farther on, about midway between the spring and the chief’s lodge, dwells an old man, a great sorcerer and robber. You must not pay any attention to him. Do not on any account stop with him or listen to him.”

The two brothers started on their long journey at sunrise. By midday they had reached the spring, although it was distant three years’ ordinary traveling. As soon as the elder brother saw the spring he became very thirsty and strongly desired to drink of the water, but the Turkey Brother exclaimed, “Our uncle warned us not to touch this spring, for it is dangerous to do so.” As they were passing on, the elder brother, looking again at the spring, became so thirsty that he went back to drink from it. Lying on his hands and face, he started to drink, when something caught him by the hair and pulled him into the water. Gripping the creature, he succeeded after a long struggle in drawing it upon the bank. It was a strange creature covered with hair and resembling a man in form and size. As it lay on the bank it gasped and piteously begged to be returned to the water, saying, “Oh, grandson, throw me back into the water!” “Oh, no! You must remain where you are,” he sullenly replied. He stooped the second time to drink, when another creature seized him, but this also he pulled out of the water. It, too, gasped, “Oh, grandson, throw me back into the water!” Without making a reply he stooped a third time to drink and was then undisturbed. The water was very sweet and wholesome. When he had drunk his fill he killed the two creatures. Then with the Turkey Brother’s help he collected a great pile of dry wood on which they placed the two creatures and soon burned them to ashes. Thereupon they continued their journey.

In the middle of the afternoon they came to a place where there were many tall trees. There they saw a poor-looking old man, who kept running around in great haste, shouting: “Oh, grandson, shoot it! Look here! Such a fine raccoon! Oh, shoot it for me! Just one arrow you need spare me.” He begged so urgently that the elder [130]brother shot an arrow at the raccoon, which struck its body. The raccoon ran into a hole in the tree, as the elder brother thought. The old man shouted: “Oh, you must get your arrow! We must find the raccoon; you must take off your garments, lest you should spoil them. You need not be afraid. I shall not touch them, for I shall go up the tree, too.” So the young man removed his robe, leggings, moccasins, and pouch and laid them at the foot of the tree, which he climbed, the old man following him closely. When they reached the hole in the tree the young man peered into it, and, thinking he saw right at hand the arrow sticking in the raccoon, he reached to pull it out; but the old man pushed him into the hole in the tree, and down he went through the hollow in the trunk to the bottom. There was there no raccoon, only an illusion.

Now, the old man, quickly descending to the ground, donned the panther-skin robe, the leggings, and the moccasins, and he also took the pouch with the pipe. At once he began to grow younger in looks; he felt younger, too, and the cap began to roar. Taking the bow and arrows, he started off westward toward the lodge of the chief.

The poor Turkey Brother began to weep and to scream for his lost brother whose clothes were stolen. He flew upon a tree and sat there weeping.

On recovering his senses the elder brother thought: “Now I am certainly in trouble. My dear uncle warned me not to listen to this old man. How can I ever get out of this place? There is no way of climbing out of this den, for the opening is smooth on every side.” Under his feet he felt the bones of other unfortunate people who had been thrown in there before by the wicked old man, and he smelt the odor from them. He remained all night in the hollow of the tree. Toward morning he remembered that in his boyhood he had had a dream, in which a large spider appeared to him, saying, “When you get into trouble I will help you.” He therefore cried out, “Oh, great Spider, come to me and help me now!” At that moment a great Spider began to make a web in the tree, and soon it had made a large ladder woven of thick strands. “Now climb,” said the great Spider. But the young man had not gone up more than halfway when the web ladder broke. “Oh,” said he to the great Spider, “you are not able to help me at this time.”

Then he remembered that he had had another dream, in which an enormous blacksnake had appeared to him and had promised to help him whenever he was in trouble. Therefore he cried out, “Oh! Blacksnake, come to me and help me now.” Straightway there came a great Blacksnake on the tree, which slipped its tail down into the hollow in the trunk until the young man was able to seize it; then [131]the snake coiled itself up, bringing the young man to the top in safety; thereupon the great Blacksnake disappeared.

The Turkey Brother greatly rejoiced to see his brother and, flying to the ground, said: “What can we do? Must we not go home to our uncle now?” “Oh, no!” said the elder brother; “we must go on. I will put on the old man’s clothes.” So he arrayed himself in the old man’s worn-out garments—his shabby robe, stiff leggings, old moccasins, and filthy headdress. He now looked like the old man, having a weak voice and a terrifying cough.

Meanwhile the old man felt grand in the stolen panther-skin robe, for he had arrived at the chief’s village early in the evening. In front of the chief’s lodge was a broad river. The chief appeared to him on the opposite side, and the old man shouted across to him to be ferried over. The chief’s eldest daughter rowed across in a canoe and, seeing the fine-looking man wearing the panther-skin robe and moving around with a haughty bearing, asked him, “Who are you and whither are you going?” The old man coolly replied: “I come from the east, and I am going to the lodge across the river. The truth of the matter is, I am looking for a wife, and I hear that the chief has three marriageable daughters.” “Well, I am one of his daughters,” replied the young woman. Then the old thief answered, “Oh! I think that you would suit me very well.” “Then you are my husband, and we will live together,” rejoined the young woman. She brought him to her father’s lodge and showed him her couch, which was beautifully adorned with fine furs and skins, saying, “This is your place for repose.” He sat there quietly until his wife came to him.

The next evening the elder brother and the Turkey Brother appeared on the opposite side of the river. The former attempted to shout, but his voice was so weak and thin that for a long time he could not make himself heard. At last, some one outside of the lodge said, “There are a man and a turkey on the other side of the river, who are trying to cross.” The youngest daughter of the chief went over and asked the man, who was old in appearance, whence he came and who he was. “I came from the east,” he replied, “and I am on my way to the chief’s lodge. I want to get married, and so I am looking for a wife.” “Looking for a wife? Why, you are too old to marry,” replied the chief’s daughter. “I am not old; I am quite young. Perhaps I look old, but here is my brother who is a little boy yet.” “You come from the east, you say; do you come from beyond the sorcerer’s spring?” she asked. “I am from beyond that spring,” he replied. “Did you pass the spring?” she persisted. “Yes, I did; and I cleared it of its monstrous denizens,” declared the elder brother. “Did you come past the little old man who [132]runs around the tree?” was her next question. “Yes; and that is why I look as old as I do. He craftily stole my enchanted outfit—my garments and dress,” declared the elder brother. In her own mind the young woman thought that this was the man for whom they were waiting, so she resolved to marry him. Saying to him, “You may come along with me,” she ferried him with his brother across the river and took him to the lodge of her father, where she showed him to her couch, which was also beautifully adorned with skins and fine furs. She told him, “This is your place of rest.” Above it was a smaller bed, and she added, “Your brother can have that couch,” and they placed the Turkey Brother up there.

That night the old thief opened the fisher-skin pouch to take out the pipe, but the fisher bit his finger and it was with the greatest difficulty that he released his finger from its mouth.

After the youngest daughter brought her husband home there was great dissatisfaction in the lodge because of her seemingly poor choice of a husband. They tried to get the aged chief to dissuade her from living with her husband, but with a knowing look he would say, “Oh! she knows what she is doing; so let her alone.”

For a number of days these families lived without any unusual incident. Then the husband of the youngest daughter informed her that he was ill with severe pains in the stomach, and that she must get from her father his best wampum bowl, because he, the sick man, desired to disgorge into it. Hurrying away, she brought the bowl. Her husband cast up enough beautiful black wampum to fill it completely. Then he bade her, “Take this to your father and give it to him for me.” In receiving it, the chief remarked: “Oh! thanks. I knew that he is a great man, for he came from a good country. He is the greatest man of whom I have ever heard. This is a beautiful present.”36

When the eldest daughter’s husband heard of this he said to his wife, “Run to your father and get his wampum bowl. I too desire to use it.” When she had brought it, he filled it in a similar manner, but only with half-decayed lizards and worms and all manner of foul things of an intolerably offensive odor. He then bade her to take it to her father as a present from him. She did so, but her father was very angry, saying: “How dare you bring that vile stuff to me. Run to the creek with it, and thoroughly wash and scrape the bowl; wash it many times over. But never do this again.”

A few days later the husband of the youngest daughter said again, “Go to your father and get that wampum bowl again.” This time he filled the bowl heaping full with beautiful white wampum. He then said, “Take this to your father as a present from me.” She ran with it to her father, and the old chief was delighted with it, [133]saying: “Oh! he is a man. I thought that there was something great in him, for he comes of a powerful family of a great tribe in a good country.”

When the husband of the eldest daughter heard of this present of white wampum he again sent for the wampum bowl and used it with such result that his devoted wife did not dare go with it to her father, but went quickly to the creek, where she spent an entire day in thoroughly cleansing it.

At this time a Wildcat and a Fox came to visit the husband of the youngest daughter of the chief, for they were his friends. As they walked around, the Wildcat would rub against his legs and purr, and talk to him. It was not long before the Fox saw the Turkey Brother sitting on his couch over the bed, and said to the Wildcat, “That is a fine gobbler up there. Can you get him for us?” The next night the Wildcat, as the Turkey Brother’s bed was near the fire, crawled down the smoke-hole to a point from which it could reach him. But the Turkey Brother, sitting with his eyes open, saw the Wildcat, and, waiting until it got within reach, struck it on the head with a club which he kept and tumbled it into the fire, in which the Wildcat rolled about a number of times, with the result that it got a singed coat. It got out of the fire and began to cry, “Oh! I have fits.” “You can not have fits here,” cried the eldest sister, jumping out of her bed and kicking it out of doors. “That is not a turkey,” said the Wildcat to the Fox, “it is a wizard.”

At this time the youngest daughter of the chief said to her husband, “Why do you not take your enchanted articles of dress from that old thief?” Her husband replied: “I shall do so when the proper time comes. But in the meantime, will you ask your father for his bow and arrows, for I much wish to go on a hunting trip?” So she went to her father with her husband’s request, and her father willingly gave his permission for the use of his bow and arrows, saying, “Yes; he shall have them if he needs them,” and his daughter carried them back to her husband.

The next day her husband went on a hunting expedition, and he had the good fortune to kill a large number of deer; more, in fact, than had ever been killed before in that place. He called the Wildcat and the Fox and said to them, “I give you one deer from this pile.” So they gladly dragged the deer away and ate it. After the game was brought to the chief’s lodge it was distributed among the people, and all had an equal share. No one was left without venison, and every one wondered at the prowess of the hunter.

Then the old chief notified the people that there would be a great council on the following day at the lodge of public assembly. Everyone else was up at the break of day, but the eldest daughter of the chief and her husband slept soundly. While they were asleep the [134]husband of the chief’s youngest daughter took from the old thief the panther-skin robe, the moccasins, the leggings, and the pouch of fisher skin which had been stolen from him by craft. Having recovered his own garments and accouterments, he now donned them to attend the council.

There remained in the chief’s lodge only the old woman, the servants, and the sleeping couple. Finally the old woman, the chief’s wife, went to the couch of the sleepers, and said, “Come! come! you two, arise,” at the same time shaking her daughter. Then looking more closely at her sleeping son-in-law she started back in utter disgust, with the exclamation, “That is a nice-looking husband you have in your arms!” When the covers were removed the true character of the man appeared. With the loss of the stolen enchanted garments he had immediately become old and shrunken, with the face of an owl. The unhappy woman awoke, and, looking at her husband, she was surprised to see what an ugly creature had been sleeping with her. So without any compunction she dragged him out of bed and pushed him with his own soiled garments out of the lodge, saying, “I shall never again have you for a husband.” The wily old owl at once disappeared and was never seen in that place again.

When the husband of the chief’s youngest daughter came into the lodge he looked strong, young, and vigorous. The panther’s head on his robe cried out, the loon’s feathers sang. Opening his pouch and taking out the pipe, he lighted it and smoked; the bullfrog croaked, the blacksnake wriggled and tried to swallow the bullfrog. All the people looked on in wonder, and they said, “We have never before seen a man with orenda so powerful.” Then this magically potent son-in-law said to his father-in-law, “I must now go home to my uncle in the far east.” “We shall go, too,” replied the aged chief, and all the people shouted assent. They were soon ready to follow. The young husband replied: “It is well. My brother and I will go on ahead to prepare for you. You are welcome.”

Then, calling his Turkey Brother, he said to him, “Now, my dear brother, I think that you may take off your turkey-skin robe and put on garments such as other boys wear.” His brother had grown to be a large boy, for he was nearing the age of puberty. So he removed his turkey-skin robe and put on his new style of garments, in which he looked well.

The two brothers then started, and they reached home in one day. But the old chief and his people were six years on the way. They could not travel with the speed of men possessed of powerful orenda. They were welcomed with joy on their arrival in the country of [135]the chief’s potent son-in-law, and the old chief and his people thereafter lived there in comfort and peace.