Читать книгу Seneca Fiction, Legends, and Myths - Jeremiah Curtin - Страница 53

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In the long ago there lived seven sisters who were endowed through their orenda with great skill in sorcery. These sisters lived together in a lodge situated on a high mountain. From this advantageous situation they were able to see a long distance in every direction.

One of their chief occupations during berrying time was to gather large quantities of huckleberries for drying and storing. They would carry long baskets on their backs by means of the forehead strap and smaller ones in their hands, for collecting the berries from the plants and bushes. These berries they gathered in the neighboring patches which belonged to them and brought them home to dry in the sun.

Now, it so happened that these seven sisters were misanthropes, and they boasted that they hated men. Each one of them sincerely and frequently said, “I can not bear the odor of a man.” True to their animosity to men, they would not permit one to come near their domicile. They carried this aversion to the presence of men to the extent that they would have no relations whatever with married women, even turning up their noses at them, with the contemptuous remark, “Oh, they smell of men.” So they would not allow either men or women near their huckleberry patch.

Among the young men who heard of these peculiar sisters was one who determined to have a look at them. In order to see them he managed to conceal himself in their huckleberry patch about the time of their coming. When the sisters, therefore, came with their baskets into the berry patch the young man saw the youngest, with whom he immediately fell deeply in love, for she was very beautiful in face and attractive in figure. He then and there decided to approach [155]stealthily the spot where she was picking berries by herself and to speak to her at all hazards. He did not get the opportunity until the next day.

On going again to the spot he had chosen as the best place to meet her, he concealed himself and awaited the coming of the seven sisters to their daily task of gathering berries. By good fortune the youngest sister came directly to the place near which the ardent gallant was concealed, and he lost little time in making his presence known by speaking to her in very low tones lest the other sisters should hear him. The sister addressed, turning around, saw him and at once fell in love with him, for he was a fine-looking young man. He said to her, “I greatly desire to speak to you, but I do not want your sisters to overhear me, for I am afraid of them.” So she stopped picking berries and listened to what he had to say to her. They conversed together for a long time. At last he remarked: “I must go lest your sisters discover me. I will meet you here tomorrow.”

After her lover had gone the youngest sister tried very diligently to fill her basket with huckleberries, but she did not have time to do so before the eldest sister called out, “Come, now, my sisters, our baskets are full, and we must go home.” They started toward their lodge, but missing their youngest sister, called her until she came. She acted shyly, being afraid to go very near them lest they should detect any odor which would let them know that she had been near a man. Then they asked her, “How is it that you have not filled your basket?” To deceive them she feigned illness, but the eldest sister, going near her, exclaimed in disgust: “Oh, pshaw! She emits the odor of a man. Indeed, she has been near a man.” The youngest sister attempted to deny this charge, for she was afraid of her sisters; but they would not believe her. Too well did they know the odor of a man. They were very angry, and they scolded and threatened her; but she was now thinking of the young man, and so did not care what they said or did.

The next day they started out again to gather huckleberries, and the youngest sister went directly to the spot where the young man had promised to meet her. She was more than delighted to see him there awaiting her coming. She sat down with him and they made love to each other. The other sisters, being very busy, forgot to watch her, as they did not expect that anyone would have the temerity to lurk, unwelcome, in their huckleberry patch. Finally she told him how angry her sisters were on the preceding day because her basket was not full, and so they began to pick berries together. When her basket was nearly full, the eldest sister again called out: “Come, sisters! our baskets are full. We must now go home.”

The youngest sister lagged behind as long as possible, and the other sisters waited for her until she came up to them. When she drew [156]near they cried out in bitter anger: “Oh! she smells strong of a man. She can not deny that she has been talking again to a man.” Thereupon they threatened to turn her away and not to let her enter their lodge again. But she begged them not to do so, saying: “What if I do marry? I shall not bring my husband into this lodge, for he will take me away to his own lodge.” But they would not listen to her pleading, their only answer being, “Tomorrow we shall go once more to pick huckleberries, and if you again talk to a man we shall never permit you to come again into our home.”

All that evening and night she sat pensively thinking of her situation and of the young man. She could not bring herself to the point of giving him up. Finally she decided to cast her lot with his people, saying to herself, “Well, they may do as they like, but as for me I shall accept the young man as my husband.” Collecting a small bundle of her belongings, she carefully concealed them outside the lodge, so that in case they would not let her return to the lodge she could get them. During that same evening and night her sisters kept saying: “Oh! what a disgusting smell that is. How can she stand it?” and they made fearful grimaces at the odor.

The next day the seven sisters went again to gather huckleberries. The elder sisters were so incensed at their youngest sister that they paid little attention to her beyond murmuring continually against her reprehensible conduct.

On her part she went directly to the usual place, where she met the young man, who was impatiently waiting for her. After hearing how bitterly opposed his sweetheart’s sisters were to her love-making, he said to her, “If they do not let you go to your home, come to me, and I will be most happy to care for you.”

When the time came for the sisters to go home and they made the usual call, she would not go near them, telling them to go on and that she would make her way home by herself. Then they said: “She has been with that man again. She will indeed bring shame upon us.” At last some of the younger sisters, relenting a little, said: “What shall we do? She is our youngest sister. She is very proud. If we turn her away from home, she will never come back again. We shall then lose her forever”; and they were very sad and disconsolate. But the elder sister, more conservative than they, said, “We must turn her away from us, because if we do not do so, some other sister here will be doing the same thing as she has done.” She was able to bring them, as least outwardly, to her view, and so when the erring one came to the lodge, they said, “You must not come into this lodge any more.”

Deeply grieved, the youngest sister replied, “If you have thus deliberately cast me out from you, I will go away,” and true to her answer, she started away. Weeping bitterly thus to leave her sisters, [157]whom she loved dearly, she walked along, hardly knowing whither she was going. But in her grief she instinctively started back to the young man, who had promised to care for her should her sisters cast her out. Suddenly, while she was thus pensively walking along, she heard the voice of the young man addressing her, saying: “Lo! I followed you near enough to see for myself how your sisters would treat you. Now that they have cast you out, I ask you to come with me to my lodge and be my wife.” Having no other present resource, she accepted his offer and the young man led her home in triumph. Now it so happened that the young man was an only son, and his mother was delighted to learn that he had obtained a fine-looking young wife.

For a time they were undisturbed in their happiness arising from their devotion to each other. But there came an evil day when the young man’s mother began to be jealous of her daughter-in-law, for she felt that the young wife had displaced her in her own son’s affections. She felt this the more keenly because up to the time of his marriage he had been devoted to his mother and had not passed his time in the company of other women and men. Now he was attentive to his wife and tried to grant her every wish, although he did not neglect his mother at all on this account. The young man and his wife were accustomed to go away on hunting trips for several days at a time, and on their return brought much game and meat. But the young man noticed that his mother’s manner had changed toward him and his wife, and this troubled him.

His wife, being a prospective mother, did not accompany him when her term was approaching; but when her husband left he would say to her: “You must be very wary, as I am afraid that my mother may do you harm, for she is very jealous of my love for you. Before knowing you I loved only her; but now I love you, and of course she feels that you have taken her place. I am afraid that she may do you harm, although I do not think that she will attempt to poison you. But you must be kind to her, and do not let her know what I have told you. Be on your guard at all times.”

At last, without telling his mother the reason, he took his wife away with him to the forest, where he built a lodge and remained. Soon a boy was born to them.

After a while the young man, wishing to know whether his mother was in need, went to visit her, carrying a large quantity of game. He was not long absent. He made several such trips to his mother. It was his practice to tell his wife just when she should expect him to return, and he did not fail to keep his promise. At last, however, he did not return. Time passed; his wife anxiously waited for him day after day, but he never returned. She told her son, who had grown to be quite a lad, that his father must be dead or that his mother [158]had made him a captive in such manner that he could not escape to return to them.

Years passed and the boy grew into manhood. In looks and manner he was the exact double of his father. He had become a great hunter and was very fond of killing turkeys.

One evening on his return from hunting he found only the upper half of his mother’s body lying on her bed, while the other half was gone. She told him that while she was bending over a kettle, cooking, two men came into the room and, stealing up behind her, with a single blow cleft her body in two; that they then fled with the lower half, leaving her to die. She had crawled on her hands to her bed.

The youth, who was in terrible grief by reason of his mother’s misfortune, exclaimed: “Oh, mother! you can not live. Oh! you will surely die.” But she consoled him by telling him that she had healed her body and that she could live a long time as she was then; and that, if she could recover by any means the lower half of her body, she could cause the two parts to unite again, so that she would be as well as ever.

Moreover, calling her son to her side, she said to him: “Now you are old enough to know about such things, I will tell you all that you should know. This misfortune has come upon me through the machinations of my sisters, who are six in number. There were seven of us. When I was unmarried wampum beads of great value passed from me. This was true also of my sisters. But when I married your father this ceased, and my sisters were very angry with me. This is the reason why my sisters do not marry, for they are becoming very rich by selling the wampum beads which they obtain in this manner. Since your father went away I again pass wampum beads; and this is the reason that the lower part of my body has been stolen by the two men, who were sent here by my sisters. It now hangs in the lodge of public assembly, so that the wampum beads may be gathered from it. You shall bring back my body to me. I will give you the magic power to do it—the orenda which will enable you to call to your assistance any being or thing that you may need.” Placing her head upon his shoulder and her hand on his head, she continued: “You are my son, and I am one of the Seven Sisters. Whatever you wish to do you will now always be able to do by such aid as you may call on to assist you.”

After this annunciation she thrust her hand into her bosom and drew therefrom a tiny black dog. Giving it to her son, she said: “This little dog shall be a companion to you hereafter. It will aid you.” The youth exclaimed with delight, “Oh, mother! why did you not give me this beautiful little dog long ago?” The boy was [159]delighted with the tiny dog, taking it up and caressing it in an exuberance of joy. When he put the dog down, it leaped around, trying to bark and seeming to be full of life. “Now,” said the mother, “I will show you what you have to do in this matter.” Taking a small wand from her bosom, she gently tapped the dog, accompanying the action with the words, “Grow! my dog. Grow! my dog.” With each blow of the wand the dog increased in size until he became an immense beast. Then she said to the boy: “Get on his back and you will see that he can carry you. You must be very kind to him and never neglect him. He will always fight for and protect you. Should you desire to make him small again, pull his ears and shake him gently, and he will assume any size you may wish, from a great dog to one so small that you can secrete him in your bosom.”

The youth willingly accepted his mother’s commission, saying: “Mother, I shall not wait another day to perfect my preparations. I will go after the lower part of your body at once.” His mother told him that the oil of a wild turkey was the only thing which could make the parts of her body grow together again; that it must come from a gobbler; and that he should prepare this oil before he went after the lower part of her body. She told him further that the oil must be rubbed hot on the raw flesh, and that then the two parts would grow together again, and she would be well. The youth said, “I will kill the turkey gobbler on the way.” But his mother said to him, “Oh, no! The turkey must not be killed until we are ready to use the oil, for it must live until the last minute.”

Then the youth started on his quest for the lower part of his mother’s body. While on the way he encountered a flock of wild turkeys and contrived to take a fine gobbler alive. He fastened it to a tree where it would not be devoured by prowling animals of prey and where he would find it on his return.

When the youth drew near the lodge of public assembly, which was his destination, he heard loud laughing, screaming, and quarreling over wampum beads, which the people were getting from his mother’s body. This made him very angry and determined to accomplish his errand. Having made his dog very large, he said to it, “Remain here until I return”; then he went to the lodge of assembly. On his way there he called on the Chief of the Crows to come to his aid. In a moment the Black Chief was at his side ready for any command. To him the youth said: “Friend, my mother’s body is hanging on a post inside of the lodge and the people are getting wampum beads from it. Now, when the people stoop down to gather the beads I wish you to go in at the smoke-hole, draw up the body out of the lodge, and quickly bring it to me.” The Black Chief replied, “I will do your bidding at once.” Waiting until the [160]people on the inside of the lodge began to scramble and fight for the wampum beads, he swooped down through the smoke-hole, and seizing the part of the body which he sought, he flew out with it to the waiting youth, who sat on the back of the monster dog. With an exclamation of thanks to his friend, the Black Chief of the Crows, the youth parted from him. The huge dog ran homeward with great speed, directing his way to the place where the turkey was fastened to the tree. Having obtained it, the dog soon brought the youth, the part of the mother’s body, and the turkey to the waiting mother, who hardly expected her son back so soon. At once the youth killed the turkey, and taking the oil from it, rubbed it on the severed surface of the lower part of the body.

After treating likewise the surface of the upper part he brought the two parts of her body close together, whereupon they joined of themselves. Then the woman with her hands rubbed the place of juncture. Becoming then entirely whole, she arose and, standing, said, “I am well now, and no one shall come to trouble us again. I am thankful to you.” This prediction proved true, for they two lived in peace and contentment.

The youth became a great hunter, famous for his great successes in the chase. His mother continued to pass wampum beads as in former years, and their lodge was richly ornamented with many strings of wampum, each of which was worth a man’s life and two that of a woman.46 Although the youth was always looking for his father, the latter never returned.