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myths and folk tales
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Title: Seneca myths and folk tales
Author: Arthur C. Parker
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SENECA MYTHS
AND FOLK TALES ***
BUFFALO
Historical Society
PUBLICATIONS
VOLUME TWENTY-SEVEN
Edited by Frank H. Severance
THE ATMOSPHERE IN WHICH LEGENDS
WERE TOLD.
From a Painting Showing the Interior of a
Bark Long house, by Richard J. Tucker.
SENECA MYTHS AND FOLK
TALES
BY
ARTHUR C. PARKER, M.S.
Archæologist, New York State Museum
Life Member, The Buffalo Historical Society
BUFFALO, NEW YORK:
Published by the
BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1923
THE TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY
PRINTERS AND BINDERS
MEADVILLE, PA.
TO
FRANK H. SEVERANCE, L.H.D., LL.D.
Secretary, The Buffalo Historical Society
President, The New York State Historical Association
WHOSE NUMEROUS ESSAYS AND HISTORICAL WRITINGS
HAVE BEEN A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION AND
ENLIGHTENMENT, AND WHOSE INTEREST IN THE SENECA
INDIANS AND THEIR HISTORY HAS NEVER WANED, THIS
VOLUME OF
SENECA FOLK TALES
IS DEDICATED IN TESTIMONY OF THE AUTHOR’S SINCERE
ADMIRATION AND ESTEEM.
SENECA MYTHS AND FOLK
TALES
FOREWORD
The author of this collection of Seneca folk-tales cannot remember
when he first began to hear the wonder stories of the ancient days.
His earliest recollections are of hearing the wise old men relate these
tales of the mysterious past. They were called Kă´kāā, or Gă´kāā, and
when this word was uttered, as a signal that the marvels of old were
about to be unfolded, all the children grew silent,—and listened. In
those days, back on the Cattaraugus reservation, it was a part of a
child’s initial training to learn why the bear lost its tail, why the
chipmunk has a striped back and why meteors flash in the sky.
Many years later,—it was in 1903,—the writer of this manuscript
returned to the Cattaraugus reservation bringing with him his friend
Mr. Raymond Harrington, for the purpose of making an
archæological survey of the Cattaraugus valley for the Peabody
Museum of Archæology, of Harvard University. Our base camp was
on the old Silverheels farm, which occupies the site of one of the
early Seneca villages of the period after the Erie war of 1654. Here
also is the site of the original Lower Cattaraugus of pre-
Revolutionary days.
To our camp came many Indian friends who sought to instruct Mr.
Harrington and myself in the lore of the ancients. We were regaled
with stories of the false faces, of the whirl-winds, of the creation of
man, of the death panther, and of the legends of the great bear, but
in particular we were blessed with an ample store of tales of vampire
skeletons, of witches and of folk-beasts, all of whom had a special
appetite for young men who dug in the ground for the buried relics of
the “old-time folks.”
To us came Tahadondeh (whom the Christian people called George
Jimerson), Bill Snyder, Gahweh Seneca, a lame man from
Tonawanda, Frank Pierce and several others versed in folk-lore. I
filled my note-books with sketches and outlines of folk-fiction, and
after our return to New York, I began to transcribe some of the
stories.
The following winter was spent on the reservation among the non-
Christian element in a serious attempt to record folk tales,
ceremonial prayers, rituals, songs and customs. A large amount of
information and many stories were collected. Some of this material
was published by the State Museum, the rest perished in the Capitol
fire at Albany, in 1911.
Later I was able to go over my original notes with Edward
Cornplanter, the local authority on Seneca religion, rites and folk-
ways, and to write out the material here presented. Cornplanter’s son
Jesse assisted by way of making drawings under his father’s
direction. I also had the help of Skidmore Lay, Ward B. Snow, Delos
B. Kittle, Mrs. John Kittle, James Crow and others. My informants
from the lower reservation, the Christian district, were Aurelia Jones
Miller, Fred Kennedy, George D. Jimerson, Julia Crouse, Moses
Shongo, Mrs. Moses Shongo, David George, William Parker, Job
King, and Chester C. Lay; and Laura Doctor and Otto Parker of the
Tonawanda Reservation.
In the preparation of these versions of old Seneca tales the writer
used no other texts for comparative purposes. It was thought best to
rest content with the version given by the Indian informant, and to
wait until a time of greater leisure came before attempting to
annotate the collection. Leisure has never seemed to be the privilege
of the writer, and one busy year has crowded upon another, until
eighteen have passed since the tales were written down. It may be
best, after all, to present the text just as it was prepared, and merely
correct the spelling of a name or two. It was not until after this text
was in the hands of the Buffalo Historical Society that the Curtin-
Hewitt collection of Seneca folk tales appeared, and though
differences will be found between our texts and those of Curtin, it
must be remembered that variations are bound to occur. All versions
of folk tales recorded by different individuals at different or even
identical times will vary in certain particulars, as is explained
hereinafter.
In the preparation of this volume the writer wishes to record his
indebtedness to Mr. George Kelley Staples, Senator Henry W. Hill,
Mr. George L. Tucker and Dr. Frank H. Severance, all members of
the Buffalo Historical Society, for the advice and encouragement
given.
Arthur C. Parker.
Buffalo Consistory,
A. A. S. R.
Nov. 26, 1922.
CONTENTS
Page
Foreword ix
Introduction xvii
I. FUNDAMENTAL FACTORS IN SENECA FOLK LORE 1
Basic Premises 3
Gods, Major Spirits and Folk-Beasts 5
Nature Beings 10
Magic Beasts and Birds 16
Magical Man-like Beings 18
II. THEMES AND MATERIALS 23
Stereotyped Objects and Incidents 27
Components of the Cosmological Myth 33
III. THE ATMOSPHERE IN WHICH THE LEGENDS WERE TOLD 37
IV. WHEN THE WORLD WAS NEW 57
1. How the World Began 59
2. The Brothers who Climbed into the Sky 74
3. The Death Panther 78
4. The Great Bear Constellation 81
5. The Seven Brothers of the Star Cluster 83
6. The Seven Star Dancers 86
7. The Coming of Spring 88
8. The Coming of Death 92
V. BOYS WHO DEFIED MAGIC AND OVERCAME IT 95
9. Origin of Folk Stories 97
10. The Forbidden Arrow and the Quilt of Men’s Eyes 101
11. Corn Grinder, the Grandson 108
12. He-Goes-to-Listen 116
13. Hatondas, the Listener, Finds a Wife 122
14. The Origin of the Chestnut Tree 128
15. Divided Body Rescues a Girl 133
16. The Origin of the Buffalo Society 137
17. The Boy who could not Understand 142
18. The Boy who Lived with the Bears 147
19. The Seventh Son 154
20. The Boy who Overcame all Magic by Laughter 159
VI. TALES OF LOVE AND MARRIAGE 171
21. Two Feathers and Turkey Brother 173
22. Two Feathers and Woodchuck Leggings 184
23. Turkey Boy Squeezed the Hearts of Sorcerers 200
24. Corn Rains into Empty Barrels 205
25. Twentgowa and the Mischief Maker 208
26. The Horned Serpent Runs Away with a Girl 218
27. The Great Serpent and the Young Wife 223
28. Bushy Head the Bewitched Warrior 228
29. The Flint Chip Thrower 235
VII. HORROR TALES OF CANNIBALS AND SORCERERS: 239
30. The Duel of the Dream Test 241
31. The Vampire Sirens 253
32. Younger Brother Eludes His Sister-in-Law 262
33. The Island of the Cannibal 269
34. The Twelve Brothers and the Wraith 278
35. The Cannibal and His Nephew 284
36. A Youth’s Double Abuses His Sister 290
37. Murdered Double Speaks Through Fire 293
38. The Vampire Corpse 298
VIII. TALES OF TALKING ANIMALS: 301
39. The Man who Exhaled Fire 303
40. The Turtle’s War Party 305
41. The Race of the Turtle and the Beaver 309
42. The Wolf and the Raccoon 312
43. The Chipmunk’s Stripes 314
44. The Rabbit Song 315
45. The Rabbit Gambler 317
46. The Raccoon and the Crabs 319
47. The Crab’s Eyes 321
48. How the Squirrel Gave a Blanket, etc. 322
49. The Chickadee’s Song 325
50. The Bird Woman 326
51. The Partridge’s Song 328
IX. TALES OF GIANTS, PYGMIES AND MONSTER BEARS: 329
52. A Tale of the Djogeon or Pygmies 331
53. Beyond-the-Rapids and the Stone Giant 334
54. The Animated Finger 337
55. The Stone Giant’s Battle 340
56. The Boy and the False Face 342
57. How a Boy Outwitted a Nia’´gwahe 344
58. Nia’´gwahe, the Mammoth Bear 349
59. The Boy and the Nia’´gwahe 358
X. TRADITIONS: 363
Seneca Belief in Witchcraft 365
60. Contents of a Charm Holder’s Bundle 368
61. Contents of a Witch Bundle 369
62. Overcoming a Witch 370
63. The Scorned Witch Woman 372
64. Catching a Witch Bundle 376
65. Witch with a Dog Transformation 378
66. Witch Steals Children’s Hearts 380
67. Hotciwaho (Hammer in His Belt) 382
68. How America was Discovered 383
69. Origin of the Charm Holder’s Medicine Society 386
70. Origin of the False Face Company 394
71. Origin of the Long House 403
72. Dead Timber, a Tradition of Albany 407
XI. APPENDIX: 409
A. Origin of the World 411
B. The Wyandot Creation Myth 417
C. An Interview with “Esq.” Johnson by Mrs. Asher Wright 421
D. Emblematic Trees in Iroquoian Mythology 431
E. The Society that Guards the Mystic Potence 445
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES:
The Atmosphere in which Legends were Told.—From painting
by R. J. Tucker Front.
Edward Cornplanter—Sosondowa Op. p. 4
Delos Big Kittle—Sainowa 〃 〃 58
The Seven Dancing Brothers—From painting by R. J. Tucker 〃 〃 82
Mrs. John Big Kittle.—Photo by E. C. Winnegar 〃 〃 172
Hadui Mask of the False Face Company 〃〃
240
Emily Tallchief.—Photo by E. C. Winnegar 〃 〃 364
DRAWINGS BY JESSE CORNPLANTER:
The Thunder Serpent 7
The Spirit of Dionhekon 11
The Flying Head of the Wind 13
The Spirit of the Frost 14
The Snow Snake Game 39
A Bark Communal House 47
The Bear Dance 151
The Horned Serpent Op. p.
218
Magic Whistle 255
Figure of Dancing Warrior 273
Restoration of Red Hand 386
ILLUSTRATING EMBLEMATIC TREES:
Pictograph of the Sky-Dome 432
A False Face Leader 435
Symbolism of Legging Strips 437
Sky-Dome Symbols 438
Embroidered Borders 441
Embroidered Pouch: Seneca Work before 1850 Op. p.
442
Forms of the Celestial Tree 443
“Big Tree in Middle of the Earth” 444
Arrangement of the Little Water Lodge 451
Bibliography 459
Index 461
INTRODUCTION
In presenting this collection of Seneca myths and legends, the collator feels
that he should explain to the general reader that he does not offer a series of
tales that can be judged by present day literary standards. These Indian stories
are not published for the mere entertainment of general readers, though there
is much that is entertaining in them, neither are they designed as children’s
fables, or for supplementary reading in schools, though it is true that some of
the material may be suited for the child mind. It must be understood that if
readings from this book are to be made for children, a wise selection must be
made.
This collection is presented as an exposition of the unwritten literature of the
Seneca Indians who still live in their ancestral domain in western New York. It
is primarily a collection of folk-lore and is to be looked at in no other light. The
professional anthropologist and historian will not need to be reminded of this.
He will study these tales for their ethnological significance, and use them in
making comparisons with similar collections from other tribes and stocks. In
this manner he will determine the similarities or differences in theme, in
episode and character. He will trace myth diffusion thereby and be able to chart
the elements of the Seneca story.
There is an amazing lack of authentic material on Iroquois folk-lore, though
much that arrogates this name to itself has been written. The writers, however,
have in general so glossed the native themes with poetic and literary
interpretations that the material has shrunken in value and can scarcely be
considered without many reservations.
We do not pretend to have made a complete collection of all available
material, but we have given a fairly representative series of myths, legends,
fiction and traditions. One may examine this collection and find representative
types of nearly every class of Seneca folk-lore. Multiplication is scarcely
necessary.
The value of this collection is not a literary one but a scientific one. It reveals
the type of tale that held the interest and attention of the Seneca; it reveals
certain mental traits and tendencies; it reveals many customs and incidents in
native life, and finally, it serves as an index of native psychology.
The enlightened mind will not be arrogant in its judgment of this material,
but will see in it the attempts of a race still in mental childhood to give play to
imagination and to explain by symbols what it otherwise could not express.
While there is much value in this collection explaining indirectly the folk-
ways and the folk-thought of the Seneca and their allied kinsmen, the whole life
of the people may not be judged from these legends. Much more must be
presented before such a judgment is formed. Just as we gain some knowledge
of present day religions, governmental methods, social organization and
political economy from the general literature of the day, but only a portion, and
this unsystematized, so do we catch only a glimpse of the life story of the
Seneca from their folk-tales.
To complete our knowledge we must have before us works on Seneca history,
ethnology, archæology, religion, government and language. Finally, we must
personally know the descendents of the mighty Seneca nation of old. We must
enter into the life of the people in a sympathetic way, for only then can we get
at the soul of the race.
While all this is true, these folk-tales are not to be despised, for they conserve
many references to themes and things that otherwise would be forgotten. Folk-
lore is one of the most important mines of information that the ethnologist and
historian may tap. We can never understand a race until we understand what it
is thinking about, and we can never know this until we know its literature,
written or unwritten. The folk-tale therefore has a special value and
significance, if honestly recorded.
METHODS EMPLOYED IN RECORDING FOLK
TALES.
There are several methods which may be employed in recording folk-lore,
and the method used depends largely upon the purpose in mind. A poet may
use one method, and grasping the plot of a tale, recast it in a verbiage entirely
unsuitable and foreign to it; a fiction writer may use another plan, a school boy
another, a student of philology another, a missionary another, and finally a
student of folk lore still another.
The poet will see only the inherent beauty of the story, and perhaps failing to
find any beauty, will invent it and produce a tale that no Indian would ever
recognize. Plot and detail will be changed, fine flowery language will be used,
and perhaps the whole given the swing and meter of blank verse. This is all very
well for the poet, but he has buried the personality of the folk-tale, albeit in
petals of roses,—instead of allowing it nakedly to appear the living thing it is.
The fiction writer will take the original Indian tale and tear it apart with keen
eyed professional discrimination. He will recast the plot, expand here and
there, explain here and prune down there. He will invent names and new
situations to make the story “go,” then, as a rule, he sells it to a magazine or
makes a collection of tales for “a supplementary reader for children.” But are
these Indian tales?
The amateur, finding good material in the Indian story will do as the fiction
writer does, but he will work in foreign allusions and inconsistent elements and
in other ways betray his unfamiliarity with his material. Like the fiction writer
he is primarily after a story that he can dress as he pleases.
The sectarian enthusiast, recording folk-lore, will frequently seek to show the
absurdity of the Indian tale, and point out the foolishness of peoples who are
unacquainted with biblical teachings, but it is fortunate that all missionaries
have not done this. Many have recorded folk-tales with great
conscientiousness, and some of our best sources are from the notes of well
informed missionaries.
The philologist will seek to make literal transcripts of every Indian word in
painstaking phonetic spelling, and then secure an analytical interlinear
translation. This is an accurate but awkward way of securing the tale, for
readers who are accustomed to reading only straight English. It makes it a most
tedious and laborious thing to read, and totally deprives the text of all literary
life.
The student of folk lore starts in with a purpose. This is to secure the tale in
such a manner, that without unnecessarily colored verbiage, it may be
consistently dressed, and set forth in fluent English (or other modern
language) in such a manner that it may be understood by an ordinary reader.
The folk-lore student has still another motive and purpose, which is to so
present his legend that it will awaken in the mind of his reader sensations
similar to those aroused in the mind of the Indian auditor hearing it from the
native raconteur. The recorder of the tale seeks to assimilate its characteristics,
to become imbued with its spirit, to understand its details, to follow its
language,—its sentences,—one by one, as they follow in sequence, and then he
seeks to present it consistently. He adds nothing not in the original,—despite
the temptation to improve the plot,—he presents the same arrangement as in
the original, he uses similar idioms and exclamations, similar introductory
words and phrases, and presents an honestly constructed free translation. This
is far from an easy thing to do, for it frequently lays the recorder open to the
charge of being a clumsy story teller. The temptation is ever present to tell a
good story, and let the legend become the skeleton over which the words are
woven. Needless to say, this is not an honest thing to do, and the folk-lore
student resists this temptation, and gives his product a genuine presentation,
regardless of what literary critics may think. He strives only to be the medium
by which a native tale is transformed from its original language to that of
another tongue. The thought, the form and the sequence of the story he insists
must remain exactly as it was, though the verbal dress is European and not
Indian.[1]
Perhaps actual illustrations of these methods will serve to convey the thought
we are attempting to explain. Examples follow:
TEXT IN SENECA WITH INTERLINEAR
TRANSLATION.
Ne’´ gwā´, gi’´on‘, hadi´noñge’ ne‘´ sgäoñ‘iādĭ‘´ ne‘´
There it seems they dwell the other side the
it is said of the sky
hĕñ´noñgwe‘. Da´, s‘hă’degano´ndāĕn‘ ne’´ho‘ ni‘honon‘sō´t
they (M) man So just in the center there just his
beings of the village lodge stands
ne‘´ hă‘sĕñnowā´nĕn‘, ne’´ho‘ hādjwadä ne’´ ne´io’
´iĕn’,
the he Chief there his family the his
(great name) lies wife
ne’´ kho‘´ ne‘´ sgā´t hodiksă’dā ie´on‘ ne‘´ ieksă’´ă‘.
´iĕn’,
that and the one they child she
have
(it is) female the child.
is
Waādiĕñgwă‘´s‘hoñ‘ o´nĕn‘ ho’ wă‘´săwĕn’ ne‘´ hăgweñdä’´s.
He was surprised now it that he became lonesome.
O´nĕn‘ dĭ´q we´so’ ho’nĕñ´iathĕñ‘ ne‘´ Hagĕn´tcĭ; ne’´
Now moreover much his bones are dry the He Ancient that
(he is very lean) One
gai t‘hĕn’´ĕn‘ deo’nigoñ‘´īiō‘ he‘´ odiksă’dā´iĕn’āiĕñ’´
´ioñnĭ
it not (it is) his mind happy because they child one would
causes
is have think
nĕ’´ noñ‘´ heniio’´dĕn‘ ne‘´ ne‘´ hosheie
´on.
that perhaps so it is in that the he is
jealous.
state
LITERAL TRANSLATION.
There were, it seems, so it is said, man-beings dwelling on the other side of
the sky. So just in the center of their village the lodge of the chief stood,
wherein lived his family, consisting of his wife and one child, that they two had.
He was surprised that then he began to become lonesome. Now furthermore,
he the Ancient was very lean, his bones having become dried, and the cause of
this condition was that they two had the child, and one would think, judging
from the circumstances that he was jealous.
Such is the beginning of the Seneca version of Iroquoian cosmology as given
by J. N. B. Hewitt in the 21st Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. This faithful
record of a native text and its translation is literally a most painstaking work
involving the closest attention to the minor sounds in the language, in order
that each word may be phonetically recorded. To wade through this literal
translation from the beginning to the end of the myth would be too tedious for
anyone but an enthusiastic student of native tongues. To the majority of
readers it would be a forbidding task. Even to follow the involved language and
grammatical forms of the close literal translation would tire the mind of anyone
whose mother tongue was not that of the text.
A free translation, therefore becomes a prime necessity, but this must not
disturb the original thought. Just how to make such a translation honestly
becomes a problem beset with difficulty. Our plan is to smooth out the
language, divest it of its awkward arrangement, and allow the thought to flow
on. Let us attempt this in the following:
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