Post by Okwes on Apr 9, 2008 17:35:08 GMT -5
Ga?na?'s Adventures Among The Cherokee - Seneca
Ga?na? was a Seneca war chief. He called a council and said, "We must go to
the Cherokee and see if we can't agree to be friendly together and live in
peace hereafter." The people consented, and the chief said, "We must go to
water first before we start." So they went, a great party of warriors, far
away into the deep forest by the river side. There were no women with them.
For ten days they drank medicine every morning to make them vomit and washed
and bathed in the river each day.
Then the chief said, "Now we must get the eagle feathers." They went to the
top of a high hill and dug a trench there the length of a man's body, and
put a man into it, with boughs over the top so that he could not be seen,
and above that they put the whole body of a deer. Then the people went off
out of sight, and said the words to invite Shada?ge'a, the great eagle that
lives in the clouds, to come down.
The man under the brushwood heard a noise, and a common eagle came and ate a
little and flew away again. Soon it came back, ate a little more, and flew
off in another direction. It told the other birds and they came, but the man
seared them away, because he did not want common birds to eat the meat.
After a while he heard a great noise coming through the air, and he knew it
was Shada?ge'a, the bird be wanted. Shada?ge'a is very cautious, and looked
around in every direction for some time before he began to eat the meat. As
soon as he was eating the man put his hand up cautiously and caught hold of
the bird's tail and hold on to it. Shada?ge'a rose up and flew away, and the
man had pulled out one feather. They had to trap a good many eagles in this
way, and it was two years before they could get enough feathers to make a
full tail, and were ready to start for the Cherokee country.
They were many days on the road, and when they got to the first Cherokee
town they found there was a stockade around it so that no enemy could enter.
They waited until the gate was open, and then two Seneca dancers went
forward, carrying the eagle feathers and shouting the signal yell. When the
Cherokee beard the noise they came out and saw the two men singing and
dancing, and the chief said, "These men must have come upon some errand."
The Seneca messengers came up and said, "Call a council; we have come to
talk on important business." All turned and went toward the townhouse, the
rest of the Seneca following the two who were dancing. The townhouse was
crowded, and the Seneca sang and danced until they were tired before they
stopped. The Cherokee did not dance.
After the dance the Seneca chief said, "Now I will tell you why we have come
so far through the forest to see you. We have thought among ourselves that
it is time to stop fighting. Your people and ours are always on the lookout
to kill each other, and we think it is time for this to stop. Here is a belt
of wampum to show that I speak the truth. If your people are willing to be
friendly, take it," and he held up the belt. The Cherokee chief stepped
forward and said, "I will hold it in my hand, and to-morrow we will tell you
what we decide." He then turned and said to the people, "Go home and bring
food." They went and brought so much food that it made a great pile across
the house, and all of both tribes ate together, but could not finish it.
Next day they ate together again, and when all were done the Cherokee chief
said to the 'Seneca, "We have decided to be friendly and to bury our
weapons, these knives and hatchets, so that no man may take them up again."
The Seneca chief replied, "We are glad you have accepted our offer, and now
we have all thrown our weapons in a pile together, and the white wampum
hangs between us, and the belt shall be as long as a man and hang down to
the ground."
Then the Cherokee chief said to his people, "Now is the time for any of you
that wishes to adopt a relative from among the Seneca to do so." So some
Cherokee women went and picked out one man and said, "You shall be our
uncle," and some more took another for their brother, and so on until only
Ga?na?, the chief, was left, but the Cherokee chief said, "No one must take
Ga?na?, for a young man is here to claim him as his father." Then the young
man came up to Ga? na? and said, "Father, I am glad to see you. Father, we
will go home," and he led Ga?na? to his own mother's house, the house where
Ga?na? had spent the first night. The young man was really his son, and when
Ga?na? came to the house he recognized the woman as his wife who had been
carried off long ago by the Cherokee.
While they were there a messenger came from the Seoqgwageono tribe, that
lived near the great salt water in the east, to challenge the Cherokee to a
ball play. He was dressed in skins which were so long that they touched the
ground. He said that his people were already on the way and would arrive in
a certain number of days. They came on the appointed day and the next
morning began to make the bets with the Cherokee. The Seneca were still
there. The strangers bet two very heavy and costly robes, besides other
things. They began to play, and the Cherokee lost the game. Then the Seneca
said, "We will try this time." Both sides bet heavily again, and the game
began, but after a little running the Seneca carried the ball to their goal
and made a point. Before long they made all the points and won the game.
Then the bets were doubled, and the Seneca won again. When they won a third
game also the Seoqgwageono said, "Let us try a race," and the Seneca agreed.
The course was level, and the open space was very wide. The Cherokee
selected the Seneca runner, and it was agreed that they would run the first
race without betting and then make their bets on the second race. They ran
the first race, and when they reached the post the Seneca runner was just
the measure of his body behind the other. His people asked him if he had
done his best, but he said, "No; I have not," so they made their bets, and
the second race--the real race-- began. When they got to the middle the
Seneca runner said to the other, "Do your best now, for I am going to do
mine," and as he said it he pulled out and left the other far behind and won
the race. Then the Seoqgwageono said, "There is one more race yet--the long
race," and they got ready for it, but the Cherokee chief said to his own
men, "We have won everything from these people. I think it will be best to
let them have one race, for if they lose all, they may make trouble." They
selected a Cherokee to run, and he was beaten, and the Seoqgwageono went
home.
In a few days they sent a messenger to challenge the Cherokee to meet them
halfway for a battle. When the Cherokee heard this they said to the Seneca,
"There are so few of you here that we don't want to have you killed. It is
better for you to go home." So the Seneca went back to their own country.
Three years later they came again to visit the Cherokee, who told them that
the Seoqgwageono had won the battle, and that the chief of the enemy had
said afterward, "I should like to fight the Seneca, for I am a double man."
Before long the enemy heard that the Seneca were there and sent them a
challenge to come and fight. The Seneca said, "We must try to satisfy them,"
so with Cherokee guides they set out for the country of the Seoqgwageono.
They went on until they came to an opening in the woods within one day's
journey of the first village. Then they stopped and got ready to send two
messengers to notify the enemy, but the Cherokee said, "You must send them
so as to arrive about sundown." They did this, and when the messengers
arrived near the town they saw all the people out playing ball.
The two Seneca went around on the other side, and began throwing sumac darts
as they approached, so that the others would think they were some of their
own men at play. In this way they got near enough to kill a man who was
standing alone. They scalped him, and then raising the scalp yell they
rushed off through the Woods, saying to each other as they ran, "Be
strong--Be strong." Soon they saw the Seoqgwageono coming on horses, but
managed to reach a dry creek and to bide under the bank, so that the enemy
passed on without seeing them.
The next morning they came out and started on, but the enemy was still on
the watch, and before long the two men saw the dust of the, horses behind
them. The others came up until they were almost upon them and began to shoot
arrows at them, but by this time the two Seneca were near the opening where
their own friends were hiding, drawn up on each side of the pass. As the
pursuers dashed in the two lines of the Seneca closed in and every man of
the Seoqgwageono was either killed or taken.
The Seneca went back to the Cherokee country and after about a month they
returned to their own homes. Afterward the Cherokee told them, "We hear the
Seoqgwageono think you dangerous people. They themselves are conjurers and
can tell what other people are going to do, but they cannot tell what the
Seneca are going to do. The Seneca medicine is stronger."
Arranged from Curtin, Seneca manuscript.
Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney. From the Nineteenth Annual Report of
the Bureau of American Ethnology 1897-98, Part I. [1900] and is now in the
public domain.
Ga?na? was a Seneca war chief. He called a council and said, "We must go to
the Cherokee and see if we can't agree to be friendly together and live in
peace hereafter." The people consented, and the chief said, "We must go to
water first before we start." So they went, a great party of warriors, far
away into the deep forest by the river side. There were no women with them.
For ten days they drank medicine every morning to make them vomit and washed
and bathed in the river each day.
Then the chief said, "Now we must get the eagle feathers." They went to the
top of a high hill and dug a trench there the length of a man's body, and
put a man into it, with boughs over the top so that he could not be seen,
and above that they put the whole body of a deer. Then the people went off
out of sight, and said the words to invite Shada?ge'a, the great eagle that
lives in the clouds, to come down.
The man under the brushwood heard a noise, and a common eagle came and ate a
little and flew away again. Soon it came back, ate a little more, and flew
off in another direction. It told the other birds and they came, but the man
seared them away, because he did not want common birds to eat the meat.
After a while he heard a great noise coming through the air, and he knew it
was Shada?ge'a, the bird be wanted. Shada?ge'a is very cautious, and looked
around in every direction for some time before he began to eat the meat. As
soon as he was eating the man put his hand up cautiously and caught hold of
the bird's tail and hold on to it. Shada?ge'a rose up and flew away, and the
man had pulled out one feather. They had to trap a good many eagles in this
way, and it was two years before they could get enough feathers to make a
full tail, and were ready to start for the Cherokee country.
They were many days on the road, and when they got to the first Cherokee
town they found there was a stockade around it so that no enemy could enter.
They waited until the gate was open, and then two Seneca dancers went
forward, carrying the eagle feathers and shouting the signal yell. When the
Cherokee beard the noise they came out and saw the two men singing and
dancing, and the chief said, "These men must have come upon some errand."
The Seneca messengers came up and said, "Call a council; we have come to
talk on important business." All turned and went toward the townhouse, the
rest of the Seneca following the two who were dancing. The townhouse was
crowded, and the Seneca sang and danced until they were tired before they
stopped. The Cherokee did not dance.
After the dance the Seneca chief said, "Now I will tell you why we have come
so far through the forest to see you. We have thought among ourselves that
it is time to stop fighting. Your people and ours are always on the lookout
to kill each other, and we think it is time for this to stop. Here is a belt
of wampum to show that I speak the truth. If your people are willing to be
friendly, take it," and he held up the belt. The Cherokee chief stepped
forward and said, "I will hold it in my hand, and to-morrow we will tell you
what we decide." He then turned and said to the people, "Go home and bring
food." They went and brought so much food that it made a great pile across
the house, and all of both tribes ate together, but could not finish it.
Next day they ate together again, and when all were done the Cherokee chief
said to the 'Seneca, "We have decided to be friendly and to bury our
weapons, these knives and hatchets, so that no man may take them up again."
The Seneca chief replied, "We are glad you have accepted our offer, and now
we have all thrown our weapons in a pile together, and the white wampum
hangs between us, and the belt shall be as long as a man and hang down to
the ground."
Then the Cherokee chief said to his people, "Now is the time for any of you
that wishes to adopt a relative from among the Seneca to do so." So some
Cherokee women went and picked out one man and said, "You shall be our
uncle," and some more took another for their brother, and so on until only
Ga?na?, the chief, was left, but the Cherokee chief said, "No one must take
Ga?na?, for a young man is here to claim him as his father." Then the young
man came up to Ga? na? and said, "Father, I am glad to see you. Father, we
will go home," and he led Ga?na? to his own mother's house, the house where
Ga?na? had spent the first night. The young man was really his son, and when
Ga?na? came to the house he recognized the woman as his wife who had been
carried off long ago by the Cherokee.
While they were there a messenger came from the Seoqgwageono tribe, that
lived near the great salt water in the east, to challenge the Cherokee to a
ball play. He was dressed in skins which were so long that they touched the
ground. He said that his people were already on the way and would arrive in
a certain number of days. They came on the appointed day and the next
morning began to make the bets with the Cherokee. The Seneca were still
there. The strangers bet two very heavy and costly robes, besides other
things. They began to play, and the Cherokee lost the game. Then the Seneca
said, "We will try this time." Both sides bet heavily again, and the game
began, but after a little running the Seneca carried the ball to their goal
and made a point. Before long they made all the points and won the game.
Then the bets were doubled, and the Seneca won again. When they won a third
game also the Seoqgwageono said, "Let us try a race," and the Seneca agreed.
The course was level, and the open space was very wide. The Cherokee
selected the Seneca runner, and it was agreed that they would run the first
race without betting and then make their bets on the second race. They ran
the first race, and when they reached the post the Seneca runner was just
the measure of his body behind the other. His people asked him if he had
done his best, but he said, "No; I have not," so they made their bets, and
the second race--the real race-- began. When they got to the middle the
Seneca runner said to the other, "Do your best now, for I am going to do
mine," and as he said it he pulled out and left the other far behind and won
the race. Then the Seoqgwageono said, "There is one more race yet--the long
race," and they got ready for it, but the Cherokee chief said to his own
men, "We have won everything from these people. I think it will be best to
let them have one race, for if they lose all, they may make trouble." They
selected a Cherokee to run, and he was beaten, and the Seoqgwageono went
home.
In a few days they sent a messenger to challenge the Cherokee to meet them
halfway for a battle. When the Cherokee heard this they said to the Seneca,
"There are so few of you here that we don't want to have you killed. It is
better for you to go home." So the Seneca went back to their own country.
Three years later they came again to visit the Cherokee, who told them that
the Seoqgwageono had won the battle, and that the chief of the enemy had
said afterward, "I should like to fight the Seneca, for I am a double man."
Before long the enemy heard that the Seneca were there and sent them a
challenge to come and fight. The Seneca said, "We must try to satisfy them,"
so with Cherokee guides they set out for the country of the Seoqgwageono.
They went on until they came to an opening in the woods within one day's
journey of the first village. Then they stopped and got ready to send two
messengers to notify the enemy, but the Cherokee said, "You must send them
so as to arrive about sundown." They did this, and when the messengers
arrived near the town they saw all the people out playing ball.
The two Seneca went around on the other side, and began throwing sumac darts
as they approached, so that the others would think they were some of their
own men at play. In this way they got near enough to kill a man who was
standing alone. They scalped him, and then raising the scalp yell they
rushed off through the Woods, saying to each other as they ran, "Be
strong--Be strong." Soon they saw the Seoqgwageono coming on horses, but
managed to reach a dry creek and to bide under the bank, so that the enemy
passed on without seeing them.
The next morning they came out and started on, but the enemy was still on
the watch, and before long the two men saw the dust of the, horses behind
them. The others came up until they were almost upon them and began to shoot
arrows at them, but by this time the two Seneca were near the opening where
their own friends were hiding, drawn up on each side of the pass. As the
pursuers dashed in the two lines of the Seneca closed in and every man of
the Seoqgwageono was either killed or taken.
The Seneca went back to the Cherokee country and after about a month they
returned to their own homes. Afterward the Cherokee told them, "We hear the
Seoqgwageono think you dangerous people. They themselves are conjurers and
can tell what other people are going to do, but they cannot tell what the
Seneca are going to do. The Seneca medicine is stronger."
Arranged from Curtin, Seneca manuscript.
Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney. From the Nineteenth Annual Report of
the Bureau of American Ethnology 1897-98, Part I. [1900] and is now in the
public domain.