Post by Okwes on Sept 21, 2007 0:54:34 GMT -5
Escape Of The Seneca Boys - Cherokee
Some Seneca warriors were hunting in the woods, and one morning, on starting
out for the day, they left two boys behind to take care of the camp. Soon
after they had gone, a war party of Cherokee came up, and finding the boys
alone took them both and started back to the south, traveling at such a rate
that when the hunters returned in the evening they decided that it was. of
no use to follow them. When the Cherokee reached their own country they gave
the boys to an old man, whose sons had been killed by the Seneca. He took
the boys and adopted them for his own, and they grew up with him until they
were large and strong enough to go hunting for themselves.
But all the time they remembered their own home, and one day the older one
said to his brother, "Let's kill the old man and run away." "No," said the
other, "we might get lost if we ran away, we are so far from home." "I
remember the way," said his brother, so they made a plan to escape. A few
days later the old man took the boys with him and , the three set out
together for a hunt in the mountains. When they were well away from the
settlement the boys killed the old man, took all the meat and parched corn
meal they could easily carry, and started to make their way back to the
north, keeping away from the main trail and following the ridge of the
mountains. After many days they came to the end of the mountains and found a
trail which the older brother knew as the one along which they had been
taken when, they were first captured. They went on bravely now until they
came to a wide clearing with houses at the farther end, and the older
brother said, "I believe there is where we used to live." It was so long ago
that they were not quite sure, and besides they were dressed now like
Cherokee, so they thought it safer to wait until dark. They saw a river
ahead and went down to it and sat behind a large tree to wait. Soon several
women came down for water and passed close to the tree without noticing the
boys. Said the older brother, "I know those women. One of them is our
mother." They waited until the women had filled their buckets and started to
the village, when both ran out to meet them with the Seneca hailing-shout,
"Gowe'! Gowe'!" At first the women were frightened and thought it a party of
Cherokee, but when they heard their own language they came nearer. Then the
mother recognized her two sons, and said, "Let us go back and dance for the
dead come to life," and they were all very glad and went into the village
together.--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.
Some Seneca warriors were hunting in the woods, and one morning, on starting
out for the day, they left two boys behind to take care of the camp. Soon
after they had gone, a war party of Cherokee came up, and finding the boys
alone took them both and started back to the south, traveling at such a rate
that when the hunters returned in the evening they decided that it was. of
no use to follow them. When the Cherokee reached their own country they gave
the boys to an old man, whose sons had been killed by the Seneca. He took
the boys and adopted them for his own, and they grew up with him until they
were large and strong enough to go hunting for themselves.
But all the time they remembered their own home, and one day the older one
said to his brother, "Let's kill the old man and run away." "No," said the
other, "we might get lost if we ran away, we are so far from home." "I
remember the way," said his brother, so they made a plan to escape. A few
days later the old man took the boys with him and , the three set out
together for a hunt in the mountains. When they were well away from the
settlement the boys killed the old man, took all the meat and parched corn
meal they could easily carry, and started to make their way back to the
north, keeping away from the main trail and following the ridge of the
mountains. After many days they came to the end of the mountains and found a
trail which the older brother knew as the one along which they had been
taken when, they were first captured. They went on bravely now until they
came to a wide clearing with houses at the farther end, and the older
brother said, "I believe there is where we used to live." It was so long ago
that they were not quite sure, and besides they were dressed now like
Cherokee, so they thought it safer to wait until dark. They saw a river
ahead and went down to it and sat behind a large tree to wait. Soon several
women came down for water and passed close to the tree without noticing the
boys. Said the older brother, "I know those women. One of them is our
mother." They waited until the women had filled their buckets and started to
the village, when both ran out to meet them with the Seneca hailing-shout,
"Gowe'! Gowe'!" At first the women were frightened and thought it a party of
Cherokee, but when they heard their own language they came nearer. Then the
mother recognized her two sons, and said, "Let us go back and dance for the
dead come to life," and they were all very glad and went into the village
together.--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.