Part 27

The next morning the old witch didn’t come so the people went to her house and it was locked. Someone climbed in a window and found her dead in bed. They turned back the quilts and found the sharp bone driven into her heart. Nobody felt sorry but said, “It served her right; she had no business witching people.”

63. THE SCORNED WITCH WOMAN.[55]

There was a beautiful young woman, the daughter of a witch. When the old witch died her husband wanted to burn up her bundles of witch poisons, because he was a Christian, but the beautiful daughter said, “Father, let us keep this bundle; you never can tell what might happen if we should destroy it.” So she hid the bundle.

Now, there was a handsome young fellow living in the neighborhood and he came to the house once or twice to see her father. The young woman determined to get this young man so she made witch medicine and put it in his cider when he visited the house the next time. It was night and when the young man went out to go home she went out the back door and followed him. Pretty soon she coughed and he looked around. Then she called him and he asked her what she wanted. She asked him to sit down on a log by the road. They stayed there quite a while. After a while the girl said, “Why don’t we two get married?” The young fellow replied, “What is the use?” Then he went home.

Now he had just secretly married another girl from Cold Spring and he went to her house. Pretty soon she said, “You have been somewhere. You have been visiting some other woman.” She then scolded him.

He felt very bad for he loved his bride, but he felt that he could not help having made the mistake of calling on the man who was his friend. He never thought about the girl because he did not like her. He therefore made up his mind that he had been witched.

He felt very bad the next day and wanted some more cider, but the man who had it lived a long way past his friend’s house. Nevertheless he tried to go past the house to the one further on, but all the while he felt something pulling him back. In a moment he yielded and returned to the house, where the beautiful young woman let him in at the back door. He drank some cider, and called for more. This was the young woman’s chance and she put in a double portion of love powder. His mind changed quickly and he began to sing love songs. After a while the girl said to her father, “We two are going to get married.” The father didn’t know what to say. He should have been glad, because the young fellow helped him draw wood in winter. But he had heard that his friend had another woman. He therefore said nothing, but looked worried.

After a while the young man went out again and as before the young woman followed him and they sat down on the same log as the previous night. It was dark and the girl kissed him and held onto him. After a while he said, “I am going home, I really don’t love you. I am married to Fidelia.”

At this the young girl became very angry and said, “You had better leave her and come to live with me. If you don’t I will bewitch you and make you sorry.”

“How can you witch me?” asked the young fellow.

“I never will tell you,” said she, “but I will make you so sorry that you will wish you were dead.”

The young fellow then left her and went home to his own wife. As before she scolded him roundly and accused him of unfaithfulness, but he said nothing. He was a good provider and worked hard.

In a few days the young fellow began to be sick. He had sharp pains all over his body. He kept at work, however, and though he was tempted to visit his friend and get cider he kept away. Day by day he grew weaker and at night it seemed as if some one were scraping his body. Each day he grew thinner until he could work no more.

After thinking over the matter he decided to call in a witch doctor. This he did and the doctor advised him to visit a certain swamp near the creek and watch from across the water what was happening. That night he went down the hill and crouched back of a dead tree, at the same time keeping a sharp eye on the swamp across the stream. It was moonlight and he could observe everything in detail, for the stream was not wide. Soon he saw something swinging in the wind near an elm tree. He looked more closely and saw that it was a large bark doll suspended by a long string. Soon the moon shone full upon it and as he looked he saw the beautiful young witch woman come through the grass. She paused beneath the tree and saluted the doll, calling it by the young fellow’s name. She took out a knife and began to scrape it, to reduce its size, and as she did this the young fellow began to feel a sinking feeling as if he were shriveling up. The girl kept talking and laughing at the doll, saying, “You are tied up now. Well when the string rots you will fall and die. Meanwhile I will scrape you and eat your body.” Then when she had said this, she took out some sharp thorns and stuck them in different parts of the doll, and the young man yelled right out it hurt him so. Thereupon the young woman laughed and said, “Aha, I can hear you groan way here.”

After this the young fellow went home and was sick all night. The next day he resolved to do what the witch doctor had told him, but he was as yet too weak to perform the ceremony. As he lay thinking about his misfortune he heard a footfall outside and then a rap. His wife went to the door and there stood the young woman. “I have brought him some nice soup,” she said. “I hear he is very sick.”

She entered and went over to the young fellow. He hid his face and said, “Go away, I know what you are doing to me. You have poisoned me. I am sending for a crow today.”

The girl laughed and said, “What are you sending for a crow for?”

“You will soon find out,” he said.

That afternoon the witch doctor came and asked, “Well has she been here? If she has I can go ahead with the plan; I have brought the crow.”

So the young fellow took the crow and cut out its heart at the same time saying, “I bestow upon you the name of ——,” the name of the young woman.

The witch doctor and he then went into the back shed and made a model of a kettle-hanging frame. They put it on the dirt floor of the shed and then put a long splinter through the heart. They lighted another splinter and passed it under the heart several times, scorching it.

The next day the young woman came to the house again. This time she was crying very hard. She came in and said, “Now look what you did to me.” She opened her waist and showed her breast. It was burned and blistered.

The young fellow then said, “You let me alone and quit witching me or I will burn your heart right out of you. You made me do wrong. I’ve got a good woman.”

Then the young woman said, “I’ll quit; you are too strong for me.” After that the young fellow got well.

After that the young woman never witched anybody, but was a good friend to the young fellow’s wife and took care of her babies.

64. CATCHING A WITCH BUNDLE.[56]

One night three men came to the house of a man named William and asked him to go with them to a place on the Four-mile Level. It seemed that a man by the name of Jesse —— had been having very bad luck and had lost one child after another by some strange disease. William was reminded of this and asked by one of the men, a Tonawanda witch doctor, to assist in the hunt for the mysterious source of death. He consented and went along with the party.

Reaching the desired spot the witch doctor took a forked stick and held it by the long forked ends, one in either hand. He walked forward and when he pointed the stick in a certain direction the stick would glow. He kept following the glow until he reached an old stump way in the heart of the bush lot. The three men followed him silently. When he touched the stump the forked stick seemed on fire and bent down and touched the ground between two roots. “This is where we must dig,” said the witch doctor.

One of the men carried a spade and dug as directed. Very soon he struck a stone, after which the witch doctor assumed charge of the digging. A lantern was lighted and as the earth was scraped away the investigators found a cubical slate box with a cover over it, made from thick slabs from the creek bottom. The witch doctor lifted the cover and looked in. “It is there,” he whispered, placing some white powder on the top of the box.

The party now went back to Jesse’s house and dug a hole at the corner of the woodshed. In this the witch doctor placed a five-gallon crock. Over this he placed a large piece of silk, weighted at the corners so that it stretched taut, like a drumhead over the mouth of the crock. He then made a little fire and cast medicine powder into it, at the same time talking and commanding the witch bundle to come from its slate box through the air into the crock. After a while there was a ball of fire flying through the air and it came down and went through the silk without burning it.

“Now we have it,” said the witch doctor. “We can open it now.” So they opened it and found a bundle of rags all saturated with fresh human blood. In the middle of the bundle they found a sharp bone called otnä´yont, and it was red with blood. It was the bone that had been drinking the blood of Jesse’s children. The witch doctor then took the bone and took care of it. After that there was no more sickness and the last child got well. It seems that these sharp bones must be taken care of and if neglected they will eat the blood of children until some one finds the bundle and takes care of it.

65. WITCH WITH A DOG TRANSFORMATION.[57]

A sick woman with a wasting disease noticed that every night something would peek in her window. Her husband could find no evidence of this until one night after a snow storm he found the tracks of a large dog outside the window. Following the tracks to the road he saw that they became human footprints and were lost in the other tracks at the side of the road.

The next morning among the friends that called upon the sick woman was an old lady who lived near the creek in a small house. She was a widow and lived alone. This old lady asked about the sick woman in such a peculiar manner that the husband grew suspicious. After the old woman left the sick woman began to feel much worse.

That night she screamed, “She is looking at me!” And the husband going outside saw as before dog tracks running down to the road. He watched and soon some men came by and he asked them if they had seen a large dog. The men said they had; one had just ran down the road toward the creek. Morning came and the husband determined to investigate further. He crossed the road and walked down the other side until he came to the Esther —— place. He noticed that a large dog had run along the fence and had leaped over it. On the other side there were human footprints going to the house.

Morning came and the old woman called again inquiring about the health of the sick woman. This time the husband said, “If you don’t stop witching my wife I will fix you.” The old lady asked him what he meant and said that she was not a witch.

The husband then resolved to watch in the woodshed all night, if need be, and to catch the dog looking into the window. He got some blankets to keep himself warm and waited with his rifle. After a while he heard a sniffing sound and presently heard something walking around the house. Cautiously he looked out and saw the dog with its paws on the window-sill of his wife’s room. Fire was coming out of the dog’s eyes. The husband now ran out and chased the dog which ran down the road. There were many people on the road, for it was moonlight and it was sleighing time. They saw him chasing the dog. It ran to the fence and jumped over. As it poised in mid air over the fence the man fired his gun. There was a yelp and the people saw something shoot through the air and jump into the window of the cabin. The people watched this and looked over the fence but there was no mark or track on the snow, except some dog hair. Three days later the people went to the house and found the old woman dead on her bed with a bullet in her heart. There was dog hair on the window where she had dived through. It was sure then that she had been a witch. The sick woman recovered.

66. WITCH STEALS CHILDREN’S HEARTS.[58]

There was an old woman who always helped with children’s funerals, and would sit up all night while the tired parents slept. She would lock the door and stay with the dead children. Everybody thought she was a nice old woman until one time a woman walking by her house saw a witch light fly out of her chimney and go into the graveyard. “Hoh,” she said to herself, “I guess old lady E—— must be a witch.”

Soon thereafter another child died and the old lady came as usual to help with the funeral. That night she sat up with the corpse but this time the woman who had suspected the old lady told her husband Gus to watch her through a window.

Gus found a place outside where he could see into the room. At midnight the old lady took a knife and cut the heart out of the child and then ran out of the house while everybody else slept. She went to her own house and shortly turned into a ball of fire and flew out of the chimney. The light went to an old cemetery where there were many sunken graves. Gus followed, though he was frightened. He saw the old woman put something into a hole in a grave hollow and say, “There, I have got you another. Now you are my friend and will have to show me where I can get money.”

Soon the light soared overhead again and went back into the old lady’s chimney.

The next morning Gus went to the father of the dead child and told him what he had heard and seen. The father was very mad but after examining the child could find no marks where the heart had been taken out. The old witch had healed the cut. So then they went to the cemetery and found the grave. Digging down where they saw the hole they came to a corpse and it was all covered with blood and had a child’s heart in its mouth, gnawing at it. The men poured kerosene from a lantern in the hole and set it afire. Then they went to the old lady’s house and found bloody rags on the table, but she was not there having gone back to the house for the funeral. The father of the dead child then ran home and found the old lady there.

“You are an old witch,” he stormed. “Now I know why you have been going to children’s funerals. You must confess now or I will kill you.” He grabbed her by the hair and swung her around. She burst out crying and said, “Yes, I now confess. I took children’s hearts to give to my friend. This friend gives me luck and I would starve without her.”

“You go home and quit this business,” said the father.

The old lady went home and after the child was buried the family called in a witch doctor and they made a charm against the witch woman, and soon she died.

67. HOTCIWAHO. (HAMMER IN HIS BELT.)

This was near a river. There lived Hotciwaho an old man. His house was apart from all others and his grandson lived with him. Now this Hotciwaho wore women’s clothes and beneath his skirt he wore a hammer (mallet), and he would hide by the springs back of the rocks and kill children when they came for water. He would strike them on their heads when they stooped over to dip. Their bodies would be found at the spring by the people who after a time found so many that they thought some subtle poison must haunt the places where they drew their water. Now this Hotciwaho would always go to the house where they were mourning over the death of the child and he would weep. Now the people never saw the tears fall from his eyes but they were always wet when he moaned over the child and said, “Hagiă’´!” He did not truly cry but before entering wiped his saliva over his cheeks and eyes so as to appear grieving. This was his trick.

Now why did he kill people? He was lazy and loved good food. Now at funerals the bereaved always provided a feast and afterwards the death feast and the mourners could take away a portion of the soup, bread and cakes. This is why he killed children. He wanted the food.

Now such a man when he does a wrong many times thinks it no offence. The grandson thought this all wrong and being afraid that he too would be killed stole his grandfather’s hammer and struck him a blow on the head and killed him. So he died in the same way.

68. HOW AMERICA WAS DISCOVERED.

HANDSOME LAKE’S STORY.

According to Chief Cornplanter, Handsome Lake taught that America was discovered in the manner here related.

A great queen had among her servants a young minister. Upon a certain occasion she requested him to dust some books that she had hidden in an old chest. Now when the young man reached the bottom of the chest he found a wonderful book which he opened and read. It told that the white men had killed the son of the Creator and it said, moreover, that he had promised to return in three days and then again forty but that he never did. All his followers then began to despair but some said, “He surely will come again some time.” When the young preacher read this book he was worried because he had discovered that he had been deceived and that his Lord was not on earth and had not returned when he promised. So he went to some of the chief preachers and asked them about the matter and they answered that he had better seek the Lord himself and find if he were not on the earth now. So he prepared to find the Lord and the next day when he looked out into the river he saw a beautiful island and marveled that he had never noticed it before. As he continued to look he saw a castle built of gold in the midst of the island and he marveled that he had not seen the castle before. Then he thought that so beautiful a palace on so beautiful an isle must surely be the abode of the son of the Creator. Immediately he went to the wise men and told them what he had seen and they wondered greatly and answered that it must indeed be the house of the Lord. So together they went to the river and when they came to it they found that it was spanned by a bridge of gold. Then one of the preachers fell down and prayed a long time and arising to cross the bridge turned back because he was afraid to meet his Lord. Then the other crossed the bridge and knelt down upon the grass and prayed but he became afraid to go near the house. So the young man went boldly over to attend to the business at hand and walking up to the door knocked. A handsome man welcomed him into a room and bade him be of ease. “I wanted you,” he said. “You are bright young man; those old fools will not suit me for they would be afraid to listen to me. Listen to me, young man, and you will be rich. Across the ocean there is a great country of which you have never heard. The people there are virtuous, they have no evil habits or appetites but are honest and single-minded. A great reward is yours if you enter into my plans and carry them out. Here are five things. Carry them over to the people across the ocean and never shall you want for wealth, position or power. Take these cards, this money, this fiddle, this whiskey and this blood corruption and give them all to the people across the water. The cards will make them gamble away their goods and idle away their time, the money will make them dishonest and covetous, the fiddle will make them dance with women and their lower natures will command them, the whiskey will excite their minds to evil doing and turn their minds, and the blood corruption will eat their strength and rot their bones.”

The young man thought this a good bargain and promised to do as the man had commanded him. He left the palace and when he had stepped over the bridge it was gone, likewise the golden palace and also the island. Now he wondered if he had seen the Lord but he did not tell the great ministers of his bargain because they might try to forstall him. So he looked about and at length found Columbus to whom he told the whole story. So Columbus fitted out some boats and sailed out into the ocean to find the land on the other side. When he had sailed for many days on the water the sailors said that unless Columbus turned about and went home they would behead him but he asked for another day and on that day land was seen and that land was America. Then they turned around and going back reported what they had discovered. Soon a great flock of ships came over the ocean and white men came swarming into the country bringing with them cards, money, fiddles, whiskey and blood corruption.

Now the man who had appeared in the gold palace was the devil and when afterward he saw what his words had done he said that he had made a great mistake and even he lamented that his evil had been so enormous.

69. ORIGIN OF THE CHARM HOLDERS’ MEDICINE SOCIETY.[59]

There was in old times a young chief who was a hunter of great cunning, but though he killed many animals he never took advantage of their positions. He never shot a swimming deer or a doe with a fawn, he never killed an animal fatigued by a long run nor took one unawares. Before the hunt he always threw tobacco and made a ceremony to ask permission to kill game. Nor was he ever ungrateful to the animals of the woods who had been his friends for so many years. The flesh that was useless he left for the wolves and birds, calling to them as he left it: “Come, my friends, I have made a feast for you.” Likewise when he took honey from a tree he left a portion for the bears and when he had his corn harvested he left open ears in the field for the crows, that they might not steal the corn sprouts at the next planting. He fed the fish and water animals with entrails and offal. No ruthless hunter was he but thoughtful. He threw tobacco for the animals in the woods and water and made incense for them with the oyeñkwaoñ´we‘, the sacred tobacco, and “threw it” even for the trees. He was a well loved chief for he remembered his friends and gave them meat. All the animals were his friends and all his people were loyal to him. All this was because he was good and he was known as the “protector of the birds and beasts.” So he was called. It is supposed that his own name was His-hand-is-red.

The southwest country is a land of mysteries. There are many unknown things in the mountains there and also in the waters. The wildest people have always lived there and some were very wise and made different things. When, many years ago, the Oñgwe´ hoñwe‘, (Iroquois) began to make excursions to this distant country they encountered many nations that were friendly and more that were hostile. The Iroquois used to like to go in this country for there they learned new things and found new plants and new kinds of corn and beans and when they would fight and destroy a tribe they would carry away curiously-made things and some captives back to their own country.