Note 18 — FICTION

On the Allegany reservation the Seneca collected a war party to go against the Cherokee. One of the company was the fastest runner of the Seneca. Before they got to the Cherokee country they met the Cherokee and all the Seneca were killed except the fast runner. He ran in the opposite direction until out of their reach; then he started home by a different road from the one on which the party had set out. The third day, near noon, he came to a deer lick, and while he sat there he saw tracks which looked like those of a very large bear; he followed these until they led to a large elm tree; he found that the animal was not an ordinary bear, but one of the old kind, the great Ganiagwaihegowa,18 that eats people, and he said, “It matters not if I die, I must see it.” Climbing the tree and looking down into the hollow in the trunk he saw the creature. It had no hair; its skin was as smooth as a man’s. He thought: “I had better not attack that creature. I will go back to the deer lick.” Getting down, he ran to the lick. Then he heard a terrible noise and, looking back, he saw the animal come down from the tree. Drawing back, he ran and jumped into the middle of the deer lick, sinking almost to his waist in the mud; he could not get out, but he could with great difficulty take a single step forward. He saw the Ganiagwaihegowa coming toward the lick; when it got to the place whence he leaped, it jumped after him. He dragged himself along, pulling one leg after the other; the animal sank so it could scarcely move. The man at last got to solid ground, but the Ganiagwaihegowa sank deeper and deeper. When it reached the center of the lick it sank out of sight.