Note 325 — LEGENDS

Genonsgwa tried to get the boy off by rubbing him against a hickory tree. The boy said, “Oh! I like that. Rub harder!” At this she stopped rubbing him against the tree and went on. The grandmother followed in the form of a Whirlwind, whereupon Genonsgwa said to the boy, “Your grandmother is coming as a Whirlwind, and she will strike and kill us both.” The boy was silent. Looking for refuge, she found a hiding place in a deep ravine, in which she dug a hole, and going in, covered herself with the earth which slipped down from above. The two heard Dagwanoenyent, the grandmother, coming. “Now,” Genonsgwa said, “you can hear your grandmother coming.” The Dagwanoenyent rushed over the place where they lay hidden. The boy shouted to his grandmother, who, hearing him, changed her course, coming straight back to the place they were in. She blew off the earth from the hiding place, so that Genonsgwa became just visible above the surface. Then the grandmother asked the boy whether he was there. He answered, “Yes.” The Genonsgwa lay still, whispering to the boy, “Be quiet! Your grandmother will see us.” The grandmother then called the boy by name, “Dagwanoenyentgowa,325 get off Genonsgwa’s back.” Having done so, he went a short distance from the cliff. Then the old woman hurled rocks at the Genonsgwa, and after breaking all her clothes of rock, killed her.