Note 152 — SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS (continued 9)

The expression “hindered by the lake” is a veiled reference to the fact that this lake, or rather its waters, had been charged with magic power or orenda to defend its owner. The particular method by which this orenda or magic power accomplished this object was by rendering its victims unconscious, as the epithet, Ganigonhadontha Ganiodae (i.e., Găʼnigoⁿʻäʻdoⁿʼʹtʻhăʼ Ganiōʹdaeʼ), meaning, “It it-mind to-be-lost causes,” or the “delirium-causing” lake, indicates. Thus, the haunts of the allies of sorcerers were usually made impenetrable to persons who possessed a lesser measure of orenda or magic power.