Note 305 — SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS (continued 9)

There is a well-known Wyandot tradition that in some former country of their ancestors the winters were very severe and the snows fell excessively deep—so deep sometimes that the poor people had to dig their way out of their wigwams in quest of sustenance. Consequently, food was often scarce and famine rife, because the hunters were unable to go out on account of the great depth of the snow. And, in some instances, it is said, the pangs of hunger were so pressing that some famishing persons were driven to kill and devour some of their own neighbors and friends. Others, more fortunate, learning of these cannibalistic acts, decided to leave the country at once. So, digging their way out through the drifted snows, they finally reached, southward from their former homes, a river which they crossed and, continuing their journey some time, they at last reached a land in which they found a much milder climate. But those who remained became monsters—man-eaters, giants, stone coats, stone giants—and were very strong in body. This is the popular explanation of a lost myth incident—the activity of the Winter God.