Note 409 — SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS (continued 9)

This human skin flayed off whole is an example of the methods of torture practiced by the ancestors of the story tellers. It was believed that wizards and sorcerers could remove the flesh-body from the skin without destroying the life of the victim, which then was supposed to animate the empty skin. These skins retained the powers of the body and were usually called “a pouch.” This retaining of life by these skins, flayed whole, is mentioned in the Odyssey of Homer, where he speaks of the slaughter of the cows of the Sun. In the native conception this was regarded as a refined species of slavery.