Note 407 — SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS

At midnight, possibly a little past that time, the small boy, who was on the watch, was surprised to see his uncle blow with great force on the fire in the fireplace.407 At once sparks shot up from the fire, some of which fell on the boy as he lay there. But the little hero kept quite still, although his uncle, in order to see whether the boy was awake, said, “Gwēʹʻ, my nephew, you will burn; look out!” But still the boy kept still. Then, after the lapse of a long time, the uncle arose and while watching the seemingly sleeping boy, drew from beneath his couch a bark case, such as was in use in the early times. He took therefrom a small kettle and from the kettle something which the watching boy did not recognize. The old man hung the kettle over the fire, and then he again blew on the fire and the flames began to burn briskly; and he kept on blowing the fire until it had become hot enough to cook a meal. He had placed water in the kettle when he set it over the fire—just the right amount for his purpose. Then the old man began to scrape some object and permitted the scrapings to fall into the kettle. The old man was acting just as one would have acted while making chestnut mush. All the time he was being watched by his nephew, who was called “Gajihsondis.”