From Seneca Folklore
A woman living near Cayuga Lake had been asked many times by young men to marry her, but she would never consent. The knowledge that she was good-looking made her very proud and haughty.
During the warm weather the family slept out of doors. One night, however, the young woman remained inside the lodge. As was customary in those days, a skin mantle was hung up for a door. In the night the young woman, awaking, saw some one looking through the doorway, whose face glistened and whose eyes shone. The face disappeared and a man walked into the lodge; coming to the bed, he sat down at the side of the young woman and began to talk. His conversation was very enticing, and she could not help listening to him, but she did not answer. Thinking she was asleep, the strange man, shaking her, asked, “Are you asleep?” She did not answer. After putting sticks on the fire to make a light, he again asked, “Are you asleep?” She could no longer resist, and drawing the mantle down from her face, said, “No.” She saw that he was very handsome and that even his raiment glistened. He spoke of taking her for his wife, promising to give her all he had, and saying, “You will find plenty of fine things in my lodge and you shall have them all.” While he talked she was fast becoming of his mind, and at last she consented to be his wife. One man after another had failed to win her, but this stranger was so engaging that she was willing to go to him. When he left her, he said, “I will come for you in two days.”
The next morning the young woman’s family wondered why they did not see her, for she was usually the first to be up. Her mother said, “I wonder what the matter is.” Going to the lodge, she found her asleep. She shook her but could not arouse her. Her people came to see her from time to time, but still she slept. At last, on looking in, they saw her sitting with her head down, as though in deep thought. They wondered what her trouble was – had she had evil dreams? Finally she got up, but seemed sad, not as cheerful as usual. They saw that something serious was on her mind.
As the time approached for the husband to come, the young woman thought, “I will put on my best clothes that I may look as nearly as possible like him.” When the time came he appeared before her, saying, “I have come for you.” Arising, she followed him without hesitation. Pointing to a hill, he said, “I live on the other side of that hill.” On the way the young woman thought that she might be possessed of something evil and almost resolved to go back. The man seemed to know her thoughts, for looking at her he said, “You are mine, and we are on our way home.” So she continued to put her feet in his footprints. At last he said, as if in answer to her thoughts: “You have become my wife; you can not help yourself. My home is near.” They descended the wall of a precipice until they reached a large opening in the rocks. She was glad at any rate to be so near the lodge. Stopping again, she took council with herself and almost resolved to go back, but an inward feeling that she must keep on prevailed.
As they entered the hole in the rocks, which led into what seemed to her to be a lodge, she saw many fine things which she thought would be a comfort to her. In one corner was a beautiful skin couch; her husband said to her, “This is your couch.” She was well pleased with her new home.
Some time passed. She did not discover that the man was different from other men. As soon as the sun rose every day, he went away.
One day he told her that he was going a long distance, whereupon she thought: “Now he will be gone a good while. I will look around and see where I am.” On going out she found that she did not know where the place was, nor in what direction they had come. She went on and on, more for amusement than anything else, thinking perhaps that she should find the way out, and that then she could reach home. At last she decided to go back into the lodge.
She had not gone far when she heard some noise behind her, at which she was greatly frightened. “You need not be frightened,” said a man; “I was looking for you. Stand still, my grandchild, and do not be afraid of me; I am sent to tell you of your danger; you must do my bidding, for I pity you. Your husband is a great horned snake. I am going to kill him and destroy his lodge. You must go up in that high place yonder; sit down and watch. Nothing will happen to you. When you see your husband, keep your eyes on him and learn to know what he is.”
On going up into the place indicated and looking around, she could see no clouds in the sky – all was bright and clear. Suddenly, however, she saw beyond the place a large body of water rising, and soon it was as high as the hole in the rocks which led to her home. Then she saw approaching the rocks a great horned snake with glistening face. She was frightened when she looked on this creature and knew it was her husband. Just as its head was inside the rocks, she heard a terrible thunder clap; lightning struck the rocks and they were all blown to bits. Then the water subsided. After a while the old man came, saying: “Your husband is killed. There are three of us. We know that you are under evil influences now, but we will try to save you. You can go home, but you must be purified first.” While he was talking the other two came. The old man told her to take off her clothes. She knew that she had to do as he requested.
Taking up a small vessel, he gave her to drink a portion of what it contained, and then rubbed the rest of the contents on her back about the loins. In a short time three large snakes passed from her reproductive organs, whereupon the old man remarked, “You are now saved from the evil orenda (magical power) with which you have been afflicted.” To purify her further he gave her a beverage which caused vomiting. The matter which she threw up consisted of worms, ants, maggots, and all kinds of foul creeping things. While living with her husband her mind had been so much under his spell that she had believed that the food which he gave her was good and wholesome. The three men, now satisfied, said to her: “You are at last thoroughly purified and freed from the evil power of your husband and his people; so you can return to your home, which is seven days’ journey from here” (when she made the journey with her husband it seemed to her but a short distance). Then the old man said to her: “I am he whom your people call Hinon (the god of lighting/thunder). You must marry one of your own people, who is older than you are, for the younger ones are filled with witchcraft; and you must tell your friends all that has happened to you, for if you do not do so, you will undergo the same misfortunes again.” Thereupon they took her home; while on the way it seemed to her that they were flying through the air.
The morning after returning home her people found her lying in the lodge. Her family were all delighted that she had returned to them safe. When they had found she was missing they had searched for her everywhere, but had never been able to find even a trace of her. She related to them her adventures, telling them how she had become the wife of a great horned snake, and how she had been rescued from it by Hinon, their grandfather.
When her grandfather, Hinon, had left her at the lodge doorway he had given her a basket, telling her to fill it with native Indian tobacco, saying, “For with this plant we cleanse ourselves.” He told her further that from time to time she should leave a small quantity of the tobacco in the woods, which he would get as a grateful offering to him.
Source:
Seneca fiction, legends, and myths, F.W. Hodge, 1918
For an Algonquin telling of the same story, see the following:
Kotharian Lightning 