Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/136

 i 24 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

Then the Rainbow said : —

" When you see me in the fog over the lake, come to me ; then you can go up. I will carry you up to the house of the Little Turtle in the sky."

One day the fog rolled in heavy banks and thick masses over the lake. The Deer stood on the hill by the lake, waiting and looking for the Rainbow. When the Rainbow threw the beautiful arch from the lake to the hill, a very white and shining light flashed and shone about the Deer. A straight path, with all the colors of the Rain- bow, lay before the Deer; it led through a strange forest. The Rainbow said : —

" Follow the beautiful path through the strange woods."

This the Deer did. The beautiful way led the Deer to the house of the Little Turtle in the sky. And the Deer went about the sky everywhere.

When the Great Council met, the Bear said : —

"The Deer is not yet come to the Council ; where is the Deer? "

Then the Hawk flew all about to look for the Deer, but the Hawk could not find the Deer in the air. Then the Wolf looked in all the woods, but the Deer could not be found in the woods any- where.

When the Little Turtle came in the Black Cloud, in which were the streams, the lakes, and the ponds, the Bear said : —

" The Deer is not yet come to the Council ; where is the Deer ? There can be no Council without the Deer."

The Little Turtle replied : —

" The Deer is in the sky. The Rainbow made a beautiful path- way of all her colors for the Deer to come up by."

The Council looked up to the sky, and saw the Deer running about there. Then the Little Turtle showed to the Council the beautiful pathway made for the Deer by the Rainbow. All the ani- mals except the Mud Turtle went along the beautiful way which led them up into the sky. They remain there to this day. They may be often seen, flying or running about the sky.

From this circumstance, the Deer is sometimes spoken of as DCh'-hchn-yahn'tch, — " The Rainbow," or, more properly, "The path of many colors made for the Deer by the Rainbow." This is one of the oldest names for men in the list of names belonging to the Deer Clan. It is one of the Wyandot names of the writer.

William E. Connellcy}

1 The writer of this paper, author of the Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory, member of the Nebraska State Historical Society, and chairman of the Committee on American Ethnology, Western Historical Society, Kansas City,

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