This is an important symbol. Although it is clear that the place Gaqka is taken to is very similar to the one that he left-he has no difficulty making a life for himself there-this place is simultaneously very different. He reached this new place by going on a canoe ride through the clouds and under the moon. His journey is characterized immediately by the use of magic. This symbol delineates the world from which the protagonist came from the one in which he learns the stories of the world.

             And how does he learn these stories? The place that canoe landed was at the base of a great rock that had the face of a man. Later, we will learn that this rock is alive in its own way and is the grandfather of the young woman that our hero will marry (53). In the meantime, Gaqka quickly discovers that if he pays homage to this "grandfather rock" that the rock will tell him stories about the world and the people who came before him. Again, this is an important symbol because it solidifies the nature of stories as being outside the realm of ordinary human experience. No matter Seneca animistic beliefs, it is obviously a fantastic occurrence when the cliff rock asks our hero for some tobacco in exchange for stories (52). .

             Finally, consider the pouch that Gaqka is given by his new wife and which he fills with a great number of trophies, each of which represent a different story that the rock tells him (53). These trophies are the symbols for the countless stories that make up the Seneca oral tradition. This is a crucial symbol because it explains where the tribe's oral tradition came from in the first place. It literally makes this tale the story to explain all other stories. The pouch that Gaqka carries back with him to his original people is the figurative representation of the whole of the oral tradition of the Seneca. It is little wonder, then, that this symbolic pouch afford our hero so much prestige upon his return.