content: his secret object in these friendly visits was to learn whether the young boys were getting old enough to run with him ; he kept a very sharp eye upon their growth , and the day he thought them ready , he did not fail to challenge them to a trial on his racing - ground . there was not a family in all that beautiful region which had not in this way been visited and thinned out ; and the manito had quite naturally come to be held in abhorrence by all the indian mothers in the country . it happened that there lived near him a poor widow woman , whose husband and seven sons he had made way with ; and she was now living with an only daughter , and a son of ten or twelve years old . this widow was very poor and feeble , and she suffered so much for lack of food and other comforts of the lodge , that she would have been glad to die , but for her daughter and her little son . the mudjee monedo had already visited her lodge to observe whether the boy was sufficiently grown to be challenged to the race ; and so crafty in his approaches and so soft in his manners was the monedo , that the mother feared that he would yet decoy the son and make way with him as he had done with his father and his seven brothers , in spite of all her struggles to save him .
answer: the manito killed their sons .
question: why did all of the indian mothers abhor the manito ?
target: why did all of the indian mothers abhor the manito ?
references: why did all of the indian mothers abhor the manito ?