Part 33

The beings who lived on the Island used to come often to the tree and eat the fruit and smell the sweet perfume of its flowers. On one occasion the Chief desired that the tree might be pulled up. After some time one of the people volunteered to pull it up. He was very strong and after one or two efforts he succeeded in uprooting it. The Great Chief was called to look at the great pit which was to be seen where the tree had stood. As he and his wife stood looking down, he saw a little light very far down, down in the pit. As his wife stood looking intently, gazing at the pit by the side of her husband, he suddenly pushed her in. She fell down, down, until her husband lost sight of her entirely and forever. On the great expanse of water below there were sporting an innumerable number of water fowl, and in the water there were a variety of amphibious animals such as beaver, otter, muskrats, etc. One of the fowls looked up and saw the woman coming slowly down—and immediately gave the alarm. One wiser than the rest said: “What shall we do? She will be killed. We must get some _oehdah_ (dirt) for her to stand on.” They all looked anxiously about. The muskrat told them that he had seen _oehdah_ far down below the bottom of the water and he could bring some up. The turtle offered his shell for a support and the muskrat commenced diving. After several ineffectual attempts he succeeded in bringing up a small lump of earth and put it on the turtle’s back, which immediately commenced to increase in dimensions, and as it grew in size, the turtle spread out more and more to support the woman. The fowls began to fly upward to meet the woman who they perceived was much exhausted. They received her on their wings and landed her safely on the turtle’s shell. The woman soon recovered and looked around her much surprised at her new companions. She soon began to wander over the Island as it seemed to her. At stated periods she went around it and soon noticed that it took her a longer time to make its circuit, so she concluded that it was growing larger all the time. As the time passed away the ogweh woman became quite reconciled to her new home and then she gave birth to a daughter to whom she devoted all her time, and forgot her old friends in the love she felt for her child. The daughter grew very fast and was very obedient to her mother. In time the mother gave up going around the Island at regular intervals and sent her daughter to perform the duty, who ran around the Island much interested and delighted with the task. Wonderful to relate, to the great surprise and sorrow of the woman the daughter gave birth to twin boys and immediately died. The mother was greatly distressed at the loss of her daughter and after mourning over her some time, she made a grave for her in the soft rich earth, of which the Island was composed, and buried her. She took the boys in her arms and told them they should not suffer for she would take care of them. The children grew rapidly to manhood, and were very strong and active. The woman used often to go to the grave of her daughter and watched it very carefully. At length she perceived something growing in two hills over the bosom of her daughter. After a while she commanded the eldest to repair to the grave. She said, “You must take charge of what you find there. See that nothing is lost.” When he came to the grave he found the two hills his grandmother had seen. From one, corn was growing, and from the other beans, which he carefully picked and brought to his grandmother, who said to him, “Take good care of them that those of whom you may hereafter say, ‘they are my descendents’ may eat of it, for you are of the earth and must live from what grows out of the earth.” He carefully preserved and planted the corn and beans, and at harvest there was a great increase and then he began to eat the fruit of his labor. As yet there was no other plant or grass on the Island. Having seen the great value of what he had planted, he was suddenly inspired with a desire to see other things grow and he spoke authoritatively and said, “Let grass grow and cover the surface of the Island.” Immediately grass began to spring up looking green and fresh, and it made everything look beautiful. He then commanded the willow to grow and many kinds of plants and trees which bore fruit, and the appearance of the Island was much improved. Then his grandmother said to him with a very solemn and impressive manner: “_Now_ you must go and seek your father until you find him, and when you see him you must ask him to give you Power.” Pointing to the east, she said, “He lives in this direction. You must keep on until you reach the limits of the Island, and then upon the waters until you come to a high mountain, which rises out of the water which you must climb to the summit. There you will see a wonderful being sitting on the highest peak. You need not be afraid of him. He will not hurt you. You must obey him in everything. You must say to him, ‘I am your son, I have come to ask you to give me Power.’ He will say to you ‘I never saw you before. I do not know you. But if you are my son, then take that stone and throw it up very high.’” The stone his father pointed at was a very large rock which covered a good deal of ground, but the son did not hesitate, he took it up as though it had been a pebble, and threw it up very high, and when it came down it broke into a great many pieces which rolled down the mountain. The wonderful being seemed much pleased and said, “I am now satisfied that you are my son, and I will give you the power you want.” Suddenly a great roaring wind began to blow, and a very bright light followed so that he could see his father very plainly as he sat on top of the mountain. Then there was a loud noise and fire fell and great streams of water rushed by him. After a little there was a calm. Then his father said to him, “With _these_ you will have power to perform _anything_ you wish to undertake.” He then gave him a bag which he charged him not to open till he got to his Island home. Receiving the bag he laid it upon his shoulders and turned toward home. At first the bag seemed quite light and easy to carry, but he noticed that it grew heavier as he carried it along, and as he drew near the Island, its weight seemed almost insupportable, and when he came within a bound of the shore, he came very near losing it. He took one step upon the land and down upon the earth the bag fell. He could not take a second step. The mouth of the bag opened as it fell and there came out birds of every kind and color. They flew into the woods and lighted on the branches of the trees and opened their throats and poured forth the richest and sweetest songs, and while the birds sung and flew from tree to tree the quadrupeds came out of the bag. They sprang upon the grass and into the woods. The deer and bear, the porcupine, rabbits and foxes each soon found their natural places,—all in perfect harmony, roamed over the Island together.

When the younger brother saw how successful his brother had been in producing useful and beautiful things, he was filled with jealousy and envy amounting to hatred, and began to devise plans to thwart him in his good work, by trying to spoil some things he had made and he thought he would kill him if he could find means to do it. So he commenced questioning his brother, “What do you think would most likely be fatal to your life?” He replied, “I think the leaves of the cattail flag might kill me if I should be pierced by them.” So the younger brother got a bunch of the leaves, and thrust them at him hoping to pierce him, but the leaves only bent and did not hurt him at all.

Then he asked him again, “What do you fear most of all things?” He replied, “I am afraid of deer’s horns, they are so sharp and hard.” Then the younger brother went into the woods and found a cast-off horn with which he chased his brother into the woods trying to hit him with it. At last the older brother turned to the younger and said, “Now you must stop your bad work. See how you have spoiled the fruit of the crab-apple tree. Taste of its juice. You must not go on spoiling things in this way. If you do not stop, I shall punish you. I will shut you up in darkness beneath the ground with some of the animals who don’t like light, as the mole and the hedgehog. These hands will not destroy you, but I will put you where you can not do mischief.

“Your dominions shall be in the darkness beneath the surface of the ground for I shall make light.” Then turning and addressing the birds and quadrupeds he told them of his plan. Some of them objected but the great majority were greatly pleased.

So the tree of light was created and from it sprang beautiful flowers. In its light, the older brother went forth and made the hills and valleys and into the valleys he poured out the water of his mouth and it formed the rivers and creeks, and the waters flowed into the deep valleys and made lakes. Then he created the stars and the moon and to the moon he gave the task of marking the months and the years. Then he made a new light and hung it on the neck of a being and he called the new light Gaa’ gwaa’ and instructed its bearer to run his course daily in the heavens over the earth. “You shall go each day and perform this duty so long as I will it,” said the older brother. “I will notify you when I wish you to go no longer.”

The moon and the stars shone in the heavens when the sun had finished his day’s run and all things were perfected. He now dug up the tree of light and looking into the pool of water in which the stump had grown he saw the reflection of his own face and thereupon conceived the idea of creating Ongwe and made them, both a man and a woman. He blessed them and gave them dominion over all things and recapitulated all he had prepared for them and how he had created good things.

“I give you all that exists upon the face of the earth,” he said, “all which the earth grows and maintains, the birds that fill the air and the fish in the water. You two are united aht tgea nigaa and from you future generations shall succeed.”

B. THE WYANDOT CREATION MYTH (EXTRACT).

COLLECTED BY C. M. BARBEAU.

“The people lived beyond.” They were Wyandots. Word was sent out that the chief’s only daughter was very sick; and that all the doctors had in vain tried to cure her disease. A specially appointed messenger brought back a very old doctor that lived far away from the rest of the people. When he saw the chief’s daughter he told the people, at once, that they must dig around the roots of a wild apple tree that was growing just a little way out from the chief’s lodge. Many of the people at once began their digging all around the tree. The old doctor instructed them to bring the chief’s daughter, and place her under the tree as near the edge of the hole (that they were digging) as thy could, “for,” he said, “if you dig down into the roots of the tree, you will find something that will cure her disease.” He added that as soon as she would see this object she would know it; and being near enough she could stretch her hand out and take it at once.

So they brought the girl and placed her at the edge of the hole that they had dug around the tree. They went on digging with great might. As soon as a party of the diggers became tired, another stepped into the hole and carried on the work. When they had placed the girl at the edge of the hole, a party of the diggers had stepped out; and before another could replace it the people were startled by a terrific roar that seemed to come nearer and nearer. They were all looking and wondering whence it had come. They soon discovered that all the ground around the tree was dropping downwards. Then they saw the tree falling down through the hole; the sick girl being pulled down with it, entangled in its branches. The world underneath, into which the tree fell, was a broad sheet of water about which no land was to be seen. On the water were swimming around a pair of great white birds with long crooked necks: I suppose they were swans. They heard a peal of thunder as the tree was falling down; this was the first peal of thunder ever heard on those waters. Both of them glanced upwards and saw the woman falling down. One of them said to the other:—“What a strange creature it is that is falling down from above. I know that she can not be borne up by the water; we must swim close together and hold her upon our backs.” So they did, and the woman fell gently upon their backs and rested there. Then, as they swam along, they turned their long necks around and looked at the woman; they said to each other:—“What a beautiful creature it is; but what shall we do; we can not always swim this way and hold her up. What shall we do?” The other replied:—“I think we must go and see the Big Turtle. He will call a council of all the animals to decide upon what is to be done with the creature.” So they swam away, found the Big Turtle, and showed him the woman that was resting upon their backs. Then the turtle had to decide as to what was to be done. A “moccasin” (ra´‘cu’, i.e., a messenger) was sent around to call the animals to a big council. They came at once, and were all in a great wonder. For a long time they looked with awe at the wonderful creature. Finally the Turtle told them that they must come to a decision as to what should be done regarding this creature; that they could not let her die as—“she must have been sent to them for some good; that since she had thus come to them, it was evident that their duty was to find some place for her to live.” The swans came forward and spoke of the tree that they had seen falling first. Then some one else got up and said that if the place could be known where this tree had fallen into the water, some of the divers might go down and get just a little bit of the earth that must be clinging to its roots. The Big Turtle found the idea a good one and advised that if the swans could show the very place where the tree had fallen, some one else should go down and get a little of the dirt clinging to its roots; that an island could be made with it for the woman to rest upon, even if he himself (the Turtle) had to hold the island upon his back. The swans told the animals that they could find that very place; they turned around, and swam with the woman upon their backs. The other animals followed until they came to the place where they had seen the tree and the woman falling. There they stopped. The Turtle called upon the otter, the best diver, for him to go down into the water and bring back some of the dirt clinging to the roots of the tree. The otter at once dived down. As he had been for some time out of sight the other animals began to speculate as to whether he was going to come back. By and by, they saw him coming back through the water. Upon reaching the surface he was so completely exhausted that he opened his mouth to gasp a breath and went down again,—dead. Then the muskrat was appointed to dive down. He remained still longer under the water. The same fate as the otter’s befell him. Then the beaver and a number of other animals tried and failed in the same day until so many had been lost that way that the Turtle said he would not call upon any other to dive down. He suggested, however, that somebody should volunteer to do so. They remained in expectation for a little while. Finally, away out to one side, a little old ugly toad (tĕno´‘skwaoyȩ) spoke up and said that he would try. The other animals looked at each other, laughing and jeering at the presumption of this little toad. The Big Turtle, however, acceded to her suggestion, acknowledging that she might perhaps accomplish what the others had failed to do. So she took a long breath and down she went. The others all gathered around and watched her as she went away down out of sight into the clear waters. For a long time they looked downwards with the expectation of seeing her coming back. But she remained so long in the water that the others began to whisper to each other that she would not come back. For a long time they remained in expectation. At the end they saw a bubble of water coming up towards the surface of the water. They could not see the toad as yet. The Turtle said:—“She must be coming. I will swim right over the spot where the bubble came up; and if the toad comes back we shall hold her up.” So it was done. A little while later the toad appeared away down in the water. Some of the animals said:—“She must have some earth as she has been gone so much longer than the others.” Then the toad emerged from the surface of the water, just by the Big Turtle. Just as she reached the surface she opened her mouth and spat out a few grains of earth that fell upon the edge of the shell of the Big Turtle. Then she gave one gasp and fell back dead. As soon as those grains of earth had fallen upon the edge of the Big Turtle’s shell, the Little Turtle came forward and began spreading it and rubbing it around the edge of the Big Turtle’s shell. While she was so doing an island began to grow around the shell of the Big Turtle. The animals were looking at it while it was growing. After it had grown into a place large enough for the woman to rest upon, the two white swans swam to its edge and the woman stepped off on to it.

NOTE.—Recited by B. N. O. Walker, Chief Clerk at the Quapaw U. S. Agency, Wyandotte, Oklahoma. Mr. Walker, now about 40 years of age, is a descendant of Wyandot ancestors, on one side, and of European ancestors on the other. His first European ancestor was made prisoner by the Wyandots in Virginia, when a child. Mr. Walker is a thoroughly reliable informant who has oftentimes heard this myth, as well as others, repeated by his Aunt Kitty Greyeyes, a thoroughbred Wyandot, who was living with his family. Kitty Greyeyes was possessed of a good knowledge of both English and Wyandot, and she had learned this myth in Wyandot. Kitty Greyeyes died at B. N. O. Walker’s father’s home, when he, himself, (B. N. O. W.), was about 22 years of age. Mr. B. N. O. Walker has heard this myth many times when between the age of 11 and 19. He states that his Aunt Kitty, who, by the way, was a Canadian Wyandot from Anderdon, Ontario, had learnt those stories from her Aunt Hunt, who spoke Wyandot almost exclusively. “Aunt Hunt seems to have been the story teller of the family.” (Barbeau, “Huron and Wyandot Mythology,” XXXIX, 6–17.)

C. AN INTERVIEW WITH “ESQ.” JOHNSON BY MRS. ASHER WRIGHT.[66]

Esquire Johnson does not recollect the name of the man who first gave the name Nan-do-wah-gaah[67] and then went to where they lived and said to them, “You are O-non-dah-ge-gaah,”[68] and then he went to another place and said to the residents, “You are Ga-nyah-ge-o-noh,”[69] and then he came to where he called them O-ne-yut-gaah,[70] then again to another place and said “You are Que-yu-gwe-o-noh”;[71] five nations, for the Tuscaroras were then at the South. This was long before the confederacy of the Iroquois, and the Tuscaroras did not return until after the Revolutionary war.

The Mohawks have 5 sachems,[72] The Onondagas, he thinks have 4, also the Oneidas and Cayugas four each, the Senecas have 4 also and two war chiefs, the other tribes had no war chiefs.

Sha-dye-na-waho,[73] Nis-ha-nye-yant,[74] Gah-nya-gaeh,[75] Shah-de-gao-yes,[76] Sho-guh-jis-wa,[77] Ga-no-ga-ih-da-wit, De-yo-ne-ho-gaah-wah,[78] were Seneca Sachems.

The Long House was first opened at Onondaga[79]; the Senecas also had a long house.[80] When anything occurred to render a council necessary, any trusty young man might be sent as a runner to the other tribes to call them together.

When they came together the evening before the council they sang a song (In Seneca Wa-a-non-dah ga-ya-soh,) and in the morning one man sang a different song as they were going to start, i.e. the volunteers to revenge the murder or whatever the injury was.

In the council some leading chief would state the business and ask, what shall we do? A few of the chiefs would tell their views and then leading men of influence would say, We will do so and so, and the multitude would acquiesce and the council would break up.

In case of making peace between the Senecas, or the Iroquois, and the Cherokees, e.g., two messengers would be dispatched by the party desiring peace. They would be called before the enemies’ council and introduced by the chief and then would deliver their message. If their proposals for peace were accepted they would agree to bury the whole list of grievances (bury the hatchet, Dyo-an-jo-gut,) so that they should not come up in sight again. If they refused the terms they would send the ambassadors back again to convey their refusal to the people and the war would continue.

The Quapaw war was long before the Cherokee war. This last was the last Indian war carried on by the Six Nations with the other Indians. Jak Snow’s widow was a Cherokee and Gah-no-syoot Hay-a-soo-oh who died at Allegany, but Johnson never heard that Blue Eyes was a Cherokee.