D:

Oh and I read somewhere, when I was all over as to the Mohawks the other night, that the Mohawks deny that they ate man's flesh..that was said of them by tribes they fought. I wish I bookmarked the page, so I could remember which tribe it was. I'm wondering why they were called "cowards" by a tribe or tribes. They wiped out the Mohigan tribe and were fierce warriers. Guess even back then, there was bravado and name-calling between warring factions, eh??

tribo"

interesting thnx for that D, i knew it was others that called them that but it makes sense that they thought that they ate their enimies flesh - doesn't surprise me as to the cowards? i have no idea they were a fierce warrior nation so it doesn't make sense.

D:

Have you done a family tree, Tribo? Is this all making you as curious as me? Seems so, by your knowledge seeking here.


T:

no i'm in a similiar situation as you all but my step mom who knew my grandmother who was full blooded cherokee is long gone. and mom knows little about her. so it would be very difficult to find out i dont even have her last name she was brought up as an orphan and no one knew who her parents were. she was they think from ketucky or their abouts. she only went to the 6th grade and then met my granfather and married him. i was not around her that much when younger and when i was i didn't even know she was indian till about my early twenties and at that time had no interest in these things. and now it's to late. so i'm kinda stuck on knowing my family tree - sorry - but i do hope you find out yours D.

nia:wen for the info D, ill keep posting as i have time - takes time to read and then post so sometmes it's very slow

Native American Legends
The Spirit Bride
An Algonquin Legend
There was once a young warrior whose bride died on the eve of their wedding. Although he had distinguished himself by his bravery and goodness, the death left the young man inconsolable.

He was unable to eat or sleep. Instead of hunting with the others, he just spent time at the grave of his bride, staring into the air.

However, one day he happened to overhear some elders speaking about the path to the spirit world. He listened intently and memorized the directions to the most minute detail. He had heard that the spirit world was far to the south. He immediately set out on his journey. After two weeks, he still saw no change in the landscape to indicate that the spirit world was near.

Then he emerged from the forest and saw the most beautiful plain he had ever seen. In the distance was a small hut where an ancient wise man lived. He asked the wise man for directions.

The old man knew exactly who the warrior was and whom he sought. He told the lad that the bride had passed by only a day before. In order to follow her, the warrior would have to leave his body behind and press on in his spirit. The spirit world itself is an island in a large lake that can be reached only by canoes waiting on this shore. However, the old man warned him not to speak to his bride until they were both safely on the island of the spirits.

Soon the old man recited some magic chants and the warrior felt his spirit leave his body. Now a spirit, he walked along the shore and saw a birch bark canoe. Not a stone's throw away was his bride, entering her own canoe. As he made his way across the water and looked at her, he saw that she duplicated his every stroke. Why didn't they travel together? One can only enter the spirit world alone and be judged only on one's individual merits.

Midway through the journey, a tempest arose. It was more terrible than any he had ever seen. Some of the spirits in canoes were swept away by the storm-these were those who had been evil in life. Since both the warrior and his bride were good, they made it through the tempest without incident and soon the water was as smooth as glass beneath a cloudless sky.

The island of the blessed was a beautiful place where it was always late spring, with blooming flowers and cloudless skies, never too warm or too cold. He met his bride on the shore and took her hand. They had not walked ten steps together when a soft sweet voice spoke to them-it was the Master of Life.

The Master told them that the young warrior must return as he came; it wasn't his time yet. He was to carefully trace his steps back to his body, put it on, and return home. He did this and became a great chief, happy in the assurance that he would see his bride once again.

Native American Legends
A Sacred Story
An Anishnabe (Anishinabe) Legend
It was spring when the young Anishnibe Warrior came to Community. There was something different about him that many did not understand. With his well spoken ways and the confidence in which he held was something foreign to these people that were of the "Traditional Circle". After several months of being in the community many were afraid to speak with him or considered there to be something wrong with him yet no one could find fault with the way he did things not even the work that he did. This Young man knew very little of the ways of the Circle and so he thought that he would go and learn there ways. Much talk and teachings came from this and he learned very well what was expected of him as a Warrior in the Traditional circle.

After many months of teachings he came back to the Elders to question them concerning the state of community and why it was that so many things were denied the others in the circle. He saw old people, disabled people, mothers that were relying on the Gov. to care for there families as there men were sleeping in someone else's bed, and many more things that bothered him. He was told that he was meddling in the affairs of the community and that this was not an acceptable to the community. It did not seem right to him that only the people that could pick the sacred medicines were allowed to have them and it did not seem right to him that the Elders did not have Eagle Feathers for being elders, yet those that could dance and were young and strong did. He again was told that it was how it had become to be in this community and unless he could think of a better way then that was the way of things.

This Young Warrior did not like it at all and became very irritable over this as it seemed that the ways of the dominant culture were creeping in and that no one understood that the teachings of community are for all and not just the few who can fend for themselves. So he went to his place to ask the Grandmothers and the grandfathers for help in this matter. He knew this was a life or death situation for the community so he placed his gifts down first and then entered lodge, this was a fasting lodge a lodge of need, not like the teaching lodge or the prayer lodge, but one of a different type constructed differently than the others. So he prayed and fasted for many days and so it was that the Grandmother from the Northeast came to him and spoke not a word to him but drew a circle in the center of the lodge and put 4 points on it and told him to go and travel the four directions and you will have your answer that you seek.

The young warrior thanked her for the sacred teaching and left the lodge and offered many more gifts to the Grandmothers and Grandfathers. He left the lodge and traveled east first. In the East along a small brook in a clearing sat the Crane and he watched the Crane for a time. When the Crane left he offered again his gifts to the Grandmothers and Grandfathers. When he approached the spot where the Crane was he could smell a very familiar pungent aroma and found that there was a 10 acre field of sweetgrass there nested in the heart of his trap line. He began to pick and harvest the sweetgrass and harvested with care not to pull the roots but to allow it to regrow again next year. He filled up his sled 4 foot high with sweetgrass braids.

He returned back to the people that he saw were in need and passed out all of the sweetgrass to the community. He held nothing back not one blade but gave it all away. He then went to the South and found wild tobacco growing and did the same with the tobacco ties giving it all away saving not one piece for himself to keep He then went to the West and found Sage and did the same and passed it all out to the community saving not one piece for himself. Then he went North and came upon the great Cedar Grandfather and did the same and passed them out once again to community for those that were in need and saved not one piece for himself.

When the Elders questioned why he had done it he said "because everyone is equal and everyone deserves to have what everyone else has. I have nothing but know where to get it because I walked the path of the Grandmothers and Grandfathers and you may believe that if there is need again in this community that I will come again and do the same, you that make yourself great at the woes of others are not great and your Sacred Lodge is an abomination to the Grandmothers and Grandfathers, put your own house in order and then help others to do the same when all houses in community are in order then there will be peace in the lodge and many good prayers will be sent out. I will give one more gift to show this as it was told of me to give". So he again left and went many days to the west to seek the great gifts of the Grandmothers and the Grandfathers. He found a valley with Eagle Feathers in it and again he offered his gifts to the Grandfathers and Grandmothers and came to community and gave the Golden Eagle Feather to community for healing. He gave all of them away saving not one for himself, he gave one to every person the was in need and could not get them for themselves. This last act of defiance against the Elders outraged them to the point of openly speaking out against his gifts.

Then the community powwow came and by chance a young dancer the son of an Elder lost his Eagle Feather in the Circle of dancers, and the cry went out for Veterans to come to return the Spirit of the Eagle to the People with honor. In full Regalia as he was told to wear he stepped forword and took his place in the East with the other Vets. When it came time to be questioned as to who would pick up the feather and give it away again it was found that he was the only Veteran that was also wounded in battle so the honor was his and his alone. When he did pick up the feather, he asked a question of the Elders who was it that he was required to give the Eagle feather to ?

He went to a young girl that was in a wheelchair and gave her the Eagle Feather to keep. I came for community, the one that dances has many she had none, care for what you have or the Grandfathers and Grandmothers will lessen your burden.

This is a true story of the people.

Native American Legends
Splinter Foot Girl
An Arapaho Legend
It was in winter and a large party was on the war-path. Some of them became tired and went home, but seven continued on their way. Coming to a river, they made camp on account of one of them who was weary and nearly exhausted.

They found that he was unable to go farther.

Then they made a good brush hut in order that they might winter there. From this place they went out and looked for buffalo and hunted them wherever they thought they might find them.

During the hunting one of them ran against a thorny plant and became unable to hunt for some time. His leg swelled very much in consequence of the wound, and finally suddenly opened. Then a child issued from the leg. The young men took from their own clothes what they could spare and used it for wrapping for the child.

They made a panther skin answer as a cradle. They passed the child around from one to the other, like people smoking a pipe. They were glad to have another person with them and they were very fond of the child.

While they lived there they killed very many elk and saved the teeth. From the skins they made a dress for the child, which was then old enough to run about. The dress was a girl's, entirely covered with elk teeth. They also made a belt for her. She was very beautiful. Her name was Foot Stuck Child.

A buffalo bull called Bone Bull heard that these young men had had a daughter born to them. As is the custom, he sent the magpie to go to these people to ask for the girl in marriage. The magpie came to the young men and told them what the Bone-bull wished; but he did not meet with any success.

The young men said, "We will not do it. We love our daughter. She is so young that it will not be well to let her go."

The magpie returned and told the Bone-bull what the young men had said. He advised the bull to get a certain small bird which was very clever and would perhaps persuade the young men to consent to the girl's marriage with him.

So the small bird was sent out by the bull. It reached the place where the people lived and lighted on the top of the brush house. In a gentle voice it said to the men, "I am sent by Bone Bull to ask for your daughter."

The young men still refused, giving the same answer as before. The bird flew back and told the bull of the result. The bull said to it, "Go back and tell them that I mean what I ask. I shall come myself later." It was known that the bull was very powerful and hard to overcome or escape from. The bird went again and fulfilled the bull's instruction, but again returned unsuccessfully.

It told the bull: "They are at last making preparations for the marriage. They are dressing the girl finely." But the bull did not believe it.

Then, in order to free itself from the unpleasant task, the bird advised him to procure the services of some one who could do better than itself; some one that had a sweet juicy tongue. So the bull sent another bird, called "Fire Owner," which has red on its head and reddish wings. This bird took the message to the young men. Now at last they consented.

So the girl went to the bull and was received by him and lived with him for some time. She wore a painted buffalo robe. At certain times the bull got up in order to lead the herd to water. At such times he touched his wife, who, wearing her robe, was sitting in the same position as all the rest, as a sign for her to go too.

The young men were lonely and thought how they might recover their daughter. It was a year since she had left them. They sent out flies, but when the flies came near the bull he bellowed to drive them away. The flies were so much afraid of him that they did not approach him. Then the magpie was sent, and came and alighted at a distance; but when the bull saw him he said, "Go away! I do not want you about."

They sent the blackbird, which lit on his back and began to sing. But the bull said to it also: "Go away, I do not want you about."

The blackbird flew back to the men and said, " I can do nothing to help you to get your daughter back, but I will tell you of two animals that work unseen, and are very cunning: they are the mole and the badger. If you get their help you will surely recover the girl."

Then the young men got the mole and the badger, and they started at night, taking arrows with them. They went underground, the mole going ahead. The badger followed and made the hole larger. They came under the place where the girl was sitting and the mole emerged under her blanket. He gave her the arrows which he had brought and she stuck them into the ground and rested her robe on them and then the badger came under this too. The two animals said to her, "We have come to take you back." She said, " I am afraid," but they urged her to flee.

Finally she consented, and leaving her robe in the position in which she always sat, went back through the hole with the mole and the badger to the house of the young men.

When she arrived they started to flee. The girl had become tired, when they came to the stone and asked it to help them. The stone said, "I can do nothing for you, the bull is too powerful to contend with."

They rested by the side of the stone; then they continued on their way, one of them carrying the girl. But they went more slowly on account of her. They crossed a river, went through the timber, and on the prairie the girl walked again for a distance. In front of them they saw a lone immense cottonwood tree.

They said to it: "We are pursued by a powerful animal and come to you for help."

The tree told them, "Run around me four times," and they did this. The tree had seven large branches, the lowest of them high enough to be out of the reach of the buffalo, and at the top was a fork in which was a nest. They climbed the tree, each of the men sitting on one of the branches, and the girl getting into the nest. So they waited for the bull who would pursue them.

When the bull touched his wife in order to go to water, she did not move. He spoke to her angrily and touched her again. The third time he tried to hook her with his horn, but tossed the empty robe away. "They cannot escape me," he said.

He noticed the fresh ground which the badger had thrown up in order to close the hole. He hooked the ground and threw it to one side, and the other bulls got up and did the same, throwing the ground as if they were making a ditch and following the course of the underground passage until they came to the place where the people had lived. The camp was already broken up, but they followed the people's trail.

Coming to the stone, the bull asked, "Have you hidden the people or done anything to help them?"

The stone said: "I have not helped them for fear of you."

But the bull insisted: "Tell me where you hid them. I know that they reached you and are somewhere about."

"No, I did not hide them; they reached this place but went on," said the stone.

"Yes, you have hidden them; I can smell them and see their tracks about here."

"The girl rested here a short time; that is what you smell," said the stone.

Then the buffalo followed the trail again and crossed the river, the bull leading. One calf which was becoming very tired tried hard to keep up with the rest. It became exhausted at the lone cottonwood tree and stopped to rest. But the herd went on, not having seen the people in the tree. They went far on.

The girl was so tired that she had a slight hemorrhage. Then she spat down.

As the calf was resting in the shade below, the bloody spittle fell down before it. The calf smelled it, knew it, got up, and went after the rest of the buffalo. Coming near the herd, it cried out to the bull: "Stop! I have found a girl in the top of a tree. She is the one who is your wife."

Then the whole herd turned back to the tree.

When they reached it, the bull said: "We will surely get you."

The tree said: "You have four parts of strength. I give you a chance to do something to me."

Then the buffalo began to attack the tree; those with least strength began. They butted it until its thick bark was peeled off. Meanwhile the young men were shooting them from the tree.

The tree said: "Let some of them break their horns."

Then came the large bulls, who split the wood of the tree; but some stuck fast, and others broke their horns or lost the covering.

The bull said, "I will be the last one and will make the tree fall." At last he came on, charging against the tree from the southeast, striking it, and making a big gash. Then, coming from the southwest, he made a larger hole. Going to the northwest, he charged from there, and again cut deeper, but broke his right horn. Going then to the northeast, he charged the tree with his left horn and made a still larger hole. The fifth time he went straight east, intending to strike the tree in the center and break it down.

He pranced about, raising the dust; but the tree said to him: "You can do nothing. So come on quickly." This made him angry and he charged. The tree said: "This time you will stick fast," and he ran his left horn far into the middle of the wood and stuck fast. Then the tree told the young men to shoot him in the soft part of his neck and sides, for he could not get loose or injure them.

Then they shot him and killed him, so that he hung there. Then they cut him loose.

The tree told them to gather all the chips and pieces of wood that had been knocked off and cover the bull with them, and they did so. All the buffalo that had not been killed went away. The tree said to them: "Hereafter you will be overcome by human beings. You will have horns, but when they come to hunt you, you will be afraid. You will be killed and eaten by them and they will use your skins." Then the buffalo scattered over the land with half-broken, short horns.

After the people had descended from the tree, they went on their way. The magpie came to them as messenger sent by Merciless-man to ask the young men for their daughter in marriage. He was a round rock. The magpie knew what this rock had done and warned the men not to consent to the marriage.

He said, "Do not have anything to do with him, since he is not a good man. Your daughter is beautiful, and I do not like to see her married to the rock. He has married the prettiest girls he could hear of, obtaining them somehow. But his wives are crippled, one-armed, or one-legged, or much bruised. I will tell the rock to get the hummingbird for a messenger because that bird is swift and can escape him if he should pursue."

So the magpie returned and said that the young men refused the marriage. But the rock sent him back to say: "Tell them that the girl must marry me nevertheless." The magpie persuaded him to send the hummingbird as messenger instead of himself.

Then the hummingbird went to carry the message to the young men; but, on reaching them, told them instead: "He is merciless and not the right man to marry this girl. He has treated his wives very badly. You had better leave this place."

So he went back without having tried to help the rock. He told the rock that he had seen neither camp nor people.

"Yes you saw them," said the rock; "you are trying to help them instead of helping me. Therefore you try to pretend that you did not see them. Go back and tell them that I want the girl. If they refuse, say that I shall be there soon."

The hummingbird went again to the men and told them what the rock wished, and said: "He is powerful. Perhaps it is best if you let your daughter go. But there are two animals that can surely help you. They can bring her back before he injures her. They are the mole and the badger."

"Yes," they said, now having confidence in these animals.

So the hummingbird took the girl to the rock. He reached his tent, which was large and fine, but full of crippled wives. "I have your wife here," he said.

"Very well," said the rock, "let her come in. I am pleased that you brought her; she is pretty enough for me."

Soon after the hummingbird had left with the girl, the mole and the badger started underground and made their way to the rock's tent. In the morning the rock always went buzzing out through the top of the tent; in the evening he came back home in the same way. While he was away, the two animals arrived. The girl was sitting with both feet outstretched.

They said to her, "Remain sitting thus until your husband returns." Then they made a hole large enough for the rock to fall into and covered it lightly. In the evening the rock was heard coming. As he was entering above, the girl got up, and the rock dropped into the hole while she ran out of the tent saying: "Let the hole be closed."

"Let the Earth be covered again," said the mole and the badger. They heard the rock inside the Earth, tossing about, buzzing, and angry. The girl returned to her fathers.

They traveled all night, fleeing. In the morning the rock overtook them. As they were going, they wished a canyon with steep cliffs to be behind them. The rock went down the precipice, and while he tried to climb up again, the others went on. It became night again and in the morning the rock was near them once more.

Then the girl said: "This time it shall happen. I am tired and weary from running, my fathers." She was carrying a ball, and, saying: "First for my father," she threw it up and as it came down kicked it upwards, and her father rose up. Then she did the same for the others until all had gone up. When she came to do it for herself the rock was near. She threw the ball, kicked it, and she too rose up.

She said, "We have passed through dangers on my account; I think this is the best place for us to go. It is a good place where we are. I shall provide the means of living for you." To the rock she said. "You shall remain where you overtook us. You shall not trouble people any longer, but be found wherever there are hills."

She and her fathers reached the sky in one place. They live in a tent covered with stars.

Blackfoot Creation Story
A Blackfoot Legend
Old Man came from the south, making the mountains, the prairies, and the forests as he passed along, making the birds and the animals also. He traveled northward making things as he went, putting red paint in the ground here and there --arranging the world as we see it today.

He made the Milk River and crossed it; being tired, he went up on a little hill and lay down to rest. As he lay on his back, stretched out on the grass with his arms extended, he marked his figure with stones. You can see those rocks today, they show the shape of his body, legs, arms and hair.

Going on north after he had rested, he stumbled over a knoll and fell down on his knees. He said aloud, "You are a bad thing to make me stumble so." Then he raised up two large buttes there and named them the Knees. They are called the Knees to this day. He went on farther north, and with some of the rocks he carried with him he built the Sweet Grass Hills.

Old Man covered the plains with grass for the animals to feed on. He marked off a piece of ground and in it made all kinds of roots and berries to grow: camas, carrots, turnips, bitterroot, sarvisberries, bull-berries, cherries, plums, and rosebuds. He planted trees, and he put all kinds of animals on the ground.

When he created the bighorn sheep with its big head and horns, he made it out on the prairie. But it did not travel easily on the prairie; it was awkward and could not go fast. So Old Man took it by its horns, led it up into the mountain, and turned it loose. There the bighorn skipped about among the rocks and went up fearful places with ease. So Old Man said to it, "This is the kind of place that suits you; this is what you are fitted for, the rocks, and the mountains."

While he was in the mountains, he made the antelope out of dirt and turned it loose to see how it would do. It ran so fast that it fell over some rocks and hurt itself. Seeing that the mountains were not the place for it, Old Man took the antelope down to the prairie and turned it loose. When he saw it running away fast and gracefully, he said, "This is what you are suited to, the broad prairie."

One day Old Man decided that he would make a woman and a child. So he formed them both of clay, the woman and the child, her son.

After he had molded the clay in human shape, he said to it,"You must be people." And then he covered it up and went away. The next morning he went to the place, took off the covering, looked at the images, and said "Arise and walk." They did so. They walked down to the river with their maker, and then he told them that his name was Napi, Old Man.

This is how we came to be people. It is he who made us.

The first people were poor and naked, and they did not know how to do anything for themselves. Old Man showed them the roots and berries and said "You can eat these." Then he pointed to certain trees, "When the bark of these trees is young and tender, it is good. Then you can peel it off and eat it."

He told the people that the animals also should be their food. "These are your herds," he said. "All these little animals that live on the ground -- squirrels, rabbits, skunks, beavers, are good to eat. You need not fear to eat their flesh. All the birds that fly, these too, I have made for you, so that you can eat of their flesh."

Old Man took the first people over the prairies and through the forests, then the swamps to show them the different plants he had created. He told them what herbs were good for sicknesses, saying often, "The root of this herb or the leaf of this herb, if gathered in a certain month of the year, is good for certain sickness."

In that way the people learned the power of all herbs.

Then he showed them how to make weapons with which to kill the animals for their food. First, he went out and cut some sarvisberry shoots, brought them in, and peeled the bark off them. He took one of the larger shoots, flattened it, tied a string to it, and thus made a bow. Then he caught one of the birds he had made, took feathers from its wing, split them, and tied them to a shaft of wood.

At first he tied four feathers along the shaft, and with this bow sent the arrow toward its mark. But he found that it did not fly well. When he used only three feathers, it went straight to the mark. Then he went out and began to break sharp pieces off the stones. When he tied them at the ends of his arrows, he found that the black flint stones, and some white flint, made the best arrow points.

When the people had learned to make bow and arrows, Old Man taught them how to shoot animals and birds. Because it is not healthful to eat animals' flesh raw, he showed the first people how to make fire. He gathered soft, dry rotten driftwood and made a punk of it. Then he found a piece of hard wood and drilled a hole in it with an arrow point. He gave the first man a pointed piece of hard wood and showed him how to roll it between his hands until sparks came out and the punk caught fire. Then he showed the people how to cook the meat of the animals they had killed and how to eat it.

He told them to get a certain kind of stone that was on the land, while he found a harder stone. With the hard stone he had them hollow out the softer one and so make a kettle. Thus, they made their dishes.

Old Man told the first people how to get spirit power: "Go away by yourself and go to sleep. Something will come to you in your dream that will help you. It may be some animal. Whatever this animal tells you in your sleep, you must do. Obey it. Be guided by it. If later you want help, if you are traveling alone and cry aloud for help, your prayer will be answered. It may be by an eagle, perhaps by a buffalo, perhaps by a bear. Whatever animal hears your prayer you must listen to it."

That was how the first people got along in the world, by the power given to them in their dreams.

After this, Old Man kept on traveling north. Many of the animals that he had created followed him. They understood when he spoke to them, and they were his servants. When he got to the north point of the Porcupine Mountains, he made some more mud images of people, blew his breath upon them, and they became people, men and women. They asked him, "What are we to eat?"

By way of answer, Old Man made many images of clay in the form of buffalo. Then he blew breath upon them and they stood up. When he made signs to them, they started to run. Then he said to the people, "Those animals--buffalo--are your food."

"But how can we kill them?" the people asked.

"I will show you," he answered.

He took them to a cliff and told them to build rock piles: "Now hide behind these piles of rocks," he said. "I will lead the buffalo this way. When they are opposite you, rise up."

After telling them what to do, he started toward the herd of buffalo. When he called the animals, they started to run toward him, and they followed him until they were inside the piles of rock. Then Old Man dropped back. As the people rose up, the buffalo ran in a straight line and jumped over the cliff.

"Go down and take the flesh of those animals," said Old Man.

The people tried to tear the limbs apart, but they could not. Old Man went to the edge of the cliff, broke off some pieces with sharp edges, and told the people to cut the flesh with these rocks. They obeyed him. When they had skinned the buffalo, they set up some poles and put the hides on them. Thus they made a shelter to sleep under.

After Old Man had taught the people all these things, he started off again, traveling north until he came to where the Bow and Elbow Rivers meet. There he made some more people and taught them the same things. From there he went farther north. When he had gone almost to the Red Deer River, he was so tired that he lay down on a hill. The form of his body can be seen there yet, on the top of the hill where he rested.

When he awoke from his sleep, he traveled farther north until he came to a high hill. He climbed to the top of it and there he sat down to rest. As he gazed over the country, he was greatly pleased by it. Looking at the steep hill below him, he said to himself, "This is a fine place for sliding. I will have some fun." And he began to slide down the hill. The marks where he slid are to be seen yet, and the place is known to all the Blackfeet tribes as "Old Man's Sliding Ground."

Old Man can never die. Long ago he left the Blackfeet and went away toward the west, disappearing in the mountains. Before he started, he said to the people, "I will always take care of you, and some day I will return."

Even today some people think that he spoke the truth and that when he comes back he will bring with him the buffalo, which they believe the white men have hidden. Others remember that before he left them he said that when he returned he would find them a different people. They would be living in a different world, he said, from that which he had created for them and had taught them to live in.

Native American Legends
Creation by Women
An Iroquois Legend
In the beginning there was no Earth to live on, but up above, in the Great Blue, there was a woman who dreamed dreams.

One night she dreamed about a tree covered with white blossoms, a tree that brightened up the sky when its flowers opened but that brought terrible darkness when they closed again. The dream frightened her, so she went and told it to the wise old men who lived with her, in their village in the sky.

"Pull up this tree," she begged them, but they did not understand. All they did was to dig around its roots, to make space for more light. But the tree just fell through the hole they had made and disappeared. After that there was no light at all, only darkness.

The old men grew frightened of the woman and her dreams. It was her fault that the light had gone away forever.

So they dragged her toward the hole and pushed her through as well. Down, down she fell, down toward the great emptiness. There was nothing below her but a heaving waste of water and she would surely have been smashed to pieces, this strange dreaming woman from the Great Blue, had not a fish hawk come to her aid. His feathers made a pillow for her and she drifted gently above the waves.

But the fish hawk could not keep her up all on his own. He needed help. So he called out to the creatures of the deep. "We must find some firm ground for this poor woman to rest on," he said anxiously. But there was no ground, only the swirling, endless waters.

A helldiver went down, down, down to the very bottom of the sea and brought back a little bit of mud in his beak. He found a turtle, smeared the mud onto its back, and dived down again for more.

Then the ducks joined in. They loved getting muddy and they too brought beakfuls of the ocean floor and spread it over the turtle's shell. The beavers helped-- they were great builders-- and they worked away, making the shell bigger and bigger.

Everybody was very busy now and everybody was excited. This world they were making seemed to be growing enormous! The birds and the animals rushed about building countries, the continents, until, in the end, they had made the whole round Earth, while all the time the sky woman was safely sitting on the turtle's back.

And the turtle holds the Earth up to this very day.

How the four winds were named
An Iroquois Legend
When the world was first made, says the old Iroquois Grandmother, Gaoh, the mighty Master of the Winds dwelt in his lodge in the Western Sky. So fierce was he and so strong that had he wandered freely through the heavens, he would have torn the world in pieces. So he stayed in the Western Sky, and, blowing a loud blast, summoned the creatures of Earth to ask them for help.

And when his call had ceased, and its thundering echoes had died away, Gaoh opened the north door of his lodge wide across the Sky. Immediately the thick snow fell, and a fierce wind tore around the lodge. And lo! there came lumbering up the Sky, Yaogah, the bulky Bear. Battling with the storm and growling loudly, the Bear took his place at Gaoh's north door.

"O Bear, you are strong," said Gaoh. "You can freeze the waters with your cold breath. In your broad arms you can carry the mad tempest, and clasp the whole Earth when I bid you destroy. Therefore you shall live in the North, and watch my herd of Winter Winds when I let them loose upon the Earth. You shall be the North Wind. Enter your house."

And straightway the Bear bent his head, and Gaoh bound him with a leash, and placed him in the Northern Sky.

Then Gaoh trumpeted a shrill blast, and threw open the west door of his lodge, summoning the creatures. Clouds began to cover the Sky. An ugly darkness filled the world. Strange voices shrieked and snarled around the lodge. And with a noise like great claws tearing the heavens, Dajoji, the Panther, sprang to Gaoh's west door.

"O Panther, you are ugly and fierce," said Gaoh. "You can tear down the forests. You can carry the whirlwind on your strong back. You can toss the waves of the sea high into the air, and snarl at the tempests if they stray from my door. You shall be the West Wind. Enter your house."

And straightway the Panther bent his head, and Gaoh bound him with a leash, and placed him in the Western Sky.

Then Gaoh sent forth a sighing call, and threw open the east door of his lodge, summoning the creatures. There arose a sobbing and a moaning. The Sky shivered in the cold rain. The Earth lay in gray mist. There came a crackling sound like the noise of great horns crashing through forest trees, and Oyandone, the mighty Moose, stood stamping his hoofs at Gaoh's east door.

"O Moose," said Gaoh, "your breath blows the gray mist and sends down the cold rain upon the Earth. Your horns spread wide and can push back the trees of the forests to widen the paths for my storms. With your swift hoofs you can race with the winds. You shall be the East Wind. Enter your house."

And straightway the Moose bent his head, and Gaoh bound him with a leash, and placed him in the Eastern Sky.

Yet Gaoh was not content, for there remained still one door to open. He threw it wide to the south, and in gentle tones like sweetest music summoned the creatures. A caressing breeze stole through the lodge, and with it came the fragrance of a thousand sweet flowers, the soft call of babbling brooks, and the voices of birds telling the secrets of Summer. And daintily lifting her feet, ran Neoga, the brown-eyed Fawn, and stood timidly waiting at Gaoh's south door.

"O gentle Fawn," said Gaoh, "you walk with the Summer Sun, and know its most beautiful paths. You are kind like the Sunbeam, and feed on dew and fragrance. You will rule my flock of Summer breezes in peace and joy. You shall be the South Wind. Enter your house."

And straightway the Fawn bent her head, and Gaoh bound her with a leash, and placed her in the Southern Sky.

And now, when the North Wind blows strong, the old Iroquois Grandmother says, "The Bear is prowling in the Sky." And if the West Wind snarls around the tent door, she says, "The Panther is whining." When the East Wind chills the tent with mist and rain, she says, "The Moose is spreading his breath." But when the South Wind caresses her cheek, and wafts soft voices and sweet odors through the tent, she smilingly says, "The Fawn is going home to her mother, the Doe."

Native American Legends
The Creation Story
An Iroquois Legend
In the beginning, the world was not as we know it now. It was a water world inhabited only by animals and creatures of the air who could survive without land.

Up above, the Sky World was quite different. Human-type beings lived there with infinite types of plants and animals to enjoy.

In the Sky World, there was a Tree of Life that was very special to the people of the Sky World. They knew that it grew at the entrance to the world below and forbade anyone to tamper with the Tree. One woman who was soon to give birth was curious about the Tree and convinced her brother to uproot the Tree.

Beneath the Tree was a great hole. The woman peered from the edge into the hole and suddenly fell off the edge. As she was falling she grasped at the edge and clutched in her hand some of the earth from the Sky World. As she fell, the birds of the world below were disturbed and alerted to her distress. The birds responded and gathered a great many of their kind to break her fall and cradle her to the back of a great sea turtle. The creatures of the water believed that she needed land to live on, so they set about to collect some for her. They dove to the great depths of the world's oceans to gather earth to make her a place to live. Many of the animals tried to gather the earth from the ocean floor, only the muskrat was successful. With only a small bit of earth brought onto turtle's back from his small paws, Turtle Island began to grow.

The Sky Woman soon gave birth to a daughter on Turtle Island. The daughter grew fast. There were no man-beings on Turtle Island, but a being known as the West Wind married the daughter of Sky Woman.

Soon the daughter of Sky Woman gave birth to Twins. One was born the natural way, and he was called the Right-Handed Twin. The other was born in a way that caused the death of the mother. He was called the Left-Handed Twin. When their mother died, their grandmother, Sky Woman, placed the fistful of earth that she grasped from the edge of the Sky World, and placed it on her daughter's grave. The earth carried special seeds from the Sky World that were nourished by the earth over her daughter. So from the body of her daughter came the Sacred Tobacco, Strawberry and Sweetgrass. We call these Kionhekwa. The Life Givers.

The Right and Left-Handed Twins were endowed with special creative powers. The Right-Handed Twin created gentle hills, beautiful smelling flowers, quiet brooks, butterflies and numerous creatures, plants and earth formations. His brother the Left-Handed Twin made snakes, thorns on rose bushes, thunder and lightning and other more disturbing attributes of today's world. Together, they created man and his many attributes. The Right-Handed Twin believed in diplomacy and conflict resolution. The Left-Handed Twin believed in conflict as resolution. They were very different, but all that they created is an integral part of this Earth's Creation.

Their Grandmother, Sky Woman, now came to the end of her life. When she died, the Twins fought over her body and pulled it apart, throwing her head into the sky. As part of the Sky World, there her head remained to shine upon the world as Grandmother Moon. The Twins could not live together without fighting. They agreed to dwell in different realms of the earth. The Right-Handed Twin continued to live in the daylight and the Left-Handed Twin became a dweller of the night. Both of them continue their special duties to their Mother the Earth.

A Cherokee Blessing Prayer

Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi



May the Great Spirit's Blessings Always Be With You agayuli wahyaw!

Nia:wen

ugauhiu gudodi ehisdu

Lots of reading to do and catch up..but rest assured I will!

As I went back, this one leaped out at me..as THAT is what I always say in a religious "debate"...that I love the "mystery"..and accept that we are not to know..for then there would be no need for faith.

Many gems in this topic, T. Have a feeling I'll be coming and reading and re-reading..I enjoy it so very much!

Nia-wen

you have found the gem amongst the rocks D, now you have found my soul - a true pathwalker -

The Past and the Present
A Blackfoot Legend
Fifty years ago the name Blackfoot was one of terrible meaning to the white traveler who passed across that desolate buffalo-trodden waste which lay to the north of the Yellowstone River and east of the Rocky Mountains. This was the Blackfoot land, the undisputed home of a people which is said to have numbered in one of its tribes the Pi-kun'-i 8000 lodges, or 40,000 persons. Besides these, there were the Blackfeet and the Bloods, three tribes of one nation, speaking the same language, having the same customs, and holding the same religious faith.

But this land had not always been the home of the Blackfeet. Long ago, before the coming of the white men, they had lived in another country far to the north and east, about Lesser Slave Lake, ranging between Peace River and the Saskatchewan, and having for their neighbors on the north the Beaver Indians. Then the Blackfeet were a timber people. It is said that about two hundred years ago the Chippeweyans from the east invaded this country and drove them south and west. Whether or no this is true, it is quite certain that not many generations back the Blackfeet lived on the North Saskatchewan River and to the north of that stream. Gradually working their way westward, they at length reached the Rocky Mountains, and, finding game abundant, remained there until they obtained horses, in the very earliest years of the present century. When they secured horses and guns, they took courage and began to venture out on to the plains and to go to war. From this time on, the Blackfeet made constant war on their neighbors to the south, and in a few years controlled the whole country between the Saskatchewan on the north and the Yellowstone on the south.

It was, indeed, a glorious country which the Blackfeet had wrested from their southern enemies. Here nature has reared great mountains and spread out broad prairies. Along the western border of this region, the Rocky Mountains lift their snow-clad peaks above the clouds. Here and there, from north to south, and from east to west, lie minor ranges, black with pine forests if seen near at hand, or in the distance mere gray silhouettes against a sky of blue. Between these mountain ranges lies everywhere the great prairie; a monotonous waste to the stranger's eye, but not without its charm. It is brown and bare; for, except during a few short weeks in spring, the sparse bunch-grass is sear and yellow, and the silver gray of the wormwood lends an added dreariness to the landscape. Yet this seemingly desert waste has a beauty of its own. At intervals it is marked with green winding river valleys, and everywhere it is gashed with deep ravines, their sides painted in strange colors of red and gray and brown, and their perpendicular walls crowned with fantastic columns and figures of stone or clay, carved out by the winds and the rains of ages. Here and there, rising out of the plain, are curious sharp ridges, or square-topped buttes with vertical sides, sometimes bare, and sometimes dotted with pines, short, sturdy trees, whose gnarled trunks and thick, knotted branches have been twisted and wrung into curious forms by the winds which blow unceasingly, hour after hour, day after day, and month after month, over mountain range and prairie, through gorge and coulee.

These prairies now seem bare of life, but it was not always so. Not very long ago, they were trodden by multitudinous herds of buffalo and antelope; then, along the wooded river valleys and on the pine-clad slopes of the mountains, elk, deer, and wild sheep fed in great numbers. They are all gone now. The winter's wind still whistles over Montana prairies, but nature's shaggy-headed wild cattle no longer feel its biting blasts. Where once the scorching breath of summer stirred only the short stems of the buffalo-grass, it now billows the fields of the white man's grain. Half-hidden by the scanty herbage, a few bleached skeletons alone remain to tell us of the buffalo; and the broad, deep trails, over which the dark herds passed by thousands, are now grass-grown and fast disappearing under the effacing hand of time. The buffalo have disappeared, and the fate of the buffalo has almost overtaken the Blackfeet.

As known to the whites, the Blackfeet were true prairie Indians, seldom venturing into the mountains, except when they crossed them to war with the Kutenais, the Flatheads, or the Snakes. They subsisted almost wholly on the flesh of the buffalo. They were hardy, untiring, brave, ferocious. Swift to move, whether on foot or horseback, they made long journeys to war, and with telling force struck their enemies. They had conquered and driven out from the territory which they occupied the tribes who once inhabited it, and maintained a desultory and successful warfare against all invaders, fighting with the Crees on the north, the Assinaboines on the east, the Crows on the south, and the Snakes, Kalispels, and Kutenais on the southwest and west. In those days the Blackfeet were rich and powerful. The buffalo fed and clothed them, and they needed nothing beyond what nature supplied. This was their time of success and happiness.

Crowded into a little corner of the great territory which they once dominated, and holding this corner by an uncertain tenure, a few Blackfeet still exist, the pitiful remnant of a once mighty people. Huddled together about their agencies, they are facing the problem before them, striving, helplessly but bravely, to accommodate themselves to the new order of things; trying in the face of adverse surroundings to wrench themselves loose from their accustomed ways of life; to give up inherited habits and form new ones; to break away from all that is natural to them, from all that they have been taught to reverse their whole mode of existence. They are striving to earn their living, as the white man earns his, by toil. The struggle is hard and slow, and in carrying it on they are wasting away and growing fewer in numbers. But though unused to labor, ignorant of agriculture, unacquainted with tools or seeds or soils, knowing nothing of the ways of life in permanent houses or of the laws of health, scantily fed, often utterly discouraged by failure, they are still making a noble fight for existence.

Only within a few years since the buffalo disappeared has this change been going on; so recently has it come that the old order and the new meet face to face. In the trees along the river valleys, still quietly resting on their aerial sepulchres, sleep the forms of the ancient hunter-warrior who conquered and held this broad land; while, not far away, Blackfoot farmers now rudely cultivate their little crops, and gather scanty harvests from narrow fields.

It is the meeting of the past and the present, of savagery and civilization. The issue cannot be doubtful. Old methods must pass away. The Blackfeet will become civilized, but at a terrible cost. To me there is an interest, profound and pathetic, in watching the progress of the struggle.

Why Blackfeet never kill Mice
A Blackfoot Legend
There was much quarreling among the animals and the birds. You see the Bear wanted to be chief, under Old-man, and so did the Beaver. Almost every night they would have a council and quarrel over it. Beside the Bear and Beaver, there were other animals, and also birds, that thought they had the right to be chief.

They couldn't agree and the quarreling grew worse as time went on. Some said the greatest thief should be chosen. Others thought the wisest one should be the leader; while some said the swiftest traveler was the one they wanted. So it went on and on until they were most all enemies instead of friends, and you could hear them quarreling almost every night, until Old-man came along that way.

He heard about the trouble. I forget who told him, but I think it was the Rabbit. Anyhow he visited the council where the quarreling was going on and listened to what each one had to say. It took until almost daylight, too. He listened to it all -- every bit. When they had finished talking and the quarreling commenced as usual, he said, 'stop!' and they did stop.

Then he said to them: 'I will settle this thing right here and right now, so that there will be no more rows over it, forever.'

He opened his paint sack and took from it a small, polished bone. This he held up in the firelight, so that they might all see it, and he said: "'This will settle the quarrel. You all see this bone in my right hand, don't you?'

'Yes,' they replied.

'Well, now you watch the bone and my hands, too, for they are quick and cunning.'

Old-man began to sing the gambling song and to slip the bone from one hand to the other so rapidly and smoothly that they were all puzzled. Finally he stopped singing and held out his hands -- both shut tight, and both with their backs up.

'Which of my hands holds the bone now?' he asked them.

Some said it was in the right hand and others claimed that it was the left hand that held it. Old-man asked the Bear to name the hand that held the bone, and the Bear did; but when Old-man opened that hand it was empty -- the bone was not there. Then everybody laughed at the Bear. Old-man smiled a little and began to sing and again pass the bone.

'Beaver, you are smart; name the hand that holds the bone this time.'

"The Beaver said: 'It's in your right hand. I saw you put it there.'

Old-man opened that hand right before the Beaver's eyes, but the bone wasn't there, and again everybody laughed -- especially the Bear.

'Now, you see,' said Old-man, 'that this is not so easy as it looks, but I am going to teach you all to play the game; and when you have all learned it, you must play it until you find out who is the cleverest at the playing. Whoever that is, he shall be chief under me, forever.'

Some were awkward and said they didn't care much who was chief, but most all of them learned to play pretty well. First the Bear and the Beaver tried it, but the Beaver beat the Bear easily and held the bone for ever so long. Finally the Buffalo beat the Beaver and started to play with the Mouse. Of course the Mouse had small hands and was quicker than the Buffalo -- quicker to see the bone. The Buffalo tried hard for he didn't want the Mouse to be chief but it didn't do him any good; for the Mouse won in the end.

It was a fair game and the Mouse was chief under the agreement. He looked quite small among the rest but he walked right out to the center of the council and said: 'Listen, brothers -- what is mine to keep is mine to give away. I am too small to be your chief and I know it. I am not warlike. I want to live in peace with my wife and family. I know nothing of war. I get my living easily. I don't like to have enemies. I am going to give my right to be chief to the man that Old-man has made like himself.'

That settled it. That made the man chief forever, and that is why he is greater than the animals and the birds. That is why we never kill the Mice-people.

You saw the Mice run into the buffalo skull, of course. There is where they have lived and brought up their families ever since the night the Mouse beat the Buffalo playing the bone game. Yes -- the Mice-people always make their nests in the heads of the dead Buffalo-people, ever since that night.

Our people play the same game, even today. See," and War Eagle took from his paint sack a small, polished bone. Then he sang just as Old-man did so long ago. He let the children try to guess the hand that held the bone, as the animal-people did that fateful night; but, like the animals, they always guessed wrong.

When the World was young
A Blackfoot Legend
When the world was young, Old Man and Old Woman Coyote were walking around. "Let us decide how things will be," Old Man Coyote Said.

"That would be good," said Old Woman Coyote. "How shall we do it?"

"It was my idea so I'll have the first say" said Old Man Coyote.

"That is fine ," said Old Woman Coyote ."Just as long as I have the last say."

So for a while they walked around looking at things. Finally Old Man Coyote said something. "The men will be the hunters. Any time they want to shoot an animal they will call it and it will come."

"I too think men should be the hunters," said Old Woman Coyote. "But if the animals come so easily then life will be too easy for the people. The animals shall run away and hide. This will make it harder for the hunters but it will make them smarter and stronger."

"You have the last say," said Old Man Coyote.

They walked around some more and again Old Man Coyote said something. "I've been thinking about how people will look. They will have eyes on one side of their face and their mouth on the other. Their mouths will go up and down. They will have ten fingers on each hand."

"I too think that people should have their eyes and their mouth on their faces, but their eyes will be at the top of their face and their mouth at the bottom and they will be across from each other." Said Old Woman Coyote "and I agree they should have fingers, but ten on each hand will be too awkward. They will have 5 fingers on each hand."

"You have the last say," said Old Man Coyote.

They continued to walk and finally they were by the river when Old Man Coyote spoke. "Let us decide about life and death. I will do it this way. I will throw this buffalo chip into the river. If it floats then when people die they will come back to life after 4 days and live forever."

Old Man Coyote threw the chip in and it floated.

"I too think we should decide this way," Old Woman Coyote said. "But I we will use a stone instead of a buffalo chip. I will throw this stone in the river. If it floats then people will come back in 4 days and live forever. If it sinks then people will not come back to life after they die."

Old Woman Coyote threw the stone in the river and it sank.

"That is the way it should be," Old Woman Coyote said. "If people lived forever the Earth would get to crowded and there would not be enough food. This way people will learn compassion."

Old Man Coyote said nothing.

Some time passed. Old Woman Coyote had a child. She and Old Man Coyote loved the child a lot and they were happy.

One day, the child became ill and died. Then Old Woman Coyote went to Old Man Coyote.

"Let us have our say again about death," she said.

But Old Man Coyote shook his head." NO, you had the last say."

I finally made it here, T!!

Geesh tons of mail.

Okay, have my reading glasses on..

And YES, I DO believe we have found fellow "soul travelers" or "path walkers", if you will, in we two! There ARE no accidents, m'dear!

Okay, do I skip around or keep plodding?? Hhhmm what mood is your Arian counterpart in tonight, eh? lol

wa do {wah-doe - thank you} cherokee.

ok, enjoy, talk to you later.

my nunehi [nuh nay he] path - aisu [ah-ee-suh] walker

nunehi aisu

The Creator Visits
A Micmac Legend
The Creator made Kluskap and told him to teach The People. Kluskap and the people walked together and he was there when the people needed his help. But sometimes, the Creator sent other people to do his work.

A long time ago, a young man and his grandfather lived together in the woods. They were very poor.

One night, the young man had a dream that the Creator came to visit him. When he woke up the next morning, he told his grandfather. The grandfather said that he had the same dream. So they took this as a good sign.

The young man and his grandfather prepared a feast for the visit they would be getting from the Creator. They cleaned and cooked, even though they didn't have much food. They made some bread and soup.

That morning, someone came knocking at the door. When the young man opened the door, two little children were standing there. They were very hungry, so the old man called them in and gave them something to eat. When the children finished eating, they helped to clean up, and then the old man sent them on their way.

Around noon, someone else came knocking at the door. It was another stranger, but this time it was a youth, a young man.

"Oh, please, I am so hungry", he said. "Is there any work I can do for you in exchange for something to eat?"

"Well, come in", said the grandfather. "I will give you some soup".

The visitor ate the soup and helped wash the dishes. He was very happy. He thanked both of them, and set out on his journey to the next village.

Not long after that, someone else came knocking at the door.

"That must be the Creator", said the grandson.

But when they opened the door, it was a middle-aged man. The man was cold and hungry.

"Please, can you help me?" he said. "I am so hungry".

"Well, we don't have very much food left, and we are expecting company, but I can give you a little bit of bread", said the old man.

The visitor ate the bread and drank some water. He was very happy. He cleaned up before he too started on his journey again.

It was getting dark outside, and still the Creator had not come to see the grandfather and his grandson.

Around 8 o'clock, someone comes knocking on the door. The grandfather opens the door and sees an old man.

"Please give me something to eat. I am too weak to make it to the other village", said the old man.

The grandfather is so disappointed that this is not the Creator, that he slams the door in the old man's face. "Go away!" he shouts at him.

Outside in the yard, the old man had slipped and fell. He was hungry and weak.

When the grandfather and the grandson saw this, they felt bad. They ran out and helped him into the house and gave him some water and the last of their soup and bread. There was no food left.

When the old man left, he thanked them for the food. As they watched him walk away, he disappeared.

The grandfather and the grandson were tired, so they went to sleep.

The Creator once again comes to them in their dreams.

They ask him, "Where were you? Why didn't you come to see us today? We made a feast for you."

The Creator answered, "I was there today. I came to see you four times and each time you gave me food. From this day on, you will never be hungry again".

How fire came to the Six Nations
A Mohawk Legend
Often, around the fire in the long house of the Iroquois, during the Moon of the Long Nights, this tale is told.

Three Arrows was a boy of the Mohawk tribe. Although he had not yet seen fourteen winters he was already known among the Iroquois for his skill and daring. His arrows sped true to their mark. His name was given him when with three bone-tipped arrows he brought down three flying wild geese from the same flock.

He could travel in the forest as softly as the south wind and he was a skilful hunter, but he never killed a bird or animal unless his clan needed food. He was well-versed in woodcraft, fleet of foot, and a clever wrestler. His people said, 'Soon he will be a chief like his father.'

The sun shone strong in the heart of Three Arrows, because soon he would have to meet the test of strength and endurance through which the boys of his clan attained manhood. He had no fear of the outcome of the dream fast which was so soon to take.

His father was a great chief and a good man, and the boy's life had been patterned after that of his father. When the grass was knee-high, Three Arrows left his village with his father.

They climbed to a sacred place in the mountains. They found a narrow cave at the back of a little plateau. Here Three Arrows decided to live for his few days of prayer and vigil. He was not permitted to eat anything during the days and nights of his dream fast.

He had no weapons, and his only clothing was a breechclout and moccasins. His father left the boy with the promise that he would visit him each day that the ceremony lasted, at dawn.

Three Arrows prayed to the Great Spirit. He begged that soon his clan spirit would appear in a dream and tell him what his guardian animal or bird was to be. When he knew this, he would adopt that bird or animal as his special guardian for the rest of his life.

When the dream came he would be free to return to his people, his dream fast successfully achieved. For five suns Three Arrows spent his days and nights on the rocky plateau, only climbing down to the little spring for water after each sunset. His heart was filled with a dark cloud because that morning his father had sadly warned him that the next day, the sixth sun, he must return to his village even if no dream had come to him in the night.

This meant returning to his people in disgrace without the chance of taking another dream fast. That night Tree Arrows, weak from hunger and weary from ceaseless watch, cried out to the Great Mystery.

'O Great Spirit, have pity on him who stands humbly before Thee. Let his clan spirit or a sign from beyond the thunderbird come to him before tomorrow's sunrise, if it be Thy will.'

As he prayed, the wind suddenly veered from east to north. This cheered Three Arrows because the wind was now the wind of the great bear, and the bear was the totem of his clan. When he entered the cavern he smelled for the first time the unmistakable odor of a bear: this was strong medicine.

He crouched at the opening of the cave, too excited to lie down although his tired body craved rest. As he gazed out into the night he heard the rumble of thunder, saw the lightning flash, and felt the fierce breath of the wind from the north.

Suddenly a vision came to him, and a gigantic bear stood beside him in the cave. Then Three Arrows heard it say, 'Listen well, Mohawk. Your clan spirit has heard your prayer. Tonight you will learn a great mystery which will bring help and gladness to all your people.'

A terrible clash of thunder brought the dazed boy to his feet as the bear disappeared. He looked from the cave just as a streak of lightning flashed across the sky in the form of a blazing arrow. Was this the sign from the thunderbird ? Suddenly the air was filled with a fearful sound. A shrill shrieking came from the ledge just above the cave. It sounded as though mountain lions fought in the storm; yet Three Arrows felt no fear as he climbed toward the ledge.

As his keen eyes grew accustomed to the dim light he saw that the force of the wind was causing two young balsam trees to rub violently against each other. The strange noise was caused by friction, and as he listened and watched fear filled his heart, for, from where the two trees rubbed together a flash of lightning show smoke. Fascinated, he watched until flickers of flames followed the smoke.

He had never seen fire of any kind at close range nor had any of his people. He scrambled down to the cave and covered his eyes in dread of this strange magic. Then he smelt bear again and he thought of his vision, his clan spirit, the bear, and its message. This was the mystery which he was to reveal to his people. The blazing arrow in the sky was to be his totem, and his new name - Blazing Arrow.

At daybreak, Blazing Arrow climbed onto the ledge and broke two dried sticks from what remained of one of the balsams. He rubbed them violently together, but nothing happened. 'The magic is too powerful for me,' he thought. Then a picture of his clan and village formed in his mind, and he patiently rubbed the hot sticks together again.

His will power took the place of his tired muscles. Soon a little wisp of smoke greeted his renewed efforts, then came a bright spark on one of the sticks. Blazing Arrow waved it as he had seen the fiery arrow wave in the night sky. A resinous blister on the stick glowed, then flamed - fire had come to the Six Nations!

Native American Legends

The prophecy of the two Serpents

A Mohawk Legend:

The story is told that a long time ago, before the time that Europeans arrived in the Americas, two hunters went out over the Great Water to look for a new hunting territory. Game was scarce in Kanienkehaka, and they hoped to find more food beyond the horizon in the east.

These two hunters set out in their canoe for richer game. After they had gone out beyond the horizon's edge, they noticed a glowing in the distance. They quickened their paddling and came upon a very strange sight. There in the water were two small serpents, one gold and one silver. These serpents were glowing and turned the sky into wonderful colors.

The two hunters were amazed at the beauty of the serpents. They did not want to leave them in the water for fear they would drown or else be eaten by a large fish. They knew if they brought these serpents back to their own nation, the people would admire the serpents and call the two hunters men of great skill and daring. They paddled up close to the serpents and scooped them up into their canoe.

Before the two hunters returned to their village, the people could see them approaching from the great light that glowed from the serpents.

When the hunters reached their homes with their prize, the people were impressed by the catch. Everybody crowded around the serpents to watch the beautiful light that they gave off.

The people kept the serpents in an extra canoe. They were fed daily, and soon began to eat 24 hours a day. They grew too large for the canoe, and had to be moved to a stockade especially built for that purpose.

At first the serpents were fed mosquitoes, flies and other insects. As they grew larger they ate small animals like rabbits, raccoons and muskrats. Soon they grew so large that they needed to be fed deer and finally moose.

One day the serpents grew so large that they managed to escape from their stockade pen. They attacked the children and swallowed quite a few of them whole. The people were in terrible circumstances. They could see the children squirming around in the bellies of the huge gold and silver serpents.

They attacked these serpents with clubs, with arrows and with spears, but to no avail. The serpents continued to ravage through the village, killing more and more of the people and swallowing more of the children. Finally they left the village and headed for the woods.

The people fought among themselves as to what to do. They couldn't agree as to what was the best way to stop the serpents. They fought until it became too late and the serpents disappeared. The gold serpent went south, and the silver one headed north.

These serpents left trails wherever they went. They cut through mountains and blocked up the rivers. They killed all of the animals wherever they went, not always stopping to eat the meat. When the serpents approached a mountain, instead of going around it or over the top, they burrowed through the middle. The serpents left trails of filth and destruction wherever they went. They poisoned the waters, killed the forests, and made the earth an ugly and barren place.

One day a hunter from the land of the Kanienkehaka happened to see the golden serpent. It had grown to be the size of a mountain, and it had turned around, and was heading for the Mohawk country once again. Similarly word came down from the north that the silver serpent had grown and it too was heading for the land of the Kanienkehaka.

One day, the two serpents could be seen from the original village from whence they had come three hundred years earlier. Again the people argued and argued. They could not agree as to the best way to kill the serpents off. The people remembered the legends of the serpents, and how they had eaten the children of their ancestors, and they fled to the mountains.

Once in the mountains the people were told by the Creator that the day would come when a small boy would show them the way to kill the two serpents. The boy would make a bow from willow. He would string the bow with a string made from the hair of the clan mothers. An arrow would be made of a straight sapling and tipped with the white flint of the Kanienkehaka.

With this arrow and this bow, the people were told, the Kanienkehaka would protect themselves from the two serpents of the United States and Canada.

some history of my people the cherokee [tsalagi]

Original:

The southern Appalachian Mountains: including western North and South Carolina, northern Georgia and Alabama, southwest Virginia, and the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee, Kentucky, and northern Alabama.
Current:
Distributed across the United States, but concentrated in eastern Oklahoma. The eastern Cherokee still maintain their reservation in western



North Carolina. The Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory has almost 12,000 members and has been recognized by the State of Missouri. Other groups of Cherokee, like the 2,500 members of the North Alabama Cherokee, are located in Arkansas, Georgia, and Alabama but currently do not have federal recognition.

Population
European epidemics introduced into the southeastern United States in 1540 by the Desoto expedition are estimated to have killed at least 75% of the original native population. How much the Cherokee suffered from this disaster in unknown, but their population in 1674 was about 50,000. A series of smallpox epidemics (1729, 1738, and 1753) cut this in half, and



it remained fairly stable at about 25,000 until their removal to Oklahoma during the 1830s. The American Civil War was the next disaster and cost the Cherokee 25% of their population. No other group of Americans, red or white, suffered as severely during this conflict. The 1990 census listed 308,132 persons (15,000 full-blood) who identified themselves as Cherokee. Of these, 95,435 were concentrated in eastern Oklahoma while 10,114 eastern Cherokee lived on or near the North Carolina reservation. Cherokee tribal governments have fairly liberal membership standards, and some estimates exceed 370,000, which would make the Cherokee the largest Native American group in the United States.


Name
The most familiar name, Cherokee, comes from a Creek word "Chelokee" meaning "people of a different speech." In their own language the Cherokee originally called themselves the Aniyunwiya (or Anniyaya) "principal people" or the Keetoowah (or Anikituaghi, Anikituhwagi) "people of Kituhwa." Although they usually accept being called Cherokee, many prefer Tsalagi from their own name for the Cherokee Nation (Tsalagihi Ayili). Other names applied to the Cherokee have been: Allegheny (or Allegewi, Talligewi) (Delaware), Baniatho (Arapaho), Caáxi (or Cayaki) (Osage and Kansa), Chalaque (Spanish), Chilukki (dog people) (Choctaw and Chickasaw), Entarironnen (mountain people) (Huron), Gatohuá (Creek), Kittuwa (or Katowá) (Algonquin), Matera (or Manteran) (coming out of the ground) ( Catawba), Nation du Chien (French), Ochietarironnon (Wyandot), Oyatageronon (or Oyaudah, Uwatayoronon) (cave people) (Iroquois), Shanaki (Caddo), Shannakiak (Fox), Tcaike (Tonkawa), and Tcerokieco (Wichita).


Language
Iroquian, but Cherokee differs significantly from other Iroquian languages.