LEGENDS of the IROQUOIS - 24 Native American Legends and Stories

Book excerpt: THESE 24 Iroquois legends and stories have been told in the homes of the Iroquois for many centuries; long before the white man arrived on the North American continent. The perusal and study of these stories will, it is believed, give as much pleasure to the reader, as they have given the compiler. Of special interest is the “Legend of Hiawatha” made famous fifty years earlier by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Some of the stories and lengends in this volume are: The Birth of the Arbutus A Legend Of The River Legends Of The Corn The First Winter The Great Mosquito The Story Of Oniata The Legends of Hiawatha, and many, many more. The American Indians, like so many cultures, built neither monuments nor wrote books. However, they did make picture writings, known in later years as “wampum.” Mostly, these were mere symbols, recording mainly feats of arms. However, the Iroquois used wampum as a record of a person’s credentials or a certificate of authority. It was also used for official purposes and religious ceremonies, and it was used as a way to bind peace between tribes. Among the Iroquois, every chief and every clan mother has a certain string of wampum that serves as their certificate of office. When they pass on or are removed from their station, the string will then pass on to the new leader. Runners carrying messages during colonial times would present the wampum showing that they had the authority to carry the message. Wampum is still used to this day by the Iroquois in the ceremony of raising up a new chief and in the Iroquois Thanksgiving ceremonies. If the American forefathers had taken more interest in the peoples they found on the Western Continent, spending less of their energies in devising plans for cheating the Indians out of their furs and lands—a policy their descendants have closely followed and admirably succeeded in—our libraries might contain volumes of fairy tales that would delight the youth of many generations. =========== KEYWORDS/TAGS: Legends of the Iroquois, Aliquipiso, American Indian, american indian ancestry, American Indian books, American Indian childrens books, american indian east coast, american indian Iroquois, american Indian legends, american indian songs, american indian stories, american indian tales, american indian traditions, american indian tribes, american indian values, american indian warriors, american indian words, animals, Arbutus, arrows, Ash Tree, assemble, Authority, beads, bear, beautiful, beaver, bedtime stories, birds, Birth, brave, Buzzard's Covering, canoe, chief, children, childrens books, childrens stories, Confederation, corn, Cornplanter, council, council fire, dead, death, death song, eagle, earth spirits, evil, fables, fairy tales, First Winter, Flying Head, folklore, Folk-Lore, forest, fox, Gift, Great, Great Mosquito, happiness, Happy, Healing Waters, heart, Hiawatha, horse, Hunter, Hunting Grounds, Indians, Iroquois, Kanistagia, lakes, Legend of the River, legends, Legends of the Corn, lodge, lover, maiden, Manito, medicine, men, Message Bearers, Mirror in the Water, Mohawk, mountains, myths, Native American, Nekumonta, Oneida, Oniata, Onondagas, Origin, Orontadeka, panther, papoose, peace, Peacemaker, pipe, raccoon, river, sachem, sacred, Sacred Stone, Sacrifice, Seneca, Shanewis, Spirit, stories, streams, summer, sun, Tiogaughwa, trail, trees, Turtle Clan, Unwelcome Visitor, village, Violet, wampum, warriors, waters, white men, Why Animals do not Talk, wigwam, wild, wisdom, Wise Sachem, wolf, woods, young people