l6 NEW YORK: STATE MUSEUM 



So answered Dekanawida, " I am able to demonstrate my power 

 for I am the messenger of the Creator and he truly has given me 

 my choice of the manner of my death." 



" Choose then," said the speaker, " a manner of destruction for 

 we are ready to destroy you." Dekanawida replied, " By the side 

 of the falls at the edge of a precipice stands a tall tree. I will 

 climb the tree and seat myself in the topmost branches. Then shall 

 you cut down the tree and I shall fall into the depths below. Will 

 not that destroy me ? " 



Then said the speaker, " Let us proceed at once." 



Dekanawida ascended the tree and it was chopped down. A 

 multitude of people saw him fall into the chasm and plunge into 

 the water. So they were satisfied that he was surely drowned. 

 Night came but Dekanawida did not appear and thus were the 

 people sure of his death, and then were they satisfied. 



The next morning the warriors saw strange smoke arising from 

 the smoke hole of an empty cabin. They approached cautiously and 

 peering in the side of the wall where the bark was loosened they 

 saw Dekanawidah. He was alive and was not a ghost and he was 

 cooking his morning meal. 



So the watchers reported their discovery and then were the 

 chiefs and people truly convinced that indeed Dekanawidah might 

 establish the Great Peace. 



THE TROUBLED NATIONS 

 The Ongwe-oweh had fought long and bravely. So long had 

 they fought that they became lustful for war and many times 

 Endeka-Gakwa, the Sun, came out of the east to find them fighting. 

 It was thus because the Ongwe-oweh were so successful that they 

 said the Sun loved war and gave them power. 



AH the Ongwe-oweh fought other nations sometimes together and 

 h/ . sometimes singly and, ah-gi ! ofttimes they fought among them- 

 selves. The nation of the Flint had little sympathy for the Nation 

 jS- of the Great Hill, and sometimes they raided one another's settle- 

 ^'\ ^ ments. Thus did brothers and Ongwe-oweh fight. The nation of 

 the Sunken Pole fought the Nation of the Flint and hated them, 

 and the Nation of the Sunken Pole was Ongwe. 



Because of bitter jealousy and love of bloodshed sometimes towns 

 would send their young men against the young men of another 

 town to practise them in fighting. 



Even in his own town a warrior's own neighbor might be his 

 enemy and it was not safe to roam about at night when Soi-ka- 

 Gakwa, our Grandmother, the Moon, was hidden. 



V^ 



