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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



guardian, one of the three spirit sisters, daughters of the Earth, 

 the " Great Mother " of the Iroquois. The beans, corn and squash 

 were, in the " old time," planted together in one hill and it was 

 therefore consistent that their protectors should dwell in peaceful 

 community. These chaste maidens are possessed of great beauty 

 and unswerving fidelity. Ever watchful in their guardianship, 

 clothed in the leaves of their respective plants and friendly with 

 the dews, at nightfall in the growing time they solicit their moisture 

 to refresh and invigorate the fields over which they preside, pro- 

 tecting them from blight and the infection of creatures that might 

 corrupt the ripening. These gentle defenders have no individual 

 names and are known only as the De-o-ha-ko. 



There is a legend that the corn once grew spontaneously and 

 abundant and that its grain was heavy with rich oil, but the " Evil 

 Minded," envious of the goodness of the Great Spirit in this gift to 

 his people and having a limited power to destroy, one night de- 

 tained the Spirit of the Corn while he sent forth one of his emis- 

 saries who cast a blight over the corn. From that time the result 

 has been apparent, the corn yielding less abundant and being 

 more difficult to cultivate. Since this fatal blight and captivity, 

 the Spirit of the Corn has been compelled to hold her vigils alone 

 in the fields where the corn now grows, separated from its sister 

 plants. In her loneliness she dare not leave her charge to seek the 

 dews, hence the droughts; but the pitying dews frequently visit 

 her, refreshing the fields and comforting her in her solitude. 



In the winds that moan through the rustling corn leaves, the 

 red man hears the voice of the Spirit of the Corn who, in her love 

 for him, bewails her blighted fruitfulness. 



The conception of He-no, Ga-oh, and the De-o-ha-ko is, to a 

 degree, similar to that of Jupiter, Aeolis, and Ceres of the Greeks ; 

 yet the red man, believing these myth guardians of nature to be 

 subject to the one Supreme Ruler, the creator of man and the source 

 of all good, reached a more definite conclusion respecting the ex- 

 istence of a Deity and entitled him to a supreme religion of purity 

 and dignity. 



