THE GREAT PEACE

Continued from last week

Deganahwideh took a third string of wampum and held it before the multitude saying, “It is provided thus: To you, Adadarho, and your cousin Lords, fourteen of you altogether, this shall be your duty. You shall keep the Confederate Council Fire clean all around, you shall allow no dust or dirt to be seen around the Council Fire. I there­fore lay a seagull wing, Shaweyesehgowah Onerahontshah, near you. Take this wing and sweep the dust and dirt away from the Council Fire. If you see any crawling creature approaching the Confederate Council Fire, I lay a stick by you with which you are to pitch the crawling creature from the Council Fire, and your cousin Lords will act with you at all times. Dust, dirt, and crawling creatures signify a matter or proposition brought before the Council, which would be injurious to the Confederate Nation. If you fail to reject it alone, you shall call the rest of your Confederate Lords to your aid.”

Deganahwideh, one by one, took eighty-two wampum strings and belts, one for each of the laws of the Great Peace, and held them before the multitude, at the same time telling the people what each string or belt signified. Thus was formed the Great Confederation of the Five Nations in the days before the arrival of white-faced invaders from the Big Salt Water to the east.