KARIHKWI:IO –ORIGIN OF THE FOUR SACRED CEREMONIES

The Fatherless Boy

In the old days, in a native village, twelve male babies were born the same night. Eleven had fathers and one was fatherless. His mother was a pure woman. When the mothers of the eleven infant boys who had fathers were able to be about, they wished to visit the mother of the fatherless boy.

One day, they took their sons and went to the home of the twelfth boy. They all arrived at the same time, as though having previous arranged the meeting. The eleven mothers took their sons to see the fatherless boy frequently and, strangely enough, all arrived at his home at the same time and never had it being previously planned. As the boys grew older they met often to play together. The fatherless boy had a nice place in which to play, and the other eleven boys were happy when in his company.

One day when the mothers went out to look for their sons (now well grown boys), they saw the eleven seated in a circle and the fatherless boy standing within the circle talking to them and teaching them. The boys listened in earnest. The fatherless boy said, “Now, I will teach you the opening Thanksgiving Ceremony of the Long House.” He asked for a volunteer to practice the Aton:wa (Individual Thanksgiving songs addressed to the Creator.) One boy said that he would try so he got up and the Fatherless boy taught him. He could perform as well as though he had been singing the Aton:wa for a long time.

The next time they met together, their mothers found them dancing in a circle. The fatherless boy was teaching them the Feather and Drum Dances. He asked for volunteers to learn the songs, and one of the boys said that he would try. He could sing them perfectly and the fatherless boy told them that the songs he had taught them would accompany the Feather and Drum Dances, which he had taught them.

Now they were grown men. One day when they met at the usual place, the fatherless man told his eleven friends that he was going to another country in the east to teach the people there. So he left them. There was a trail down a lane between tall pines, and so the eleven men watched the fatherless man disappear down the trail toward the east.

They never saw him again.

Some years later one of the eleven men, now old, began to think of the fatherless one and wondered what had become of him. He thought that he would visit the scene where they used to play. When he reached the spot he found the other ten men there. All had gathered at the same time as they did in the days of their youth. As they looked down the lane they saw a figure approaching over the same trail. As he came closer the eleven men recognized him as the fatherless one. He came close, but would not shake hands with them. He said, “I am a dead man.” He said, “ I have come to teach you the Bowl Game, which will be the act of gathering.” So he gave them the peach pits and a bowl and taught them how to play the game. He said, “where I was they killed me and I am going back home. Before I go to where I shall stay I had to come back to teach you the great Bowl Game, which I did not do when I was here before.” While they were playing the game, he disappeared.