An Iroquoian Story of Creation

Continued from last week

And they say as they grew to be young men that in the wintertime they would take turns going out hunting, each one of these boys. One winter it would be Teharonhiawako’s turn and the other winter it would be Sawiskera’s turn. And they say that this one winter Sawiskera knew that it was going to be his winter to hunt. And he hated going out hunting. So what he did was, in that fall, he went out and found a mountain. There was a large cave in the bottom of the mountain and it was hollow. And he went out that fall and he called the animals to him, because at that time the animals would come to the people when they would call. All of the animals would come. And he called them and they came to him because they knew it wasn’t hunting season yet. But the way that it went was that when they were created the animals were told that at certain times of the year, there would be this contest of survival between the humans and the animals. And the humans needed the animals to survive. So they would hunt for them. And the animals knew at that time, that it would be up to their survival skills whether they wo9uld get away or not. But also –I guess, at times there would be times when the human beings would use oyen’kwa’onwe or the tobacco and would communicate with the animals. And if they really, really needed the food in a bad way, the animals would present themselves to the humans and the hunt would be, I guess, made easier through that understanding.

So at this time, Sawiskera called the animals and they weren’t afraid because it wasn’t hunting season yet. And they came with him. And he went to that cave and he led them all in there. And one all the animals were in there, he sealed the cave up with a big rock. And then he went away. He had left a lot of food in there for them. And winter came, and it was his turn to hunt, Sawiskera. And he would be back and he would have a deer or a bear and buffalo, whatever they needed, he would have it. And instead of being gone for two or three months at a time, he was only gone for a couple of hours. And his brother and grandmother thought it was strange, but they thought that maybe he had become an excellent hunter. And they never asked him about it.

The next spring, it came around, and Teharonhiawako, the holder of the skies, he went out for a walk. And when he went out he found it strange that there were no birds or animals around. He would call them an none would come. And he came by this large mountain and he noticed that it looked like it had been covered over on purpose. So he moved the covering away from the opening, and he went into the cave. And he called in there. And he could hear some things moving around, nut he couldn’t see anything, it was so dark in there. And, they say, three times he called. And after the third time, all of the animals came rushing out past him. And they ran right by him through the clearing. And they went into the bush in the other side of the clearing. And he called to them again, but still they wouldn’t come out. And he said he could see a deer’s antler poke out from behind the bushes. Or he could see a rabbit would run very quickly across the opening from one side to the other. And he said he could see like the wolf in the background, in the shadows, way back in the woods. But nothing would present itself. And he got very upset.

And they say that was the day that the animals became wild and wouldn’t trust the humans any more.

Continued next week.