Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes

by Unknown

THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN

Wyandot

NOW in early days, the Wyandots lived about the St. Lawrence River, in the mountains to the eastward. They were the first tribe of old. They had the first chieftainship. The chief said to his nephews, the Lenapées,

“Go down to the seacoast and look. If you see anything, come and tell me.”

Now the Lenapées had a village by the sea. They often looked out, but they saw nothing. One day something came. When it came near the land, it stopped. Then the people were afraid. They ran into the woods. The next day two Indians went quietly to look. It was lying there in the water. Then something just like it came out of it and walked on two legs over the water.[25] When it came to the land, two men stepped out of it. They were different from us. They made signs for the Lenapées to come out of the woods. They gave presents. Then the Lenapées gave them skin clothes.

[25] A row boat.

The white men went away. They came back many times. They asked the Indians for room to put a chair on the land. So it was given. But soon they began to pull the lacing out of the bottom and to walk inland with it. They have not yet come to the end of the string.

Transcriber's Note

Variations in spelling and accent usage are preserved as printed.

"The Death Trail" is accredited to the Cherokee in the Table of Contents, but to the Choctaw as a subtitle to the story itself. This is preserved as printed.

"The Kite and the Eagle" has no credit to a particular nation.

"The Tiny Frog and the Panther" had no credit in the Table of Contents, but is accredited to the Biloxi as a subtitle to the story. This is preserved as printed.

Page [12] mentioned Kuti Mandkce. With reference to the 1912 Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 47, A Dictionary of Biloxi and Ofo Languages, this has been amended to Kuti Mankdce.

Minor punctuation errors have been repaired.

The following amendment has been made on the assumption that it was a printer error:

Page [v]—Gitchee amended to Gitche—... who made Gitche Gomee, the Great Water.

Illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are not in the middle of a paragraph. The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.