“Oh, my daughter,” she said. “You have departed and made the first path to the world from which I came bringing your life. When you reach that homeland make ready to receive many beings from this place below, for I think the path will be trodden by many.”
Good Mind watched at the grave of his mother and watered the earth above it until the grass grew. He continued to watch until he saw strange buds coming out of the ground.
Where the feet were the earth sprouted with a plant that became the stringed-potato (onĕñnon’´dă’on´wĕ‘), where her fingers lay sprang the beans, where her abdomen lay sprang the squash, where her breasts lay sprang the corn plant, and from the spot above her forehead sprang the tobacco plant.
Now the warty one was named Evil Mind, and he neglected his mother’s grave and spent his time tearing up the land and seeking to do evil.
When the grandmother saw the plants springing from the grave of her daughter and cared for by Good Mind she was thankful and said, “By these things we shall hereafter live, and they shall be cooked in pots with fire, and the corn shall be your milk and sustain you. You shall make the corn grow in hills like breasts, for from the corn shall flow our living.”
Then the Grandmother, the Sky Woman, took Good Mind about the island and instructed him how to produce plants and trees. So he spoke to the earth and said, “Let a willow here come forth,” and it came. In a like manner he made the oak, the chestnut, the beech, the hemlock, the spruce, the pine, the maple, the button-ball, the tulip, the elm and many other trees that should become useful.
With a jealous stomach the Evil Mind followed behind and sought to destroy the good things but could not, so he spoke to the earth and said: “Briars come forth,” and they came forth. Likewise he created poisonous plants and thorns upon bushes.
Upon a certain occasion Good Mind made inquiries of his Grandmother, asking where his father dwelt. Then did the Sky Woman say: “You shall now seek your father. He lives to the uttermost east and you shall go to the far eastern end of the island and go over the water until you behold a mountain rising from the sea. You shall walk up the mountain and there you will find your father seated upon the top.”
Good Mind made the pilgrimage and came to the mountain. At the foot of the mountain he looked upward and called, “My father, where art thou?” And a great voice sounded the word: “A son of mine shall cast the cliff from the mountain’s edge to the summit of this peak.” Good Mind grasped the cliff and with a mighty effort flung it to the mountain top. Again he cried, “My father, where art thou?” The answer came, “A son of mine shall swim the cataract from the pool below to the top.” Good Mind leaped into the falls and swam upward to the top where the water poured over. He stood there and cried again, “My father, where art thou?” The voice answered, “A son of mine shall wrestle with the wind.” So, there at the edge of a terrifying precipice Good Mind grappled with Wind and the two wrestled, each endeavoring to throw the other over. It was a terrible battle and Wind tore great rocks from the mountain side and lashed the water below, but Good Mind overcame Wind, and he departed moaning in defeat. Once more Good Mind called, “My father, where art thou?” In awesome tones the voice replied, “A son of mine shall endure the flame,” and immediately a flame sprang out of the mountain side and enveloped Good Mind. It blinded him and tortured him with its cruel heat, but he threw aside its entwining arms and ran to the mountain top where he beheld a being sitting in the midst of a blaze of light.
“I am thy father,” said the voice. “Thou art my son.”