Then the Great Spirit created for each one of the red men a second self, to whom he gave a home in the air. He provided these beings with wings and swift feet so they could move very rapidly. To them he imparted the secret of the entrance to his home and made them guides to his children whom he had called on the long journey so that they should not lose the paths leading to their future home. Finally, the Great Spirit told these creatures of the air that they should be message-bearers for his children, and convey their words exactly as spoken from one point to another until they reached the ears of his sachems in the big wigwam by the side of the council-fire that never lost its light. They must be ready at all times to answer the calls of the red men, so that none of their words might be lost. Messages to the loved ones who had left the earth and gone to the Happy Hunting-Grounds must be transmitted with the same watchful care as were those intended for his ears alone. If any of his children spoke idle and untruthful words they, too, must be repeated that their father might know whether they were worthy to be admitted to the grand council-fire.
When he had finished his instructions, the Great Spirit told the sachems that he would return to his home and that they could go with his children to the bank of a beautiful river near which they dwelt, and there talk to him.
Slowly and with a loud voice, the chief sachem began to speak. From the opposite bank of the river the waiting message-bearer caught up the sachem's words as they were spoken and with a strong voice shouted them to another dweller of the air who crouched in the tree-tops far down the river, ready and alert to do the Great Spirit's bidding. On and on, rolling along the ravines and valleys, leaping from hill-top to mountain-side, and from mountain-side to lake, striding over the forests at a bound—fainter and yet fainter, until lost in the blue distance of the plain—the message of thankfulness and love was borne from the lips of the grateful sachem until it reached the ears of the ever listening and loving father, and was told to the chiefs who sat in the light of the council-fire that never grows dim.
[THE WISE SACHEM'S GIFT]
A LONG time before the white men came, there lived a wise sachem who was known as the Great Peacemaker. His life was full of winters and his mind was stored with the teachings of the wisest sachems that had lived before him. He could remember the time when all the red men dwelt in peace, and before troubles came that drove them to wars and dissensions. All his life was spent in going from one village to another, teaching the doctrine of peace among his people. He told the red men how to help each other when the bad spirits came and disturbed them. If the harvest was poor in one village, he taught other villages that they must take food to their brothers; if any were in want, he said that those who had plenty must relieve them. He settled differences and difficulties by his logic, quelled wars and disturbances by his wise counsels and eloquence, and taught gentleness by his example. Finally, when he had reached an age beyond that of any of the sachems who had lived before him, he called his people together and told them that he must go away on the long journey, but that they need not mourn for him, as he would return in a form that would live forever.
From his grave sprang the tobacco plant, and in honor of his memory was established the custom of smoking the pipe of peace at all peaceful councils.
When the curling smoke ascended around the council-fires the red men saw in its fantastic shapes the form and features of the Great Peacemaker. They opened their ears and he told them that agreements made in his presence were sacred, and if violated would displease the Great Spirit. They bent their heads and the wise sachem placed his hands upon them as a token that he would aid his children in all peaceful pursuits. His presence was never invoked when there were discussions of wars, for he would frown upon his children and frighten them with his terrible countenance.