The Lenapé and their Legends

raditions o

r.-Native Symbolism.-The Saturnian Age.-Mohegan Cosmogony and Migration Myth. National Traditions.-Beatty's Account

al and Cul

creation-myth and a culture legend, found in m

ans and squashes, was generally called Michabo, The Great Light, but was also known among the Narragansetts of New England as Wetucks, The Common Father; among the Cree as Wisakke

here it is sufficient to say that it is a Light-myth, and one of noble proportio

These related of their Nanabozho that he was the son of a maiden who had descended from heaven. She conceived without knowledge of man, and having given birth to twins, she disappeared. O

gineer, Lindstrom heard among the Lenape, on the Delaware, about

egnant, and brought forth a son, who, when he came to a certain size, was so sensible and clever, that there never was one who could be compared to him, so much and so well he spoke,

n which the virgin mother bears a white and dark twin, the for

hich assures safety and knowledge, and the Night, which departs with her. The D

at their legend ran, that in the beginning the first woman fell from heaven and bore twins; that it was toward the east that they directed their children to turn their faces when they prayed to the spirits; and that their old

New Jersey Indians in 1679. These informed them that all things came from a tortoise. It had brought f

ate energy of the universe. "The first and great beginning of all things was Kickeron or Kickerom, who is the original of all, who has not only on

the native philosophers for which we were scarcely prepared. The worthy Dutch tra

rganic life, the whole realm of animate existence-ever sharply defined in Algonkin grammar and thought from inanimate existence

ssociated around this root kik, which I have given on a previous page (p. 102) to reveal the significance of this word. We

ween the mundus and the anima mundi; between the essentia and the existentia; betwe

refuge on the back of a turtle, who had reached so great an age that his shell was mossy, like the bank of a rivulet. In this forlorn condition a loon flew that way, which they asked to dive and bring up land. He complied, but fou

been supposed to refer to the Deluge. But, as I have explained in my "Myths of the New Wo

earth. This is the more germane to my theme, as the meaning of the original text wh

un and of Light, and the happy hunting grounds of the departed souls. The Delawares believed that the whole was supported by a fabled turtle, whose movements caused earthquakes and who had been their first preserver.[229] As above mentioned, the turtle in its amphib

h this power, made their "medicine rattle" of a turtle shell (Loskiel), and w

appiness, an Age of Gold, a Saturnian Reign. Their legends asseverated that at that time "the killing of a man was unknown, neither had there been

he advent of certain evil beings who taught

d, our common mother. As she approached the boundless ocean, a small point of land rose above the watery surface, and supplied her with firm footing. She was pregnant by some mysterious power, and she brought forth on

generation after the advent of the whites, has every mark of a genuine native prod

t," (akhgook, snake, and pek, standing water, probably from n'pey, water, akek, place or country). They crossed many streams, but none in which the water ebbed and flowed, until they reached the Hudson. "Then they said, one to another, 'This is like the

al Tra

David Brainerd, mentions this as one of the leading difficulties in the way of "evangelizing the Indians." "They are likewise much attached," he writes, "

their genealogies. They are so skilled at it that they can repeat the chief and collateral lines with the utmost readiness. At the same time, they characterize their ancestors, by describing this one a

the Delaware settlements in Ohio in 1767. On his way there, he met a white man, Benjamin Button, who for years had been a captive

at a king of their nation, where they formerly lived, far to the west, left his kingdom to his two sons; that the one son making war upon the other, the latter thereupon determined to depart and seek some new habitation; that accordingly he sat out, accompanied by a number of his peo

way to their present homes, "They came to a great water. One of the Indians that went before them tried the depth of it by a long pole or reed, which he had in his hand, and found it too deep for them to

water was seven. This at once recalls the seven caves (Chicomoztoc) or primitive stirpes of the Mexican tribes, the seven clans (vuk amag) of the Cakchiquels,

the Delawares also, as we are informed that the period of isola

week of seven days to each. Something of this kind seems to have been done by another Algonkin tribe, the Ot

and invertebrate animals, as Darwin has pointed out,[240] and hence its appearance among these peop

s, not as a reminiscence of tribal history, but as the tradition of the whole eastern Algonkin race, and it

nt place that I quote al

n the Namoesi Sipu, where they fell in with the Mengwe, who had likewise emigrated from a distant country, and had struck upon this river somewhat higher up. Their object was the same with that of the Delawares; they were proceeding on to the eastward, until they should find a country that pleased them. The spies which the Lenape had sent forward for the purpose of reconnoitring, had long before their arrival discovered t

ition that there were giants among them, people of a much larger size than the tallest of the Lenape. It is related that they had

leave to pass through the country and seek a settlement farther to the eastward. They accordingly began to cross the Namaesi Sipu, when the Alligewi, seeing that their numbers were so very great, and

rivers and near lakes, where they were successively attacked and sometimes stormed by the allies. An engagement took place in which hundreds fell, who were afterwards buried in holes or laid together in heaps and covered over with earth. No qua

is country, and increased very fast; some of their most enterprising huntsmen and warriors crossed the great swamps, and falling on streams running to the eastward, followed them down to the great Bay river, thence into the Bay itself, which we call Chesapeak. As they pursued their travels, partly by land and partly by wa

usquehannah, Potomack), making the Delaware, to which they gave the name of 'Lena

ined behind, in order to aid and assist that great body of their people which had not crossed

lf the whole, was settled on the Atlantic, and the other half was again divided into two parts, one of which, the strong

y nearest to the sea, between the coast and the high mountains. As they multiplied, their settlements extended from the Mohicanittuck (river of the Mohicans, which we call the North or Hudson river) to the Potomack." * * * "The third tribe, the Wolf, commonly called the Minsi, which we ha

y others, * * * the Mahicanni, or Mohicans, who spread themselves over all that country which now compose

ey had decided to remove to the valley of the Muskingum, their chief, Netawatwes, presented this claim to the Hurons and Miamis, and had it allowed.[241] They

th the Lenape tribes, none of them dwelt west of the mountains, nor, apparently, had t

ppi valley. A legend common to the western Algonkin tribes, the Kikapoos, Sacs, Foxes, Ottawas and Pottawatomies, located their original home north of the St. Lawrence river, near or below where Montreal now stands. I

d after crossing a wide water. Their ancestors succeeded in this by their great control of magic arts, their occult power enabling them to walk over the water as if it had been land. Until within the pre

kewelder, in a letter to Dr. B. S. Barton.[244] The missionary had heard it both among the Delawares and the Mohicans.

means of escape from it was to take to the water. Its sense of smell was remarkably keen, but its sight was defective. As its heart was very small, it could not be easily killed. The surest plan

learned a number of bold hunters went there, and mounted a rock with precipitous sides. They then made a noise, and attracted the bear's attention, who rushed to the attack w

ill used his name to frighten their children into obedience, t