II.
The
Peacemaker Brings the Message of Peace to the Kenienke haka
The
Peacemaker then set out on his journey and crossed on the north side of
the beautiful lake, Kanontario.
On the south side of the lake stood a
man who was watching the lake. He could see
a glittering light approaching from the
other side. He had left his Kenienke haka village
because of the violence that was taking place there. He had
dreamed that one day someone would come and bring back the ways of
peace amongst his people.
This man was named Torewater: io,
which means “I do everything right.”
He had been named this because he was a man of great integrity.
As he looked at the lake while the sun reflected overhead, he could see
the glittering object approaching over the horizon. It was moving
swiftly and seemed to be swerving from side to side as it
approached. It was not long before Torewater: io could see that
it was a man approaching in a white canoe. Torewater: io was curious,
and, although afraid, he decided to stay and watch. As the canoe
approached, he decided to hide in the nearby bushes, and if the person
appeared friendly he would greet him. After the Peacemaker arrived on
the shore, Torewatar: io
could see that the man had no weapons.
He then stepped from the bushes and asked the Peacemaker, “Where have
you come from?”
The Peacemaker replied, “I have come from the north, where the people
are now settling into lives of peace.”
He then asked Torewater: io,
“Where do you come from? ”
Torewater: io answered, “I
have come from a Kenienke haka village
with
my family to flee from the warfare that is going on there.”
The Peacemaker remembered that his family had also fled their village
years ago for the same reason. The Peacemaker then said to
Torewater: io, “I have come to
stop the killing that is going on
between the Creator’s children here on Turtle Island.”
He continued, “I want the warring peoples to have respect for one
another, be generous and live in peace.”
Next, he said, “Do not be afraid. You should go home to the land of the
Kenienke haka and tell the
people that I will arrive one day at their
village with a message for them.”
Torewater: io looked at the
Peacemaker with curiosity. “Who is this
strange man?” he asked himself.
He then warned the Peacemaker, “There are many other people living in
the area that are killing each other. There are cannibals, as well
as those who practice witchcraft, who would kill you on the spot
if you tried to approach them.”
The Peacemaker answered him, “That is why I am here. Those are the
people that I want to meet.” Torewater:
io and the Peacemaker
then parted ways.
When Torewater: io went back
to his wife and children whom he had hid
in the bushes, he told them, “I have met a strange man that came across
the great lake that divides our people in the north from those living
in the south. His canoe seemed to be made from stone. I believe that
this man is going to stop the warfare. We should return to our village
to tell the Kenienkeh people
of this great event that is going to take
place.” They then packed up and left for home.
After many days of walking, trying to avoid the paths of war, they
arrived at their village near the great waterfalls and rapids.
Torewater: io approached
the war chief and told him about
the man he met and the message he was spreading.
The war chief listened and then laughed at Torewater: io. He said
to him, “We the Kenienke haka
are powerful. Tell me one other people
who may enter our territory without facing the wrath of the Kenienkeh
warriors. Why should I be concerned about a foolish man’s message who
has probably been killed by now?” All of the warriors except one,
agreed, and Torewater: io was
looked upon from then on by the villagers
as being a fool.
Torewater: io thought to
himself, “Perhaps it would be better if I left
with my family once again.”
However, because one of the assistant war chiefs had believed what he
had to say, he was not alone, so he decided to stay. They both had
faith that one day the messenger would come, and Torewater: io would be
believed.
The assistant war chief, who had believed Torewater: io, was a man of
strong character, and he decided that he would be silent and wait for
the messenger to come. He had already lost a wife in a raid by
the warriors of another nation, and he didn’t want the same thing to
happen to his three daughters for whom he cared very much.
Meanwhile, the Peacemaker headed West to the land of the Kakwako.
He arrived at a lodge near the great water falls, Onakara. It was
situated at the intersection of the war trail that ran from the east to
the west and the one that went from the north to the south. It
was the lodge where Tsokansase
lived, the neutral woman who fed and
took care of the warriors. Tsokansase
seeing the Peacemaker coming and,
thinking he was a warrior on the run, said to him, “Come in. Who is
chasing you?”
The Peacemaker said to her, “I understand that you have been given the
job of being a council to the warriors. You not only mediate between
their disputes but feed them as well.”
He then told her, “Listen to me, there is a greater purpose for you and
the other women. Right now, the way things are, you are part of the
killing that is going on. Instead of being simply the mediator between
the feuding warriors, there is a more important job for you to do. Soon
there will be no need of warriors, and you must use your gift to a
higher purpose; there will be a new role for you to play. Once I
abolish all the war chiefs by ending warfare, the new leaders that I
choose will need someone to keep them in line. This message that
I bring will need a strong backbone in order to hold it together after
I am gone. It will be up to each headwoman of the different clans to
choose the representatives of the people and their successors and to
make sure that they do the will of the people. The women of the clans
will be the ones who will crown them. They will also set the dates of
the ceremonies, as they follow the cycle of Grandmother Moon.
They will also name the children from the clan names that they hold.
All the male leaders will look up to the headmatrons of the clans and
abide by their will. The headmatrons get the consent of the
people at the women’s council. The clans will move into a new type of
dwelling that will be built from the direction of the east to the west,
and the Clan matron will be its head.”
He continued, “This longhouse that they will live in will represent an
even greater dwelling that will include all the nations who accept the
message of peace; it shall run from the nations living in the
east to the nations living in the west. It will be shaped like the Sky
World with an ever-growing tree in the middle. I will place something
on top of the tree to watch over it as was done by our Brother, the
Sun,when he was still in the Sky World.”
Finally, he finished by telling her, “Today is a new day and the sun is
beginning to rise in the east where we will begin to build this
longhouse of one family; when it is built, it will brighten the world.
The higher the sun shines, the more people will become a part of the
Great Peace and want to live in this house with us.”
He continued, “There is a day when everything that I have come for will
be fulfilled, and you, Tsokansase,
should be present when it happens.
The earth is something none of us can own because it belongs to
everyone. The respect for it is being lost in the fighting. Sawiskera
has deceived you and is gaining control of the minds of the onkwe
honwe. I have been sent to restore them so that they will have
good
minds once again.”
When he had finished, Tsokansase
warned the Peacemaker, “You must be
careful because there are cannibals living in the direction that
you are going.”
The Peacemaker looked at her and replied, “Those are the ones that I am
looking for.”
He then departed, telling Tsokansase,
“We will meet again soon when the
nations of the house of one family come together. You will be the
mother of all the nations from where the four white roots of the tree
that I will plant will spread.”
As he headed on the war trail toward the east, the Peacemaker came upon
a lodge. Surrounding it were the remains of discarded human
bones. The Peacemaker knew that this was one of the cannibals that
Tsokansase warned him about.
These warrior cannibals were feared
because they would cut the hearts out of the warriors they had killed
and bite into them, claiming the life spirit of the victim as their
own. This was said to give them great power in battle. Sawiskera had so
influenced them that they had become monstrous like his creatures.
These warriors roamed the earth killing anything in sight.
Upon seeing the cannibal approaching, the Peacemaker climbed to the
roof of the cannibal’s lodge. He could see the cannibal carrying
a human body over his shoulder. The cannibal placed the body down in
front of his lodge and began to dissect it, going for the heart
first. He then bit into the heart of the dead warrior. Next, he
cut the body up, placing some of the pieces in a wooden cauldron
inside. He then boiled water in a fire outside the lodge and poured it
into the wooden vessel so that the flesh of the dead warrior would be
boiled off.
The Peacemaker could see what the cannibal was doing through the smoke
hole in the lodge above the wooden vessel.
Inside the lodge under the smoke hole, the cannibal began to cook a
meal from the meat of the discarded flesh. As the cannibal went
to test his meal, he looked into the vessel and saw a face looking back
at him in the reflection of the water. For a moment, he thought
it might be his own refection, so he looked again. Once again a face
appeared. He proceeded to do it a third time, and upon looking into the
vessel he noticed that there was a brilliance that reflected from the
face.
At first he said, “Is that my face? Can I be so beautiful?”
Then he became afraid, he knew that someone such as himself could not
render such beauty. It was the Peacemaker’s face that he saw looking
down at him from the smoke hole. The beauty of what he saw in the
refection before him made the cannibal awestruck.
He began to think to himself, “What kind of a life have I led - all of
the killing I have participated in, all of the hearts that I have
eaten? How can I change my ways? If only there were a way
to stop; I promise myself, I will never kill another person again.”
He then went around his lodge and began to collect the bones of the
warriors to bury them properly. The Peacemaker, knowing the cannibal
was truly remorseful and ready, climbed down from the lodge and
appeared before him.
He asked the cannibal, “Tell me, what is your purpose in life? What are
you burying in the ground?” For some reason, instead of killing
this man who stood before him, the cannibal felt compelled to speak to
him.
The cannibal answered, “My purpose in life so far has been to kill
everyone who gets in my way. I am burying the remains of the onkwe
honwe I have killed and eaten.”
He told the Peacemaker, “I have just made a promise to myself that I
would never kill or eat the hearts of humans again.” The cannibal
felt remorseful for the life that he led, and he wanted to change.
The Peacemaker told him, “Do not think of the past, but look forward to
the brightness of the future ahead of you. I have come to stop
the warfare and killing that is going on among the onkwe honwe. Until
this time, your mind has been deceived by Sawiskera, the Creator’s
brother. When you come to understand this, you will know how to be more
vigilant in your actions.”
The cannibal replied, “I want to know more, so come in and enter my
lodge.”
After they entered, the Peacemaker said to the cannibal, “Wait for me
here. I will be back shortly. I am going out to hunt a deer, and I will
return soon. Make sure that you boil new water, so that we can
have boiled venison when I return.”
Not long after, the Peacemaker returned carrying a buck deer on his
back. They both skinned the deer and boiled some venison and then
proceeded to eat it. The Peacemaker said to the cannibal as they were
eating, “The buck deer is a wise animal, very cautious when it
comes to his family. They are also a messenger to the Creator, as
their name means the first to the spirit world. Whenever you hunt one
of these, you must make sure that you let the first one go free. He
will tell the others that you are a respectful person. When you do kill
one, you must make an offering of tobacco for thanks. The buck deer
will then tell the Creator about your good nature.”
The Peacemaker continued, “After you have killed the deer, you will
utilize the antlers, skin and tendons. The meat from the deer will be
sustenance for the people. There will be no more killing of
humans and eating of hearts.”
The Peacemaker went on to explain, “When everyone lives in peace, you
will be like one family living in one longhouse facing the east to the
west. The Clan matrons of the longhouse of one family will choose
from their clans the representatives of their people from one of the
males in each of their families. Like the buck and doe deer, the
representatives and Clan matrons will work together on behalf of the
longhouse of one family. Once the representatives are chosen by
the Clan matrons, they will have horns placed on their heads. Like the
buck deer, the representatives will raise their antlers and watch over
the people. The horns of the deer have power that can sense danger
coming. The representatives will wear the horns of the deer in
council in order to watch over the affairs of the people on the
ground. They will also place an eagle feather in between the
horns so that they may see far ahead like the eagle.”
After the Peacemaker had relayed his message to the cannibal and just
before he departed, he said to him, “Each place that I travel to, I
will add something more. One day, we will all meet at the centre of the
longhouse of one family where the Great Tree of Peace will be planted.”
The Peacemaker then parted from the cannibal, and headed toward the
east. After many days of travel and bypassing a number of
villages, he stopped at an embankment where there were some rapids
below and the great Cohoes falls. He had arrived at the eastern-most
part of the territory of the Kenienke
haka, near Cohoes Falls at the
place called Skanehtate Kahunta,
the river below the openings. It was
at this spot that the Peacemaker decided to begin to build his
Longhouse of One Family; it was time for him to put up the first rafter.
This was situated about a mile from the trail that divided the Kenienke
haka from the Wolf People. The Kenienke haka had been known and
feared as great warriors by many of the surrounding nations, including
the nation of wolves that lived next to them. Even their name Kenienke
haka or Flint People denoted their power as fighters. Flint was
also
the name given to Sawiskera
who had killed the first mother of the
world with his sharpness of the cold. Flint was what many onkwe honwe
used to kill when hunting for food for it was what the arrowhead was
made of. Flint could also be made very sharp, and it was utilized
in the arrows of the warriors during battle.
The next morning the Kenienke haka
of the Turtle Clan, of the village
of Onakowane, woke up to give
thanks to the first sunlight as had been
the custom. They noticed smoke coming from the direction of the
river. They knew that it was the custom when approaching a village that
visitors would light a fire so that the people in the village would not
be afraid. The idea was that the village would then send two runners
out to see who was arriving. This would ensure that the visitors
were coming in peace. At that time, the Kenienke haka had a main war
chief and two assistants living in their village. Upon seeing the smoke
from the fire, runners were sent out, and, when they arrived at the
embankment overlooking the falls and the river, they noticed a strange
man smoking a pipe.
He called to them, “Come over here. I mean no harm to you.”
As they approached him, he said, “Allow me to enter your village, for I
have come to tell your war chiefs and your people something of
importance.”
One Kenienke haka warrior
asked, “Who are you? Why should we
listen to you? We can kill you and eat you right now.”
The Peacemaker replied, “Allow me to be heard before you pull your
weapons on me. Go to your war chief and say that I want to speak to him
first. If you are not satisfied with my message, you can kill me.”
They said to the Peacemaker, “We will go tell him, and we will be
back.” They left to return to their village.
At the village they told the great war chief about the strange man who
was sitting on the embankment over looking the river. The war
chief, now curious, said to them, “Go back and tell this man he may
enter the village. I am interested in what this brave man has to
say.” The two runners went to get the Peacemaker, and they
escorted him to their village, Onakowane.
As was the custom, the great war chief made arrangements for where the
Peacemaker would sit. The war chief then called for him to be brought
before him. As he was brought forward, the great war chief and his two
assistants gathered in front of the Peacemaker. They were all
members of the Turtle Clan, as this was a Turtle Clan village.
The Peacemaker was seated in front of them wondering what they would do.
The great war chief spoke out into the gathering saying, “I have been
waiting to see if a man would come bring a great message for our
people. I believe that this may be the man that Torewater: io
told us about. Let us put up our ears and listen to what he has to say.”
The Peacemaker stood up, as was the custom of the tribesmen when
speaking. He told them, “I did send a message back with the man
whom I met at the lake on the day that I arrived on its shores, that
one day I would come to Kenienke haka.
However, I have heard
that since that time you have doubted me. Because of this you
have given Torewater: io a
hard time. When I first met him, I asked him
to go back and tell you that there is a better way of living than the
way of warfare. The message, that I bring you, begins with peace.”
He continued, “Peace can only come when the people have a good mind and
can live together in harmony with one another. When that happens,
everyone will be of one mind, and then they will become powerful. In
order to have a good mind, one has to live a righteous life. The
Creator is sad for what he sees happening on the earth. Many good
people have passed away due to the warriors and the killing that has
come from them. There are bones lying all over the ground. I have
come to stop the fighting and bring back good minds to the
people. Warfare will be replaced by caring, respect and
generosity.”
He continued, “Many years ago Teharonhia:
wako said to your ancestors
that he would send someone to end the strife between the onkwe honwe.
Your minds have become deceived once again by his brother Sawiskera. I
will warn you that once you accept my message, if you kill each other
again you will suffer the consequences. There is another thing, if any
royaner chooses to take up the
path of war it means that they no longer
have a good mind and must give their title back to their clan mother.
Once they take the path of war, they may never be royaner again.”
The great war chief stood up and spoke, “I like the message that
you have given us. However, I still have my doubts about whether it
will work.”
The war chief’s assistant then spoke out, “I agree with our leader. I
don’t trust him. Let him prove himself first. If he really is so great
and was sent by our Creator he must be invincible. Here is my
proposition. By the great gorge overlooking the river, there is a tree
with a branch hanging over it. If this man really has been sent by the
Creator, let him prove it. Let the man sit on the branch of the tree,
and we will cut it down. If the man can survive the fall into the
gorge, then we will consider what he has to say.”
The war chief was convinced that the Peacemaker would be killed and
that would be the end of the matter. It was at this same gorge that a
Kenienke haka warrior had
ended his own life in a clan dispute over a
girl.
The Peacemaker answered the war chief, “I will do as you ask, as long
as all the people are witnesses to what occurs.”
The next day all the Kenienke haka
of the village gathered at the
gorge, including the war chief and his two assistants. They
surrounded the tree and asked the Peacemaker to climb it and sit on the
branch overlooking the gorge. The Peacemaker then climbed up and sat on
the branch overlooking the river below. The warriors then got out
their stone flint hatchets and proceeded to cut the branch down. They
watched as the Peacemaker tumbled below into the river and was swept
away in the strong current. Then, they all went back to the village.
The war chief said to the villagers, “The matter has been settled, and
you have been witnesses to it. This man was either very brave or a
fool. Nonetheless, he is gone and will not be returning.” The
villagers then went to sleep. Both Torewatr:io
and the assistant war
chief who believed him felt distraught and humiliated. Neither of them
could sleep that night.
The next morning, one of the warriors, curious upon waking up, decided
to go back to the gorge to see if he could find the body of the
Peacemaker. As he began to walk toward the gorge, he could see smoke
from a fire in the distance. He was frightened as to whom it might be
this early in the morning; he ran back to the village to warn the war
chief and the warriors. The war chief gathered the warriors
together and sent two runners to see who was camping by the river.
As they approached the fire, they could see that it was the man they
had placed on a branch who had been cut down into the river. They
became afraid. As they were still not completely sure he was not
malicious they asked him, “Who are you, and why have you come here?”
The Peacemaker answered, “I am the one that you forced into the gorge
the other day. Do you have enough proof as to why I have come or do you
need more? Each time you doubt me, you may cost another life.”
One of the warriors said to him, “Come back to the village with us and
speak to our war chief.”
The Peacemaker answered, “Go back to your village and prepare the
villagers for my entrance. I will not be staying long, for I still have
a lot of work to do.”
Before entering the village, the war chief had prepared a special seat
for the Peacemaker, and the villagers waited in anticipation of his
arrival. It was not long after that he appeared, and the
villagers made two lines to allow him to pass through. Normally, they
might have beat him with sticks to test his bravery. This would not be
necessary, for he had already proven himself to them.
The two warriors then escorted him into the council house and sat him
beside the great war chief. Once there, the great war chief said to the
Peacemaker, “We asked proof from you, and you gave it to us. We must
therefore accept your message. In my heart I waited for you to come,
yet at the same time I believe that Torewater:
io had become deranged
when he first told us about you. It is my belief that great changes are
about to occur among us. I accept the great tidings of peace, power and
righteousness that you are bringing us.”
Next, the two assistant war chiefs said, “We also accept the message of
the Peacemaker. Finally, the great war chief asked the people who
had gathered if they agreed. All the people answered in the affirmative.
The great war chief turned to the Peacemaker and said, “I have heard
your message but would like to have a further explanation of what it
means.”
The Peacemaker answered, “Peace means that everyone will have a good
mind and be of one voice and live as one family. When one person
accepts this principle, others will follow; that is where the power
will come from. Like a ball in the snow, we will let it roll; with each
turn it will get larger. That is the way it will be when others accept
the message that I will bring you. Peace, power and righteousness
really mean living without fear of one another. When we put our minds
together, we can unite. From that unity comes strength of purpose. We
will elevate a new type of representative of the people who will live
by the principle of having a good mind. There will be no more war
chiefs as there will be no more need for warfare.”
He then turned to the great war chief, “You, great leader of the
Kenienke haka, will be first
on the roll call of chiefs because of your
position. You will put down your title as war chief, have a good
mind and become a royaner.
You will always work on behalf of the
people for peace. Because you first doubted me and were not sure, I
will name you and all those who will take your place in the future
Tekarihoken, He Was of Two
Minds. In order to ensure that you keep the
peace, I have appointed the headwomen of your clan to choose who will
succeed you and the other royaner
that will be chosen. You are to abide
by the will of the council of women as well as men. It is the women who
have the consensus of the community, and it is they who have the best
interests of the children at heart.”
Then, the Peacemaker turned toward one of the assistant war chiefs. He
said, “You, great leader, who never slept while anticipating my arrival
will be the second that I will elevate as royaner of the Kenienke haka.
From now on, you will put away all your thoughts and actions to do with
warfare. From now on you will work on behalf of the Creator. I
will give you a new name which you will carry until you leave this
world. It will then be passed on by the women of the clan that you
belong to; when your days are numbered it will go to another. I
pronounce you Ayenwatha, He
Who Anticipates Something. That is
because you waited for me to come; one day you will discover a way to
make sure that everything that happens here will be remembered.”
He continued, “You will always be first among the royaner although you
will be second on the roll call of chiefs. We have great work to do
together. You will become my voice whenever we travel together.
When I first brought the message of peace to the nations in the north,
I did not devise a plan that would allow it to last for time
immemorial. This will be our task that we will accomplish together in
the future. We will work out a way so that we may ensure the
peace remains forever. As long as the onkwe honwe follow it, they will
survive. Beware though, Sawiskera
will try every means to fool
you.”
Then he turned to the other assistant war chief, he told him, “You, who
doubted me as well and became confused as to what to do, will no longer
be a war chief either. From now on you will have to work on behalf of
your people. I will name you Shatekariwate,
Two Things Equal. I
name you this because you could have gone either way in your decision.
Then the Peacemaker spoke to all of the assembled and said. “The Great
Peace is not prejudiced against anyone; if someone wants to become a
part of it, they may do so as long as they have a good mind. You chiefs
are to make sure that the teachings that I give you will be passed on.
That is your duty as royaner.
You must never take sides on an issue for
or against any group. Decisions must always be unanimous.
These will be some of the roles that you must fulfill.”
He then told them, “When I have got rid of the war chiefs, the Clan
matrons of the families will choose the best men that they can find to
fill the positions as good-minded ones. I will choose however the first
three from the war chiefs when all of the nations meet together.
Tsokansase and the Clan
matrons will choose the rest.”
Tekarihoken then asked the
Peacemaker, “How will we be able to protect
ourselves from the other nations who live by us and continue to make
war on us.”
The Peacemaker answered, “I will visit those nations and bring the
message of peace to them as well. When there are enough nations living
together under the way of peace, you will be strong enough to ward off
any attack. Instead of war you will utilize persuasion. You are to
always use your good mind to avoid conflict, whether in council amongst
yourselves or with others. It is Sawiskera
who first killed, and it is
he who influences you to kill each other even today. There will be
those who will take up the path of Sawiskera,
and, when they do, they
will not be able to get off his path in this life or in the next.”
Finally, he said, “I must depart and visit a powerful war lord who has
supernatural powers and lives to the west of you. He sits on a
hill overlooking a village, influencing others with his power who may
one day want to listen to my message. However, first I must clear
a pathway for them to walk on. One day, you will hear a cry that will
echo throughout the land. It will be the war lord with the supernatural
powers. Three times, you will hear him holler “Asokanee.” That
will tell you that he is expecting us to come and do
battle, and he is becoming impatient. That will be the time when all
the Kenienke haka will gather
and meet at the place of the standing
stone, where the Oneota haka
of that name live. Upon arriving there, we
will do more of this great work.”
