The onkwe honwe soon began to multiply, and they began to contemplate moving as their resources were becoming depleted. At that time, they lived along the banks of the long river that divided the turtle’s back into two. There they lived near a nation whom they called the Wolves, who referred to themselves as the Paunee, and were their nephews. At that time, their languages were more familiar to one another.

Another people known as the Lenni Lenape traveled through their territory. They had come from the Northwest and were heading East where they would settle and people a great nation that would live along the coast of the great water. There were brief skirmishes between the Lenni Lenape and the onkwe honwe for a time until the Lenni Lenape headed east.1

For a time, the onkwe honwe prospered, until a famine struck due to a drought. This resulted in some of the people hoarding food and even turning to cannibalism. For a people who had always shared with one another, this was a hard time. Those who hoarded were renounced as witches and were put to death if they did not share their supplies.

The onkwe honwe soon began to become fearful for the future, for the land was becoming desolate. A council was called by the ancient ones, consisting of all the leading clan families of the onkwe honwe and their cousins. At that council it was decided that they should move East toward the rising sun. One of the ancient ones of the Great Turtle Clan stood up and said, “It is time that we find new land for our crops. It will mean that we must leave these barren lands. I have had a dream that Teharonhia:wako will protect us along the way.”

The ancient one was called Kaihonariosk, and she led the onkwe honwe along a beautiful river Ohio that led to two great bodies of water. While traveling along the river, the people came to a place where a fork where three rivers met. As the onkwe honwe were crossing the river, the vine, that they were holding broke, dividing the onkwe honwe, just as many seasons before when the great young man formed the clan system.

Kaihonariosk spoke up, “Now then, it appears that Teharonhia:wako wants us to be divided again. Those of us who remain on the west bank of the river will travel north while those on the east side of the river will continue traveling East. When we arrive at our destinations, we will set up a trail so that we will always be connected with one another.” The onkwe honwe on the eastern side then continued their journey.

Some of those who went East came to another river which they named after themselves, the Susquahanna. These onkwe honwe would one day be referred to as Kanastoka. Still others, moved along the river that led to the Southeast, right to the shore of the Great Turtle’s back, where they came near a great water that had resulted when Teharonhia:wako had split up the floating islands. These people were known as Skaroo’ren and would later be known as the hemp people Tuscarora, from their use of this plant. The Lenni Lenape would refer to some of these people who would split off as Nottaway adder snakes. Further south, another group became known as Tslakee, and later Cherokee. They would later called themselves Ani - Kitawagi People of the Great Mound City. Many years later, under the influence of a people known as the mound builders, some of these people would forget that they had once been brothers and sisters of the onkwe honwe in the north and they would battle against them along the beautiful river Ohio.

Those onkwe honwe who followed Kaihonariosk and traveled up the beautiful river to the north and made their way east along another river settled in a valley that ended near a great falls called Cohoes. They would become known as the Kenienke haka. They were named for the type of rock that they found, which looked like crystal ice and was sharp. There, their land was divided by another people who were the nephews of the lenni lenape and also referred to themselves as the Wolves, Mahican. To distinguish themselves from the Kenienke haka, they referred to them as Makua Bears. Kaihonariosk decided to take some of the Kenienke haka and other onkwe honwe further north to an even greater river they referred to as Kahnawake for its great rapids. They settled on a large island, that was centered by a mountain.

A smaller group of onkwe honwe moved next to the southern Kenienke haka, settling near a lake, and they became known as the Oneota haka, People of the Standing Stone. They were named this because wherever they settled they would find the same boulder near them. Still west of them, settled another group of onkwe honwe, whose main village was on a hill. They became known as the Onontaka haka, People of the Hills. To the west of them settled another group of onkwe honwe. and they became known as Kaokwa haka. They settled at the head and the mouth of one of the large body of waters carved out by Teharonhia:wako’s fingers when he was creating the things on his island. They were known as the Marshy Lake people for the marshes on the north shore of the lake where they would paddle canoes through. They would also be known for the great pipe that they had brought with them from the west.

Another group of onkwe honwe moved west of them and became known as the Sonontowa:haka, People of the Great Mountain, for it was there that they sprang up as a great nation and would become the most numerous of the onkwe honwe.

To the west settled the peaceful Kakwako who would always be neutral when there were disputes. They lived as far as the Great Falls, Onakara, in between the first and second great body of water. They were the eastern part of the Jakosasaronon, who would be known as the Lynx nation for the furs that they wore.

Others went further north, bounded between the first great body of water and a third great body of water in the north and became known for their trade in tobacco; therefore they were named Teionontatai. They closest relatives, went even further north settling in a fertile area becoming known as the Wendat or Islanders ‘Hurons’. Some of them had branched off from the Kenienke haka who had moved to the island with the mountain by Kahnawake, the great river.

As the onkwe honwe became settled on their lands, life became fulfilling for them. One day, some of the young men wanted to retrace the footprints of their ancestors back along the long river. They decided that they would canoe down the long river that divided the turtle’s back to see if any of their relatives remained there.

After canoeing for many days, they reached the long river and made their way down it. By this time there were many different nations of people living along the river whom they had never known before. Finally, they came to a village the size of which had never seen.

The people of this village had a war leader who lived on a mountain that had been made by them. The onkwe honwe had never seen such a thing before. They were flabbergasted as to what was before them.

When they arrived, they were greeted by the leader and his people, fed and taken care of. It seemed that this leader ruled over an area of land that was as vast as the eye could see. From the top of the man-made mountain, the spiritual leaders of the society gave thanks to the Elder Brother the Sun. The onkwe honwe saw that these people sometimes sacrificed their prisoners to the Elder Brother the sun, by removing their hearts. They were told by eating the hearts that it pleased the Elder Brother and empowered them. They said they had learned this from an even greater people who lived on the tale of the Great Turtle. These people had been very distant cousins of the onkwe honwe.

After many days of visiting, the onkwe honwe decided it was time to go back to tell their people what they had seen. Before they left, the war leader of the great village told the onkwe honwe men, that he would like to visit their lands one day. He then locked arms with the onkwe honwe men, and they left on friendly terms.

When they arrived back at their village, they told their people about the great nation of people who now lived along the great river and made mountains. It was not long after that a great army was paddling up the beautiful river Ohio towards the territory of the onkwe honwe. They were told that as this army moved forward they would build forts and mounds just like the onkwe honwe men had seen when they followed the long river south. These mound builders had now moved as far as the second great lake, where the Jakonsasoronon lived. They did not appear to be coming in peace but rather for war and conquest.

The onkwe honwe held a council with one another. They invited a delegation of people from the east whom they had always had an uneasy relation with since the time they had moved through their lands when they lived by the long river. They were the Lenni Lenapi and their grandchildren the Mahican and Anishnabe whom the onkwe honwe referred to as Atirontoks, Bark Eaters. The Lenni Lenapi were called the grandfathers by all of the other Atirontok nations who were offshoots of them. The Atirontoks referred to the onkwe honwe as Menkwe later Mingo. They were also afraid of this threat from the south. At the council, it was decided that they would work together to defend themselves. They gathered as many of their people as they could, and they attacked the Mound Builders at their fort on the beautiful river Ohio, taking them by surprise by attacking them from the back on the frozen river defeating them

This happened during the winter cold, and the Mound Builders having no experience with Sawiskera’s power to freeze the earth were ill prepared to survive in the harsh climatic conditions of the freezing winter. The rest of them became bogged down and while under siege began to starve. As they had been almost solely an agricultural people, they were running out of food supplies. The war lasted for many seasons until it finally broke; the onkwe honwe and their allies forced the Mound Builders back to the lands from where they had come.

The Great Epic Continues in

The Great Way of Peace

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