Michigan Legends: Folktales and Lore from the Great Lakes State

How Corn Came to the Indians

99 How Corn Came to the Indians Most schoolchildren in Michigan learn that the early explorers and residents of the United States, including Michigan, found corn in abundance. The Indians had long existed on this nutritious food. But how did they come to have such a lifesaving food that grew in fields as far as the eye could see? Long ago, in the 1600s, the Ottowa tribes lived on the Manitoulin Islands in Lake Huron.The main island today is the largest of the thousands of islands in the Great Lakes and is now the province of Ontario, Canada. But back in the 1600s, it was where Ottowas lived—­ and had lived for uncounted years.Archeologists have found that Indian tribes date back on this island at least ten thousand years. When the Ottowas lived here, the Manitoulin Islands were just part of the many islands and coastlands that today are parts of Ontario , Michigan, and Wisconsin. It so happened that in the late 1600s, the enemies of the Ottowas ,the Iroquois,savagely attacked them.The Ottowas had to flee to what the Indians described as the country between Lake Superior and the Upper Mississippi River, to the banks of a lake called 100    How Corn Came to the Indians Lac Courtorielle, or “the lake of the Cut-­ ears,” in what is now the state of Wisconsin. When they had to leave the Manitoulin Islands,there was among the Ottowa tribe a famous magician. His name was Masswaweinini, which means“the living statue.”As the Ottowas fled,they asked him to stay behind on the Manitoulin Islands, which had been known from the earliest times as a favorite dwelling place of manitous, or spirits.They wanted Masswaweinini to secretly watch the Iroquois. There was, after all, no guarantee that the Iroquois would not attack the Ottowas in their new lands.That often happened in tribal wars. One tribe would take over the land of another, settle there, and then attack new areas for more land. If Masswaweinini saw any signs that the Iroquois were moving to attack the Ottowas again, he could warn them. Masswaweinini had two young boys to assist him. This group lived in secret nooks and bays along the coast of the islands. For many weeks, they led a quiet, careful life on the shores of Lake Huron. Masswaweinini hauled his canoe into the dense forest every night and smoothed over his tracks in the sand.The Iroquois never knew he was there. One day, he got up early to hunt, planning to remain in the thickest woods to remain concealed from his enemies. But as he walked along,he suddenly came upon a large,open plain that he had never seen before. He did not know how that was possible. He looked around and, seeing no danger, began stepping carefully across the field to get to the other side.But all of sudden,a small man wearing a red feather on his head approached him—­ as if out of nowhere. He seemed very familiar and friendly, addressed Masswaweinini by name, and asked him,“Where are you going?” Before Masswaweinini could reply, the strange man pulled out his pipe to smoke—­ a practice common among all Indians. “Pray,” the man said,“where does your strength lie?” “My strength,” said Masswaweinini, “is like that of all humans, and no stronger.” “We must wrestle,” the strange man replied.“If you defeat me, you must say to me,‘I have thrown you,Wa ge me na!’” The two men smoked the pipe and then began their wrestling How Corn Came to the Indians    101 match.At first, the small man was winning. He was very quick and fast. But Masswaweinini’s strength won the day, and he threw his adversary to the ground. Just as the man had instructed him, he shouted,“I have thrown you,Wa ge me na!” As soon as he said the words, the man vanished. Bewildered, Masswaweinini looked all around him for the man,but he saw nothing .Then he looked down at the exact spot where he had thrown the man to the ground.There he saw a single ear of mondamin—­or “Indian corn.” Masswaweinini was astonished enough, but he could scarcely believe it when this ear of Indian corn spoke to him. “Now,” it said, “divest me of my covering. Then separate my body from my spine and scatter the...