The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-11-03
THE ORIGIN OF MAPLE SUGAR.
An Old Legend Told by the Algoquin
Indians.

The true story of the discovery of
maple sugar making is the legend of
Woksis, the mighty hunter. Going
forth one morning to the chase he or
dered MOuua, his squaw, to have
choice cut of moose meat boiled for him
when he should return, and that she
might be reminded of the time he stuck
q stake in the snow and made a
straight mark out from it in the place
where it's shadow would then fall Mo-
qua promised strict compliance, and as
he departed she hewed off the desired
tidbit with her sharpest stone knife,
and, filling her best kokh with clean
snow for melting, hung it over the fire
Then she sat down on a bearskin and
began embroidernE a pair of mocca-
sins with variously dyed pOrcupine
quills.
She became so absorbed in the work
that the kolkh was forgotten till the
bark cord that suspended it was burned
off, and it spilled it's contents on the
fire with startling explosion that filled
the wigwam with steam and smoke.
She lifted the overturned vessel from
the embers by a stick thrust into it's
four cOrnered mouth, and when it was
cool enough to handle she repaired it
with a new ball of bark and the kokh
was ready for serving again.
But the shadow of the stake had
swung so far towards the mark that
she knew there was no time to melt
snow to boil the dinner. Happily, she
bethought her of the great maple be-
hind the wigwam, tapped merely for
the provision Of pleasing drink but
the sweet water might serve a better
purpose now. So she filled the kOkh
with sap and hung it over the mended
fire.
In spite of impatient watching, II
| presently began to boil, whereupon she
popped the ample ration of moose
| meat into it and set a cake of pounded
corn to bake on the tilted slab before
| the fire. Then she resumed her en-
| brodery, in which the sharp point Of
| each thread supplied its own needle.
| The work grew more and more inter-
esting.
| So she dreamed and worked, stitch
| by stitch. while the hours passed un-
| needed, the shadow crept past the
| mark, the kokh boiled low and the
| cake gave forth the smell Of burning
| Alas! the cake was blackened crisp
! and the once JUICY meat was a shrivel-
| ed morsal in the midst of a gummy,
| dark brown substance. She SnatChed
kokh and the cake from the fire and
| then, hearing her husband coming
she ran and hid herself in the nearest
! thicket of evergreens, for she knew
that when he found not wherewith to
| aEpease the rage OF hunger he would
be seized with more terrible one
| against her
Listening awhile with a quaking
| heart, and catching no alarming sound
| but aware instead of an unaccountable
| silence, she ventured forth and peeped
| into the wigwam Worksis sat by the
fire eating with his fingers from the
kokh, while his face shone with an
| expression of supreme content and en-
| joyment. With wonder she watched
him deyour the last morsal, but her
| wonder was greater when she saw
| him deliberately break the earthen pot
| and lick the last Vestige of spoiled
cookery from the sharls. She could
not restrain a surprised cry, and, dis
covering her. he addressed her:
'Oh, women of women! Didst thou
conceive this marvel of cookery or has
Klosekur-Bet been thy instructor"
Being a woman she had the wit Ia
withhold the exact truth, but permit
ted him to believe whatever he would
Let me embrace thee" he cried
and upon his lips she tasted the first
maple sugar.
The discovery was made public and
kokhs of sap were presently boiling In
every wlgwam. All were so anxious tc
get ever atom OF the precious sweet
that they broke the kokhs and scrap
cd the pieces, just as Worksis, the frs
sugar eater, had done. And that is
why there are so many fragments Of
broken pottery and so few whole yes.
sells to be found-Atlantic Monthly.