The Coolidge examiner., 1932-09-16
TALES Of the
j CHIEFS
By EDITHA L. WATSON
DEKANAWIDA AND
HIAWATHA

0
| ters. There was a fear born of
supernatural things in her heart,
for it had been revealed to her
that her son would be a source of
evil to her people. Hence, it was
loyalty to her tribe, and not hatred
Of her baby, that prompted the aw-
full deed.
Morning came. The mother felt
something warm in her arms. Curl
osity triumphed over fear, and she
dared to look at the little bundle
1t was her child
Twice more, she tried to drown
her ill-omened son in the icy wa
ters of the river, and twice more
he miraculously reappeared in her
arms at dawn. She could no longer
bear to attempt his death.
This is a legend, it is true, but
the child, who grew into one of the
greatest Of Indian statesmen, is
historical reality. His name was
Dekanawida, and it was he who,
with one other, formed the first sue
cessful league of nations, and pro-
pounded the idea Of universal peace.
The HurOns had united four
tribes about the year 1900, but this
league did not last. Since it was
the Iroquois confederation which
destroyed that of the Hurons, the
prophecy about Dekanawida would
seem to have come to pass. 1t is
probable, however, that the young
Indian had an unusually alert
mind, which grasped the shortcom-
ings of the Huron union and later
turned them to account in the or
ganization of the Iroquois cOnfed-
| eracy.
As soon as he had grown to man
hood. Dekanawida Travelled south.
Among the Mohawk, about the
same time, younger man, who was
called Hiawatha, was filled with the
same ideas. Legends have grown
up around him, too, and in fact we
think of Hiawatha as the hero Of
Longfellow's poem, but the trutPis
that the poem was written about
Manabozho, a Chippewa deity, and
does not contain a single fact or
fiction relating to the real Hiawa-
tina.
Somehow the two Indians met,
and found powerful allies in each
other. 1t was Dekanawida who for
mulated the laws and principles Of
the confederation. 1t was Hiawa-
tha who converted the five tribes
to the idea Of union Together they
labored to establish reforms.
As modern reformers can testify,
this was a bitterly hard task, and
the two were opposed, not by the
general public so much as by men
Of equal standing with their own.
One Of these, an OnOndaga, among
which tribe Hiawatha started his
campaign, went so far as to kill Hia-
watha's daughters in his efforts to
halt him. Even this crime, how
ever, proved unsuccessful in its
purpose.
Hiawatha made three attempts to
bring his scheme before the Onon-
daga council, but the crafty chief
thwarted him each time. He then
turned to his own people, the Mo-
hawks, for aid. 1t is well known
what honor a prophet has in his
own country, so that we are not sur
prised to learn that his efforts met
meager success. Then he went to
the Oneida, and at last obtained
their promise to join the projected
confederacy If the Mohawks would
do likewise. Armed with this agree
ment, he returned to the MOhawks,
and finally was able to persuade
them to unite with the Oneida
and the Cayuga. and to invite the
Onondaga to join them. This tribe
at last promised to join If another,
the Seneca, would also enter the
confederacy. Such promises would
have discouraged a less earnest
man.
At last, about 1870, the five
tribes were brought into cOnfedera
alton, and united in adopting the
laws framed by Dekanawida for the
common welfare. 1t is worthy of
note that the remorseless OnOnda-
ga chief who had so opposed Hia-
watha's efforts in the beginning,
was the one through whom that
tribe accepted the proposed union.
AS the chief was a reputed sorcer-
er, this victory for Dekanawida and
Hiawatha over him was looked up
on by the Indians as a sign Of great
supernatural power, a fact which
added greatly to their prestige, now
that it was too late to be of much
value.
The Iroquois confederation was
not the first league of nations, as
the Hurons had united four tribes
about thirty years earlier, but it
was the first successful one. The
sensible laws and stable founda
ton given it by the able brain of
DekanaWida, and the untiring eff