How Old Man Winter Was Driven Back is a traditional Iroquois children’s story, retold by Mabel Powers, that teaches timeless lessons through folklore and storytelling. This gentle and imaginative tale explains the changing of the seasons while sharing values of cooperation, courage, and harmony with nature.
An old man of the Iroquois nation once wished to make a beautiful Indian maiden his wife. The old man had many rare furs and valued strings of wampum.
Once a rabbit began to run back and forth through the woods, calling for snow, snow, snow! It was one of those large gray rabbits, with long ears, that people call hares.
The Great Spirit had smiled upon his Red Children. The land was filled with plenty, for the Great Spirit had given to them the three sustainers of life, the corn, the bean, and the squash.
Some Indian hunters once made their way north, to hunt for moose. It was at the time of Falling Leaves.
Once the Little People, the Indian fairies, ran with the Red Children through the woods, and played with them beside the streams.
One day, an Indian boy was playing beside a stream, when one of the little elf men came along in his canoe. The boy had his bow and arrow with him; so had the little elf man.
It was bluebird time, many moons ago. Little brooks laughed and danced, and all the forest was glad.
The old-time Indians say that long, long ago, the Little People made a law that stories must not be told in summer.
Once a little Indian girl was very sad and unhappy. The Great Spirit had taken her father and mother, and she had gone to live with relatives who did not want her.
A fox was running through the wood near a river. He had a fish in his mouth. The fish had been stolen from an Indian who lived down the stream. The fox had been passing near the Indian’s wigwam. He…
It was after the Great Spirit had made all the beautiful birds, that the Evil Spirit came along. He saw the beautiful birds and heard their beautiful songs.
It was a long, long time ago, when the earth was very young. Trees and flowers were growing everywhere, but there were no birds.
Many, many moons before the White man came, a little Indian boy was left in the woods.
Long, long before Columbus came to America, the Red Children were here. They were the first and only real Americans.
In the olden times, tribes of Indians did not always live in one place as they do now. They sometimes wandered from one valley or woodland to another.
The Iroquois Red Children are a grateful people. The true Iroquois never rises after eating without saying, "Niaweh," which means, "I am thankful." The others reply, "Niuh,"—"It is well."
In time past—we can not tell exactly how many, many years ago—a poor Indian was living, with his wife and children, in a beautiful part of the country. He was not only poor, but he had the misfortune to be inexpert in procuring food for his family, and his children were all too young to give him assistance.
A famous hunter who lived in a remote part of the North had a fair wife and two sons, who were left in the lodge every day while he went out in quest of the animals whose flesh was their principal support.
Bokwewa and his brother lived in a far-off part of the country. By such as had knowledge of them, Bokwewa, the elder, although deformed and feeble of person, was considered a manito, who had assumed the mortal shape; while his younger brother, Kwasynd, manly in appearance, active, and strong, partook of the nature of the present race of beings.