The Toad-Woman

THE TOAD-WOMAN

From: The Indian Fairy Book , The Original Legends

Author: Cornelius Mathews

Great good luck once happened to a young woman who was living all alone in the woods with nobody near her but her little dog; for, to her surprise, she found fresh meat every morning at her door. She was very curious to know who it was that supplied her, and watching one morning, just as the sun had risen, she saw a handsome young man gliding away into the forest. 

Having seen her, he became her husband, and she had a son by him.

One day, not long after this, he did not return at evening, as usual, from hunting. She waited till late at night, but he came no more.

The next day, she swung her child to sleep in its cradle, and then said to her dog, "Take care of your brother while I am gone, and when he cries, halloo for me."

The cradle was made of the finest wampum, and all its bandages and ornaments were of the same precious stuff.

After a short time, the woman heard the cry of the dog, and running home as fast as she could, she found her child gone and the dog too. On looking around, she saw scattered upon the ground pieces of the wampum of her child's cradle, and she knew that the dog had been faithful, and had striven his best to save her child from being carried off, as he had been, by an old woman, from a distant country, called Mukakee Mindemoea, or the Toad-Woman.

The mother hurried off at full speed in pursuit, and as she flew along, she came, from time to time, to lodges inhabited by old women, they told her at what time the child-thief had passed; they also gave her shoes that she might follow on. There were a number of these old women who seemed as if they were prophetesses, and knew what was to come long beforehand. Each of them would say to her that when she had arrived at the next lodge, she must set the toes of the moccasins they had given her pointing homeward, and that they would return of themselves. The young woman was very careful to send back in this manner all the shoes she borrowed.

She thus followed in the pursuit, from valley to valley, and stream to stream, for many months and years; when she came at length to the lodge of the last of the friendly old grandmothers, as they were called, who gave her the last instructions how to proceed. She told her that she was near the place where her son was to be found; and she directed her to build a lodge of cedar-boughs, hard by the old Toad-Woman's lodge, and to make a little bark dish, and to fill it with the juice of the wild grape.

"Then," she said, "Your first child (meaning the dog) will come and find you out."

These directions the young woman followed just as they had been given to her, and in a short time she heard her son, now grown up, going out to hunt, with his dog, calling out to him, "Peewaubik—Spirit-Iron—Twee! Twee!"

The dog soon came into the lodge, and she set before him the dish of grape-juice.

"See, my child," she said, addressing him, "the pretty drink your mother gives you."

Spirit-Iron took a long draught, and immediately left the lodge with his eyes wide open; for it was the drink which teaches one to see the truth of things as they are. He rose up when he got into the open air, stood upon his hind legs, and looked about. "I see how it is," he said; and marching off, erect like a man, he sought out his young master.

Approaching him in great confidence, he bent down and whispered in his ear (having first looked cautiously around to see that no one was listening), "This old woman here in the lodge is no mother of yours. I have found your real mother, and she is worth looking at. When we come back from our day's sport, I'll prove it to you."

They went out into the woods, and at the close of the afternoon they brought back a great spoil of meat of all kinds. The young man, as soon as he had laid aside his weapons, said to the old Toad-Woman, "Send some of the best of this meat to the stranger who has arrived lately."

The Toad-Woman answered, "No! Why should I send anything to her, the poor widow?"

The young man could not be refused; and at last the old Toad-Woman consented to take something and throw it down at the door. She called out, "My son gives you this." But, being bewitched by Mukakee Mindemoea, it was so bitter and distasteful, that the young woman immediately cast it out of the lodge after her.

In the evening the young man paid the stranger a visit at her lodge of cedar-boughs. She then told him that she was his real mother, and that he had been stolen away from her by the old Toad-Woman, who was a child-thief and a witch. 

As the young man appeared to doubt, she added, "Feign sickness when you go home to her lodge; and when the Toad-Woman asks what ails you, say that you wish to see your cradle; for your cradle was of wampum, and your faithful brother the dog, in striving to save you, tore off these pieces which I show you."

They were real wampum, white and blue, shining and beautiful; and the young man, placing them in his bosom, set off; but as he did not seem quite steady in his belief of the strange woman's story, the dog Spirit-Iron, taking his arm, kept close by his side, and gave him many words of encouragement as they went along. They entered the lodge together; and the old Toad-Woman saw, from something in the dog's eye, that trouble was coming.

"Mother," said the young man, placing his hand to his head, and leaning heavily upon Spirit-Iron, as if a sudden faintness had come upon him, "why am I so different in looks from the rest of your children?"

"Oh," she answered, "it was a very bright, clear blue sky when you were born; that is the reason."

He seemed to be so very ill that the Toad-Woman at length asked what she could do for him. He said nothing could do him good but the sight of his cradle. She ran immediately and brought a cedar cradle; but he said:

"That is not my cradle."

She went and got another of her own children's cradles, of which there were four; but he turned his head, and said:

"That is not mine; I am as sick as ever."

When she had shown the four, and they had been all rejected, she at last produced the real cradle. The young man saw that it was of the same stuff as the wampum which he had in his bosom. He could even see the marks of the teeth of Spirit-Iron left upon the edges, where he had taken hold, striving to hold it back. He had no doubt, now, which was his mother.

To get free of the old Toad-Woman, it was necessary that the young man should kill a fat bear. Directed by Spirit-Iron, who was very wise in such a matter, he secured the fattest in all that country; and, having stripped a tall pine of all its bark and branches, he perched the carcass at the top, with its head to the east and its tail due west. Returning to the lodge, he informed the old Toad-Woman that the fat bear was ready for her, but that she would have to go very far, even to the end of the earth, to get it.

She answered: "It is not so far but that I can get it;" for of all things in the world, a fat bear was the delight of the old Toad-Woman.

She at once set forth; and she was no sooner out of sight than the young man and his dog, Spirit-Iron, blowing a strong breath in the face of the Toad-Woman's four children (who were all bad spirits, or bear-fiends), extinguished their life. They then set them up by the side of the door, having first thrust a piece of the white bear fat in each of their mouths.

The Toad-Woman spent a long time in finding the bear which she had been sent after, and she made at least five and twenty attempts before she was able to climb to the carcass. She slipped down three times where she went up once. As she drew near her lodge with the great bear on her back, she was astonished to see the four children standing up by the door-posts with the fat in their mouths. She was angry with them, and called out:

"Why do you thus insult the pomatum of your brother?"

She was still angrier when they made no answer to her complaint; but when she found that they were stark dead, and placed in this way to mock her, her fury was very great indeed. She ran after the tracks of the young man and his mother as fast as she could; so fast, indeed, that she was on the very point of overtaking them, when the dog, Spirit-Iron, coming close up to his master, whispered to him—"Snakeberry!"

"Let the snakeberry spring up to detain her!" cried out the young man; and immediately the berries spread like scarlet all over the path, for a long distance; and the old Toad-Woman, who was almost as fond of these berries as she was of fat bears, could not avoid stooping down to pick and eat.

The old Toad-Woman was very anxious to get forward, but the snake berry-vines kept spreading out on every side; and they still grow and grow, and spread and spread. To this day the wicked old Toad-Woman is busy picking the berries, and she will never be able to get beyond to the other side, to disturb the happiness of the young hunter and his mother, who still live, with their faithful dog, in the shadow of the beautiful wood-side where they were born.

The End

The Story of a Sunflower

The Story of a Sunflower

Ah! Sun-flower

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,

Who contest the steps of the Sun:

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the travelers journey is done. 

Where the Youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow: 

Arise from their graves and aspire, 

Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

Sunflowers are a member of the Aster or Composite family and they commonly grow to heights between 1.5 and 3.5 m (5–12 ft). The flower head on a mature sunflower (also referred to as composite flower or florets) has numerous small flowers all crowded together. The outer petal-bearing florets are the sterile florets and can be yellow, red, orange, or other colors. The florets inside the circular head are called disc florets, which mature into seeds. The flower petals within the sunflower's cluster are usually set in a double-spiral pattern. This pattern produces the most efficient packing of seeds within the flower head. Sunflowers grow best when planted in rows that align with the axis of Mother Earth. The strange pith in the stalk when alive is the lightest known, and when dry becomes hard as rock.

The sunflower, an important, high-energy food source, is believed to have originated in the Americas. Evidence suggests that the plant was cultivated by Indians in present-day Arizona and New Mexico about 3000 BC. Many indigenous American peoples used the sunflower as the symbol of their solar deity, including the Aztecs and the Otomi of Mexico and the Incas in South America. 

Some archaeologists explore the notion that sunflower may have been domesticated before corn. In some Indian legends Sunflower is referred to as the “fourth sister”, the other sisters being the corn, bean and squash.

Sunflowers were considered by some North American Indians as the symbol of courage, therefore warriors would carry sunflower cakes with them to battle or, when they went hunting, they would sprinkle sunflower powder on their clothes to recharge and keep up their spirit. Men also ate the seeds for "strength in love," as they were a good source of arginine, which increased potency.

Sunflower seeds used as sustenance were ground or pounded into flour for cakes, mashed or made into bread. As a meal it would sometimes be mixed with other vegetables such as beans, squash, and corn. And much like today, the seeds were used as nutritional snack in between meals. 

The oil derived from the sunflower seeds, aside from its nutritional function, it had also cosmetic and medicinal properties. It was a good source for attaining and maintaining smooth skin and hair as well as being made into a poultice for the treatment anything ranging from snake and spider bites to various skin ailments. 

When the squashed sunflower seeds were combined with peppermint and thyme they delivered soothing relief of pain. The seeds were also essential component in easing the pain of the menstrual cycle of females. It was considered helpful due to the Sun having a daily cycle which kept them warm and helped to grow food and all medicinal plants. 

We now know that sunflower seeds are considered to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, diuretic and expectorant properties. Sunflower leaves can be used as an infusion to treat high fevers, lung problems and diarrhea. 

They can help reducing the symptoms of asthma, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis and help in cases of bronchial, pulmonary and laryngeal problems as well as controlling high blood pressure and migraine headaches. The sunflower plant contains one of the best sources of phenylalamine, helpful in the control of pain, and is a rich source of vitamin E.

The seeds, rich in phytosterols, reduce cholesterol levels and improve overall heart health. With high levels of magnesium counterbalance calcium, it helps to regulate nerve function. The substantial content of the amino acid, tryptophan, meanwhile enhances serotonin production and thus improves mood and alleviates depression. Sounds like a wonder seed? Well, I think it is; hence the reason for its timeless popularity.

Back in the old days different varieties of the Sunflower were also cultivated to produce purple and yellow dyes for textiles, body painting and other decorations. The plant and the seeds were widely used in ceremonies. Meanwhile, the dried stalk was used as a building material. 

Common sunflower or a ga li ha, is a sacred plant that appears in many Indian myths and stories. The Cherokee talked of this naming and its relationship. It is said in one story that the sunflower came from Anthoteknon after Disocuri spilled ambrosia on his grave and he arose as a sunflower.

In another Native American Indian legend, salmon when caught were always laid upon the stems and leaves of the sunflower plant. This may have something to do with the pulling up of the plant, which may also have been interpreted as some kind of doorway. 

Mystified? A quote from G. T. Garrett in his book can perhaps serve as the brief explanative: “The Cherokee Herbal: Native Plant Medicine from the Four Directions," "the East was considered an "open door," the direction we are born into this life to meet the Sun. Conversely, the West, the direction of death and passing from this world to the netherworld of our ancestors, was considered the "back door," with the spirit guides as the gatekeepers to the "darkened land." The sacred teachings teach us therefore that life and death were experiences of the spirit moving through a doorway or portal, from which we continue our journey." The sunflower turns its head following the sun as it moves from east to west across the sky.

The Americas had long enjoyed the many benefits of the sunflower when in the 1500’s the Spanish adventurers chanced on this great find purely by accident. The first European to encounter the sunflower was Francisco Pizarro in Tahuantinsuyo, Peru. In the early 16th Century he took golden images of the flower as well as the actual seeds back to Spain. Deemed a strange flower, it was at first mainly used as a decoration. 

By 1716, an English patent was granted for squeezing oil from sunflower seed. However, this was never regarded as an edible plant till it traveled to Russia. By 1830, the manufacture of sunflower oil was done on a commercial scale. It took Russia by a storm and Russian farmers were soon engaged in growing vast numbers of these sunflowers. The use of sunflower oil became very popular, particularly with members of the Russian Orthodox Church, because sunflower oil was one of the few oils that were allowed during Lent.

To date seeds of the large-seeded varieties are enjoyed my many as a nutritional snack. Roasted in the same manner as coffee, they make an agreeable drink, and the seeds have been used in Portugal and Russia to make wholesome and nutritious bread. 

The oil pressed from the seeds is of a citron yellow color and a sweet taste and is considered equal to olive oil or almond oil for table use. The resulting oil-cake when warm pressed is used mainly for soap-making, candle-making and in the art of wool-dressing. As a drying oil for mixing paint, it is equal to linseed oil and is great as a lubricant for massages.

Then the residue after the oil is pressed is used as cattle-fodder. This form of oil-cake is relished by sheep, pigs, and poultry. Even the damaged, bruised sunflower seeds are utilized to make excellent chicken and fowl feed, as it’s believed to increase egg productivity. Is it any wonder that Sunflowers are currently grown in many parts of the world such as Russia, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Egypt, India, China and Japan?

Oh, and it makes an excellent addition for your garden as they are delightfully sturdy and beautiful just as flowers.

Another Poem to enjoy:

Sunflowers

sunflowers

are named well

for they, like the sun, 

give joy to those who feel their radiance

it is as if

nature heard all of the children's joyful shouts

in the meadow-

the grass moving in the wind,

like a great emerald dragon-

and wove their shouts

of love

happiness

and exuberance

into a flower

that the children would pot

and water with love

and the sunflowers would thrive 

to be the smiles on cloudy days

(Author: The Poems Within, who noted “I wrote this poem for a contest on Vincent Van Gogh's sunflower painting. The painting inspired me to write this poem.”)

Sunflowers, 1888., by Vincent Van Gogh

The End.

Osseo, The Son of the Evening Star

OSSEO, THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR

(From: The Indian Fairy Book , The Original Legends

Author: Cornelius Mathews)

There once lived an Indian in the north who had ten daughters, all of whom grew up to womanhood. They were noted for their beauty, especially Oweenee, the youngest, who was very independent in her way of thinking. She was a great admirer of romantic places, and spent much of her time with the flowers and winds and clouds in the open air. 

Though the flower was homely, it was fragrant—though the wind was rough, it was healthful—and though the clouds were dark, it embosomed the fruitful rain. She knew how, in spite of appearances, to acknowledge the good qualities concealed from the eye. She paid very little attention to the many handsome young men who came to her father's lodge for the purpose of courting her.

Her elder sisters were all sought in marriage, and one after the other they went off to dwell in the lodges of their husbands; but Oweenee was deaf to all proposals of the kind. At last she married an old man called Osseo, who was scarcely able to walk, and who was too poor to have things like others. The only property he owned in the world was the walking-staff which he carried in his hand. Though thus poor and homely, Osseo was a devout and good man; faithful in all his duties, and obedient in all things to the Good Spirit. Of course they jeered and laughed at Oweenee on all sides, but she seemed to be quite happy, and said to them, "It is my choice and you will see in the end who has acted the wisest."

They made a special mock of the walking-staff, and scarcely an hour in the day passed that they had not some disparaging reference to it. Among themselves they spoke of Osseo of the walking-staff, in derision, as the owner of the big woods, or the great timber-man.

"True," said Oweenee, "it is but a simple stick; but as it supports the steps of my husband, it is more precious to me than all the forests of the north."

A time came when the sisters, and their husbands, and their parents were all invited to a feast. As the distance was considerable, they doubted whether Osseo, so aged and feeble, would be able to undertake the journey; but in spite of their friendly doubts, he joined them, and set out with a good heart.

As they walked along the path they could not help pitying their young and handsome sister who had such an unsuitable mate. She, however, smiled upon Osseo, and kept with him by the way the same as if he had been the comeliest bridegroom in all the company. Osseo often stopped and gazed upward; but they could perceive nothing in the direction in which he looked, unless it was the faint glimmering of the evening star. They heard him muttering to himself as they went along, and one of the elder sisters caught the words, "Pity me, my father!"

"Poor old man," said she; "he is talking to his father. What a pity it is that he would not fall and break his neck, that our sister might have a young husband."

Presently as they came to a great rock where Osseo had been used to breathe his morning and his evening prayer, the star emitted a brighter ray, which shone directly in his face.

Osseo, with a sharp cry, fell trembling to the earth, where the others would have left him, but his good wife raised him up, and he sprang forward on the path, and with steps light as the reindeer he led the party, no longer decrepit and infirm, but a beautiful young man. On turning around to look for his wife, behold she had become changed, at the same moment, into an aged and feeble woman, bent almost double, and walking with the staff which he had cast aside.

Osseo immediately joined her, and with looks of fondness and the tenderest regard, bestowed on her every endearing attention, and constantly addressed her by the term of ne-ne-moosh-a, or my sweetheart.

As they walked along, whenever they were not gazing fondly in each other's face, they bent their looks on heaven, and a light, as if of far-off stars, was in their eyes.

On arriving at the lodge of the hunter with whom they were to feast, they found the banquet ready, and as soon as their entertainer had finished his harangue—in which he told them his feasting was in honor of the Evening or Woman's Star—they began to partake of the portion dealt out, according to age and character, to each one of the guests. The food was very delicious, and they were all happy but Osseo, who looked at his wife, and then gazed upward, as if he was looking into the substance of the sky. Sounds were soon heard, as if from far-off voices in the air, and they became plainer and plainer, till he could clearly distinguish some of the words.

"My son, my son," said the voice; "I have seen your afflictions, and pity your wants. I come to call you away from a scene that is stained with blood and tears. The earth is full of sorrows. Wicked spirits, the enemies of mankind, walk abroad, and lie in wait to ensnare the children of the sky. Every night they are lifting their voices to the Power of Evil, and every day they make themselves busy in casting mischief in the hunter's path. 

You have long been their victim, but you shall be their victim no more. The spell you were under is broken. Your evil genius is overcome. I have cast him down by my superior strength, and it is this strength I now exert for your happiness. Ascend, my son; ascend into the skies, and partake of the feast I have prepared for you in the stars, and bring with you those you love.

"The food set before you is enchanted and blessed. Fear not to partake of it. It is endowed with magic power to give immortality to mortals, and to change men to spirits. Your bowls and kettles shall no longer be wood and earth. The one shall become silver, and the other pure gold. They shall shine like fire, and glisten like the most beautiful scarlet. Every female shall also change her state and looks, and no longer be doomed to laborious tasks. She shall put on the beauty of the star-light, and become a shining bird of the air. She shall dance, and not work. She shall sing, and not cry.

"My beams," continued the voice, "shine faintly on your lodge, but they have power to transform it into the lightness of the skies, and decorate it with the colors of the clouds. Come, Osseo, my son, and dwell no longer on earth. Think strongly on my words, and look steadfastly at my beams. My power is now at its height. Doubt not, delay not. It is the voice of the Spirit of the Stars that calls you away to happiness and celestial rest."

The words were intelligible to Osseo, but his companions thought them some far-off sounds of music, or birds singing in the woods. Very soon the lodge began to shake and tremble, and they felt it rising into the air. It was too late to run out, for they were already as high as the tops of the trees. Osseo looked around him as the lodge passed through the topmost boughs, and behold! their wooden dishes were changed into shells of a scarlet color, the poles of the lodge to glittering rods of silver, and the bark that covered them into the gorgeous wings of insects.

A moment more and his brothers and sisters, and their parents and friends, were transformed into birds of various plumage. Some were jays, some partridges and pigeons, and others gay singing birds, who hopped about, displaying their many-colored feathers, and singing songs of cheerful note.

But his wife, Oweenee, still kept her earthly garb, and exhibited all the indications of extreme old age. He again cast his eyes in the direction of the clouds, and uttered the peculiar cry which had given him the victory at the rock. In a moment the youth and beauty of his wife returned; her dingy garments assumed the shining appearance of green silk, and her staff was changed into a silver feather.

The lodge again shook and trembled, for they were now passing through the uppermost clouds, and they immediately after found themselves in the Evening Star, the residence of Osseo's father.

"My son," said the old man, "hang that cage of birds which you have brought along in your hand at the door, and I will inform you why you and your wife have been sent for."

Osseo obeyed, and then took his seat in the lodge.

"Pity was shown to you," resumed the King of the Star, "on account of the contempt of your wife's sister, who laughed at her ill fortune, and ridiculed you while you were under the power of that wicked spirit whom you overcame at the rock. That spirit lives in the next lodge, being the small star you see on the left of mine, and he has always felt envious of my family because we had greater power, and especially that we had committed to us the care of the female world. He failed in many attempts to destroy your brothers and sisters-in-law, but succeeded at last in transforming yourself and your wife into decrepit old persons. You must be careful and not let the light of his beams fall on you, while you are here, for therein lies the power of his enchantment. A ray of light is the bow and arrow he uses."

Osseo lived happy and contented in the parental lodge, and in due time his wife presented him with a son, who grew up rapidly, and in the very likeness of Osseo himself. He was very quick and ready in learning everything that was done in his grandfather's dominions, but he wished also to learn the art of hunting, for he had heard that this was a favorite pursuit below. To gratify him, his father made him a bow and arrows, and he then let the birds out of the cage that he might practice in shooting. In this pastime he soon became expert, and the very first day he brought down a bird; but when he went to pick it up, to his amazement it was a beautiful young woman, with the arrow sticking in her breast. It was one of his younger aunts.

The moment her blood fell upon the surface of that pure and spotless planet, the charm was dissolved. The boy immediately found himself sinking, although he was partly upheld by something like wings until he passed through the lower clouds, and he then suddenly dropped upon a high, breezy island in a large lake.

He was pleased, on looking up, to see all his aunts and uncles following him in the form of birds, and he soon discovered the silver lodge, with his father and mother, descending, with its waving tassels fluttering like so many insects' gilded wings. It rested on the loftiest cliffs of the island, and there they fixed their residence. They all resumed their natural shapes, but they were diminished to the size of fairies; and as a mark of homage to the King of the Evening Star, they never failed on every pleasant evening during the summer season to join hands and dance upon the top of the rocks. These rocks were quickly observed by the Indians to be covered, in moonlight evenings, with a larger sort of Ininees, or little men, and were called Mish-in-e-mok-in-ok-ong, or Little Spirits, and the island is named from them to this day.

Their shining lodge can be seen in the summer evenings, when the moon beams strongly on the pinnacles of the rocks; and the fishermen who go near those high cliffs at night, have even heard the voices of the happy little dancers. And Osseo and his wife, as fondly attached to each other as ever, always lead the dance.

The End