| |
Because Godasiyo was a wise and progressive chief, many people came from
faraway places to live in her village, and they had no difficulty
understanding one another.
At last the village grew so large that half the people lived on the
north side of the river, and half on the south side. They spent much
time canoeing back and forth to visit, attend dances, and exchange gifts
of venison, hides, furs, and dried fruits and berries.
The tribal council house was on the south side, which made it necessary
for those who lived on the north bank to make frequent canoe trips to
consult with their chief. Some complained about this, and to make it
easier for everybody to cross the rapid stream, Godasiyo ordered a
bridge to be built of saplings and tree limbs carefully fastened
together. This bridge brought the tribe close together again, and the
people praised Godasiyo for her wisdom.
Not long after this, a white dog appeared in the village, and Godasiyo
claimed it for her own. Everywhere the chief went the dog followed her,
and the people on the north side of the river became jealous of the
animal. They spread stories that the dog was possessed by an evil spirit
that would bring harm to the tribe.
One day a delegation from the north bank crossed the bridge to the
council house and demanded that Godasiyo kill the white dog. When she
refused to do so, the delegates returned to their side of the river, and
that night they destroyed the bridge.
From that time the people on the north bank and those on the south bank
began to distrust each other. The tribe divided into two factions, one
renouncing Godasiyo as their chief, the other supporting her. Bad
feelings between them grew so deep that Godasiyo foresaw that the next
step would surely lead to fighting and war. Hoping to avoid bloodshed,
she called all members of the tribe who supported her to a meeting in
the council house.
"Our people," she said, "are divided by more than a river. No longer is
there goodwill and contentment among us. Not wishing to see brother
fight against brother, I propose that those who recognize me as their
chief follow me westward up the great river to build a new village."
Almost everyone who attended the council meeting agreed to follow
Godasiyo westward. In preparation for the migration, they built many
canoes of birch bark. Two young men who had been friendly rivals in
canoe races volunteered to construct a special water craft for their
chief. With strong poles they fastened two large canoes together and
then built a platform which extended over the canoes and the space
between them.
Upon this platform was a seat for Godasiyo and places to store her
clothing, extra leggings, belts, robes, moccasins, mantles, caps, awls,
needles and adornments.
At last everything was ready. Godasiyo took her seat on the platform
with the white dog beside her, and the two young men who had built the
craft began paddling the double canoes beneath. Behind them the chief's
followers and defenders launched their own canoes which contained all
their belongings. This flotilla of canoes covered the shining waters as
far as anyone could see up and down the river.
After they had paddled a long distance, they came to a fork in the
river. Godasiyo ordered the two young canoeists to stop in the middle of
the river until the others caught up with them. In a few minutes the
flotilla was divided, half of the canoes on her left, the others on her
right.
The chief and the people on each side of her began to discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of the two forks in the river. Some wanted
to go one way, some preferred the other way. The arguments grew heated
with anger. Godasiyo said that she would take whichever fork her people
chose, but they could agree on neither. Finally those on the right
turned the prows of their canoes up the right channel, while those on
the left began paddling up the left channel. And so the tribe began to
separate.
When this movement started, the two young men paddling the two canoes
carrying Godasiyo's float disagreed as to which fork they should take,
and they fell into a violent quarrel. The canoeist on the right thrust
his paddle into the water and started toward the right, and at the same
time the one on the left swung his canoe toward the left. Suddenly
Godasiyo's platform slipped off its supports and collapsed into the
river, carrying her with it.
Hearing the loud splash, the people on both sides turned their canoes
around and tried to rescue their beloved chief. But she and the white
dog, the platform, and all her belongings had sunk to the bottom, and
they could see nothing but fish swimming in the clear waters.
Dismayed by this tragic happening, the people of the two divisions began
to try to talk to each other, but even though they shouted words back
and forth, those on the right could not understand the people on the
left, and those on the left could not understand the people on the
right. When Godasiyo drowned in the great river her people's language
had become changed. This was how it was that the Indians were divided
into many tribes spreading across America, each of them speaking a
different language.
Click here to Return to the Native
American Myth and Folklore contents page
|
