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THE MAID OF THE MIST
This is a version of a story that is told by the people of the Six
Nations. The “standard” Maid of the Mist story that is
commonly told in Niagara today is not actually a Native American story
at all. It was, apparently, the invention of a 19th century European
anthropologist. Its themes of cruel gods and human sacrifice are alien
to the Six Nations people.
The following presentation of the “correct” story should not
be taken as an authoritative telling of the tale. It is a written version
of a story that is best told orally, and is subject to the cultural biases
of both the writer and the English language. It should be taken as a rather
dim reflection of the richness of Niagara’s native culture.
“When people knew the wholeness of the world,
they knew that all are one with the world. They spoke with the earth and
the sky, and knew them as themselves. The sun, the moon, and the stars spoke
with them, and people were one with them. They knew the animals and the plants
as their brothers and sisters. The thunder taught them about what is and
what will happen. People knew all these things, and knew the wholeness of
the world.
“But people forgot. The earth and the stars and the animals and the
Thunder continued to talk to them, but people didn’t always listen.
Sometimes they couldn’t even hear what was being said to them. As they
forgot their oneness with the world and with each other, some people became
selfish, or mistrustful, or jealous of others.
“All in all, however,
people became more and more deaf to the words of the Thunder. This story
tells about the last time that the Thunder ever spoke to a human.
“No one had heard from the Thunder for a long time when a girl, one
of the people who lived in Niagara, lay down under a tree one hot summer
afternoon to sleep. While the girl was sleeping an old woman of the people
happened to pass by, and she noticed a small snakelike thing starting to
crawl underneath the girl’s dress.
“The old woman didn’t
even bother to wake the girl and warn her. She simply went on her way.
“In fact, the old woman never told anyone what she had seen, so the
girl never suspected that anything might have happened to her. When the girl
became a young woman she found a young man, and they were very happy together.
It wasn’t long, however, before the young man died.
"After a long
while the young woman met another young man, and they were happy together.
Before they could raise a family, however, the young man died.
"A third
time, the young woman found a man she liked. Again, he died.
“The young woman was confused and afraid. She suspected that something
might be wrong with her, but had no idea what it could be. She was embarrassed
to admit her fears to anyone, and had no idea where to turn for help. The
old woman, who could have helped her by telling her what had happened, never
said a word to her. The people had traveled far along the path of mistrust
and selfishness.
“The woman decided to kill herself. One night she put
a canoe into the river above the falls, climbed in, and pushed out into the
current. The canoe shot down the rapids and plunged over the edge of the
Falls.
