A LEGEND OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE
LONG AGO, WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG, THE STORYTELLERS SAY, AN IROQUIOS YOUTH WENT HUNTING WITH HIS BOW AND ARROW. ALL AT ONCE HE HEARD VOICES DRIFTING UP FROM THE BOTTOM OF A DARK RAVINE. PEERING DOWN, HE SAW TWO TINY MEN NO HIGHER THAN HIS SHINBONE. HE OFFERED THEM A SQUIRREL HE HAD SHOT; THEY, IN TURN, INVITED HIM TO DINNER.
SO BEGAN THE SPECIAL FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE IROQUIOS AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE, A POWERFUL RACE THAT LIVES DEEP IN THE FOREST AND HELPS CONTROL THE FORCES OF NATURE. SOME ARE SO STRONG THEY CAN HURL ROCKS AND UPROOT TREES. OTHERS HAVE THE JOB OF WAKING UP THE PLANTS EACH SPRING. STILL OTHERS GUARD THE GATES OF THE UNDERWORLD, PROTECTING MANKIND FROM CHAOS AND DISEASE.
BACK AT THEIR VILLAGE, THE LITTLE PEOPLE FED THE YOUNG HUNTER CORN SOUP FROM A BOWL THAT NEVER EMPTIED, AND THEY GAVE HIM A ROUND WHITE STONE AS A HUNTING CHARM. THEN THEY SUMMONED THEIR KINSMEN TO A GREAT FEAST. SOON THE WHOLE TRIBE HAD GATHERED TO BURN TOBACCO AND PERFORM THE SECRET RITE OF THE DARK DANCE. THE YOUTH LOOKED ON IN WONDER, LEARNING TO MIMIC THEIR CHANTS AND GESTURES, WHICH HE LATER TAUGHT TO HIS OWN PEOPLE. WHEN IT CAME TIME TO LEAVE, HIS HOSTS MADE A PROMISE: IN EXCHANGE FOR GIFTS OF TOBACCO (WHICH THEY PRIZED) THE LITTLE PEOPLE WOULD COME TO FEAST WITH THE IROQUIOS, GRACING THE IROQUIOS RITUALS WITH THEIR INVISIBLE PRESENCE WHENEVER THE DRUMS OF THE DARK DANCE BEGAN TO SOUND.