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The greatest of all the Indian families, or tribes, was the Iroquois, also called the Five Nations, originally found in what is now western and central New York State. Of the many strange legends and stories common among the Indians, one of the most beautiful is the story of Hiawatha, which is the tale of the origin of the Iroquois.

Tradition tells us that Owayneo, as Indians call their Creator, made the five nations from five handfuls of seed. One day he assembled his children together and said: “You have sprung from five different kinds of seed and are therefore five individual nations, but you are brothers and I am your father because I made you all.” The Mohawks, he made bold and valiant and gave them corn for their principal food. The Oneidas, he made patient and charitable and bade them eat freely of nuts and the fruits of the trees. The Senecas he made industrious and active, and for their chief food gave them the nourishing bean. To the Cayugas he gave green nuts and instructed them to grind them, and also every kind of fruit, for they were destined to be strong, friendly and generous. Squashes, grapes and tobacco were his gift to the Onondagas, for they were to be a nation wise, just and eloquent. To all in common Owayneo gave the beasts, birds and fishes to eat and the life-giving water to drink. “Now,” said he, “be just to all men, and kind to strangers that come among you.”