Native American Legends
Godasiyo The Woman Chief
A Seneca Legend
At the beginning of time when Turtle Island was new, a woman chief
named Godasiyo ruled over an Indian village beside a large river
in the East. In those days all the tribes spoke one language and
lived in harmony and peace.
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.
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