Post by blackcrowheart on Jun 13, 2007 15:15:33 GMT -5
Gluskabe Changes Maple Syrup ~An Abenaki Legend
Long ago, the Creator made and gave many gifts to man to help him during
his life. The Creator made the lives of the Abenaki People very good,
with plenty of food to gather, grow, and hunt. The Maple tree at that
time was one of these very wonderful and special gifts from the Creator.
The sap was as thick and sweet as honey. All you had to do was to break
the end off of a branch and the syrup would flow out.
In these days Gluskabe would go from native village to village to keep
an eye on the People for the Creator. One day Gluskabe came to an
abandoned village. The village was in disrepair, the fields were
over-grown, and the fires had gone cold. He wondered what had happened
to the People.
He looked around and around, until he heard a strange sound. As he went
towards the sound he could tell that it was the sound of many people
moaning. The moaning did not sound like people in pain but more like the
sound of contentment. As he got closer he saw a large stand of beautiful
maple trees. As he got closer still he saw that all the people were
lying on their backs under the trees with the end of a branch broken off
and dripping maple syrup into their mouths.
The maple syrup had fattened them up so much and made them so lazy that
they could barely move. Gluskabe told them to get up and go back to
their village to re-kindle the fires and to repair the village. But the
people did not listen. They told him that they were content to lie there
and to enjoy the maple syrup.
When Gluskabe reported this to the Creator, it was decided that it was
again time that man needed another lesson to understand the Creator's
ways. The Creator instructed Gluskabe to fill the maple trees with
water. So Gluskabe made a large bucket from birch bark and went to the
river to get water. He added water, and added more water until the sap
was that like water. Some say he added a measure of water for each day
between moons, or nearly 30 times what it was as thick syrup. After a
while the People began to get up because the sap was no longer so thick
and sweet.
They asked Gluskabe "where has our sweet drink gone?" He told them that
this is the way it will be from now on. Gluskabe told them that if they
wanted the syrup again that they would have to work hard to get it. The
sap would flow sweet only once a year before the new year of spring.
The People were shown that making syrup would take much work. Birch bark
buckets would need to be made to collect the sap. Wood would be needed
to be gathered to make fires to heat rocks, and the rocks would be
needed to be put into the sap to boil the water out to make the thick
sweet syrup that they once were so fond of. He also told them that they
could get the sap for only a short time each year so that they would
remember the error of their ways.
And so it is still to this day, each spring the Abenaki people remember
Gluskabe's lesson in honoring Creator's gifts and work hard to gather
the maple syrup they love so much. Nialach!
Long ago, the Creator made and gave many gifts to man to help him during
his life. The Creator made the lives of the Abenaki People very good,
with plenty of food to gather, grow, and hunt. The Maple tree at that
time was one of these very wonderful and special gifts from the Creator.
The sap was as thick and sweet as honey. All you had to do was to break
the end off of a branch and the syrup would flow out.
In these days Gluskabe would go from native village to village to keep
an eye on the People for the Creator. One day Gluskabe came to an
abandoned village. The village was in disrepair, the fields were
over-grown, and the fires had gone cold. He wondered what had happened
to the People.
He looked around and around, until he heard a strange sound. As he went
towards the sound he could tell that it was the sound of many people
moaning. The moaning did not sound like people in pain but more like the
sound of contentment. As he got closer he saw a large stand of beautiful
maple trees. As he got closer still he saw that all the people were
lying on their backs under the trees with the end of a branch broken off
and dripping maple syrup into their mouths.
The maple syrup had fattened them up so much and made them so lazy that
they could barely move. Gluskabe told them to get up and go back to
their village to re-kindle the fires and to repair the village. But the
people did not listen. They told him that they were content to lie there
and to enjoy the maple syrup.
When Gluskabe reported this to the Creator, it was decided that it was
again time that man needed another lesson to understand the Creator's
ways. The Creator instructed Gluskabe to fill the maple trees with
water. So Gluskabe made a large bucket from birch bark and went to the
river to get water. He added water, and added more water until the sap
was that like water. Some say he added a measure of water for each day
between moons, or nearly 30 times what it was as thick syrup. After a
while the People began to get up because the sap was no longer so thick
and sweet.
They asked Gluskabe "where has our sweet drink gone?" He told them that
this is the way it will be from now on. Gluskabe told them that if they
wanted the syrup again that they would have to work hard to get it. The
sap would flow sweet only once a year before the new year of spring.
The People were shown that making syrup would take much work. Birch bark
buckets would need to be made to collect the sap. Wood would be needed
to be gathered to make fires to heat rocks, and the rocks would be
needed to be put into the sap to boil the water out to make the thick
sweet syrup that they once were so fond of. He also told them that they
could get the sap for only a short time each year so that they would
remember the error of their ways.
And so it is still to this day, each spring the Abenaki people remember
Gluskabe's lesson in honoring Creator's gifts and work hard to gather
the maple syrup they love so much. Nialach!