ziibi bineshiinh ishkode
They say that things last as long as people believe.
Well, long ago along the Potomac the
Powhatan spoke of a river bird of fire that had protected the
land as well as the tribe long before the settlers landed in
Jamestown. By the time the settlers moved further north up
along the Potomac River there were few left around that had
believed in the bird anymore. In fact it is even rare to have
heard of this tale of redemption. In the
Late 10th Century the Powhatan's numbers were dwindling due to
the lack of food. One summer it was so dry you could walk across
the river barely getting your feet wet. There were so few animals
around to hunt that the Powhatans were in dire need of food for the
winter. Autumn had come and past and one day when the men had gone
long and far towards Appalachia to find more food to bring back the
came back to find an emtpy village.
The homes were burned as well as the ones who were not able to
seek saftey from the Tauxenent to the southeast. The thing that
made the men wonder was that most of the remains were of the
Tauxenent tribe. Turns out that during this battle they had burned
a little girl in one of the homes, the ones who were witness to
this say they saw flames blast out of the hut and then destroy the
Tauxenent as quickly as they came. For many moons up until the
settlers came the River Bird of Fire had protected the
Powhatan.
Why the Bird no longer proteced the Powhatan is still unknown as
well as if it had ever existed.
This cache was placed for the 2006 NoVAGO Fall
Gathering.
