09-10-02 @ 4:18 am EDT

I'm currently drinking blackberry tea and looking for information on Ioskeha and Tawiskara.

I finished Ojibway Heritage and started on Schoolcraft's Indian Legends. On reading about Manabozho, I came across an interesting selection regarding the Iroquois and two of their mythological figures, Tawiskaron and Teharonhiawakhon.

The Iroquois were equally facile at filling their world with supernatural beings. Their cosmogenic personages were the Ice King or god of winter, Tawiskaron (the flinty one), and Teharonhiawakhon, the friend of man and master of animals. These feuding brothers had a remarkable ancestry, similar to that of Manabozho. Their grandmother, Awenhai, fell from the sky and landed on the back of the Great Turtle where she conceived and bore, parthenogenetically, a daughter. In due time the daughter matured and was impregnated by the Wind. Teharonhiawakhon was delivered normally, but Tawiskaron performed his own Caesarian section, through the navel, an easy operation because his flint head was shaped like an arrow point.

From the Turtle, Teharonhiawakhon received an ear of corn which he roasted. Tawiskaron smelled it and told his grandmother, who ordered him to get some for her. Teharonhiawakhon refused to grant the favor unless Tawiskaron would surrender the flint of his life. To this request the winter god agreed and stuck out his "flint thing" to be broken off. Teharonhiawakhon demanded that his brother break it off himself. Tawiskaron did so, thus surrendering his co-equality with the life deity.

Teharonhiawakhon created animals and birds; Tawiskaron made, in imitative but lesser degree, frogs, bats, worms, and owls. He also hid his brother's animals in a cave (hibernation). To cap his evil doings he built a bridge of white rocks (ice) over which he brought monsters to destroy Teharonhiawakhon's creatures, but Teharonhiawakhon outwitted him by sending a bluebird (spring), to sing before his flint brother. Tawiskaron fled in terror and the white stones melted. To escape capture he floated away on a cake of ice. In a final battle between the two, Tawiskaron was smashed to bits, his blood and bones becoming fruit-bearing vines that grew from crevices in the rocks.

Teharonhiawakhon, it was asserted, made the springs, lakes, and rivers to water an arid earth, and also kept the streams free of obstacles and grisly monsters. In function and origin, then, there is relatively little difference between Teharonhiawakhon and Manabozho. In other respects there is a wide divergence; the Iroquois deity is sober and dedicated to his task of helping man, whereas the Algonquin demigod has a mischievous and playful quality quite foreign to the other. The Iroquois legend provides many other names (from different informants) for Teharonhiawakhon: Teharonhiawagon, Taounyawatha, Tharonhiawakon, and Ioskeha.

The rest of the section is dedicated to how Ioskeha was further confused with the legendary figure Hiawatha...who I have already mentioned somewhere in here, Longfellow confused with Manabozho.

I'm doing a bit of digging on this one not because the Iroquois really interest me...even though supposedly I have a teensy-weensy bit of their blood in my family SOMEWHERE way back there...but because I'm reminded of the story of Chakenapok. Remember him? The guy who I could find only one mention of online? Let me see if I can find him again.

Manabush was the first-born of the four sons of a great manitou who came to earth and chose a wife from among the people on the earth. He became the friend of the human race, the mediator between man and the Great Spirit. The second son was Chipiapoos, the man of the dead, who presides over the country of the souls, the third was, Wabosso, who, as soon as he saw the light, fled towards the north, where he was changed into a white rabbit, and a great manitou. The fourth son, Chakenapok, the man of flint or firestone, was a cruel villain. In coming into the world he caused the death of his mother.

When he reached manhood Manabush resolved to avenge the death of his mother. He pursued Chakenapok all over the earth. After several encounters he destroyed him. His entrails became the vines and took root in all of the forests. The flint stones scattered over the earth and indicate where the struggles between the brothers took place.

Manabush was the benefactor and protector of the Indian people. He taught them how to make implements to aid them in their hunting and fishing and to protect them against their enemies. He traveled over the country to destroy the evil spirits, giants and other monsters which troubled his red children.

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/Indian/Manabush.html

That is the only mention of this supposed fifth brother online. This account is wrong in a few respects, as usually the birth order of Manabozho and his brothers is given as

Mudjikawiss
Peepaukawiss
Wabasso/Chibiabos
Manabozho

And Chakenapok is never mentioned.

I've already figured out that Wabasso and Chibiabos are in fact the same brother. Mudjikawiss (whose very name means "first-born son") and Peepaukawiss are not mentioned here. I thought perhaps Chakenapok was some sort of "phantom brother" and also incorrect information until I came across another story about Manabozho and his brothers at a different website.

In the beginning, there was a lone old woman living on this island. Nobody knows where she came from, nor how she got here, but it is true that she dwelt in a wigwam with her only daughter. Wild potatoes were the only food of the two women.

{p. 9}

Every day the old woman took her wooden hoe and went out to gather them. She packed them home and dried them in the sun, for in those days, there was no such thing as fire in that part of the world.

One day her daughter begged to go with her. "Mother, let me go and help you; between us we can dig more potatoes than you can alone." "No, my daughter, you stay here," said the old woman; "I don't want you to go. Your place is at home caring for the lodge." "Oh dear! I don't like to stay here alone all day," teased the girl; "it's so lonely when you are gone! I'd much rather go with you. There is another old hoe here that I can use. Please let me go too."

At last, the old woman consented to her daughter's pleading; the two armed themselves with their tools and set out. After a little journey they came to a damp ravine. "Here is the place where I always come to gather the potatoes," cried the mother; "you can dig here too. But there is one thing that I must warn you about, when you are digging these potatoes; I want you to face the south. Be sure not to forget this. It was because I was afraid that you could not be trusted to remember that I never brought you here before." "Oh, that's all right, I won't forget," cried the girl. "Very well then, you stay right here and work; I am going to dig over there."

The girl set to work with a will, and enjoyed her task very much. "Oh how nice it is to dig potatoes!" she said, and kept up a running stream of conversation with her mother as she labored. As the time passed by, the daughter gradually forgot her promise and at last turned round and faced in the opposite direction as she dug. All at once there came a great rushing, roaring noise from the heavens and the wind swept down where she stood and whirled her round and round. "Oh, mother! Help! Come quick!" she screamed. Her mother dropped everything and rushed to her aid. "Grab me by the back and hold me down!" cried the girl in terror. The old lady seized her with one hand and steadied herself, meanwhile, by catching hold of some bushes. "Hold me as tightly as you can!" she gasped. "Now you see why I told you to stay at home! You are being properly punished for your disobedience."

Suddenly the wind stopped. The air was as calm as though nothing had ever happened. The two women hastily gathered up their potatoes and hurried home. After that the old woman

{p. 10}

worked alone. Everything went well for a while, and then, one day the daughter complained. "I feel very strange and different, mother; there seems to be something within me." The old woman scrutinized the girl narrowly, but made no answer, for she knew that her daughter was pregnant." At last, she was brought to bed and gave birth to three children. The first of these was Manabozho, the second was a little wolf, Muh'wäse, and the last was a sharp flint stone. When the unfortunate mother gave issue to the rock, it cut her and she died. The old woman mourned her daughter greatly. In a paroxysm of rage and grief, she threw away the flint stone, but Manabozho[*] and Muh'wäse she cherished and cared for until they grew to be children.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/tnai/tnai01.htm

And I seem to remember a similar story saying that either there were three brothers born:

Manabozho
A timid little white rabbit (which would be Wabasso)
And a piece of flint which killed the mother

Or it may have been just Manabozho (the trembling white rabbit, as the rabbit was also his symbol) and the piece of flint. I can't recall where I read that story. But it was much the same as the above, if I in fact did read it. I specifically remember the trembling white rabbit.

If you will, please take a look at another story from the Seneca, also on the above page; it seems to be a retelling of the Iroquois myth I already shared:

A long time ago human beings lived high up in what is now called heaven. They had a great and illustrious chief.

It so happened that this chief's daughter was taken very ill with a strange affection. All the people were very anxious as to the outcome of her illness. Every known remedy was tried in an attempt to cure her, but none had any effect.

Near the lodge of this chief stood a great tree, which every year bore corn used for food. One of the friends of the chief had a dream, in which he was advised to tell the chief that in order to cure his daughter he must lay her beside this tree, and that he must have the tree dug up. This advice was carried out to the letter. While the people were at work and the young woman lay there, a young man came along. He was very angry and said: "It is not at all right to destroy this tree. Its fruit is all that we have to live on." With this remark he gave the young woman who lay there ill a shove with his foot, causing her to fall into the hole that had been dug.

Now, that hole opened into this world,[28] which was then all water,[29] on which floated waterfowl of many kinds. There was no land at that time. It came to pass that as these waterfowl saw this young woman falling they shouted, "Let us receive her," whereupon they, at least some of them, joined their bodies together, and the young woman fell on this platform of bodies. When these were wearied they asked, "Who will volunteer to care for this woman?" The great Turtle then took her, and when he got tired of holding her, he in turn asked who would take his place. At last the question arose as to what they should do to provide her with a permanent resting place in this world. Finally it was decided to prepare the earth, on which

{p. 15}

she would live in the future. To do this it was determined that soil from the bottom of the primal sea should be brought up and placed on the broad, firm carapace of the Turtle, where it would increase in size to such an extent that it would accommodate all the creatures that should be produced thereafter. After much discussion the toad was finally persuaded to dive to the bottom of the waters in search of soil. Bravely making the attempt, he succeeded in bringing up soil from the depths of the sea.[30] This was carefully spread over the carapace of the Turtle,[31] and at once both began to grow in size and depth.

After the young woman recovered from the illness from which she suffered when she was cast down from the upper world, she built herself a shelter, in which she lived quite contentedly. In the course of time she brought forth a girl baby, who grew rapidly in size and intelligence.

When the daughter had grown to young womanhood, the mother and she were accustomed to go out to dig wild potatoes. Her mother had said to her that in doing this she must face the West at all times. Before long the young daughter gave signs that she was about to become a mother. Her mother reproved her, saying that she had violated the injunction not to face the east, as her condition showed that she had faced the wrong way while digging potatoes. It is said that the breath of the West Wind had entered her person, causing conceptions When the days of her delivery were at hand, she overheard twins within her body in a hot debate as to which should be born first and as to the proper place of exit, one declaring that he was going to emerge through the armpit of his mother, the other saying that he would emerge in the natural way.[33] The first one born, who was of a reddish color, was called Othagwenda; that is, Flint. The other, who was light in color, was called Djuskaha; that is, the Little Sprout.

The grandmother of the twins liked Djuskaha and hated the other; so they cast Othagwenda into a hollow tree some distance from the lodge.[34]

The boy that remained in the lodge grew very rapidly, and soon was able to make himself bows and arrows and to go out to hunt in the vicinity. Finally, for several days he returned home without his bow and arrows. At last he was asked why he had to have a new bow and arrows every morning. He replied

{p. 16}

that there was a young boy in a hollow tree in the neighborhood who used them. The grandmother inquired where the tree stood, and he told her; whereupon then they went there and brought the other boy home again.

When the boys had grown to man's estate, they decided that it was necessary for them to increase the size of their island, so they agreed to start out together, afterward separating to create forests and lakes and other things. They parted as agreed, Othagwenda going westward and Djuskaha eastward. In the course of time, on returning, they met in their shelter or lodge at night, then agreeing to go the next day to see what each had made. First they went west to see what Othagwenda had made. It was found that he had made the country all rocks and full of ledges, and also a mosquito which was very large. Djuskaha asked the mosquito to run, in order that he might see 'whether the insect could fight. The mosquito ran, and sticking his bill through a sapling, thereby made it fall, at which Djuskaha said, "That will not be right, for you would kill the people who are about to come." So, seizing him, he rubbed him down in his hands, causing him to become very small. then he blew on the mosquito, whereupon he flew away. He also modified some of the other animals which his brother had made. After returning to their lodge, they agreed to go the next day to see what Djuskaha had fashioned. On visiting the east the next day, they found that Djuskaha had made a large number of animals which were so fat that they could hardly move; that he had made the sugar-maple trees to drop syrup; that he had made the sycamore tree to bear fine fruit; that the rivers were so formed that half the water flowed upstream and the other half downstream. Then the reddish colored brother, Othagwenda, was greatly displeased with what his brother had made, saying that the people who were about to come would live too easily and be too happy. So he shook violently the various animals--the bears, deer, and turkeys--causing them to become small at once, a characteristic which attached itself to their descendants. He also caused the sugar maple to drop sweetened water only, and the fruit of the sycamore to become small and useless; and lastly he caused the water of the rivers to flow in only one direction, because the original plan would make it too easy for the human beings who were about to come to navigate the streams.

{p. 17}

The inspection of each other's work resulted in a deadly disagreement between the brothers,[35] who finally came to grips and blows, and Othagwenda was killed in the fierce struggle.

...Except the names are different. If you've kept up on my retellings, you'll know that Manabozho and his brothers were conceived when their mother, Winonah, squatted toward the west--just as her mother, Nokomis, had instructed her not to--and was impregnated by the west wind.

(Before I go further I want to point out the additional similarity between the story of Ioskeha/Tawiskara and Osiris/Set. Set ALSO tore his way out through his mother's body!)

Lastly is a version of the Manabozho story in another book of mine, American Indian Myths & Legends by Erdoes and Ortiz:

Before there was a man, two women, an old one and her daughter, were the only humans on earth. The old woman had not needed a man in order to conceive. Akhi, the earth, also was like a woman--female--but not as she is now, because trees and many animals had not yet been made.

Well, the young woman, the daughter, took her basket out one day to go berrying. She had gathered enough and was returning home when a sudden gust of wind lifted her buckskin dress up high, baring her body. Geesis, the sun, shone down on that spot for a short moment and entered the body of the young woman, though she hardly noticed it. She was aware of the gust of wind but paid no attention.

Time passed. The young woman said to the old one: "I don't know what's wrong with me, but something is." More time passed. The young woman's belly grew bigger, and she said: "Something is moving inside me. What can it be?"

"When you were going berrying did you meet anyone?" The old woman asked.

"I met nobody. The only thing that happened was a big gust of wind which lifted my buckskin dress. The sun was shining."

The old woman said: "I think you're going to have a child. Geesis, the sun, is the only one who could have done it, so you will be the mother of a sun child."

The young woman gave birth to two boys, both manitos, supernaturals. They were the first human males on this earth--Geesis's sons, sons of the sun.

The young mother made cradleboards and put the twins in these, hanging them up or carrying them on her back, but never letting the babies touch the earth. Why didn't she? Did the Old Woman tell her not to? Nobody knows. If she had put the cradleboards on the ground, the babies would have walked upright from the moment of their birth, like deer babies. But because their mother would not let them touch earth for some months, it now takes human babies a year or so to walk. It was that young woman's fault.

One of the twins was Stone Boy, a rock. He said: "Put me in the fire and heat me up until I glow red hot." They did, and he said: "Now pour cold water over me." They did this also. That was the first sweat bath. The other boy, named Wene-boozhoo, looked like all human boys. He became mighty and could do anything; he even talked to the animals and gave them their names.

David Baker Red Bird is a young Green Bay Indian with a great sense of humor. He is a well-known singer and musician.

Now see all the similarities in the stories here:

In one variant of the Manabozho myth, there is a mysterious brother known as "Stone Boy," whose properties are clearly those of flint.

In a couple of other versions of the myth, a flint brother kills the mother upon his birth. In one version, this brother is named as Chakenapok.

In the Iroquois myth of Ioskeha and Tawiskara, Tawiskara--with a head of flint--kills his mother upon his birth. Later he and his brother come into contention.

The only real familial contention angle in the Manabozho myths is that between him and his father, the wind (referred to as the sun in the preceding myth), during which Manabozho attacks his father with pieces of flint, as that is Epungishimook's/Kabeyun's (his father's) weakness. No idea if there's a relation there, but the other variants and such certainly seem to add up.

And so it's looking like there was some possible crossover between the Ojibwa/Algonquin and Iroquois myths, and the result was Chakenapok. I only wish I knew what his other names were; he isn't given any in the Ojibwa versions aside from that one single page. He's just referred to as Stone Boy, or a piece of flint.

He IS given a name by the Iroquois--Tawiskara. I looked up the variants of Teharonhiawakhon's name and found out that Ioskeha seems to be the most widely recognized one. So now I'm looking for info on him.

This from a Spanish page:

They were two brothers, Ioskeha and Tawiscara, or the Target and the Dark, binoculars, whose grandmother was the Moon. When they grew they violently discussed the one with the other, and got to stick, Ioskeha took like weapon the horns of a red deer, whereas Tawíscara took a rose wild to defend itself. This one turned out to be a useless weapon and severely wounded, Tawiscara fled. The drops of blood that lost turned pedernales. Soon Ioskeha was constructed a store in the distant East, and it became the father of the humanity and the main deity of the iroqueses, annihilating to the monsters that infested the Earth, filling the animal forests for the hunting, teaching to the Indians how to seed the harvests and to fire, and instructing to them on many of the other arts of the life. This myth, later, seems to be adopted by mohawks and the tuscaroras.

(Obviously some words--like probably "binoculars"--are mistranslated. Ignore them; you can get the general idea.)

http://abcdioses.noneto.com/norAmer/dioNor/ioskeha.htm

More I've just found...

In Huron mythology, Ioskeha was the all-good twin brother of Tawiskara, grandson of Ataentsic. He duelled with his brother for control of the world, each brother taking up whatever weapon he could find. Tawiskara fought with a rose-twig bu Ioskeha used a stag's antlers and won. Tawiskara fled into exile, weeping flint tears, and Ioskeha celebrated his victory and his power in the world by creating the Huron people.

http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/DB.HTM

Ioskeha (Iroquois of the Eastern United States)
He was born of a virgin.
His brother, Tawiscara, had an evil nature and was in opposition to him.
Tawiscara became ruler of the spirits of the dead.
Ioskeha devoted himself to the welfare of the people, instructing and assisting them.
The home of Ioskeha was in the east.
He appeared in 1640 in the form of a beautiful youth to the Hurons at the time of a smallpox epidemic.
He told them that the French wrongly called him Jesus, because they did not know him.
He told them that the cause of the disease was the presence of the black-robed missionaries.
The remedy was to drive out these strangers, drink a certain water of which he would tell them, and to hold an all-night festival in his honor.

On this same page can be found, in comparison:

Michabo (Algonkins of Eastern Canada and the United States)
He was the god of light and day and of the winds and the rains.
He came to the people from a distance.
He was a venerable and eloquent man.
He wore a long beard.
He was the creator, instructor, and teacher of mankind.
He showed the people what plants to use for food and for medicine.
He gave them fire.
He taught them the sacred rites.
He did not die, but left by ascending into the sky.

(Michabo, aka Michibou, is pretty much just another name for Manabozho. Here he and Ioskeha are directly compared to one another.)

http://www.innvista.com/scriptures/religion/legends.htm

One of the two grandsons of the moon, in Huron mythology, Ioskewa fought against his brother Tawiscara for supremacy. Ioskewa had the horns of a stag as a weapon, while his brother could only seize a wild rose. Thus Tawiscara was defeated, and Ioskewa became the guardian deity of the Hurons, Mohawks and Tuscaroras.

http://www.clubi.ie/lestat/godsi.html

IOSKEHA - Creator of the first man and woman.

BREATH OF WIND - The daughter of Atahensic, and the mother of Ioskeha and Tawiscara. (finally given a name, of sorts--equivalent of Winonah)

MASTER OF WINDS - God of the winds, husband of Atahensic, and father of Ioskeha and Tawiscara.

http://www.gods-heros-myth.com/namerican/dictionarya-m.html

...So this is all giving me some clearer possible ideas for my character of Chakenapok, in the sequel. I may have to just borrow from the Iroquois...so, that means, MORE studying.

I could find more, but I have to go now...