Week 11 Storytelling: Mondamin

Many, many years ago, there was a young man who, at the beginning of spring, began his yearly fast. This fasting was a tradition for his tribe, and the young man was proud to take part in it. However, his father was not a skilled hunter, which meant that there was normally no food in their home, anyway.

While his father went out daily to hunt, hoping to catch something to eat so there would be food when his son’s fast ended, the young man would wander the forest and wonder at the different plants he found there.

After fasting for the first four days, the young man became weak with hunger and decided to lay down inside of his tepee. He got comfortable on the floor, staring up at the light let in by the small opening at the top. He watched the dust float through the beams of light for many hours.

Suddenly, a handsome youth appeared inside the tepee with him. The human man could tell that this stranger was from the Sky-land because of his elaborate green and yellow robes that flowed around him and the soft plume of feathers in his hand. The young man could not help but think how truly beautiful this man from Sky-land was.

“The Great Mystery has sent me so that you may learn all that you wish to know,” the handsome stranger explained. “To gain knowledge, you must wrestle me.”

The human man explained that he could not wrestle, for he was too weak from fasting. After convincing the man that this was indeed the only way to gain knowledge, he accepted. After a few minutes, the handsome stranger said that was all for that day, and left silently.

The next day, the stranger came again, still in his beautiful green and yellow robes, and wrestled again with the young human man. After a few minutes, the handsome stranger said that was all for that day, and left silently. After the stranger was gone, the young human man reflected on how he seemed to best the stranger when wrestling. He wondered how, and what he might learn from him.

The third day came and the two young men wrestled once again. Finally, the stranger stopped. “This has been enough. You have prevailed.”

The young men settled in on the floor comfortably and began to talk. “The Great Mystery has decided you are worthy enough to gain the knowledge you seek. Tomorrow, after I have come and we have wrestled once more, you must throw me down, strip me of my robes, and bury my body in the ground.”

The human young man began to protest, but the handsome stranger spoke over him. “From this place where you bury me, keep it well. Do not let weeds and grass grow over where you have laid me there. Also, you must not eat until after we have finished wrestling tomorrow.” After he spoke, the handsome stranger rose gracefully and vanished. The young human man stayed sitting there for a while, thinking on what was asked of him. He did not want to bury the beautiful stranger. He had come to think of him as a friend.

When the next morning came, the young man’s father brought him some food he had caught, for it was the seventh day of fasting. The young man declined the food and waited patiently for the handsome stranger.

When evening came, so did the beautiful stranger. The two young men wrestled as usual, and at the end, the beautiful young man from Sky-land stayed on the ground, waiting for the young human man to do what he was told.

Minutes went by, but nothing happened.

The beautiful young stranger sat up and found the young human man standing across the tepee from him. “My friend, why have you not continued?”

“I do not wish to bury you. You are my friend, just as you have said,” the human man responded.

The beautiful young man got off of the ground and smiled. “I understand your concern, but I will be all right. It is my purpose to come here and do this for you. So that you may gain the knowledge you are seeking.”

“I do not know what I am seeking, so how will you aide me in this,” the young human man questioned his friend.

After a long pause, the beautiful stranger turned friend spoke. “I do not know, but it is what I was sent here to do.”

The two young men talked about this for a long while, well into the night. By the time day broke, they had reached an agreement.

“I will bury you,” the young human man said. “And I will accept the knowledge you leave behind.”

Both young men were saddened, but they accepted that the beautiful young man from Sky-land had a purpose to fulfill.

The young human man buried his friend and tended to his grave daily to make sure no weeds or grass would grow there. He visited right until it was time for winter to come. On the last day he was to visit, the young man found that from his friend’s grave, a tall plant had grown. The plant seemed graceful and was as bright and colorful as his friends robes has been, with silk-like hair in places.

This is how we came to have Mondamin, also known as corn.

(Maize Corn Field on max pixel)

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Author's note: In the original story, the human boy wrestled the stranger without question, buried him, and from his grave corn grew. In my story, I wanted there to be a little more depth so I explore the option of the two actually becoming friends. I still wanted the outcome of the stranger being buried and corn growing, though. 

Bibliography: "Mondamin" from Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1914). (Web Source)