MAID OF THE MIST It was decreed by the Tribal Councils of countless many, many moons ago, that when there was a drought upon the lands and the fields were thirsting for rains, which did not come, appeasement to the Rain God had to be made. At first they tried a sacrificial lamp, by beheading it, and then they could still have the body to eat, but this was to no avail, as it did not bring about any rain to water the crops in their fields. Then over time, they found that they were able to appease the Rain God by sacrificing one of their own young maidens to the Rain God to have him bring about the rain that they needed so much. Now, once again one of those times had come, as it had been many Moons since there had been not even a drop of rain that had fallen from the Heavens above. Even though the natives had gone through countless Rain Dances, still the skies were clear of nothing but soft billowy clouds with no hint of rain in them. The corn and squash were a meagre size of what it should be and some of the streams were drying up and it was becoming hard to catch any fish. The hunters were often coming back empty handed, as it seemed as if the game animals had gone off to other places. The way they found to appease the Rain God of late and it seemed to have pleased him, was to have chosen the most beautiful virgin of the tribe and to take her to the edge of a high cliff and cast her over it and in a few days it seemed as if the Rain God was appeased and it would rain. But then after a while it seemed as if this did not seem to please the Rain God. Then they decided on trying a different way to appease the Rain God that would surely make him happy. Morning Dawn was playing with some of the children, to keep them busy and teach them a new game that she thought that they might like. She was a beautiful girl and always keep herself neat and clean. Suddenly she heard her father call her name from near the council fire. Obediently she went to see what it was that he wanted of her. “Dawn, the Council Fathers have chosen you to be the one to appease the Rain God, to have him give us the rain that we need so badly.” Dawn didn’t know what to say. She just opened her mouth and then covered it with her hands. She knew that it was her duty for being the most beautiful maiden, but she didn’t really want to die. Besides, she didn’t really believe in this myth of scarifying a virgin to a Rain God and then it would rain. But there was nothing that she could do about it. She was resigned to her fate, but she couldn’t let anyone know. Her father told her to follow him to the council fire and she did so. At the Council Fire, she stood with her father before the elders and was told that the next day there would be a feast held in her honour and that of the Rain God and that the following day she would be ceremoniously set adrift by canoe in the mighty Niagara to appease him with her beauty as she drifts over the brink and into the Mist of the Falls, and then rains would once again come to their lands. She stood in a trance, as she did not really want to die by being sacrificed to this Rain God that she did not believe in. But she knew that if she were not to go through with it, it would forever throw shame on her parents and the rest of her family. It was really supposed to be an honour for her to be chosen to go and to live with the Rain God in this way. That night as she lay on her deer skin robes, she tossed and turned, but sleep would not come. She thought of earlier times, when her father tried to get her that young wild white colt, that she had often seen and loved so much; the one with the black star on it’s forehead. She thought of how she had suddenly blossomed into womanhood and the young bucks of the tribe were taking notice of her. She knew that there were often quarrels and fights taking place because of her behalf. Finally she fell into a fitful sleep. In the morning, she was waited on as if she were a princess. She was led off to a nearby stream and bathed and rubbed with special oils and then dressed in the finest of robes. Then she was led back to the place where the day long feast had already begun and she was seated at a place of honour. Her parents were at her side and the elders were just behind her. All day long there was dancing, merriment and feasting on the best of the foods available. When night time came, she was led to a special tepee to sleep by herself and guards were posted outside. The next morning, she was awakened and after freshening up and having breakfast, she was led a distance up-river to where there was a point of land that projected out into the river for quite a distance. It was here that she saw that a canoe was pulled up unto the shore and the party that was leading her was headed in that direction. When they got to the canoe, she was told to get into it and to sit down in it. No sooner had she done this, then she found that they had pushed the canoe out into the water and she was headed downstream. There was a small stream to the right of her, and it immediately seemed to push her out towards the middle of the river. She was in a lot of rapids and the water was rough and she knew that she was going faster the farther downstream she went. She raised her head and looking ahead saw that there was an island up ahead but that she was going to pass it on the left side of it and she saw that it seemed to have some goats on it. Also she saw that where she was heading, the falls seemed to be in the shape of a giant horse-shoe. She saw the white mist there, hanging over the Falls, but she also saw something else. It was a large dark cloud, the darkest, blackest cloud that she had ever seen. But then there were lightning flashes that rendered out of those clouds with all the ferocity as if all the skies had broken loose. If this was a show of the Rain God’s thanks for the human sacrifice, it didn’t seem to be going over so good. All this was of no concern to Dawn at this point of time, as she was fast approaching the brink of the Falls and there was nothing that was going to save her from going over. The roar of the rapids was behind her and she could hear the thunder above her, but the Mighty Niagara now had quieted down as it smoothed down before making it’s plunge over the brink of the rocky ledge. Dawn was in a state of shock as the canoe hung there for a moment and then tittered, before plunging with her in it, in a free fall to the waters of the river below. Suddenly she was thrown free of the canoe and tossed this way and then that way by the water, in a never ending turmoil. Finally she felt herself being tossed against some rocks and her head came up above the water, so she was able to take a gulp of air. The noise was deafening, but she knew that she was alive. She had survived the plunge, but she was behind the Falls. Dawn felt herself being forced up against the side of the rocky Falls wall and her feet touched down on some rocks and she was able to hold unto some smooth but slippery rocks, so that she could hold her head above water. There was a grey light filtering through where she was and she saw what looked like a shelf up above that was wide enough for her to climb up to. With some effort, she was soon up on the shelf and she laid there for a while, until she got her strength back. In fact, it was a while before she got up, as she had fallen asleep for awhile. Getting up, she found that she still had all her clothes and high laced moccasins on. They were wet, but there sure wasn’t anything that she could do about that, seeing as to how she was trapped behind the Falls. She saw that she was on a narrow ledge and one way was blocked by rocks, but the other, it looked like she could go in that direction with some difficulty, so she went that way, as if she had a choice in the matter. She seemed to be going for such a long time, but then she noticed that it seemed to be getting lighter, as if there was less water coming down over the Falls over her head. Then after a bit more walking over the slippery rocks, she looked up and she could see some blue sky through the falling water. Just a little bit more and she was out from under the Falls. She looked up and there was a smile on her lips as she saw the most wonderful sight she or any man on earth had ever seen before. It was a coloured bow of light     She sat down on a level plateau of rock that was there and after crossing her legs under her, looked up at the beauty of it. Gone was this dark and ominous cloud that had been there just before and as she was plunging over the brink of the Falls. Now there was this most beautiful coloured band of lights shining there in the sky. She had never seen or heard of anything like it before. As she sat there, she looked at the Falls and the distance that she had fallen and realized that it was truly a miracle that she was still alive. Was it possible that there was a Rain God and it was He that had saved her and then sent her this magnificent gift of a coloured band of light in the sky to make up for the anguish she had been put through by her people. If it was He, she crossed her hands on her breasts and bowed her head in thanks. Getting up, she looked around to see how she could get out of there, but the cliffs were so high and there was no way of climbing them. She walked along the waters edge as far as she could, but it didn’t take her very far and still she could see no way of climbing out of the gorge that she was in. Then she decided that the only way out, would be to find a suitable log and to float down river with it and hope for the best. There was lots of driftwood piled up on the rocky shore and soon she found one to her liking. It was three times as long as she was and twice as big around as her. It had some broken off branches that she could hold onto in the middle as she crouched down on it, and once she freed it from the others, she soon was racing down river with the current. But soon she wondered if she had made a smart decision, as the water got very rough like she was going through some rapids or something. At times the log seemed to be lifting right out of the water and she would be sucked down under the water at times as the log tipped her on it’s side. She had a hard time holding on, but knew that it was her only way to go as the water was so powerful and fast. At times she even felt herself going downstream on the log backwards and then it would suddenly turn around and she would see where she was going once again and the water calmed down again but still flowed fast. Then up ahead, she saw a large area with cliffs all around and the river was going off in another direction but the water was circling around in this large area that had a lot of logs and sticks floating in it. She had heard about this place from stories of others of the tribe that had traveled to this place. It was said that some of the logs that were trapped in the vortex of the turning water had been there for many seasons. Was this going to be her fate. Was the log that she was riding on going to be one of those that would be circling around in this gorge with her on it. All she could do was watch as she was in the middle of the river and then the log that she was on happened to be bumped by another log and that made the other log go to the left and her log went to the right. It was then that she realized that she was going to be going down the river instead of being trapped in the whirlpool of water. There were more rapids that made her hold onto the log real tight for, but they weren’t as bad as the others and soon the waters calmed down and she was near the shore and the log came to a stop behind some rocks where she was able to climb off and be on shore finally. After resting for a short time, she looked around and found where an animal trail could lead her up to the top of the gorge that she was now in. Following this, she reached the top just as it started to get dark and she climbed a tree where she figured that she could sleep safely until morning and the light breeze would dry out her clothing. In the morning, she was able to find enough nuts, berries and fruits to satisfy her hunger but she was uncertain as to what she should do. She remembered the dark cloud and the lightning as she went over the Falls and then when she came out alive, the storm was gone, but there was this pretty coloured bowed light in the sky. It was something that she had never heard of or seen before. Then she looked in the direction of where her people lived, and saw that there were dark clouds there now and she figured that it probably was raining there now. She decided that she would go back home to them, but it was a long distance and it would take quite a while. Suddenly there was a disturbance behind her and as she turned around she saw this white horse come right up to her and give her a gentle butt with it’s head. She was so surprised that she failed to notice at first that it had a blaze on it’s forehead that looked like a star. It was the same horse that she had fallen in love with when she was a child. She cradled it’s head in her arm and body to show her affection. It broke away and raised itself up on it’s hind feet and pawed the air a few times and then came down and walked over to her and she quickly mounted it and they were off in the direction of her people. As Dawn neared the Indian village, the rains had stopped and the natives had emerged from their tepees, glad to have seen the rains come once again. Suddenly the Sun shone and one of the native boys pointed up to the sky and let out a loud yell. Others looked up and they also began to yell and at the same time others looked and saw a white horse and rider coming. They recognized her as Dawn, the one that they had sacrificed to the Rain God, and now she was coming back on a White Horse under a Rain Bow of Colours sent back to them as the Maid of the Mist.