104. Old-One : or Chief and the Aged Couple;
or, The Introduction of Corn.
(cont.)After he had eaten, Old-One told the couple what would happen to the world. He said, }This earth is very old, and is getting loose and sandy. The rocks are already old and are wearing away, soon the earth will not be strong enough to hold the roots of the trees. It will have to be changed some day, and the end may be sudden. By certain signs, people will know when the transformation will take place. First there will come a spring when leaves will come out on the trees without buds. The next year there will be buds only. The following year there will be no buds even, and neither rain nor snow will fall. The fourth spring there will be great rains, and much of the earth will be flooded. The following year there will be hail-storms, and the sixth year strong winds. In the seventh year there will be severe earth-quakes, and the mountains will fall down and the earth become as a plain. Many people will be killed by these things. The people will then watch the sky, and, when they see the clouds rolling like waves on a lake, they will know the chief is approaching. When red streaks shoot across the sky; and it assumes red, white, black, and yellow colors, they will know that he is drawing near."
Now Old-One made a mist1 before the eyes of the old couple, so that they could not see him. He ascended , and spoke to them from above, asking if they could see him. They answered, "No." He asked them to look again,' and they saw his heart which alone was visible. He said to them, -'I am the great chief, and now leave the earth, as my work for the present is finished. I will come again when required, and make the earth more perfect. I have told you the signs by which people will know when I am about to return. During my travels on earth, you were the only people who showed pity, and were kind to me: therefore I will give you what will make you rich.'
Then he let fall a handful of maize, saying, "Eat these, but save one to plant in the ground, and from it you will get many.' Then he threw down a handful each of wheat, beans, and potatoes, and told them to plant these also. The couple saved and planted one seed of each kind, and gathered afterwards more than they could eat. The next year they planted more, and eventually became rich by selling their harvests to the whites. Thus were these plants introduced, and, when the old couple died;' the white men became the only possessors of the cultivated' plants.
1 Some say he blew his breath on their eyes, and thus they became able to see.
