Sky Woman had a daughter, the first human born on this earth. And when her daughter was grown, she married the west wind and gave birth to two sons. And that was when all the trouble began. For one of those boys was kind and generous. The other was angry and selfish and deceitful. They were called the Good Mind and Flint. The Good Mind was born in the normal way, but Flint thrust himself out through his mother’s side, killing her.

The two of them began to struggle over who would control the world. The Good Mind made fruits and flowers. Flint made thorns and poisonous plants. The Good Mind made rivers that flowed gently. Flint made rapids and threw in big stones that would sink canoes. The Good Mind made all kinds of fish that were good to eat. Flint made monsters that hid underwater waiting to drag people in and eat them. So it went until finally the two of them wrestled. When the Good Mind won, Flint, the twisted-minded one, was banished.

But the Twisted Mind is not totally gone.

At times, Flint is able to influence our thoughts toward selfishness and anger. But the Good Mind is always there to guide us back toward peace and sharing.

Okwaho sat up, still holding the kernels of corn in his hand. It was a good song and a good story that the corn had brought to him. For a moment, that moment as he was singing and seeing that story happen, the anger had almost left him. It was that way when he thought of peace.

Only a few generations ago, according to his mother, the five sister nations of the Haudenosaunee, the Longhouse People, had lived together in peace. They had all been following the way of the Good Mind. But that was no longer true. Now, with the endless cycle of raid and counter-raid, of attack and revenge, the balance had tipped toward Flint. Men such as Atatarho, who no longer listened to the Good Mind, were in charge.

Okwaho shook his head. Neither the song nor the story had really helped him at all.

He pushed the elm bark basket of corn aside. It was the fourth morning since his escape from the Oneida raiding party. Sleep had not come easily. Whenever he did sleep, his dreams kept taking him back to the events of the day before.

•   •   •

The longhouse was empty aside from him. Everyone else had gone about their daily chores. His parents had let him sleep. They had to have noticed his restlessness all through the night. But they had not disturbed him. What good would it have done?

A pot of corn mush hung over the cooking fire in the center of the longhouse. He took the wooden spoon that hung by a rawhide string from his belt and dipped into the hot mush.