The

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

mythic

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...

Sosondowah was a great hunter known for stalking a supernatural

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

, Oh-je-a-neh-doh. Sosondowah was captured by Dawn, a goddess who needed him as a watchman. He fell in love with Gendenwitha ("she who brings the day", also spelled Gendewitha), a human woman. He tried to woo her by singing to her in spring as a

bluebird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. ...

, in summer as a blackbird and in autumn as a

hawk Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...

, who then tried to take Gendenwitha with him to the sky. Dawn tied him to her doorpost and then changed Gendenwitha into the Morning Star, so he could watch her all night but never be with her.

References

Iroquois mythology {{NorthAm-myth-stub

See also

References