Last week I asked students to research the Maid of the Mist, and I was real surprised when they came back with three completely different stories with the same title.

I wonder what the tour company tells folks? Probably the story about the distraught dad who follows his daughter over the falls...

'Niagara' means 'thundering waters' in the Iroquoian language Laurentian as interpreted by most scholars. This descriptive term applies to the many dialects and perhaps even more than one language. Whatever, its no surprise that this huge waterfall, being so spectacular in real life, was the focus of many aboriginal myths and legends. Today its real interesting to see which stories are gaining strength, and which have faded away . Which myths have evolved best from oral tradition to books and magazines, and to postage stamps? and post cards - see below! and now the internet.

The picture above is one such example. Its a meme of sorts...  a famous best selling Niagara Falls postcard from 1907 called the "Legend of the White Canoe, Niagara" that was a medium sized or 5.5" x 3.5" piece of popular culture. This iconic image fed the Maid of the Mist Legend. Today the official museum provenance reads, "...was purchased with funds from the Casino Niagara Cares Regional Heritage Collection. Publisher: A.C. Bosselman & Co., New York. Place Name:  Niagara Falls (waterfall)."  This was a best seller keepsake because of the engaging story. You don't need to be chief Eagle Eye to see her Dad following her in the background! Read on and I will tell you all three stories in detail.

Niagara Falls is really loud!

Any visitor that's been on the maid of the mist tour can tell you, it's really loud. As you can imagine there aren't many things that loud in the natural world or existed before the age of invention.  For centuries, the Iroquois believed that the sound of the waterfall was the voice of the mighty spirit of the waters. It really is quite a profound experience when out in that water body under the falls so to speak.

Was it so impressive it inspired sacrifice? A seldom told story is that right up until the mid 18th century the Iroquois living in the area sought the favor of the Water Spirit by sacrificing a maiden each year.  They dressed the virgin girl in furs and beads and placed her in a white canoe decorated with fruits and flowers. This vessel was then coaxed out into the Niagara river, and ritually sent over the brink of the massive water falls.  The girl in the boat was almost certainly paralyzed with fear, but to be sacrificed was the greatest honor, and insured special gifts and happy hunting grounds in the afterlife.

In the summer of 1679, Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built an encampment on Cayuga Creek.  He visited the Iroquois, and joined Father Louis Hennepin in condemnation of the Iroquoian sacrifice rituals. Together these men presented their superior Christian ideology. That summer, as they attempted to convert the Iroquois to Christianity, the main story put forth to convince the elders centered on the value of the sacrifice that Christ made for humanity. The Iroquois leaders were both wise and curious and they asked a lot of questions. They could not understand how their form of sacrifice could be viewed as bad, while Christ's sacrifice was considered a benefit all Humanity? and indeed that is a hard to explain.

Now here's where the history story sounds more like a Disney movie -  right at the same time as La Salle's visit in the summer of 1679, Chief Eagle Eye's beautiful fifteen year old daughter Lela-wala was chosen for the sacrifice.  He was devastated, but kept his emotions secret in front of LaSalle and the Europeans (however being the Chief you 'd think he could have had some more influence on the selection process but no). His daughter is selected for the annual summer sacrafice even though his wife only recently died, and she was his only child!

Not until the time of the sacrifice did he reveal the true extent of his grief.  There is some debate about how La Salle's men tried to stop the proceedings but the Lela-wala appears in the ritual garb and walks to the beach without fear or protest to enter the white canoe.  Hours before the rituals occurred Chief Eagle Eye disappeared into the woods, and hidden away in silence he watched his daughter float by on the 'white canoe', for indeed this is the legend of the white canoe - Chief Eagle Eye darted out of the woods in his own canoe and nobody could stop him as he followed her through the rapids and over the Falls.

To this day many Iroquois people believe that after their death, they were changed into pure spirits of strength and goodness. They live within the falls and add their voices to the roaring music. He is the ruler of the cataract, and Lela-wala is the Maid of the Mist.

Cayuga Maid of the Mist

Cayuga Nation, Wolf Clan, from the Six Nations Indian Reserve have another Maid of the Mist story. Theirs is ancient, set in prehistory, and long before any white men came along.  Its told an Iroquois Indian chief and his five beautiful daughters lived along the Niagara river above the large waterfalls. Each day the girls would bathe in the fast flowing river. One day the youngest of his daughters, who was the most beautiful, swam out too far into the raging river and was swept away over the falls. She returns to her father daily in the mist that rises from the thunderous abyss.  In a particularly renown local carving the other four sisters are represented in the four waves which cover the back of the maiden.

This story is short and sweet and only answers the question "who was the original maiden of the mist'.

Maid of the mist, Ongiaras Tribe as retold by S. E. Schlosser

Without editing Schlosser (much) I cut and pasted the version below from the Maid of the Mist story on this American Folklore website. It says,

The Maiden is...

.. a native girl lost her husband and her hope, and this young woman could not find her way through the sorrow upon sorrow that was her lot in life. So she stepped one day into her canoe, singing a death song softly to herself, and paddled out into the current. Soon the canoe was caught by the rough waves and she was hurtled toward the falls. But as it pitched over and she fell, Heno, the god of thunder who lived in the falls, caught the maiden gently in his arms and carried her to his home beneath the thundering veil of water.

Heno and his sons ministered to the grieving girl, and she stayed with them until her heart healed within her. Then the younger son spoke words of love to the maiden and they married, to the delight of the god of thunder. A young son was born to the couple, and he followed his grandfather everywhere, learning what it meant to be a god of thunder.

The only shadow on the happiness of the maiden in the mist was a continual longing to see her people one more time. Her chance came in an unexpected and unwelcome way. A great snake came down the mighty river and poisoned the waters of her people. They grew sick and were dying. Soon the snake would return to devour the dead until the people were all gone. It was Heno himself who gave her the news, and she begged that she might return for one hour to warn her people of the danger. The god himself lifted her through the falls and set her down among her people to give warning about the evil snake that was causing such pestilence among them. She advised them to move to a higher country until the danger was past, and they agreed. Then Heno came and took the maiden back to her husband and her home.

In a few days, the giant serpent returned to the village, seeking the bodies of those who had died from the poison it had spread. When the snake realized that the people had deserted the village, it hissed in rage and turned upstream to search for them. But Heno heard the voice of the serpent and rose up through the mist of the falls. He threw a great thunderbolt at the creature and killed it in one mighty blast. The giant body of the creature floated downstream and lodged just above the cataract, creating a large semi-circle that deflected huge amounts of water into the falls at the place just above the god's home. Horrified by this disastrous turn of events, Heno swept in through the falls and did his best to stop the massive influx of water, but it was too late.

Seeing that his home would soon be destroyed, Heno called for the maiden and his sons to come away with him. The younger son caught up his wife and child and followed Heno through the water of the falls and up into the sky, where the Thunderer made them a new home. From this place, they watch over the people of the earth, while Heno thunders in the clouds as he once thundered in the vapors of the great falls. To this day, an echo of the Heno's voice can be heard in the thunder of the mighty waters of Niagara Falls.

This version, I'm sorry to say, is a rather confusing story and probably loses a lot of drama in translation.  A Hollywood movie producer would certainly choose the first of these Maid of the Mist tales,  amd indeed that's the one celebrated in the post card and postage stamp.