The Sugarbush Story

   One day when the world was young, an Indian chief came home from a long, unsuccessful hunt. It was early spring, and the animals were still sleeping in their warm dens. The chief was tired and angry because his meal was not going to be good. As he came home, he stuck his tomahawk in one of the trees outside his longhouse. By chance, the tree was a maple. The chief had a daughter who cooked and kept his longhouse for him. The daughter made him a slim dinner of dried meat, and he slept. The next morning, he took his tomahawk out of the tree and returned to his hunt. Every morning the chief's daughter took a large bowl to the stream to get water. This day she was lazy, and wasted time enjoying the returning sun. She forgot the bowl at the base of the maple tree. As the spring sun warmed the tree, sap began to flow into her bowl from the gash that the tomahawk had made. When it was almost time for her father to return, the daughter realized her plight. She had to make a meal quickly. She found her bowl already had a liquid in it that looked like water. Thinking it was a gift from the Great Spirit, she used the "water" to boil the dried meat and grains for her father's meal. As the meal cooked, it became sweeter. The chief complimented his daughter on her hard work, and from then on the sap of the maple tree became an important part of their diet.