This legend was related by the Sauk leader Black Hawk (Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak) in his 1833 autobiography.
I will relate the manner in which corn first came. According to
tradition handed down to our people, a beautiful woman was seen to
descend from the clouds, and alight upon the earth, by two of our
ancestors who had killed a deer, and were sitting by a fire roasting a
part of it to eat. They were astonished at seeing her, and concluded
that she was hungry and had smelt the meat. They immediately went to
her, taking with them a piece of the roasted venison. They presented
it to her, she ate it, telling them to return to the spot where she
was sitting at the end of one year, and they would find a reward for
their kindness and generosity. She then ascended to the clouds and
disappeared. The men returned to their village, and explained to the
tribe what they had seen, done ad heard, but were laughed at by their
people. When the period had arrived for them to visit this
consecrated ground, where they were to find a reward for their
attention to the beautiful woman of the clouds, they went with a large
party, and found where her right hand had rested on the ground corn
growing, where the left hand had rested beans, and immediately where
she had been seated, tobacco.
Native cultures
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