Peace Walker: The Legend of Hiawatha and Tekanawita

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University. She is the author of several books, including The
Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret
Laurence: The Long Journey Home.

For many generations the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca
lived peacefully. Then the peace turned into a time of great confusion
and blood feuding, and war parties were often dispatched to avenge acts
of violence, which led to warfare between the nations. Out of this chaos
emerged a powerful chief named Atotarho, who ruled with brutality and
whom everyone feared—except the Onondaga chief Hiawatha. Together with
a young Huron named Tekanawita, he would reunite the people against
Atotarho; the people would transform the evil chief into a giant pine
tree, and peace would be restored to the five nations. Out of this unity
would emerge a single nation: the Iroquois Confederacy.

Mohawk artist and storyteller C.J. Taylor gathered different versions
of “the peacemaker” legend from elders to create this fresh version
of how the “Great Law of Peace” was achieved many centuries ago. The
story is given immediacy by 10 striking illustrations. Most are in
sombre tones of deep brown, sienna, and dark blue, but one especially
vibrant scene of a mountain waterfall on a sunny day glows with yellows,
reds, and a cheerful blue sky. A second brightly coloured painting
placed shortly after that shows the leaders of the five nations in the
process of signing the peace pact.

Peace Walker is a beautiful and significant book that will appeal to
all ages through its vividly colourful paintings and dramatic text.
Highly recommended.