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A Lazy People Friends of Brooksvale Park, Inc.
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A Lazy People - A Native American Tale Way back when the Native American peoples lived in this area, what came out of a cut twig of a maple tree wasn’t sap but syrup, and it flowed year round! The creator came down to visit his people and went to their village but there was no one there. He said to himself, “They must be at the gardens.” He went to the gardens, but there was no one there. He said to himself, “They must be at the hunting grounds.” But there was no one there. All of his people were gone! The creator was confused and he was walking along a trail when he looked into the sugar maple forest and he couldn’t believe his eyes! All of his people were lying in the sugar maple forest, underneath the cut twigs of sugar maple trees, with their mouths wide open! Syrup was dripping into their mouths. They saw the creator walking among them and they mumbled…”hey don’t bother me I’m busy!!” The creator looked and said to himself, “This is not good, my people are getting lazy and unhealthy. I must change this.” He went to the river and got a big bucket of water and threw it up into the sugar maple forest. From that moment on, what comes out of the cut twig of a sugar maple tree is not maple syrup, but maple sap! The creator told his people, “From now on, you will have to collect big amounts of sap, cut firewood and build big fires to boil down that sap just to get a little bit of that syrup that you were willing to become a lazy people for.” “And further more”, and it is true till today, he said, “the sap will only flow for 4 or 5 or 6 weeks in late winter. This is so you can later plant your gardens, hunt for your game and live like healthy people. |