Long ago, the peaceful tribe of the Ongiaras lived beside the Niagara River. For
an unknown reason, Indians were dying, and it was believed that the tribe must
appease the Thunder God Hinum, who lived with his two sons in a cave behind the
Falls.
A first, the Indians sent canoes laden with fruit, flowers and game over the
Falls, but the dying continued. The Indians then began to sacrifice the most beautiful
maiden of the tribe, who was selected once a year during a ceremonial feast. One
year, Lelawala, daughter of Chief Eagle Eye was chosen.
On the appointed day, Lelawala appeared on the river bank above the Falls,
wearing a white doeskin robe with a wreath of woodland flowers in her hair. She
stepped into a white birch bark canoe and plunged over the Falls to her death.
Her father, heartbroken, leaped into his canoe and followed her.
Hinum's two sons caught Lelawala in their arms, and each desired her. She
promised to accept the one who told her what evil was killing her people. The
younger brother told her of a giant water snake that lay at the bottom of the
river. Once a year, the monster snake grew hungry, and at night entered the village
and poisoned the water. The snake then devoured the dead.
On spirit, Lelawala told her people to destroy the serpent. Indian braves
mortally wounded the snake on his next yearly visit to the village. Returning
to his lair on the river, the snake caught his head on one side of the river and
his tail on the other, forming a semi-circle and the brink of the Horseshoe Falls.
Lelawala returned to the cave of the God Hinum, where she reigns as the Maid of
the Mist
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