The Origin of Corn: First Mother's Sacrifice
In the time of the first people, the Abenaki were hungry. Gluskabe's grandmother Nokomes taught the people to survive on wild plants, but food was scarce. First Mother, the first woman created by Gichi Niwaskw and Gluskabe, saw her children starving. She told her husband to kill her and drag her body across a clearing. Weeping, he obeyed. Where her body passed, corn sprang up — tall green stalks bearing golden ears. Where her heart lay, beans grew to climb the corn. Where her feet lay, squash spread across the ground. First Mother had given her life so her children would never starve. The Aben