Cornhusk Doll

Name:________________

Date:_________

Mr. Quinn

Period:______

The No-Face Doll

An Iroquois legend

The three sisters of the Iroquois, Corn, Beans and Squash are the three spirits that sustain life. In the beginning, the Corn spirit was so happy at being a sustainer of life that she asked the Creator for more ways to help her people. So the Creator began forming a doll from her husks, creating for it a beautiful face, and giving it to the children of the Iroquois. But the doll, as it passed from village to village and child to child, continually proclaimed her beauty, until she became so vain that the Creator disapproved of her and asked her to refrain from such narcissistic behavior. If she continued, the Creator warned, he would have to punish her. The doll agreed, and attempted to be more humble. But one day, walking by a creek, she glanced into the water and stopped to admire the beauty of her reflection. The Creator however was unseeing; he sent a giant screech owl down from the sky to snatch her reflection from the water. When she then glanced into the water again to admire her beauty, her reflection was gone. She could no longer see her face or glory in her superior beauty. Ever since, when an Iroquois mother gives a doll to her child, she usually a doll with no face, and tells the legend of the Corn-Husk doll. The Iroquois want their children to value the unique gifts that the Creator has given to each of them, but not to view themselves as

superior to another, or to overemphasize physical appearance at the expense of spiritual and community values.

1. What are three sisters of the Iroquois?

2. Describe what happens to the doll’s reflection in the water:

3. Why does the mother give a corn-husk doll to the daughter?

4. What does this legend teach us? Does it still have meaning today?