“Story of Watitoh”
Many seasons ago, when the buffalo still ran across the Western Plains,
when the great waters ran free and clear
and forests were deep and green and covering the land,
the Indians gathered to meet and talk of peace.
There came the Iroquois, Seminole and Osage;
the Dakota, Mohegan and Narragansett,
the Cayuga, Mohawk, Seneca
and all the other great Indian tribes of the Nation.
They came together high on a mountaintop
in the verdant green hills called Berkshire.
There they sat in a circle of peace
and talked of a great league of Indians,
joined together in common council.
Many days passed,
many days of meeting,
and many of peace pipe and white bonnet.
And on the last day,
before tribes returned to their separate hunting grounds,
One chief had yet to speak – He was Wah-hin-ta,
Chief of the tribe that lived among the Berkshires.
“I hear words of peace ,” said Wah-hin-ta, “but see no peace.
When the sun sets, all the tribes will scatter to the four winds,
each will go it’s separate way.
So I give this mountaintop to the council of Indian Tribes,
to meet each summer and join together in peace.
This mountaintop I give the name of Watitoh… farm… so that peace and plenty may grow here,
and name it as the gathering place of the Indian tribes.
And so, many years after Wah-hin-ta has gone,
the tribes still meet each year in peace,
still to run the fields and swim the waters
and live under the open sky
on the green mountaintop they call Watitoh!
