Historic line in a Canadian Heritage Foundation advertisement.

The premise of the ad is that there is an old Iroquois fella, recounting the tale of Hiawatha to his granddaughter while they plant a tree.

Hiawatha pleads the delegates of the Five Tribes, begging them, "Hey, enough already with the warring and the cannibalism!" At this point, it is said, "The power of the Great Peace drove the evil from them." Magical spirits fly out and compel the Iroquoian chieftains to throw their weapons into some sort of pit. The spirits are chanting, "Skono, skono," which I can only surmise is Iroquoian for "peace."

Then it cuts back to the ol' timer and the granddaughter, and the granddaughter asks, "Does the Great Peace still have power?"

And the grandfather says, "You're here, aren't ya?"

And looks at her like she's stupid or something, like, Hey, I just told you this great story about our people, and you go and ask a dumb question like that? What kinda freak are you?

Yep, it's a great commercial.

Noder's Note: The story is a reference to wampum 65 of the Gayanashagowa, in which Deganawidah exhorts the chiefs of the Iroquois to throw their weapons under an uprooted pine tree.