No one really knows who first "discovered" pure maple syrup, but there are several legends surrounding its origins.

Native Americans were already producing pure maple syrup when the colonists arrived. Because they kept no written history there are different stories that were told to the colonists.

One of the legends involves total coincidence. Once upon a time, an Indian chief hurled his tomahawk at the trunk of a maple tree. When it was pulled out a clear liquid dripped from the wound into a container that happened to be below it. His wife discovered the clear liquid and used it instead of water from the brook to cook meat. Apparently, the Indian family found both the meat and the sweet liquid to their taste and the rest is history.

However, the most "accepted" legend goes as follows: When the Creator first made life, thick maple syrup flowed from maple trees year-round. One day the mischief-making young Glooskap happens along and finds the village of his People strangely silent. Their fields were overgrown with weeds and there were no barking dogs or playing children to greet him. So he went looking for his People and found them in a nearby maple grove. They were lying under the maple trees, letting the sweet delectable syrup run into their mouths.

Having special powers, Glooskap goes to a nearby river, fills a birchbark bucket and, rising above the trees, pours the water into the trees, making the syrup thin and runny.

He then told his People that the sweet syrup would no longer flow from the trees, but would run once a year and they would have to hunt and fish and go back to growing your corn and beans and squash. The people were told that the syrup would run again when the lake was frozen and no crops grow.

Glosskap then gave them instructions on how to turn the watery sap into sweet maple syrup. The natives were instructed to hollow out birch trees, heat round stones from the river and then drop the stones into the sap to make it boil. This process was lengthy, but the natives were rewarded with pure maple syrup.

There is yet another story out of Canada. Many Canadians believe the first sugarmaker was Tamiasciurus hudsonicus or the common red squirrel. The red squirrel is known to seek out tender, thin-skinned maple branches in late winter. The squirrel creates a deep wound with a sharp-toothed nip. When weather conditions are right, this wound will freely ooze sap. Observers note that the squirrel will go from tree to tree making deep wounds. After the tapholes have had time to exude sap, which quickly dries on the outer bark, the squirrel returns to enjoy the crust of sugar left by the frozen sap. The story continues that a native hunter or gatherer observed the red squirrel's behavior and was inspired to "duplicate" it.