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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 10:44:34 GMT -5
Creation a Apache Tale - Apache
Apache, meaning "enemy," was the Zuni name for Navaho, who were also called Apachis de Nabaju by the earliest Spaniards exploring New Mexico. Apaches had come down from the north during prehistoric times, along the eastern flanks of the Rocky Mountains. When they confronted Coronado in 1540, they lived in eastern NewMexico, and reached Arizona in the 1600s. Continuous wars among other tribes and invaders from Mexico followed the Apaches' growing reputation of warlike character.
Apaches have always been inherently aware of earth and sky spirits. From their early morning prayers to the Sun-God, through their hours, days, and their entire lives-for them every act has sacred significance.
Animals, elements, the solar system, and natural phenomena are revered by the Apaches. That which is beyond their understanding is always ascribed to the supernatural.
In the beginning nothing existed-no earth, no sky, no sun, no moon, only darkness was everywhere.
Suddenly from the darkness emerged a thin disc, one side yellow and the other side white, appearing suspended in midair. Within the disc sat a small bearded man. Creator, the One Who Lives Above. As if waking from a long nap, he rubbed his eyes and face with both hands.
When he looked into the endless darkness, light appeared above. He looked down and it became a sea of light. To the east, he created yellow streaks of dawn. To the west, tints of many colors appeared everywhere. There were also clouds of different colors.
Creator wiped his sweating face and rubbed his hands together, thrusting them downward. Behold! A shining cloud upon which sat a little girl.
"Stand up and tell me where are you going," said Creator. But she did not reply. He rubbed his eyes again and offered his right hand to the Girl-Without-Parents.
"Where did you come from?" she asked, grasping his hand. "From the east where it is now light," he replied, stepping upon her cloud.
"Where is the earth?" she asked.
"Where is the sky?" he asked, and sang, "I am thinking, thinking, thinking what I shall create next." He sang four times, which was the magic number.
Creator brushed his face with his hands, rubbed them together, then flung them wide open! Before them stood Sun-God. Again Creator rubbed his sweaty brow and from his hands dropped Small-Boy.
All four gods sat in deep thought upon the small cloud.
"What shall we make next?" asked Creator. 'This cloud is much too small for us to live upon."
Then he created Tarantula, Big Dipper, Wind, Lightning-Maker, and some western clouds in which to house Lightning-Rumbler, which he just finished.
Creator sang, "Let us make earth. I am thinking of the earth, earth, earth; I am thinking of the earth," he sang four times.
All four gods shook hands. In doing so, their sweat mixed together and Creator rubbed his palms, from which fell a small round, brown ball, not much larger than a bean.
Creator kicked it, and it expanded. Girl-Without-Parents kicked the ball, and it enlarged more. Sun-God and Small-Boy took turns giving it hard kicks, and each time the ball expanded. Creator told Wind to go inside the ball and to blow it up.
Tarantula spun a black cord and, attaching it to the ball, crawled away fast to the east, pulling on the cord with all his strength. Tarantula repeated with a blue cord to the south, a yellow cord to the west, and a white cord to the north. With mighty pulls in each direction, the brown ball stretched to immeasurable size-it became the earth! No hills, mountains, or rivers were visible; only smooth, treeless, brown plains appeared.
Creator scratched his chest and rubbed his fingers together and there appeared Hummingbird.
"Fly north, south, east, and west and tell us what you see," said Creator.
"All is well," reported Hummingbird upon his return. "The earth is most beautiful, with water on the west side."
But the earth kept rolling and dancing up and down. So Creator made four giant posts-black, blue, yellow, and white-to support the earth. Wind carried the four posts, placing them beneath the four cardinal points of the earth. The earth sat still.
Creator sang, "World is now made and now sits still," which he repeated four times.
Then he began a song about the sky. None existed, but he thought there should be one. After singing about it four times, twenty-eight people appeared to help make a sky above the earth. Creator chanted about making chiefs for the earth and sky.
He sent Lightning-Maker to encircle the world, and he returned with three uncouth creatures, two girls and a boy found in a turquoise shell. They had no eyes, ears, hair, mouths, noses, or teeth. They had arms and legs, but no fingers or toes.
Sun-God sent for Fly to come and build a sweathouse. Girl-Without- Parents covered it with four heavy clouds. In front of the east doorway, she placed a soft, red cloud for a foot-blanket to be used after the sweat. Four stones were heated by the fire inside the sweathouse. The three uncouth creatures were placed inside. The others sang songs of healing on the outside, until it was time for the sweat to be finished. Out came the three strangers who stood upon the magic red cloud-blanket. Creator then shook his hands toward them, giving each one fingers, toes, mouths, eyes, ears, noses and hair.
Creator named the boy, Sky-Boy, to be chief of the Sky-People. One girl he named Earth-Daughter, to take charge of the earth and its crops. The other girl he named Pollen-Girl, and gave her charge of health care for all Earth-People.
Since the earth was flat and barren. Creator thought it fun to create animals, birds, trees, and a hill. He sent Pigeon to see how the world looked. Four days later, he returned and reported, "All is beautiful around the world. But four days from now, the water on the other side of the earth will rise and cause a mighty flood."
Creator made a very tall pinon tree. Girl-Without-Parents covered the tree framework with pinon gum, creating a large, tight ball.
In four days, the flood occurred. Creator went up on a cloud, taking his twenty-eight helpers with him. Girl-Without-Parents put the others into the large, hollow ball, closing it tight at the top.
In twelve days, the water receded, leaving the float-ball high on a hilltop. The rushing floodwater changed the plains into mountains hills, valleys, and rivers. Girl-Without-Parents led the gods out from the float-ball onto the new earth. She took them upon her cloud, drifting upward until they met Creator with his helpers, who had completed their work making the sky during the flood time on earth.
Together the two clouds descended to a valley below. There, Girl-Without-Parents gathered everyone together to listen to Creator.'
"I am planning to leave you," he said. "I wish each of you to do your best toward making a perfect, happy world.
"You, Lightning-Rumbler, shall have charge of clouds and water
"You, Sky-Boy, look after all Sky-People.
"You, Earth-Daughter, take charge of all crops and Earth-People.
"You, Pollen-Girl, care for their health and guide them.
"You, Girl-Without-Parents, I leave you in charge over all."
Creator then turned toward Girl-Without-Parents and together they rubbed their legs with their hands and quickly cast them forcefully downward. Immediately between them arose a great pile of wood, over which Creator waved a hand, creating fire.
Great billowy clouds of smoke at once drifted skyward. Into this cloud. Creator disappeared. The other gods followed him in other clouds of smoke, leaving the twenty-eight workers to people the earth.
Sun-God went east to live and travel with the Sun. Girl-Without- Parents departed westward to live on the far horizon. Small-Boy and Pollen-Girl made cloud homes in the south. Big Dipper can still be seen in the northern sky at night, a reliable guide to all.
Taken from Curtis, Edward S. The North American Indian. 20 vols, pgs 23-35 of vol 1. Orig. pub. 1907-1930. Reprint. New York:Johnson Reprint Corp.
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 10:45:16 GMT -5
Creation Choctaw - Choctaw At the beginning there was a great mound. It was called Nanih Wiya. It was from this mound that the Creator fashioned the first of the people. These people crawled through a long, dark cave into daylight. They became the first Choctaw. Eclipse of the sun blamed on black squirrel (Choctaw) xx In Choctaw history, solar eclipses were attributed to black squirrels, or a black squirrel, supposed to be eating the luminary, and they must be driven off if mankind were still to enjoy the heat and light. Cushman says: The Choctaw . . . attributed an eclipse of the sun to a black squirrel, whose eccentricities often led it into mischief, and, among other things, that of trying to eat up the sun at different intervals. When thus inclined, they believed, which was confirmed by long experience, that the only effective means to prevent so fearful a catastrophe befalling the world as the blotting out of that indispensable luminary, was to favor the little, black epicure with a first-class scare; therefore, whenever he manifested an inclination to indulge in a meal on the sun, every ingenuity was called into requisition to give him a genuine fright so that he would be induced, at least, to postpone his meal on the sun at that particular time and seek a lunch elsewhere. As soon, therefore, as the sun began to draw its lunar veil over its face, the cry was heard from every mount from the Dan to the Beersheba of their then wide extended territory, echoing from hill to dale, "Funi lusa hushi umpa! Funi lusa hushi umpa," according to our phraseology, the black squirrel is eating the sun! Then and there was heard a sound of tumult by day in the Choctaw Nation for the space of an hour or two. Far exceeding that said to have been heard by night in Belgium's Capital, and sufficient in the conglomeration of discordant tones terrific, if heard by the distant, little, fastidious squirrel, to have made him lose forever afterward all relish for a mess of suns for an early or late dinner. The shouts of the women and children mingling with the ringing of discordant bells as the vociferous pounding and beating of earsplitting tin pans and cups mingling in "wild confusion worse confounded," yet in sweet unison with a first-class orchestra of yelping, howling, barking dogs gratuitously thrown in by the innumerable and highly excited curs, produced a din, which even a "Funi lusa," had he heard it, could scarcely have endured even to have indulged in a nibble or two of the sun, though urged by the demands of a week's fasting. But during the wild scene the men were not idle spectators, or indifferent listeners. Each stood a few paces in front of his cabin door with no outward manifestation of excitement whatever - so characteristic of the Indian warrior but with his trusty rifle in hand, which so oft had proved a friend sincere in many hours of trial, which he loaded and fired in rapid succession at the distant, devastating squirrel, with the same coolness and calm deliberation that he did when shooting at his game. More than once have I witnessed the fearful yet novel scene. When it happened to be the time of a total eclipse of the sun, a sufficient evidence that the little, black epicure meant business in regard to having a square meal, though it took the whole sun to furnish it, then indeed there were sounds of revelry and tumult unsurpassed by any ever heard before, either in "Belgium" or elsewhere. Then the women shrieked and redoubled their efforts upon the tin pans, which, under the desperate blows, strained every vocal organ to do its utmost and whole duty in loud response, while the excited children screamed and beat their tin cups, and the sympathetic dogs (whose name was legion) barked and howled - all seemingly determined not to fall the one behind the other in their duty since the occasion demanded it; while the warriors still stood in profound and meditative silence, but firm and undaunted, as they quickly loaded and fired their rifles, each time taking deliberate aim, if perchance the last shot might prove the successful one; then, as the moon's shadow began to move from the disk of the sun, the joyful shout was heard above the mighty din "Funi-lusa-osh mahlatah! " The black squirrel is frightened. But the din remained unabated until the sun again appeared in its usual splendor, and all nature again assumed its harmonious course. www.indianlegend.com/choctaw/choctaw_001.htmCreation Choctaw 2 - Choctaw The Choctaw who remain in Mississippi tell this story as an explanation of how they came to the land where they live now and of how Naniah Waiya Mound came to be. Two brothers, Chata and Chicksah led the original people from a land in the far west that had ceased to prosper. The people traveled for a long time, guided by a magical pole. Each night, when the people stopped to camp, the pole was placed in the ground and in the morning the people would travel in the direction in which the pole leaned. After traveling for an extremely long time, they finally came to a place where the pole remained upright. In this place, they laid to rest the bones of their ancestors, which they had carried in buffalo sacks from the original land in the west. The mound grew out of that great burial. After the burial, the brothers discovered that the land could not support all the people. Chicksah took half the people and departed to the North and eventually became the Chickasaw tribe. Chatah and the others remained near the mound and are now known as the Choctaw. www.indianlegend.com/choctaw/choctaw_001.htm
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 10:45:34 GMT -5
Creation and Longevity - Achomawi
Coyote began the creation of the earth, but Eagle completed it. Coyote scratched it up with his paws out of nothingness, but Eagle complained there were no mountains for him to perch on. So Coyote made hills, but they were not high enough. Therefore Eagle scratched up great ridges. When Eagle flew over them, his feathers dropped down, took root, and became trees. The pin feathers became bushes and plants.
Coyote and Fox together created man. They quarrelled as to whether they should let men live always or not. Coyote said, "If they want to die, let them die." Fox said, "If they want to come back, let them come back." But Coyote's medicine was stronger, and nobody ever came back.
Coyote also brought fire into the world, for the Indians were freezing. He journeyed far to the west, to a place where there was fire, stole some of it, and brought it home in his ears. He kindled a fire in the mountains, and the Indians saw the smoke of it, and went up and got fire.
From Myths and Legends of California, compiled by Katharine Berry Judson 1912
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 10:47:49 GMT -5
Creation Hopi - Hopi
In the beginning there were only two: Tawa, the Sun God, and Spider Woman, the Earth Goddess. All the mysteries and power in the Above belonged to Tawa, while Spider Woman controlled the magic of the Below. In the Underworld, abode of the Gods, they dwelt and they were All. There was neither man nor woman, bird nor beast, no living thing until these Two willed it to be.
In time it came to them that there should be other Gods to share their labors. So Tawa divided himself and there came Muiyinwuh, God of All Life Germs; Spider Woman also divide herself so that there was Huzruiwuhti, Woman of the Hard Substances, the Goddess of all hard ornaments of wealth such as coral, turquoise, silver and shell. Huzruiwuhti became the always-bride of Tawa. They were the First Lovers and of their union there came into being those marvelous ones the Magic Twins -- Puukonhoya, the Youth, and Palunhoya, the Echo. As time unrolled there followed Hicanavaiya, Ancient of Six (the Four World Quarters, the Above and Below), Man-Eagle, the Great Plumed Serpent and many others. But Masauwhu, the Death God, did not come of these Two but was bad magic, who appeared only after the making of creatures.
And then it came about that these Two had one Thought and it was a might Thought that they would make the Earth to be between the Above and the Below where now lay shimmering only the Endless Waters. So they sat them side by side, swaying their beautiful bronze bodies to the pulsing music of their own great voices, making the First Magic Song, a song of rushing winds and flowing waters, a song of light and sound and life. "I am Tawa," sang the Sun God. "I am Light. I am Life. I am Father of all that shall ever come."
"I am Kokyanwuhti," the Spider Woman crooned. "I receive Light and nourish Life. I am Mother of all that shall ever come."
"Many strange thoughts are forming in my mind -- beautiful forms of birds to float in the Above, of beasts to move upon the Earth and fish to swim in the Waters," intoned Tawa.
"Now let these things that move in the Though of Tawa appear," chanted Spider Woman, while with her slender fingers she caught up clay from beside her and made the Thoughts of Tawa take form. One by one she shaped them and laid them aside -- but they breathed not nor moved.
"We must do something about this," said Tawa. "It is not good that they lie thus still and quiet. Each thing that has a form must also have a spirit. So now, my beloved, we must make a mighty Magic."
They laid a white blanket over the many figures, a cunningly woven woolen blanket, fleecy as a cloud, and made a mighty incantation over it, and soon the figures stirred and breathed.
"Now, let us make ones like unto you and me, so that they may rule over and enjoy these lesser creatures," sang Tawa, and Spider Woman shaped the Thoughts into woman and man figures like unto their own. But after the blanket magic had been made, the figures remained inert. So Spider Woman gathered them all in her arms and cradled them, while Tawa bent his glowing eyes upon them. The two now sang the magic Song of Life over them, and at last each human figure breathed and lived.
"Now that was a good thing and a mighty thing," said Tawa. "So now all this is finished, and there shall be no new things made by us. Those things we have made shall multiply. I will make a journey across the Above each day to shed my light upon them and return each night to Huzruiwuhti. And now I shall go to turn my blazing shield upon the Endless Waters, so that the Dry Land may appear. And this day will be the first day upon Earth."
"Now I shall lead all these created beings to the land that you shall cause to appear above the waters," said Spider Woman. Then Tawa took down his burnished shield from the turquoise wall of the kiva and swiftly mounted his glorious was to the Above. After Spider Woman had bent her wise, all-seeing eyes upon the thronging creatures about her, she wound her way among them, separating them into groups.
"Thus and thus shall you be and thus shall you remain, each one in her own tribe forever. You are Zunis, you are Kohoninos, you are Pah-Utes..." The Hopis, all, all people were named by Kokyanwuhti then.
Placing her Magic Twins beside her, Spider Woman called all the people to follow where she led. Through all the Four Great Caverns of the Underworld she led them until they finally came to an opening, a sipapu, which led above. This came out at the lowest depth of the Pisisbaiya (the Colorado River) and was the place where the people were to come to gather salt. So lately had the Endless Waters gone down that the Turkey, Koyona, pushing early ahead, dragged its tail feathers in the black mud where the dark bands were to remain forever.
Mourning Dove flew overhead, calling to some to follow, and those who followed where his sharp eyes had spied out springs and built beside them were called "Huwinyamu" after him. So Spider Woman chose a creature to lead each clan to a place to build their house. The Puma, the Snake, the Antelope, the Deer, and other Horn creatures, each led a clan to a place to build their house. Each clan henceforth bore the name of the creature who had led them.
The Spider Woman spoke to them thus: "The woman of the clan shall build the house, and the family name shall descend through her. She shall be house builder and homemaker. She shall mold the jars for the storing of food and water. She shall grind the grain for food and tenderly rear and teach the young. The man of the clan shall build kivas of stone under the ground. In these kivas the man shall make sand pictures as altars. Of colored sand shall he make them, and they shall be called 'ponya.' The man too shall weave the clan blankets with their proper symbols. The man shall fashion himself weapons and furnish his family with game."
Stooping down, she gathered some sand in her hand, letting it run out in a thin, continuous stream. "See the movement of the sand? That is the life that will cause all things therein to grow. The Great Plumed Serpent, Lightning, will rear and strike the earth to fertilize it; Rain Cloud will pour down waters, and Tawa will smile upon it so that green things will spring up to feed my children."
Her eyes now sought the Above where Tawa was descending toward his western kiva in all the glory of red and gold. "I go now, but have no fear, for we Two will be watching over you. Look upon me now, my children, ere I leave. Obey the words I have given you, and all will be well. If you are in need of help, call upon me, and I will send my sons to your aid."
The people gazed wide-eyed upon her shining beauty. Her woven upper garment of soft white wool hung tunic-wise over a blue skirt. On its left side was woven a band bearing the Butterfly and Squash Blossom, in designs of red and yellow and green with bands of black appearing in between. Her neck was hung with heavy necklaces of turquoise, shell and coral, and pendants of the same hung from her ears. Her face was fair, with warm eyes and tender lips, and her form most graceful. Upon her feet were skin boots of gleaming white, and they now turned toward where the sand spun about in whirlpool fashion. She held up her right hand and smiled upon them, then stepped upon the whirling sand. Wonder of wonders, before their eyes the sands seemed to suck her swiftly down until she disappeared entirely from their sight.
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 11:03:12 GMT -5
Creation Kato - Kato
The sandstone rock which formed the sky was old, they say. It thundered in the east; it thundered in the south; it thundered in the west; it thundered in the north. "The rock is old, we will fix it," he said.
There were two, Nagaitcho and Thunder. "We will stretch it above far to the east," one of them said. They stretched it. They walked on the sky.
In the south he stood on end a large rock. In the west he stood on end a large rock. In the north he stood on end a large, tall rock. In the east he stood on end a large, tall rock. He made everything properly. He made the roads. He made a road to the north (where the sun travels in summer).
"In the south there will be no trees but only many flowers," he said. "Where will there be a hole through?" he asked. At the north he made a hole through. East he made a large opening for the clouds. West he made an opening for the fog. "To the west the clouds shall go," he said.
He made a knife. He made it for splitting the rocks. He made the knife very strong.
"How will it be?" he considered. "You go north; I will go south," he said. "I have finished already," he said. "Stretch the rock in the north. You untie it in the west, I will untie it in the east."
"What will be clouds?" he asked. "Set fires about here," he told him. On the upland they burned to make clouds. Along the creek bottoms they burned to make mist. "It is good," he said. He made clouds so the heads of coming people would not ache.
There is another world above where Thunder lives. "You will live here near by," he told Nagaitcho.
"Put water on the fire, heat some water," he said. He made a person out of earth. "Well, I will talk to him," he said. He made his right leg and his left leg. He made his right arm and his left arm. He pulled off some grass and wadded it up. He put some of it in place for his belly. He hung up some of it for his stomach.
When he had slapped some of the grass he put it in for his heart. He used a round piece of clay for his liver. He put in more clay for his kidneys. He cut a piece into parts and put it in for his lungs. He pushed in a reed (for a trachea).
"What sort will blood be?" he enquired. He pounded up ochre. "Get water for the ochre," he said. He laid him down. He sprinkled him with water. He made his mouth, his nose, and two eyes. "How will it be?" he said. "Make him privates," he said. He made them. He took one of the legs, split it, and made woman of it.
Clouds arose in the east. Fog came up in the west. "Well, let it rain, let the wind blow," he said. "Up in the sky there will be none, there will be only gentle winds. Well, let it rain in the fog," he said. It rained. One could not see. It was hot in the sky. The sun came up now. "What will the sun be?" he said. "Make a fire so it will be hot. The moon will travel at night." The moon is cold.
He came down. "Who, I wonder, can kick open a rock?" he said. "Who can split a tree?" "Well, I will try," said Nagaitcho. He couldn't split the tree. "Who, I wonder, is the strongest?" said Thunder. Nagaitcho didn't break the rock. "Well, I will try," said Thunder. Thunder kicked the rock. He kicked it open. It broke to pieces. "Go look at the rock," he said. "He kicked the rock open," one reported. "Well, I will try a tree," he said. He kicked the tree open. The tree split to pieces.
Thunder and Nagaitcho came down. "Who can stand on the water? You step on the water," Thunder told Nagaitcho. "Yes, I will," Nagaitcho said. He stepped on the water and sank into the ocean. "I will try," said Thunder. He stepped on the water. He stood on it with one leg. "I have finished quickly," he said.
It was evening. It rained. It rained. Every day, every night it rained. "What will happen? It rains every day," they said. The fog spread out close to the ground. The clouds were thick. The people then had no fire. The fire became small. All the creeks were full. There was water in the valleys. The water encircled them.
"Well, I have finished," he said. "Yes," Nagaitcho said. "Come, jump up. You must jump up to another sky," he told him. "I, too, will do that."
"At night when every kind of thing is asleep we will do it," he said.
Every day it rained, every night it rained. All the people slept. The sky fell. The land was not. For a very great distance there was no land. The waters of the oceans came together. Animals of all kinds drowned. Where the water went there were no trees. There was no land.
People became. Seal, sea-lion, and grizzly built a dance-house. They looked for a place in vain. At Usal they built it for there the ground was good. There are many sea-lions there. Whale became a human woman. That is why women are so fat. There were no grizzlies. There were no fish. Blue lizard was thrown into the water and became sucker.
Bull-snake was thrown into the water and became black salmon. Salamander was thrown into the water and became hook-bill salmon. Grass-snake was thrown into the water and became steel-head salmon. Lizard was thrown into the water and became trout.
Trout cried for his net. "My net, my net," he said. They offered him every kind of thing in vain. It was "My net" he said when he cried. They made a net and put him into it. He stopped crying. They threw the net and trout into the water. He became trout.
"What will grow in the water?" he asked. Seaweeds grew in the water. Abalones and mussels grew in the water. Two kinds of kelp grew in the ocean. Many different kinds grew there.
"What will be salt?" he asked. They tasted many things. The ocean foam became salt. The Indians tried their salt. They will eat their food with it. They will eat clover with it. It was good salt.
"How will the water of this ocean behave? What will be in front of it?" he asked. "The water will rise up in ridges. It will settle back again. There will be sand. On top of the sand it will glisten," he said. "Old kelp will float ashore. Old whales will float ashore.
"People will eat fish, big fish," he said. "Sea-lions will come ashore. They will eat them. They will be good. Devil-fish, although they are ugly looking, will be good. The people will eat them. The fish in the ocean will be fat. They will be good.
"There will be many different kinds in the ocean. There will be water- panther. There will be stone-fish. He will catch people. Long-tooth- fish will kill sea-lion. He will feel around in the water.
"Sea-lion will have no feet. He will have a tail. His teeth will be large. There will be no trees in the ocean. The water will be powerful in the ocean," he said.
He placed redwoods and firs along the shore. At the tail of the earth, at the north, he made them grow. He placed land in walls along in front of the ocean. From the north he put down rocks here and there. Over there the ocean beats against them.
Far to the south he did that. He stood up pines along the way. He placed yellow pines. Far away he placed them. He placed mountains along in front of the water. He did not stop putting them up even way to the south.
Redwoods and various pines were growing. He looked back and saw them growing. The redwoods had become tall. He placed stones along. He made small creeks by dragging along his foot. "Wherever they flow this water will be good," he said. "They will drink this. Only the ocean they will not drink."
He made trees spring up. When he looked behind himself he saw they had grown. When he came near water-head-place (south) he said to himself, "It is good that they are growing up."
He made creeks along. "This water they will drink," he said. That is why all drink, many different kinds of animals. "Because the water is good, because it is not salt, deer, elk, panther, and fishers will drink of it," he said. He caused trees to grow up along. When he looked behind himself he saw they had grown up. "Birds will drink, squirrels will drink," he said. "Many different kinds will drink. I am placing good water along the way."
Many redwoods grew up. He placed water along toward the south. He kicked out springs. "There will be springs," he said. "These will belong to the deer," he said of the deer-licks.
He took along a dog. "Drink this water," he told his dog. He, himself, drank of it. "All, many different kinds of animals and birds, will drink of it," he said.
Tanbark oaks he made to spring up along the way. Many kinds, redwoods, firs, and pines he caused to grow. He placed water along. He made creeks with his foot. To make valleys for the streams he placed the land on edge. The mountains were large. They had grown.
"Let acorns grow," he said. He looked back at the ocean, and at the trees and rocks he had placed along. "The water is good, they will drink it," he said. He placed redwoods, firs, and tanbark oaks along the way. He stood up land and made the mountains. "They shall become large," he said of the redwoods.
He went around the earth, dragging his foot to make the streams and placing redwoods, firs, pines, oaks, and chestnut trees. When he looked back he saw the rocks had become large, and the mountains loomed up. He drank of the water and called it good. "I have arranged it that rocks shall be around the water," he said. "Drink," he told his dog. "Many animals will drink this good water." He placed rocks and banks. He put along the way small white stones. He stood up white and black oaks. Sugar-pines and firs he planted one in a place.
"I will try the water," he said. "Drink, my dog." The water was good. He dragged along his foot, making creeks. He placed the rocks along and turned to look at them. "Drink, my dog," he said. "I, too, will drink. Grizzlies, all kinds of animals, and human beings will drink the water which I have placed among the rocks." He stood up the mountains. He placed the trees along, the firs and the oaks. He caused the pines to grow up. He placed the redwoods one in a place.
He threw salamanders and turtles into the creeks. "Eels will live in this stream," he said. "Fish will come into it. Hook-bill and black salmon will run up this creek. Last of all steel-heads will swim in it. Crabs, small eels, and day-eels will come up.
"Grizzlies will live in large numbers on this mountain. On this mountain will be many deer. The people will eat them. Because they have no gall they may be eaten raw. Deer meat will be very sweet. Panthers will be numerous. There will be many jack-rabbits on this mountain," he said.
He did not like yellow-jackets. He nearly killed them. He made blue- flies and wasps.
His dog walked along with him. "There will be much water in this stream," he said. "This will be a small creek and the fish will run in it. The fish will be good. There will be many suckers and trout in this stream."
"There will be brush on this mountain," he said. He made manzanita and white-thorn grow there. "Here will be a valley. Here will be many deer. There will be many grizzlies at this place. Here a mountain will stand. Many rattlesnakes, bull snakes, and water snakes will be in this place. Here will be good land. It shall be a valley."
He placed fir trees, yellow-pines, oaks, and redwoods one at a place along the way. He put down small grizzly bears. "The water will be bad. It will be black here," he said.
"There will be many owls here, the barking-owl, the screech-owl, and the little owl. There shall be many blue jays, grouse, and quails. Here on this mountain will be many wood-rats. Here shall be many varied robins. There shall be many woodcocks, yellow-hammers, and sap- suckers. Here will be many mocking-birds and meadowlarks. Here will be herons and blackbirds. There will be many turtle-doves and pigeons. The kingfishers will catch fish. There will be many buzzards and ravens. There will be many chicken-hawks. There will be many robins. On this high mountain there will be many deer," he said.
"Let there be a valley here," he said. "There will be fir trees, some small and some large. Let the rain fall. Let it snow. Let there be hail. Let the clouds come. When it rains let the streams increase, let the water be high, let it become muddy. When the rain stops let the water become good again," he said.
He came back. "Walk behind me, my dog," he said. "We will look at what has taken place." Trees had grown. Fish were in the streams. The rocks had become large. It was good.
He traveled fast. "Come, walk fast, my dog," he said. The land had become good. The valleys had become broad. All kinds of trees and plants had sprung up. Springs had become and the water was flowing. "Again I will try the water," he said. "You, too, drink." Brush had sprung up. He traveled fast.
"I have made a good earth, my dog," he said. "Walk fast, my dog." Acorns were on the trees. The chestnuts were ripe. The hazelnuts were ripe. The manzanita berries were getting white. All sorts of food had become good. The buckeyes were good. The peppernuts were black. The bunch grass was ripe. The grass-hoppers were growing. The clover was in bloom. The bear-clover was good. The mountains had grown. The rocks had grown. All kinds that are eaten had become good. "We made it good, my dog," he said. Fish for the people to eat had grown in the streams.
"We have come to south now," he said. All the different kinds were matured. They started back, he and his dog. "We will go back," he said. "The mountains have grown up quickly. The land has become flat. The trout have grown. Good water is flowing. Walk fast. All things have become good. We have made them good, my dog. It is warm. The land is good."
The brush had grown. Various things had sprung up. Grizzlies had increased in numbers. Birds had grown. The water had become good. The grass was grown. Many deer for the people to eat walked about. Many kinds of herbs had grown. Some kinds remained small.
Rattlesnakes had multiplied. Water-snakes had become numerous. Turtles had come out of the water and increased in numbers. Various things had grown. The mountains had grown. The valleys had become.
"Come fast. I will drink water. You, too, drink," he told his dog. "Now we are getting back, we are close home, my dog. Look here, the mountains have grown. The stones have grown. Brush has come up. All kinds of animals are walking about. All kinds of things are grown.
"We are about to arrive. We are close home, my dog," he said. "I am about to get back north," he said to himself. "I am about to get back north. I am about to get back north. I am about to get back north," he said to himself.
That is all.
Goddard, University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, v, 184, No. 2
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 11:03:39 GMT -5
Creation Algonquin - Algonquin www.indianlegend.com/algonquin/algonquin_001.htmThe great Earth Mother had two sons, Glooskap and Malsum. Glooskap was good, wise, and creative; Malsum was evil, selfish, and destructive. When their mother died, Glooskap went to work creating plants, animals, and humans from her body. Malsum, in contrast, made poisonous plants and snakes. As Glooskap continued to create wonderful things, Malsum grew tired of his good brother and plotted to kill him. In jest, Malsum bragged that he was invincible, although there was one thing that could kill him: the roots of the fern plant. He badgered Glooskap for days to find the good brother's vulnerability. Finally, as Glooskap could tell no lies, he confided that he could be killed only by an owl feather. Knowing this, Malsum made a dart from an owl feather and killed Glooskap. The power of good is so strong, however; that Glooskap rose from the dead, ready to avenge himself. Alive again, Glooskap also knew that Malsum would continue to plot against him. Glooskap realized that he had no choice but to destroy Malsum in order that good would survive and his creatures would continue to live. So he went to a stream and attracted his evil brother by loudly saying that a certain flowering reed could also kill him. Glooskap then pulled a fern plant out by the roots and flung it at Malsum, who fell to the ground dead. Malsum's spirit went underground and be-came a wicked wolf-spirit that still occasionally torments humans and animals, but fears the light of day.
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 11:04:16 GMT -5
Creation Myth.--Part 1. - Maidu
When this world was filled with water, Earth-Maker floated upon it, kept floating about. Nowhere in the world could he see even a tiny bit of earth. No persons of any kind flew about. He went about in this world, the world itself being invisible, transparent like the sky.
He was troubled. "I wonder how, I wonder where, I wonder in what place, in what country, we shall find a world!" he said. "You are a very strong man, to be thinking of this world," said Coyote. "I am guessing in what direction the world is, then to that distant land let us float!" said Earth-Maker.
In this world they kept floating along, kept floating along, hungry, having nothing to eat. "You will die of hunger," said Coyote. Then he thought. "No, I cannot think of anything," he said. "Well," said Earth-Maker, "the world is large, a great world. If somewhere I find a tiny world, I can fix it up."
Then he sang, "Where, little world, art thou?" It is said he sang, kept singing, sang all the time. "Enough!" he said, and stopped singing. "Well! I don't know many songs (?)," he said. Then Coyote sang again, kept singing, asking, for the world, singing, "Where, O world, art thou."' He sang, kept singing; then "Enough!" he said, "I am tired. You try again."
So Earth-Maker sang. "Where are you, my great mountains, my world mountains?" he said. He sang, and all the time kept saying, "Where are you?" He stopped singing. "Enough!" he said. "You try also." Coyote tried, kept singing. "My foggy mountains, where one goes about," he said. "Well, We shall see nothing at all. I guess there never was a world anywhere," said he. "I think if we find a little world, I can fix it very well," said Earth-Maker.
As they floated along, they saw something like a bird's nest. "Well! That is very small," said Earth-Maker. "It is small. If it were larger, I could fix it. But it is too small," he said. "I wonder how I can stretch it a little!" He kept saying, "What is the best way! How shall I make it larger!" So saying, he prepared it. He extended a rope to the east, to the south he extended a rope, to the west, to the northwest, and to the north he extended ropes.
When all were stretched, he said, "Well, sing, you who were the finder of this earth, this mud! 'In the long, long, ago, Robin-Man made the world, stuck earth together, making this world.' Thus mortal men shall say of you, in myth-telling." Then Robin sang, and his world-making song sounded sweet. After the ropes were all stretched, he kept singing; then, after a time, he ceased.
Then Earth-Maker spoke to Coyote also. "Do you sing too," he said. So he sang, singing, "My world, where one travels by the valley-edge; my world of many foggy mountains; my world where one goes zigzagging hither and thither; range after range," he said, "I sing of the country I shall travel in. In such a world I shall wander," he said.
Then Earth-Maker sang--sang of the world he had made, kept singing, until by and by he ceased. "Now," he said, "it would be well if the world were a little larger. Let us stretch it!"--"Stop!" said Coyote. I speak wisely. This world ought to be painted with something, so that it may look pretty. What do ye two think?"
Then Robin-Man said, "I am one who knows nothing. Ye two are clever men, making this world, talking it over; if ye find anything evil, ye will make it good."--"Very well," said Coyote, "I will paint it with blood. There shall be blood in the world; and people shall be born there, having blood. There shall be birds born who shall have blood. Everything--deer, all kinds of game, all sorts of men without any exception--all things shall have blood that are to be created in this world. And in another place, making it red, there shall be red rocks. It will be as if blood were mixed up with the world, and thus the world will be beautiful," he said. "What do you think about it?"--"Your words are good," he said, "I know nothing." So Robin-Man went off. As he went, he said, "I shall be a person who travels only in this way," and he flew away.
Earth-Maker spoke: "You had better lie down here on your face."--"All right!" said Coyote, and, kneeling down, he lay on his face. Then Earth-Maker stretched the world with his foot. Stretching it once, he extended it towards the east, extended it on that side; then to the south, then to the west, he stretched it; then to the northwest and to the north he stretched it. Having extended it only a little ways, he said, "All right!"
Coyote stood up and looked around. "Well, I think it would be better if this world were just large enough to go around it." By and by Earth-Maker said, "You had better kneel down again, and lie flat on your belly. Do not look up. You must not!"--"Very well," said Coyote, "I will not look up." He lay down; and Earth-Maker, stretching the earth with his foot eastward, stretched it as far as it would go. He extended it fully toward the south, toward the west, toward the northwest, toward the north. "All right!" said he.
Coyote stood up, and, having risen, started to walk hither eastward. Earth-Maker, when he was left alone, stood for a time, then, departing, he went toward the south. In the direction of the sunset he went far around, going over to the northwest, going around to the north, going all the way around to the east. And having gone around, having returned to the spot where he had first turned off, he prepared things.
He made two white men; then he made others, white, but a little different. As he made them, he counted them. He kept on making them--made one black, then another almost black. Two of each only he made. Then he counted all the countries, and, as he counted, assigned them, gave them to the countries. "You are a country having this name, you shall have this people," he said. "This sort of people, naming you, shall own the country. These people shall grow, shall keep on growing through many winters, through many dawns. They shall continue to grow until, their appointed winters being past, their dawns being over, this people having finished growing, shall be born," he said. "Very many winters will have passed before they shall be born. And they shall have children, girls and boys; and these children, growing up, shall have children in their turn," he said. When several winters have passed, there will be very many people."
Then again, to another sort of people, he gave another country, saying, "This people, I leave you in this country, and ye shall be the owners of this land. Ye shall be a people with a name." And they also were a different sort of people, a people with a name; and their country also was named, it is said. "Your country also shall have a name," he said. "Ye too shall have a name, and your children shall fill the land, and every single child shall have a name," he said. "There, growing steadily, many winters, many days, shall pass before ye are fully grown. Then ye shall possess this country," he said.
Thereafter he spoke to another, again he gave a different kind of country to a different kind of people. He said, "Ye shall be a different-speaking and a different-looking people. Ye also shall possess a country," he said.
"Your children, if they weary of this land, going from this country to one with another name, to a country that is good to live in, shall remain there. There every country shall be full of people, who will continue to be born," he said. And then he divided the world among many. To one he gave one sort, to another he gave another. Ye shall all have different names," he said. Finally he finished giving, he distributed all.
Then after a while, continuing on his way, he came hither, kept travelling; and after arriving in the middle of the world, he made other people. "Ye shall be mortal men like this," he said; and, having made two, he left them. "Ye here, growing steadily, when so many winters shall have passed, very many winters, many days, ye shall be fully grown," he said. "Then ye shall be mortal men, ye shall be born full-grown. This country shall have a name. Beyond these mountains there shall be another country, which also shall have a name. Ye shall not be born soon," he said. Then he named everything, and, having left the people here in the middle of the world, he went away.
Continuing on his way, he went to all countries that were of the proper sort; and when he had gone as far as mortal men were to live, he stopped. Then there again he created two--two more, it is said, he laid down, and again two more. He kept counting them; and when he had counted them all, he spoke. "Ye shall remain here," he said, "and your country shall have a name. Although living in a small country, in one that is not large, it shall be sufficient for you. This I leave; and growing continually, so many winters passing, very many winters passing, many days passing, ye shall be fully grown. And then ye, being fully grown, shall be born," he said. "Then your food will grow,--different sorts of food, all kinds of food; and ye, being born with sufficient intelligence, will survive," he said. Then he pushed them down under a gopher-hill.
He spoke again. "Ye, too, shall possess a small country. 'Come, now! leave this country!' (this ye must not say to others, wishing to take their land.) Ye shall be people who will not drive others away, driving them off to another country. Ye shall be different, ye shall name your country. Ye also shall be a differently named people. There, growing continually, many days being passed, many winters having passed, ye shall be born, when your birthday has passed," he said. "Living there and having children, when other winters are passed, they will become a little larger, and will keep on thus, growing all the time, until, when enough winters shall have passed, always becoming more numerous, ye shall have enough people. Your children, all without exception, shall have names. This country also, in the same way is named; all countries shall have names, just as yourselves. If ye are going to look at the country over there, then, when ye go, (ye shall say) 'I am going to that place,' naming it; then all people will understand where ye are going," he said.
Then, counting the people on this side (in this direction), he left them; and, speaking to those on this side, he said, "Ye also shall be mortal men. So many winters passing over, (?) ye shall be born. All the time growing, each winter ye shall grow a little, a very little. Again, when the winter is over, continually growing, when many winters are passed, ye will have finished growing; then ye shall be born, full-grown. There ye also shall have a country, and your country shall be one bearing a name, and ye too shall be named," he said. "Ye shall have children; and when your children have grown larger, then, looking all over this country, ye must tell them about it, teach them about it, naming the country and places, showing them and naming them to your children. 'That is such and such a place, and that is such and such a mountain.' So, when ye have caused them to learn this, teaching them, they shall understand even as ye do yourselves." Then, placing them between his thumb and finger, he snapped them away.
And when he had given countries thus to all that he had counted out, there was one pair left. "Ye also, ye shall be a, people speaking differently. There will be a little too many of you for you to have the same sort of a country also. So ye shall have that kind of a country, a great country," he said. "Now, wherever I have passed along, there shall never be a lack of anything," he said, and made motions in all directions. "The country where I have been shall be one where nothing is ever lacking. I have finished talking to you, and I say to you that ye shall remain where ye are to be born. Ye are the last people; and while, ye are to remain where ye are created, I shall return, and stay there. When this world becomes bad, I will make it over again; and after I make it, ye shall be born," he said. Long ago Coyote suspected this, they say.
"This world will shake," he said. "This world is spread out flat, the world is not stable. After this world is all made, by and by, after a long time, I will pull this rope a little, then the world shall be firm. I, pulling on my rope, shall make it shake. And now," he said, "there shall be songs, they shall not be lacking, ye shall have them." And he sang, and kept on singing until he ceased singing. "Ye mortal men shall have this song," he said, and then he sang another; and singing many different songs, he walked along, kept walking until he reached the middle of the world; and there, sitting down over across from it, he remained.
But, in making the world, Robin-Man sang that which was pleasant to hear. He, they say, was the first created person,--a man whose song passed across the valleys, a man who found the world, a man who in the olden time sang very beautifully-sounding songs. And Earth-Maker, going along, and having passed by the middle of the world, made a house for himself, and remained there. That is as far as he went. That is all, they say.
Maidu Texts, by Roland B. Dixon; Publications of the American Ethnological Society, Volume IV; Late E. J. Brill Publishers and Printers, Leyden, [1912] and is now in the public domain.
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 11:04:33 GMT -5
Creation of Man - Miwok
After Coyote had completed making the world, he began to think about creating man. He called a council of all the animals. The animals sat in a circle, just as the Indians do, with Lion at the head, in an open space in the forest.
On Lion's right was Grizzly Bear; next Cinnamon Bear; and so on to Mouse, who sat at Lion's left.
Lion spoke first. Lion said he wished man to have a terrible voice, like himself, so that he could frighten all animals. He wanted man also to be well covered with hair, with fangs in his claws, and very strong teeth.
Grizzly Bear laughed. He said it was ridiculous for any one to have such a voice as Lion, because when he roared he frightened away the very prey for which he was searching. But he said man should have very great strength; that he should move silently, but very swiftly; and he should be able to seize his prey without noise.
Buck said man would look foolish without antlers. And a terrible voice was absurd, but man should have ears like a spider's web, and eyes like fire.
Mountain Sheep said the branching antlers would bother man if he got caught in a thicket. If man had horns rolled up, so that they were like a stone on each side of his head, it would give his head weight enough to butt very hard.
When it came Coyote's turn, he said the other animals were foolish because they each wanted man to be just like themselves. Coyote was sure he could make a man who would look better than Coyote himself, or any other animal. Of course he would have to have four legs, with five fingers. Man should have a strong voice, but he need not roar all the time with it.
And he should have feet nearly like Grizzly Bear's, because he could then stand erect when he needed to. Grizzly Bear had no tail, and man should not have any. The eyes and ears of Buck were good, and perhaps man should have those.
Then there was Fish, which had no hair, and hair was a burden much of the year. So Coyote thought man should not wear fur. And his claws should be as long as the Eagle's, so that he could hold things in them. But no animal was as cunning and crafty as Coyote, so man should have the wit of Coyote.
Then Beaver talked. Beaver said man would have to have a tail, but it should be broad and flat, so he could haul mud and sand on it. Not a furry tail, because they were troublesome on account of fleas.
Owl said man would be useless without wings.
But Mole said wings would be folly. Man would be sure to bump against the sky. Besides, if he had wings and eyes both, he would get his eyes burned out by flying too near the sun. But without eyes, he could burrow in the soft, cool earth where he could be happy.
Mouse said man needed eyes so he could see what he was eating. And nobody wanted to burrow in the damp earth. So the council broke up in a quarrel.
Then every animal set to work to make a man according to his own ideas. Each one took a lump of earth and modeled it just like himself. All but Coyote, for Coyote began to make the kind of man he had talked of in the council.
It was late when the animals stopped work and fell asleep. All but Coyote, for Coyote was the cunningest of all the animals, and he stayed awake until he had finished his model. He worked hard all night. When the other animals were fast asleep he threw water on the lumps of earth, and so spoiled the models of the other animals. But in the morning he finished his own, and gave it life long before the others could finish theirs. Thus man was made by Coyote.
Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest Compiled and Edited by Katharine Berry Judson, 1912
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 11:10:22 GMT -5
Creation Myth.--Part II. - Maidu
Over there, just across from where the sun goes down, long ago, in the olden time, a supernatural being went along. "From this place let us gamble for the world!" said he. "In this world I am Coyote, and, going about this world, I shall spoil it," he said. Then, "Well, well!" said the other, "if you talk that way, you will cease to be in this world." And when he had spoken thus to him, Coyote went on, and, going on, went away.
Meanwhile people declared a feast. The chief addressed them, he kept haranguing his people, he talked. One chief made knotted strings. He made strings, in that olden time, for as many countries, as many dwelling-places of men, as there were; he made knotted strings, that these might be given to them. He counted the dwelling-places of men; and, counting his strings, he made them.
By and by he finished his work. Then said he, "It is well.--Do you go to that Country. Go to the west.--Do you go to the northwest, go to the places where men live. Do you go through to the north, go to the dwelling-places of men.--Do you go to the east.--Do you go to the south, where the sun turns to go down, where it goes straight over.--Do ye all go, not missing any of men's abiding-places," said he. So the chief said. 'Let them (come to) see me. I will talk with them," said Earth-Maker.
Then they went away, and, going, after a time they returned. After a few days were past, from all countries people came to that place. They kept coming, kept coming until they all arrived. And when they had all come, the chief addressed them.
"Well," said he, "I spoke for a good world. 'Let the world be good!' I said to him (Coyote). Then he said, 'No! Why should these mortal animals come to life?' he said to me. 'Mortal animals, when they die, shall be dead,' he told me. 'Why, when one is dead, should he again walk about? You shall not fix it that way,' he said to me," said Earth-Maker.
"'I was the oldest in the olden time, and if a person died, he must be dead,' he said. 'Everywhere, when ye die, ye shall not awake, or rise up or stand about. This has been made a mortal world,' he said. 'If a person has died, then that same person shall not be living or going about, whoever he may be.' So he told me," said Earth-Maker.
"Then he said to me, 'Travelling throughout the world, I shall examine it.' Then I grew angry," said Earth-Maker. "My people, ye must seek all around this world, to the very edge where the water flows about it. In every country ye must kill Coyote. He is very evil, he is bad. He would not believe me in anything."
"'It was your (wish that) people should not die. You make me, a chief, angry. You alone (wish) to fix up this world, to make it good. You shall never have a country,' he said to me. '"He overcame the great chief," so they will be saying of me everywhere, wherever the world extends; they shall not laugh at me,' he said to me.
"That Coyote-Main conquered himself(?). 'I am indeed a chief, and they shall not laugh at me for seeming to know nothing,' said he to me. Then he went off angry," said Earth-Maker. "I spoke well. 'Mortal men shall not be destroyed,' I told him," said Earth-Maker. "'From whatever cause they die, if they are laid at length in the water, in the morning they shall awake.' Thus I spake. When I had spoken, he shook his head. 'It is not going to be that way. You speak evil. How can it be, that, after one is dead, he shall go about again in the morning?' he said to me."
(Continuing,) "Ye had better tell that to your people," said Earth-Maker. "Ye who go from hence, you had better tell your people.--You are chief of these western people.--You who come here from the north had better tell your people.--You who come from the east, had better tell your people,--In all countries ye ought to stand about (and watch)," said Earth-Maker. Then they replied, "Yes."--"In killing Coyote, after having killed him, ye must listen," said Earth-Maker; "and if four days are past and there is no howling, let it be said that ye have killed him utterly.
"And at the same time ye must hunt out every place where Coyote has urinated or defecated. Wherever he has scratched up the earth, those places ye must not miss. Ye must hunt all over the country." Then they answered, "Yes."
Meanwhile Coyote, when his dispute (with Earth-Maker) had come to an end, started and went away. He went towards the west. He urinated against the bushes, he scratched up the earth, he went into the thick brush on river-bars, he scratched there, he urinated upon them. Even in the rivers, where bunches of grass grew, he jumped upon these bunches of grass, and there he urinated; then, having jumped out again, he went away.
Upon every kind of a thing he urinated, he scratched. Going everywhere, he went through the country of the northern people, urinating on every kind of bush, scratching everywhere. Going about everywhere, he came across over toward the east. At last he came to the middle of the world; and, coming to the middle of the world, he came as far as where people did not run after him(?).
Meanwhile, far over there, the people finished talking, and at last they dispersed. Five chiefs went with their people. In this country, in all countries, they spread out widely. Then they searched for the places where Coyote had urinated, where he had defecated, where he had scratched, going to all countries all over the world.
Hunting about continually, they destroyed them. Hunting over all countries, they destroyed Coyote's droppings, not missing any, seeing them all, fixing up (the country) well, not leaving anything. They brought every single one together. They found every one, and brought them all together.
Then that crowd of people, all of them, having gathered them into one place, went on. Leading Coyote along, they led him to the edge of the water. Then leading him along, close by the centre, having made an islet, they made the Coyote sit upon it. "Here you shall die," they said. "In all speech you are the cleverest; so here, starving, you shall die."
Thereupon Coyote answered, "Yes. Ye chiefs are bringing about my death. Ye alone wish to be chiefs. As for me, they shall only laugh at me from all parts of the world; but of you, they will say to all countries, that ye are the ones who shall say evil and are the most clever." So said Coyote, and then remained silent.
Meanwhile the others returned, kept returning, kept coming back, came across (to their starting-point). Finally Earth-Maker said, "Listen! In all countries ye must listen. When four days are past, if ye do not hear anything, he will be wholly dead." So they went off. (After) one night, in the morning, while they listened, there was no noise. Again the next morning they listened, and there was no noise.
Meanwhile Coyote still remained (on the islet). And after he had spoken, he defecated. A gopher-head popped out. "What shall I do?" said Coyote. "Speak favorably to me."--"(?) (?) (?), you will die (?)," it said. "Ah! You always talk that way to me," said Coyote. Then, after having strained again, a bunch of grass popped out. "What shall I do?" said Coyote. "How can I save my life? Speak favorably to me."
"Why don't you make yourself like fog, and just at dawn, as the fog rises, while it floats up, mix with it and drift along, and thus you shall get across (to land)? Then you must cry out, and from where you urinated in the middle of a river-bar, where you scratched, where you urinated on the grass-bunch, it will answer you."
"Then Coyote said, "He is one who (acts) that way toward me; he talks very well to me! Ts-ts-ts!" said he. Then he put it back in the same place, and the gopher-head he put in as a plug. It was just about dawn; and as the light was appearing, the mist lifted. Meanwhile he, as one with the fog, rose, kept rising, until just before sun-up he floated across (to the shore).
Thereupon, standing up by the shore, he howled. And from afar they replied. Again from another place they replied; his urine indeed, his scratching-place, his excrements, they answered. Then the people said, "We killed, (but) did not kill all. It was determined that he should not cry out for four days. And yet three days being past, he cried out."
So they spoke to one another, and said, "He is not dead. He is crying out." (Then Earth-Maker) said, "Ye must go after him again. In all lands ye must come together. Ye must not lose him. Try for the last time (?)." Then they went after him (Coyote). They went in every land. All the time they kept travelling about, and by and by they gathered (his droppings) together. Every place where he had urinated, where he had defecated, every sort of thing that he had done, they brought together.
When that had been done, they went off. They made a great tree grow, and therein they made him (Coyote) stay, in the centre of the tree, which they made to enclose him on all sides. And Coyote remained (in it) standing; and, having stood, it grew to enclose him on all sides. Then they spoke to him, saying, "Now, that shall be the end (of you). This shall put an end to (your) conquering us. Again (you) shall not trouble (us). (If) for four mornings he does not cry out, cannot make you hear, then in the evening, 'He is dead,' thus ye will say to one another." Then they went off, and in every land they listened.
Meanwhile the Piliated-Woodpecker came there flying. He tapped upon that tree, kept tapping, kept tapping, and, when it came night, went away. Again, when it was dawn, he came flying, kept tapping, and, when it grew dark, went away, flew off. Again, when it grew light, he came flying, tapped away, kept tapping until he made a hole through. Coyote saw something moving through the hole, and said, "Well my cousin, make the hole a little bigger." Thereupon, having stamped upon the hollow tree, he flew off. He did not fly back again.
"I did very wrong," said Coyote. "I did (what was) not at all good. Why didn't I watch without saying anything?" Then he grunted, kept grunting until that gopher-head came out. "What shall I do?" said Coyote. "Speak truly to me, do not lie." Then it spoke: "There is nothing for you (to do), after, having staid here forever, (but) to die."--"You have never even once spoken well," said Coyote, "you always say this."
Then another one came out. "What shall I do?" said Coyote. "Surely, speak well to me."--"Yes," it said, "there is nothing for you (to do) but to make yourself like fog, keep passing out (through the hole) until you shall have passed wholly out. Only by doing thus can you save your life."
"Very well," said Coyote. "You are always one who speaks well to me." And thereupon he passed out through the hole, kept passing out, until he had passed completely through. And when it was almost wholly daylight, on the last morning, he howled; as it was dawning, just as it was getting white, he cried out.
Again they answered, from all lands they cried out. They say it was thus at that time. When Coyote was struck (?), it seemed as if there were many in the olden time, (for) the places where he had urinated, where he had scratched, where he had rolled, where he had defecated, answered, they say. The whole lot, they say, at the time when (he was) struck (?) howling, seemed like many.
Then again Earth-Maker spoke. "Do ye cause the chiefs from all over the world to come to see me," said he. And his people went (to call them). And going about, they told them in all countries as they travelled, they told it throughout. They returned; and after they arrived, while they (the messengers) remained there, they (the chiefs) came, one after another. They kept coming, kept coming until (in numbers) they were like the trees upon the mountains.
When the morning came, Earth-Maker spoke. "Wake up! Every one of you wake up, arise! Listen ye (to what) I say!" said he. "There shall be rain in this world. There shall be snow, and then it shall snow (again). Over all the world the water shall be made to rise. My people, ye shall make a canoe. Ye must believe what ye hear from me. It shall not fail."
"I am speaking truly, there shall be rain in the world. When the water rises over each one of these mountains, Coyote will be destroyed. Meanwhile ye, and ye only, my people, shall be alive." Then they answered, "Yes." They worked upon the canoe, they prepared it. Meanwhile Coyote being disguised, not looking at all like Coyote, played with all these people. They did not recognize him.
They continued working (on the canoe), and one winter passed. They worked upon the canoe, which was (not yet) [un]burnt (out). His (Earth-Maker's) people worked, and after almost another winter it was nearly burnt out. Then it snowed in the world. They worked upon (the canoe), kept working, and it rained. Working for two winters, they completed the work.
"Ye must look out," said Earth-Maker. And then they replied, "Yes."--"Coyote might come. Ye must look out," said he. Then (one) said, "All right! I will watch closely." And it was Coyote, they say, (who thus spoke.) Meanwhile the others did not recognize him. "I can recognize Coyote," said he. "If he comes, I will tell you." It was indeed Coyote (who spoke), they say. Then Earth-Maker said, "Very well."
It rained in the world. Water came in, it filled the houses. The people rose (with the water) in the canoe. "How is it? Are ye the only ones here? Coyote is not here, is he?" said Earth-Maker. Then they answered, "Yes, only we ourselves are here."
They rose. And meanwhile it rained in the world Each one of all the mountains was covered by the water, the world was flooded. And they kept drifting about until they saw land. So there they got out, upon Canoe-Mountain (Kedie Peak). And when they had gotten out, Coyote said, "Ah! I saw the ground first." Then that great man (Earth-Maker), after looking at him repeatedly as he went by, remained looking about and looking down, saying nothing. (For) there was that Coyote, who had gotten in (to the canoe), and all the people had failed to recognize him.
"You are very powerful. I (shall) hunt you no more. (Although) for a long time I have been trying to kill you, I have been unable to kill you. You have overcome me," said Earth-Maker. Meanwhile the one who had jumped out (Coyote) came trotting along this way along the ridge. "Go wherever you wish," said the Earth-Maker to his people; and starting off, he went on, and remained across from (that place, toward the south) (?) (?).
Meanwhile that man (Coyote) was continually going farther away. Crossing over towards the east, he continued on; turning around hither, he kept coming this way toward the south. So he came hither. Coming on, he reached that man who had been angry with him.
Now he (Earth-Maker) was living with a wife. "Well, my brother, will it not make trouble for you to be married and be living with a woman? Why should women love and marry you, who do not indeed resemble a man, who are an ugly man? I, who am a good-looking man, am without a wife," said Coyote. So he staid there.
"If you can find a woman anywhere, give her to me," said Coyote. "I myself could hardly endure it(?). They played with me while I slept, (but) I did not move while sleeping with the women for the first time," said Earth-Maker. "By so (doing) you will awake in the morning possessing a wife. The next night you may play with them, may bother them," said he.
"I will not move," said Coyote. So, in the middle of the night, having stepped across (to where Coyote lay), Earth-Maker laid down two flutes, one on each side of him. When it was nearly dawn, Coyote snickered, "Hn, hn!" When they bothered him, he played with them, and in the morning the two women were gone. Then Coyote said, "I am Coyote! Indeed, I am not good for anything, I (am) a very bad man. Why didn't I believe what I was told! If I had believed, I should have been very well off(?), Now I am without a wife. I will not do so again. I shall always believe (what I am told)."
So they remained there, living there, and eating all kinds of deer and ducks, killing and eating that sort of food. Earth-Maker was going to hunt, and, having prepared his bow, he went. Meanwhile Coyote staid (with him). And the great man (Earth-Maker) did not know him, did not recognize Coyote. "This Coyote," he thought, "does not look like Coyote. He has come from some country, and is going about searching for a country," he thought. So he did not think much about it, and they two lived there (together).
They lived there, catching salmon in a net. People were living all about. A man arrived at that place, and having roasted some fish, some salmon, they gave it to him. He ate, and after having eaten, by and by he stood up, and went on. Now, he left some, dropped some while he was eating. "See! He ate, wasting (his) fish," said Coyote; and, gathering it up, he ate it.
"Oh, my!" said he, "it is indeed very good, it is sweet."--"You taste it!" He handed over some to a person, gave some to another. "How is it?" said he. "It is very good and sweet," said they. "That was Salt-Man," said Coyote. "Let us run after him and kill him!" So they ran after him. They ran, they followed his tracks. (Although) he had but just gone by, they could not see him. They followed on.
"Do the best you can," said Coyote. "Do the best you can, run after him." So they ran after him. "He may beat us. Go for him! (?) Run after him, you people! Do the best you can, chase him!" said Coyote. Getting up on top of the mountains, they looked off; (but) he was not there, they did not see him. "Do the best you can," said Coyote. "He may get the better of us. Do the best you can, chase him, you people!"
Running down, they got up on the top of (another) mountain; and when they had looked about, they descended not far from the valley. This (one they were following) was going along, reaching up high above the trees. Then Coyote said, "Yes! Do the best you can, run after him! He is beating us. Just now he went over this point of land, (that is) how far behind he has left us." Coyote was beating them all, it is said. "Do the best you can!" They ran after him.
They ran down to the edge of the valley. Meanwhile he (whom they were chasing) had long before gone on far ahead. "Do the best you can," said Coyote, "he may beat us. Do the best you can." (The fugitive) went on, being now as far off as the middle of the valley. "Now (let us see) if he beats us!" said Coyote. Then he shot, having raised his bow high, sending (the arrow) very fast; and, shooting low, he shot him in the calf of the leg.
When he was shot, he (the fugitive) still went on, fell, and broke all to pieces. And so Coyote killed Salt-Man. And the others, going on, reached the place. Then Coyote spoke, saying, "In the olden time Coyote killed Salt-Old-Man, beating (outrunning) his people. That is what mortal men are saying. To that place mortal men shall come from everywhere to get salt, coming hither to the south for salt. They shall come hither, and this shall be mortal men's salt."
So he spoke, and then they returned--kept travelling to the same country (from which they had started), kept travelling upon the trail they had come out on, until they arrived. Then they ceased to catch fish, and, separating went back (to their homes).
Then the chief (Earth-Maker) spoke. "All these many animals, these different kinds of people, are bad," said he. "They are bad (because) they kill many. I shall go away thither." Meanwhile Coyote remained there silent. "If these animal people were all gone, there would be others in this world. It is not good that these animal people should kill so many (of each other). They shall stop it," said he. Meanwhile Coyote said nothing. One child, they say, he had, a big boy. The boy was never allowed to go out (of the house); he was made to stay (within), it is said. (He was) very good.
(Earth-Maker) said, "There shall live mortal men, people with names. There shall be mortal men. Those people, if they wish to marry, shall marry; but they cannot (do) anything to the women when they shall marry." Then Coyote spoke, answering after a while. "That is a bad way for you to speak. Why does not the chief grant to men that they may amuse (themselves) with women, laughing and feeling happy? If mortal people are married together, then, cohabiting, if they lie upon (each other) for a little while, they shall feel very happy; and having ceased, they shall laugh heartily, and talk to each other. But if, without playing with each other, they sleep, it will seem as if they were angry at each other, and it will be bad. It is not going to be that way," said he.
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 11:10:49 GMT -5
Creation Myth.--Part III. - Maidu
Meanwhile the chief (Earth-Maker) listened in silence. When (the other) had finished talking, he (Earth-Maker) spoke again. "Mortal men, when they shall have children, when they wish to have children, wish to have boys, after naming it, they shall lay down (something) between them. 'You shall be a girl-child,' or, 'you shall be a boy,' (they must say). And having named what they desire, and laid it down, in the morning (the child) shall arise, not (being) too small, and having sufficient intelligence. So the women will not feel badly, and shall go about having children," said he.
Meanwhile Coyote listened in silence. When the other had finished speaking, he spoke again. "The women (of) mortal men shall have children, groaning, crying, grunting; and after doing so for a time, they shall fail to have a child (?). And, on the other hand, some shall die, and some shall live."
Then the great man-ling spoke again. "Virgins shall come together with men only after they are married; and single men, only after married, shall sleep with a woman," said the great man. Then Coyote spoke out. "Women without husbands, and virgins, shall have children. If she has stepped across Coyote's urine, a virgin shall have children. So (among) mortal men, the young men, looking at the women, (will) laugh and talk, the young fellows (will do so) when they gather together. Women without husbands will go about cohabiting on the trails, and having children. When such a woman carries about (her) child, then the young folks (will be) smiling and talking, and shall feel very happy," said Coyote.
The great man spoke again. "Mortal men, when they die, if, when they are dead, they are laid at length in the river, then, when they have lain there, they shall be alive again." Then he remained (silent). And Coyote again spoke to him. "When they die, they shall be dead. They shall be buried under the ground. When they are indeed dead, they shall not go about again next day. Dying, they shall be dead," said he. "And being widowed, they shall be widows. They shall weep. They shall go about with pitch upon their head, and they shall do the same with their face also. Smearing their faces with pitch, they shall make a noise, weeping. And then she indeed shall forget (her loss), and, marrying another man, shall feel happy, shall feel very happy."
"Husbands shall do the same," said he. "One man (may be) made a widower three times or twice, and taking another wife, shall, having many wives, feel very happy. A woman also, being widowed many times, may yet take another husband, and shall be happy. If (one is) a chief, he should say what is good. If you are a chief, you do not speak [decree] mortal men's happiness and laughter. But I, I speak (for) mortal men's laughing and feeling happy and admiring themselves (?). Women also."
"An old man indeed, when he loves a new woman, shall feel as if he were a young fellow; and women also shall feel the same way. I am a chief. I speak very well," said Coyote. Then the chief (Earth-Maker) remained silent. "Since every time you have overcome me, without my decreeing it it shall be a mortal world," he said. That great man, thinking, thought thus. Then he gathered up his things and went off. On the water-trail he laid down two scouring rushes, one on either side. And then he came hitherwards.
When he had come but a little ways, (Coyote) said to that good boy, his boy whom he had never sent outside, "Bring some water." And he went to fetch water. And as he went down (to the stream), those rushes, in the likeness of rattle-snakes, bit that child, and killed him.
Then Coyote cried out, "Let me never say such things again! Come back!" he said (to Earth-Maker). "Let it be a deathless world! You must make the child alive again for me. Come back!" said he. "Truly let me never say such things again. Every time I will believe [agree with] you and what you say." He ran after him, but he (Earth-Maker), paying no attention, came on from thence, hitherward. Coyote ran after him, but, being unable to catch up with him, he let him go. Meanwhile Earth-Maker came on. "I was bad," said Coyote. "When I beat him so many times, he did this to me, killing the child." Finally he gave up. "Oh! As I cannot catch up with him, I shall not follow," he said.
Meanwhile the Earth-Maker came on hitherward, kept travelling; and there at Tsut'tsuye [Soda Springs] he crossed over (the river), and went along on the side-hill. Now, on this side (of the river) there was a house, the Urine-Women's house; and from thence, it is said, they killed people. Every time a person went along, those women killed him as he went from thence. They saw Earth-Maker from there, and urinated across. He came across safely, sticking his flint-flaker into the ground (to hold on by), kept coming across all the time, got out (of the dangerous place).
He dame on, came on to where Mink and his younger brothers lived, and arrived there. He camped. Then (in the morning) the two young ones spoke. You ought to fix a trap for us. We have set traps, but something always breaks the trap. You had better fix a trap for us." So, having gone down, he fixed a trap; and when it was all fixed, he returned, and said, "Do not speak of what ye see. Saying nothing, ye must run after them (the Urine-Women). Taking some of that grease, you must carry it with you; and, having carried it there, while they are sweating, having thrown it in from (where ye stand) at the smoke-hole, then ye must run back. Smelling that grease, they will die." And they (the Mink) answered, "All right!" Then Earth-Maker went off.
Meanwhile they watched. In the morning, when the sun had risen but a little ways, a large bird (buzzard?) circled about. Then the youngest spoke. "The bird is circling about, (something) has been caught in our trap." So they ran to it rushed down, kept running until they reached it. It (the trap) was about to hurl (what had been caught) to the Above-Valley; and, just as it had it halfway, they arrived.
Having run thither, they cut it in two. They saved only the tail end (of the snake); the head-end was thrown up (to the sky). Milk, dripping down, dripped upon the two as they looked up, dripped upon their mouth. And where the milk had dropped upon their chins and breasts, it is said that where the milk had dropped, (it became white).
After this, when it was growing dark, they carried (some of the grease from the snake), took it with them to the Urine-Women's house, and reached there with it. And at night they saw the women sweating, dancing. And they threw the fat into (the house) from the smoke-hole, and then they ran away. And then the house, catching fire, burned down to the ground. Then they, travelling continually, returned to their house and staid there.
Meanwhile Earth-Maker kept travelling, and came to Nakankoyo [Big-Meadows], to the place (where) Crow and his younger brothers lived. There he camped. Then they (said,) "My older brother, you ought to sharpen our knives for us. It is bad for us (to have them) dull." So he sharpened them [their beaks] for them. And then, having staid there camping (another night), he went on.
He kept on travelling. The dog, the porcupine-dog of the two Canoe-Striking Boys, lay on top of a rock. He was a dog that never failed to see anything, it is said. Yet, indeed, he did not see (Earth-Maker). Having dodged by lying flat on the ground, Earth-Maker, having come on under ground, reached up, seized him, killed him, stuck him under his belt, and went on, dodging down flat on the ground.
Meanwhile the two boys remained talking together. They looked at their knife with which they cut off people's heads. They were saying, "This sort of thing I myself used, going about cutting off mortal men's necks," as they talked together by themselves. Meanwhile that great man [Earth-Maker] walked down (to the river). And when he had walked down, he stood on the river-bank. Then they saw him.
And they were just about to hide (the knife), but could not hide it (in time). Earth-Maker saw the two. Bring the canoe for me, ye two," said he. Then they came out toward him, and, coming pretty near, they couldn't (go farther). "From this short distance (you can) jump in," said they. So having walked down to the edge of the river, and stood there, he jumped in (the canoe). As he jumped, just as he was about to jump, they moved the canoe a little toward him, so that by slipping he might fall, it is said. Always, they say, they did that way, so that, slipping, (a person) would fall. Then, it is said, striking him with their knives, they would cut through his neck.
They crouched to spring (at him). But having jumped, he said, "Let me look at your knives. Which of you has the best knife?" Then, after having stood for a time, (one of them) took out (his knife) and gave it to Earth-Maker. When he handed it to him, he (Earth-Maker) took it. Finally he said, "Yes! Ye two have very good knives. I am going away. Ye are acquainted with this country. Ye know each of these mountains. On this mountain formerly (people), getting out of a canoe, left it there, abandoned the canoe. Every one of these mountains the flood formerly covered over, they say," said he. So pointing with that knife to all countries, he spoke, pointing them out.
Finally, striking them on the neck with that knife, he cut them through. He killed both of them. Then, taking them on his back, he took them out (of the canoe). Now, there was an oven there, and there was fire in it. Having laid (the bodies) down there, he pulled off their boy thingyes. Then he put the two bodies into (the oven). He covered them up; and when he had completely covered them up, having made a trap with their boy thingyes bent over, he went off. And having laid them, the two men, in (the oven) and covered them over, he went away.
And as he went, he came to the grandmother of the two men, Ka'miapdam-woman's dwelling-place. Then he threw across to her the porcupine which he had stuck under his belt. "Bake the porcupine and eat it," said he, as he threw it across, to her. Meanwhile she threw it back again. "Bake the porcupine and eat it," said she, as she threw it across. Then, having picked it up again, he threw it across once more. "Bake the porcupine and eat it," said he. Then she, picking it up, threw it across to him. "Bake and eat it," said she.
After that, that man having opened out the fire, placed the porcupine in it, and, having covered it (with ashes), stretched himself out, back to the fire, and went to sleep. He usually slept back to the fire. Really only a false appearance of him--a log, a rotten log--was there. Then that woman, having reached out and lifted her stone pestle across, after she had taken aim, struck him. And thereupon she made the log burst and fly to pieces. "Ham, ham! I was just thinking, you were something else. I made a good guess (?)," said she. The rotten log had resembled him; but he who was lying down back to the fire had long ago gone away. Only a shade, or semblance, had been left there, looking as if he lay back to the fire. It was only a semblance.
By and by, having jumped out (of the house), she ran off. "My grandson, I guess, has long ago eaten me all up (?)," she said. Running to (the oven), just as she was stooping down to take (them) out (of the oven), she was caught in the: trap. So he (Earth-Maker) killed them all.
Meanwhile he, paying no attention, went off. He kept going until he arrived at the place where Grouse-Old-Woman lived. There he camped, and in the morning he went on. Continuing on his way, he came to Grizzly-Bear-Old-Woman's house. Sticking her two children under his belt, he reached there, and threw them over to her. 'Burn the hair off those gray squirrels and eat them,' said he. Then, while she looked down at them, he lay down and turned his back to the fire. And already he had gone off, they say, and only a semblance, looking like a sleeper, was there.
Then she, having taken her digging-stick and brought it across (from the other side of her), struck him. Thereupon she struck a log. "I was right when I thought you were something different," said she. "Ham, ham! (Do) You too (think) you are to live?" Then she ran after him. She swung her skirt around her head, and then the country caught fire. Resembling a great (fire), it looked as if a great (fire) were sweeping all around the country.
Then he (Earth-Maker) asked, "How shall you be?" said he to the water. "I am boiling. I am very hot," (it replied). Then, "How shall you be?" said he to the stone person. "I am red hot, sometimes I burst," it said. "And how shall you be?" he said to the Tree-Man. "I burn violently, I am very hot," it said. "How shall you be?" he said to the Milkweed-Man. "I remain standing behind when the (fire) has passed," it said. So, having crawled into the middle of it, he remained there.
It kept burning, the country burned up; and when the country had cooled off, she (Grizzly-Bear) followed (his) tracks. Following his tracks all about, when she had gone all around, (she found that) he had already gone off on the soft ground (?). "May he be one who shall die!" said she, then went back.
Meanwhile he (Earth-Maker) went on, kept travelling came on hither, and arrived at the summit. "Yes! Sugar-pine, I guess, will be mortal men's food. And then mortal men, climbing up, and throwing down the sugar-pine (cones), shall pick them up!--You shall be a short, low-limbed tree," said he. And then he came on hither.
Meanwhile Coyote-Man came on behind him, angry. And coming to that place, he said, "Well, I wonder why he made that tree grow short!" (?), and he urinated on it. "Weh! There are many sugar-pine cones high up; and so, looking up, they (will be) unable to climb up," said he. And he came on hither.
Earth-Maker, having come hither, sitting down, looked down (on to the valley). "Here it shall be that mortal men shall catch salmon in nets. Stretching out (the net), here they shall throw it in," said he. "And they shall do the same on the other side." And, going along, he came hither.
And as he sat there at Papa'di, he ate his lunch, of papam (a root). When he had eaten, by and by, standing up, he looked down (toward the south). He went on. He kept going, kept travelling until he came down into Honey Lake valley. Then he said, "Well, it is a good country here. Coyote-Man is spoiling the world. While he is making an evil world, I shall make here a country where old people shall arise (young again). There mortal men, old people, (by) bathing there, shall come out new people." Then he made a small mountain. It stood up, going up very steeply. "Here old people will go up, keep going up, will get there almost dead; and then, bathing, they shall be renewed," he said. And he went off. And he, going on from there, went on over toward the east.
Then Coyote came across. And (Coyote) saw that mountain. "I wonder why he said this should be thus!" said he. He looked it all over, he looked up at it. "I'll urinate on it," said he. And from the middle of the valley, looking straight at it, he urinated upon it. And then that mountain fell, and falling, when it had fallen, spilling out the water, he threw the water into the house of the great snake. And so he filled it up everywhere. And that (lake), they say, still remains full, just the same.
"And mortal men (shall say) of me, 'Coyote, by urinating upon the Osk�pem Mountain, caused it to fall, long ago.' Thus they shall laugh and talk together," said Coyote. "'Coyote long ago, by conquering Earth-Maker, who was very strong, made him angry.' So I, Coyote, am strong and smart, they say to each other (when) they are talking together among themselves, (and) they shall laugh," said he. "I am Coyote."
Then, going on by the side of the Mountain, he ran, crying, "Wo-wo-wo-wo! That is what mortal men (shall say) of me," he said. He went off, he went away, not thinking of anything, his work all completed. The end, it is said.
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 11:11:38 GMT -5
Creation Myth Of Newfoundland - Micmac
The Indians say that when Manitou, the Great Spirit, was making the Continent of the New World, he found that he had much material left over in the shape of rocks, swamps, and useless trees. So he formed a big rubbish heap by casting it all into the sea to the north-east, and called it Wee-soc-kadao. Several years after, Cabot discovered and claimed the island for Great Britain, when it was called Newfoundland.
J. G. Millais, Newfoundland and its Untrodden Ways (London: Longmans, Green, 1907), 1.
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Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 12, 2007 11:12:50 GMT -5
Creation of First Man and First Woman - Navajo
The first people came up through three worlds and settled in the fourth world. They had been driven from each successive world because they had quarreled with one another and committed adultery. In previous worlds they no other people like themselves, but in the fourth world they found the Kisani or Pueblo people.
The surface of the fourth world was mixed black and white, and the sky was mostly blue and black. There were no sun, no moon, no stars, but there four great snow-covered peaks on the horizon in each of the cardinal directions.
Late in the autumn they heard in the east the distant sound of a great voice calling. They listened and waited, and soon heard the voice nearer and louder than before. Once more they listened and heard it louder still, very near. A moment later four mysterious beings appeared. These were White Body, god of this world; Blue Body, the sprinkler; Yellow Body; and Black Body, the god of fire. Using signs but without speaking, the gods tried to instruct the people, but they were not understood. When the gods had gone, the people discussed their mysterious visit and tried without success to figure out the signs. The gods appeared on four days in succession and attempted to communicate through signs, but their efforts came to nothing.
On the fourth day when the other gods departed, Black Body remained behind and spoke to the people in their own language: "You do not seem to understand our signs, so I must tell you what they mean. We want to make people who look more like us. You have bodies like ours, but you have the teeth, the feet, and the claws of beasts and insects. The new humans will have hands and feet like ours. Also, you are unclean; you smell bad. We will come back in twelve days. Be clean when we return."
On the morning of the twelfth day the people washed themselves well. Then the women dried their skin with yellow cornmeal, the men with white cornmeal. Soon they heard the distant call, shouted four times, of the approaching gods. When the gods appeared, Blue Body and Black Body each carried a sacred buckskin. White Body carried two ears of corn, one yellow, one white, each completely covered with grains. The gods laid one buckskin on the ground with the head to the west, and on this they placed the two ears of corn with their tips to the east. Over the corn they spread the other buckskin with its head to the east. Under the white ear they put the feather of a white eagle; under the yellow ear the feather of a yellow eagle. Then they told the people to stand back and allow the wind to enter. Between the skins the white wind blew from the east and the yellow wind from the west. While the wind was blowing, eight of the gods, the Mirage People, came and walked around the objects on the ground four times. As they walked, the eagle feathers, whose tips protruded from the buckskins, were seen to move. When the Mirage People had finished their walk, the upper buckskin was lifted. The ears of corn had disappeared; a man and a woman lay in their place.
The white ear of corn had become the man, the yellow ear the woman, First Man and First Woman. It was the wind that gave them life, and it is the wind that comes out of our mouths now that gives us life. When this ceases to blow, we die.
The gods had the people build an enclosure of brushwood, and when it was finished, First Man and First Woman went in. The gods told them, "Live together now as husband and wife. "At the end of four days, First Woman gave birth to hermaphrodite twins. In four more days she gave birth to a boy and a girl, who grew to maturity in four days and lived with one another as husband and wife. In all, First Man and First Woman had five pairs of twins, and all except the first became couples who had children.
In four days after the last twins were born, the gods came again and took First Man and First Woman away to the eastern mountain, dwelling place of the gods. the couple stayed there for four days, and when they returned, all their children were taken to the eastern mountain for four days. The gods may have taught them the awful secrets of witchcraft. Witches always use masks, and after they returned, they would occasionally put on masks and pray for the good things they needed - abundant rain and abundant crops.
Witches also marry people who are too closely related to them, which is what First Man and First Woman's children had done. After they had been to the eastern mountain, however, the brothers and sisters separated. Keeping their first marriages secret, the brothers now married women of the Mirage People and the sisters married men of the Mirage People. But they never told anyone, even their new families, the mysteries they had learned from the gods. Every four days the women bore children, who grew to maturity in four days, then married, and in their turn had children every four days. In this way many children of First Man and First Woman filled the land with people.
Based on a legend reported by Washington Matthews in 1897.
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Post by Okwes on Apr 26, 2007 12:24:14 GMT -5
Creation of the First Indians - Chelan This story is told by the Chelan Indians, who live beside a long lake in the central part of the state of Washington. The lake is called Lake Chelan (pronounced sha- lan), meaning "Beautiful Water". Long, long ago, the Creator, the Great Chief Above, made the world. Then he made the animals and the birds and gave them their names--Coyote, Grizzly Bear, Deer, Fox, Eagle, the four Wolf Brothers, Magpie, Bluejay, Hummingbird, and all the others. When he had finished his work, the Creator called the animal people to him. "I am going to leave you," he said. "But I will come back. When I come again, I will make human beings. They will be in charge of you." The Great Chief returned to his home in the sky, and the animal people scattered to all parts of the world. After twelve moons, the animal people gathered to meet the Creator as he had directed. Some of them had complaints. Bluejay, Meadowlark, and Coyote did not like their names. Each of them asked to be some other creature. "No," said the Creator. "I have given you your names. There is no change. My word is law. "Because you have tried to change my law, I will not make the human being this time. Because you have disobeyed me, you have soiled what I brought with me. I planned to change it into a human being. Instead, I will put it in water to be washed for many moons and many snows, until it is clean again." Then he took something from his right side and put it in the river. It swam, and the Creator named it Beaver. "Now I will give you another law," said the Great Chief Above. "The one of you who keeps strong and good will take Beaver from the water some day and make it into a human being. I will tell you now what to do. Divide Beaver into twelve parts. Take each part to a different place and breathe into it your own breath. Wake it up. It will be a human being with your breath. Give it half of your power and tell it what to do. Today I am giving my power to one of you. He will have it as long as he is good." When the Creator had finished speaking, all the creatures started for their homes--all except Coyote. The Great Chief had a special word for Coyote. "You are to be head of all the creatures, Coyote. You are a power just like me now, and I will help you do your work. Soon the creatures and all the other things I have made will become bad. They will fight and will eat each other. It is your duty to keep them as peaceful as you can. "When you have finished your work, we will meet again, in this land toward the east. If you have been good, if you tell the truth and obey me, you can make the human being from Beaver. If you have done wrong, someone else will make him." Then the Creator went away. It happened as the Creator had foretold. Everywhere the things he had created did wrong. The mountains swallowed the creatures. The winds blew them away. Coyote stopped the mountains, stopped the winds, and rescued the creatures. One winter, after North Wind had killed many people, Coyote made a law for him: "Hereafter you can kill only those who make fun of you." Everywhere Coyote went, he made the world better for the animal people and better for the human beings yet to be created. When he had finished his work, he knew that it was time to meet the Creator again. Coyote thought that he had been good, that he would be the one to make the first human being. But he was mistaken. He thought that he had as much power as the Creator. So he tried, a second time, to change the laws of the Great Chief Above. "Some other creature will make the human being," the Creator told Coyote. "I shall take you out into the ocean and give you a place to stay for all time." So Coyote walked far out across the water to an island. There the Creator stood waiting for him, beside the house he had made. Inside the house on the west side stood a black suit of clothes. On the other side hung a white suit. "Coyote, you are to wear this black suit for six months," said the Creator. "Then the weather will be cold and dreary. Take off the black suit and wear the white suit. Then there will be summer, and everything will grow. "I will give you my power not to grow old. You will live here forever and forever." Coyote stayed there, out in the ocean, and the four Wolf brothers took his place as the head of all the animal people. Youngest Wolf Brother was strong and good and clever. Oldest Wolf Brother was worthless. So the Creator gave Youngest Brother the power to take Beaver from the water. One morning Oldest Wolf Brother said to Youngest Brother, "I want you to kill Beaver. I want his tooth for a knife." "Oh, no!" exclaimed Second and Third Brothers. "Beaver is too strong for Youngest Brother." But Youngest Wolf said to his brothers, "Make four spears. For Oldest Brother, make a spear with four forks. For me, make a spear with one fork. Make a two-forked spear and a three-forked spear for yourselves. I will try my best to get Beaver, so that we can kill him." All the animal persons had seen Beaver and his home. They knew where he lived. They knew what a big creature he was. His family of young beavers lived with him. The animal persons were afraid that Youngest Wolf Brother would fail to capture Beaver and would fail to make the human being. Second and Third Wolf Brothers also were afraid. "I fear we will lose Youngest Brother," they said to each other. But they made the four spears he had asked for. At dusk, the Wolf brothers tore down the dam at the beavers' home, and all the little beavers ran out. About midnight, the larger beavers ran out. They were so many, and they made so much noise, that they sounded like thunder. Then Big Beaver ran out, the one the Creator had put into the water to become clean. "Let's quit!" said Oldest Wolf Brother, for he was afraid. "Let's not try to kill him." "No!" said Youngest Brother. "I will not stop." Oldest Wolf Brother fell down. Third Brother fell down. Second Brother fell down. Lightning flashed. The beavers still sounded like thunder. Youngest Brother took the four-forked spear and tried to strike Big Beaver with it. It broke. He used the three- forked spear. It broke. He used the two-forked spear. It broke. Then he took his own one--forked spear. It did not break. It pierced the skin of Big Beaver and stayed there. Out of the lake, down the creek, and down Big River, Beaver swam, dragging Youngest Brother after it. Youngest Wolf called to his brothers, "You stay here. If I do not return with Beaver in three days, you will know that I am dead." Three days later, all the animal persons gathered on a level place at the foot of the mountain. Soon they saw Youngest Brother coming. He had killed Beaver and was carrying it. "You remember that the Creator told us to cut it into twelve pieces," said Youngest Brother to the animal people. But he could divide it into only eleven pieces. Then he gave directions. "Fox, you are a good runner. Hummingbird and Horsefly, you can fly fast. Take this piece of Beaver flesh over to that place and wake it up. Give it your breath." Youngest Brother gave other pieces to other animal people and told them where to go. They took the liver to Clearwater River, and it became the Nez Perce Indians. They took the heart across the mountains, and it became the Methow Indians. Other parts became the Spokane people, the Lake people, the Flathead people. Each of the eleven pieces became a different tribe. "There have to be twelve tribes," said Youngest Brother. "Maybe the Creator thinks that we should use the blood for the last one. Take the blood across the Shining Mountains and wake it up over there. It will become the Blackfoot. They will always look for blood." When an animal person woke the piece of Beaver flesh and breathed into it, he told the new human being what to do and what to eat. "Here are roots," and the animal people pointed to camas and kouse and to bitterroot, "You will dig them, cook them, and save them to eat in the winter. "Here are the berries that will ripen in the summer. You will eat them and you will dry them for use in winter." The animal people pointed to choke cherry trees, to serviceberry bushes, and to huckleberry bushes. "There are salmon in all the rivers. You will cook them and eat them when they come up the streams. And you will dry them to eat in the winter." When all the tribes had been created, the animal people said to them "Some of you new people should go up Lake Chelan. Go up to the middle of the lake and look at the cliff beside the water. There you will see pictures on the rock. From the pictures you will learn how to make the things you will need." The Creator had painted the pictures there, with red paint. From the beginning until long after the white people came, the Indians went to Lake Chelan and looked at the paintings. They saw pictures of bows and arrows and of salmon traps. From the paintings of the Creator they knew how to make the things they needed for getting their food. Note: The paintings (or pictographs) on the lower rocks have been covered by water since a dam was built at the foot of the lake. Surprisingly high on the rocks that are almost perpendicular walls at the north end of the lake, the paintings remained for a long, long time. Then white people with guns and little respect for the past ruined them--for fun. www.indians.org/welker/firstind.htm
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Post by Okwes on Apr 26, 2007 12:26:02 GMT -5
Creation of the World - Ojibwa
Wenebojo, having outwitted the evil manidog by trickery, at last found himself stranded in the pine tree. He crept higher, begging the tree to stretch as tall as it could. Finally the waters stopped just below Wenebojo's nose. He saw lots of animals swimming around and asked them all, in turn, to dive down and bring up a little earth, so that he and they might live. The loon tried, then the otter and the beaver, but all of them were drowned before they could bring back any earth. Finally, the muskrat went down, but he too passed out as he came to the surface.
"Poor little fellow, " said Wenebojo, "You tried hard." But he saw the muskrat clutching something in his paw: a few grains of sand and a bit of mud. Wenebojo breathed on the muskrat and restored his life, then he took the mud and rolled it in his hands. Soon he had enough for a small island and he called the other animals to climb out of the water. He sent a huge bird to fly around the island and enlarge it. The bird was gone four days [four is a magic number], but Wenebojo said that was not enough and he sent out the eagle to make the land larger. Having created the world, Wenebojo said "Here is where my aunts and uncles and all my relatives can make their home."
Then Wenebojo cut up the body of one of the evil manidog and fed part of it to the woodchuck, who had once saved his life. Into a hollow he put the rest of the food and when some of it turned into oil or fat, and Wenebojo told the animals to help themselves. The woodchuck was told to work only in the summertime; in the winter he could rest in a snug den and sleep, and each spring he would have a new coat. Before that, most of the animals had lived on grass and other plants, but now they could eat meat if they wished. The rabbit came and took a little stick with which he touched himself high on the back. The deer and other animals that eat grass all touched themselves on their flanks. Wenebojo told the deer he could eat moss. The bear drank some of the fat, as did the smaller animals who eat meat. All those who sipped the fat were turned into manidog and are the guardian spirits of every Indian who fasts. Wenebojo then named the plants, herbs, and roots and instructed the Indians in the use of these plants. Wenebojo's grandmother, Nokomis, also has a lodge somewhere in that land.
Reposted with Permission from Neshoba
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Post by Okwes on Apr 26, 2007 12:26:34 GMT -5
Creation of the World - Eskimo / Siberian
The Raven and his wife created the world. They made the cape of U�i�sak out of a nose of an eider-duck (Somatheria spectabilis); the peninsula of Alaska, of a long belt-knife; and the island Ima�lik (one of the Diomedes), of a button of the scabbard (with which it is clasped around the hip). They made reindeer of their hair, and dogs of their nails, and sea-water of their urine.
The Eskimo of Siberia by Waldemar Bogoras [Leiden & New York, 1913] Told by �?pe�w?i, an Asiatic Eskimo man, in the village of U�i�sak, at Indian Point, May, 1901.
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