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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.
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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, grhtmling 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.
Creator, Sun-God,
Girl-Without-Parents, and Small-Boy 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 pinion tree. Girl-Without-Parents covered the tree
framework with pinion 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.
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