Parallel Myths (10 page)
Authors: J.F. Bierlein
The parents of the gods screamed and groaned as they were pushed apart. But as the space between them enlarged, light and dark were separated. Now there was room for the gods, for tall trees to grow, and for humans and animals to flourish.
Rangi is still saddened to be separated from Papa, and his tears form the dew every morning and sometimes even take the form of rain.
Sioux
NOTE
: The following is taken from
Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Conditions of the North American Indians
, written by George Catlin, early explorer, painter, and writer.
B
efore the creation of man, the Great Spirit (whose tracks are yet to be seen on the stones, at the Red Pipe, in the form of a large bird) used to slay buffaloes and eat them on the ledge of the Red Rocks, on top of the Coteau des Prairies, and their blood running on to the rocks, turned them red. One day when a large snake had crawled into the nest of the bird to eat his eggs, one of the eggs hatched out in a clap of thunder, and the Great Spirit, catching hold of a piece of the pipestone to throw at the snake, moulded [sic] into a man. This man’s feet grew fast in the ground where he stood for many ages, like a great tree, and therefore he grew very old; he was older than a hundred men at the present day; and at last another tree grew up by the side of him, when a large snake ate them both off at the roots, and they wandered off together; from these have sprung all the people that now inhabit the earth.
Pawnee
T
irawa Atius
(atius
means “lord”) is the great eternal God who created all things and supplies the needs of all creatures. He created the Path of the Departing Spirits, known to the White Man as the Milky Way. East of the Path is the Male Principle—the Morning Star, and to the west is the Female Principle—the Evening Star. All that has happened and will happen has been ordained by Tirawa, and the stars are his servants. From the east the Morning Star began to pursue Evening Star in order to make love to her, but she continued
to elude him. She put hindrances in his path, but continued to beckon him all the while. Why? Because it was not yet time to make living things on the earth; and females always tease and flirt with males, as well as demand tests to prove men’s character.
The number ten has always had significance for human beings, and this is because Evening Star placed ten obstacles in the way of her suitor. One of the hindrances was in the chaos beneath them. There was an endless sheet of water presided over by the Great Serpent. The Morning Star threw a ball of fire at the serpent, which caused the serpent to flee beneath the waves. As the fire hit the water, enough of the water dried up to reveal earth and rocks. From these materials, Morning Star threw a pebble into the sea of chaos and it became the earth.
When the earth was in its proper place, Tirawa appointed four lesser gods to administer it. They were East, West, North, and South. They joined hands at the edge of the great sea on earth and a land mass emerged.
Eventually, Morning Star caught up with Evening Star and made love with her. Soon Evening Star conceived a little daughter. When she gave birth to the little girl, she placed the child on a cloud and sent her to earth. High above the earth, Evening Star asked Morning Star to water her celestial garden and, as a love gift, he made the first rain.
In the celestian gardens of Evening Star, there grew a great many plants, including Mother Maize, the greatest of food plants. Evening Star gave maize to her daughter as a gift to plant on the newly emerged earth. Soon the Sun and the Moon produced a son, who married the daughter of Evening Star and Morning Star. Daughter-of-Evening-and-Morning-Star and Son-of-Sun-and-Moon are the parents of all living human beings, as well as the first beings to cultivate maize.
Arikara
T
he Great Sky Spirit, Nesaru, sometimes called the Great Mystery, was the master of all creation. Below the sky was an endless body of water where two ducks eternally swam. Nesaru made two brothers, Wolf-man and Lucky-man, who commanded the ducks to swim to the bottom of the great water and bring up some earth. With this earth, Wolf-man made the Great Plains and Lucky-Man made the hills and mountains.
The two brothers went down beneath the earth and found two spiders. They explained to the spiders how to reproduce. The two spiders produced many kinds of animals and plants, including human beings. However, they also produced a race of evil giants.
These giants were so evil that Nesaru eventually had to destroy them with a great flood. However, Nesaru loved human beings and saved them from destruction.
Chippewa/Algonquin
NOTE
: Versions of this myth can be found throughout the Algonquin linguistic area, which extends from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River, and from North Carolina in the south to the Subarctic.
GLOOSKAP AND MALSUM
T
he 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 became a wicked wolf-spirit that still occasionally torments humans and animals, but fears the light of day.
Iroquois
T
he first humans lived up beyond the sky as there was no earth beneath. One day, a great chiefs daughter became ill and no cure could be found. A wise old man recommended that they dig up the roots of a certain tree in order to cure her. The people all worked together and dug a great hole around the base of the tree. In time, however, both the chiefs daughter and the tree fell through the hole into the world below.
Below there was only a vast sea where two swans continuously swam. When the tree and the girl fell into the water, there was a clap of thunder. The swans heard this and came to see what had happened. They saw that the girl had fallen from the sky and went to save her. As this was all very strange to the swans, they went to the Great Turtle, wisest of all creatures, for advice.
The Great Turtle told them that the tree and the girl were a good
omen. He then commanded all the creatures to find the tree and bring up the magic soil that was attached to its roots. The swans were assigned to take this magic earth and build an island for the girl to live on. All of the animals were involved in the search for the tree, but only an old toad was successful in bringing up any of the soil. She swam to the bottom, returned to spit out a mouthful of the dirt, and then died. The mouthful of earth then turned into a vast land mass.
But the earth was still dark at this time. The girl told the Great Turtle that there was light in the world above. So the Great Turtle instructed the burrowing animals to bore holes in the sky for light to shine through.
The girl is the mother of all living things. There are a number of theories of how she conceived the first humans on earth. One is that she was impregnated when she fell into the sea. Another is that the action of the magic earth with the sea caused her to conceive. In any case, the human race is the result of the union of the land and sea, as well as having origins in the sky above.
