Comparison Myth Assignment ( I have uplode some of the reading myths)

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SELECTED AND EDITED BY

RICHARD ERDOES

AND ALFO NSO ORTIZ

PA NTHEON BOOKS

N E W Y O R K

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All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Pub- lished in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in hardcover by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., in 1984.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title:

American Indian myths and legends. (Pantheon fairy tale & folklore library)

Bibliography: p. Includes index.

1. Indians of North America-Legends. 2. Indians of North America-Religion and mythology. I. Erdoes, Richard. II. Ortiz, Alfonso, 1939- III. Series.

E98.F6A47 1984 389.2'08997 84-42669 ISBN 0-394-74018-1 (Pbk.)

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint or adapt from previously published material. In the case of adaptation, the authors may have retitled the tales.

"Origin of the Gnawing Beaver" and "The Flood," adapted from Ha'ida Myths Illus- trated in Argillite Carvings, edited by Marius Barbeau, Bulletin no. 127, Anthropo- logical Series no. 32 (Ottawa, 1953), pp. 52-56 and 184-185. By permission of the National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada.

"How Coyote Got His Cunning" and "The Coming of Thunder" from California Indian Nights Entertainments by E. W. Gifford. Copyright © 1930 by the Arthur H. Clark Company. By permission of the Arthur H. Clark Company.

"Coyote Fights a Lump of Pitch," "Coyote Gets Rich Off the White Men," "Coyote Steals Sun's Tobacco," and "Turkey Makes the Corn and Coyote Plants It" from "Tales of the White Mountain Apache" by Grenville Goodwin in Memoirs of the American Folklore Society, vol. 33. Copyright© 1939 by the American Folklore Society. By permission of the American Folklore Society.

"Always-Living-at-the-Coast," "Coyote and the Mallard Ducks," and "Coyote Takes Water from the Frog People" from Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter by Barry Holstun Lopez. Copyright© 1977 by Barry Holstun Lopez. By permission of the author and Andrews & McMeel, Inc., Fairway, Kansas.

"Apache Chief Punishes His Wife" from "Taos Tales" by Elsie Clews Parsons in Memoirs of the American Folklore Society, vol. 34. Copyright © 1940 by the American Folklore Society. By permission of the American Folklore Society.

"A Legend of Multnomah Falls," "Creation of the Animal People," "Creation of the Yakima World," "People Brought in a Basket," "Kulshan and His Two Wives," "When Grizzlies Walked Upright," "Pushing Up the Sky," "The Elk Spirit of Lost Lake," and "Playing a Trick on the Moon" from Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest by Ella E. Clark. Copyright © 1953 by the Regents of the University of California. By per- mission of the University of California Press.

"The Buffalo Go" from American Indian Mythology by Alice Marriott and Carol K. Rachlin (Thomas Y. Crowell Co.). Copyright© 1968 by Alice Marriott and Carol K. Rachlin. By permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.

TYPOGRAPHY AND BINDING DESIGN BY SUSAN MITCHELL

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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• CREATION OF THE ANIMAL PEOPLE

• [OKANOGAN]

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The earth was once a human being: Old One made her out of a woman. "You will be the mother of all people," he said.

Earth is alive yet, but she has been changed. The soil is her Resh, the rocks are her bones, the wind is her breath, trees and grass are her hair. She lives spread out, and we live on her. When she moves, we have an earthquake.

After taking the woman and changing her to earth, Old One gathered some of her Resh and rolled it into balls, as people do with mud or clay. He made the first group of these balls into the ancients, the beings of the early world.

The ancients were people, yet also animals. In form some looked human while some walked on all fours like animals. Some could Hy like birds; others could swim like fishes. All had the gift of speech, as well as greater powers and cunning than either animals or people. But deer were

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never among the ancients; they were always animals, even as they are today.

Besides the ancients, real people and real animals lived on the earth at that time. Old One made the people out of the last balls of mud he took from the earth. He rolled them over and over, shaped them like Indians, and blew on them to bring them alive. They were so ignorant that they were the most helpless of all the creatures Old One had made.

Old One made people and animals into males and females so that they might breed and multiply. Thus all living things came from the earth. When we look around, we see part of our mother everywhere.

The difficulty with the early world was that most of the ancients were selfish and some were monsters, and there was much trouble among them. They were also very stupid in some ways. Though they knew they had to hunt in order to live, they did not know which creatures were deer and which were people, and sometimes they ate people by mistake.

At last Old One said, "There will soon be no people if I let things go on like this." So he sent Coyote to kill all the monsters and other evil beings among the ancients and teach the Indians how to do things.

And Coyote began to travel on the earth, teaching the Indians, making life easier and better for them, and performing many wonderful deeds.

-Reported by Ella Clark in the 1950s .

• STONE BOY

• [ BRULE sroux]

Depending on the individual storyteller, the Sioux legend of Stone

Boy takes many different forms. The following version from the

Cheyenne River Reservation was heard by Henry Crow Dog around

I 9 Io, when he was a child listening to the storytellers at the

campfore.

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Back in the great days of the Indians, a maiden and her five brothers lived together. People in those times had to look for food; it was their

,--- main occupation. So while the sister cooked and made clothes, the brothers spent their days hunting.

It happened once that this family moved their tipi to the bottom of a canyon. It was a strange, silent place, but there was water in a creek and the hunting was good. The canyon was cool in the summer and shielded from wind in the winter. Still, when the brothers went out hunting, the girl was always waiting for them. Waiting and listening, she heard noises. Often she thought they were footsteps, but when she looked outside, no one was there.

Then one evening, only four of the five brothers came back from hunting. They and the sister stayed awake all night, wondering what could have happened to the other. The next day when the men went hunting, only three returned. Again they and the sister stayed awake wondering. The next evening only two came home, and they and the girl were afraid.

In those early days the Indians had no sacred ceremonies or prayers to guide them, so it was hard for the maiden and her two brothers to watch through the night in that ghostly place. Again the brothers went out in the morning, and only a single one returned at night. Now the girl cried and begged him to stay home. But they had to eat, and so in the morning her last and youngest brother, whom she loved best of all, went out to hunt. Like the others, he did not come back. Now no one would bring the maiden food or water, or protect her.

Weeping, the girl left the canyon and climbed to the top of a hill. She wanted to die, but did not know how to. Then she saw a round pebble lying on the ground. Thinking that it would kill her, she picked it up and swallowed it.

With peace in her heart the maiden went back to the tipi. She drank some water and felt a stirring inside her, as if the rock were telling her not to worry. She was comforted, though she could not sleep for missing her brothers.

The next day she had nothing left to eat except some pemmican and berries. She meant to eat them arid drink water from the creek, but she found she wasn't hungry. She felt as if she had been to a feast, and walked around singing to herself. The following day she was happy in a way she had never been before.

On the fourth day that the girl had been alone, she felt pain. "Now the end comes," she thought. "Now I die." She didn't mind; but instead of dying, she gave birth to a little boy.

"What will I do with this child?" she wondered. "How did it come? It must be that stone I swallowed."

The child was strong, with shining eyes. Though the girl felt weak

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for a while, she had to keep going to care for the new life, her son. She named him Iyan Hokshi, Stone Boy, and wrapped him in her brothers' clothes. Day after day he grew, ten times faster than ordinary infants, and with a more perfect body .

The mother knew that her baby had great powers. One day when he was playing outside the tipi, he made a bow and arrows, all on his own. Looking at his Hint arrowhead, the mother wondered how he had done it. "Maybe he knows that he was a stone and I swallowed him," she thought. "He must have a rock nature."

The baby grew so fast that he was soon walking. His hair became long, and as he matured his mother became afraid that she would lose him as she had lost her brothers. She cried often, and though he dil not ask why, he seemed to know .

Very soon he was big enough to go hunting, and when she saw this, his mother wept more than ever. Stone Boy come into the tipi. "Mother, don't cry," he said.

"You used to have five uncles," she said. "But they went out hunting. One after another, they did not come back." And she told him about his birth, how she had gone to the top of the hill and swallowed a stone, and how she had felt something moving inside her.

"I know," he said. "And I am going to look for your brothers, my uncles."

"But if you don't return," she sobbed, "what will I do?" "I will come back," he told her. "I will come back with my uncles .

Stay in the tipi until I do."

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So the next morning Iyan Hokshi started walking and watching. He kept on till dusk, when he found a good place to sleep. He wandered for four days, and on the evening of the fourth day he smelled smoke. Iyan Hokshi, this Stone Boy, he followed the smell. It led him to a tipi with smoke coming from its smoke hole.

This tipi was ugly and ramshackle. Inside Iyan Hokshi could see an old woman who was ugly too. She watched him pass and, calling him over, invited him to eat and, stay the night.

Stone Boy went into the tipi, though he was uneasy in his mind, and a little timid. He looked around and saw five big bundles, propped up on end, leaning against the tipi wall. And he wondered.

The old woman was cooking some meat. When it was done he ate it, though it didn't taste good. Later she fixed a dirty old buffalo robe for him to sleep on, but he sensed danger and felt wide awake.

"I have a backache," the woman said. "Before you go to sleep, I wish you would rub it for me by walking up and down my back. I am old and alone, and I have nobody to help with my pain."

She lay down, and Stone Boy began walking on her back. As he did, he felt something sticking up under her buckskin robe, something sharp like a knife or a needle or the point of a spear. "Maybe she used this sharp tool to kill my uncles," he thought. "Maybe she put poison from a snake on its point. Yes, that must be so."

Iyan Hokshi, having pondered, jumped high in the air, as high as he could, and came down on that old woman's back with a crash. He jumped and jumped until he was exhausted and the hag was lying dead with a broken back.

Then Iyan Hokshi walked over to the big bundles, which were wrapped in animal hides and lashed together with rawhide thongs. He unwrapped them and found five men, dead and dried like jerked meat, hardly human-looking. "These must be my uncles," he thought, but he didn't know how to bring them back to life.

Outside the ugly tipi was a heap of rocks, round gray stones. He found that they were talking and that he could understand them. "Iyan Hokshi, Stone Boy, you are one of us, you come from us, you come from Tunka, you come from Iyan. Listen; pay attention."

Following their instructions, he built a little dome-like hut out of bent willow sticks. He covered it with the old woman's buffalo robes and put the five dead, dried-up humans inside. Out in the open he built a big £.re. He set the rocks right in the flames, picked up the old woman, and threw her in to bum up.

After the rocks glowed red-hot, Stone Boy found a deer antler and used it to carry them one by one into the little hut he had made. He

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picked up the old woman's water bag, a buffalo bladder decorated with quillwork, and filled it with water. He drew its rawhide tie tight and took it inside too. Then he placed the dried humans around him in a circle.

Iyan Hokshi closed the entrance of his little lodge with a flap of buffalo robe, so that no air could escape or enter. Pouring water from the bag over them, he thanked the rocks, saying, "You brought me here." Four times he poured the water; four times he opened the flap and closed it . Always he spoke to the rocks and they to him. As he poured, the little lodge filled with steam so that he could see nothing but the white mist in the darkness. When he poured water a second time, he sensed a stir- ring. When he poured the third time, he began to sing. And when he poured the fourth time, those dead, dried-up things also began to sing and talk.

"I believe they have come to life," thought Iyan Hokshi, the Stone Boy. "Now I want to see my uncles."

He opened the flap for the last time, watching the steam flow out and rise into the sky as a feathery cloud. The bonfire and the moonlight both shone into the little sweat lodge, and by their light he saw five good- looking young men sitting inside. He said, "Hou, lekshi, you must be my uncles." They smiled and laughed, happy to be alive again.

Iyan Hokshi said, "This is what my mother-your sister-wanted. This is what she wished for."

He also told them: "The rock saved me, and now it has saved you. Iyan, Tunka-rock-Tunka, Iyan. Tunkashila, the Grandfather Spirit, we will learn to worship. This little lodge, these rocks, the water, the fire-these are sacred, these we will use from now on as we have done here for the first time: for purification, for life, for wichosani, for health. All this has been given to us so that we may live. We shall be a tribe."

-Told by Henry Crow Dog, February 26, 1968, at Rosebud,

South Dakota, and recorded by Richard Erdoes.

Henry Crow Dog is a full-blooded Sioux elder with a majestic face, craggy as the

Black Hills themselves. He is the grandson of the famous Crow Dog, a chief,

warrior, and leader of the Ghost Dancers. The first Crow Dog once voluntarily

drove I 5 o miles to his own hanging for killing his rival, Chief Spotted Tail, only

to be freed on orders of the Supreme Court, which ruled that federal law had no

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• CREATION OF FIRST MAN

AND FIRST WOMAN

• [NAVAJO]

The ~rst people came up through three worlds and settled in the

fourth world. They had been driven from each successive world be-

cause they had quarreled with one another and committed adultery.

In previous worlds they found no other people like themselves, hut

in the fourth world they found the Kisani or Pueblo people.

The surf ace of the fourth world was mixed black and white, and

the sky was mostly blue and black. There were no sim, no moon, no

stars, hut there were four great snow-covered peaks on the horizon

in each of the cardinal directions.

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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 voi~e 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 dis- cussed 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 woman 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

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Body each carried a sacred buckskin. White Body carried two ears of corn, one yellow, one white, each covered completely 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 bore 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, dwel- ling 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 witch- craft. 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

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r 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 r897.

It is very common in origin stories around the world for the first people to be

hermaphrodites or bisexuals. Religious scholars have been trying for years to find

an explanation, but have not yet succeeded.

• HOW MEN AND WOMEN

GOT TOGETHER

• [BLOOD-PIEGAN]

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Old Man had made the world and everything on it. He had done every- thing well, except that he had put the men in one place and the women in another, quite a distance away. So they lived separately for a while.

Men and women did everything in exactly the same way. Both had buffalo jumps-steep cliffs over which they chased buffalo herds so that the animals fell to their death at the foot of the cliff. Then both the men and the women butchered the dead animals. This meat was their only food; they had not yet discovered other things that were good to eat.

After a while the men learned how to make bows and arrows. The women learned how to tan buffalo hides and make tipis and beautiful robes decorated with porcupine quills.

One day Old Man said to himself: "I think I did everything well, but I made one bad mistake, putting women and men in different places. There's no joy or pleasure in that. Men and women are different: from each other, and these different things must be made to unite so that there will be more people. I must make men mate with women. I will put some pleasure, some good feeling into it; otherwise the men won't be keen to do what is necessary. I myself must set an example."

Old Man went over to where the women were living. He traveled for

four days and four nights before he saw the women in their camp. He was hiding behind some trees, watching. He said to himself: "Ho, what a good life they're having! They have these fine tipis made of tanned buffalo hide, while we men have only brush shelters or raw, stinking, green hides to cover us. And look what fine clothes they wear, while we have to go around with a few pelts around our loins! Really, I made a mistake putting the women so far away from us. They must live with us and make fine tents and beautiful clothes for us also. I'll go back and ask the other men how they feel about this."

So Old Man went back to his camp and told the men what he had seen. When they heard about all the useful and beautiful things the women had, the men said: "Let's go over there and get together with these different human beings."

"It's not only those things that are worth having," said Old Man. "There's something else-a very pleasurable thing I plan on creating."

Now, while this was going on in the men's camp, the chief of the women's village had discovered the tracks Old Man had made while prowling around. She sent a young woman to follow them and report back. The young woman arrived near the men's camp, hid herself, and watched for a short while. Then she hurried back to the women as fast as she could and told everybody: "There's a camp over there with human beings living in it. They seem different from us, taller and stronger. Oh, sisters, these beings live very well, better than us. They have a thing shooting sharp sticks, and with these they kill many kinds of game- food that we don't have. They are never hungry."

When they heard this, all the women said: "How we wish that these strange human beings would come here and kill all kinds of food for us!" When the women were finishing their meeting, the men were already over the hill toward them. The women looked at the men and saw how shabbily dressed they were, with just a little bit of rawhide around their loins. They looked at the men's matted hair, smelled the strong smell coming from their unwashed bodies. They looked at their dirty skin. They said to each other: "These beings called men don't know how to live. They have no proper clothes. They're dirty; they smell. We don't want people like these." The woman chief hurled a rock at Old Man, shouting: "Go away!" Then all the women threw rocks and shouted "G I" o away.

Old Man said: "It was no mistake putting these creatures far away from us. Women are dangerous. I shouldn't have created them." Then Old Man and all the men went back to their own place.

After the men left, the woman chief had second thoughts. "These poor men," she said, "they don't know any better, but we could teach

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r them. We could make clothes for them. Instead of shaming them, maybe we could get them to come back if we dress as poorly as they do, just with a piece of hide or fur around our waist.

And in the men's camp, Old Man said: "Maybe we (should try to meet these women creatures once more. Yes, we should give it another chance. See what I did on the sly." He opened his traveling bundle in which he kept his jerk meat and other supplies, and out of it took a resplendent white buckskin outfit. "I managed to steal this when those women weren't looking. It's too small for me, but I'll add on a little buffalo hide here and a little bear fur there, and put a shield over here, where it doesn't come together over my belly. And I'll make myself a feather headdress and paint my face. Then maybe this woman chief will look at me with new eyes. Let me go alone to speak with the women creatures first. You stay back a little and hide until I have straightened things out."

So Old Man dressed up as best he could. He even purified himself in a sweat bath which he thought up for this purpose. He looked at his reflection in the lake waters and exclaimed: "Oh, how beautiful I am! I never knew I was that good-looking! Now that woman chief will surely like me."

Then Old Man led the way back to the women's camp. There was one woman on the lookout, and even though the men were staying back in hiding, she saw them coming. Then she spotted Old Man standing alone on a hilltop overlooking the camp. She hurried to tell the woman chief, who was butchering with most of the other women at the buffalo jump. For this job they wore their poorest outfits: just pieces of rawhide with a hole for the head, or maybe only a strap of rawhide around the waist. What little they had on was stiff with blood and reeked of freshly slaughtered carcasses. Even their faces and hands were streaked with blood.

"We'll meet these men just as we are," said the woman chief. "They will appreciate our being dressed like them."

So the woman chief went up to the hill on which Old Man was standing, and the other women followed her. When he saw the woman chief standing there in her butchering clothes, her skinning flint knife still in her hand, her hair matted and unkempt, he exclaimed: "Hah! Hrumph! This woman chief is ugly. She's dressed in rags covered with blood. She stinks. I want nothing to do with a creature like this. And those other women are just like her. No, I made no mistake putting these beings far away from us men!" And having said this, he turned around and went back the way he had come, with all his men following him.

"It seems we can't do anything right," said the woman chief. "What- ever it is, those male beings misunderstand it. But I still think we shoulc unite with them. I think they have something we haven't got, and we have something they haven't got, and these things must come together. We'll try one last time to get them to understand us. Let's make our- selves beautiful."

The women went into the river and bathed. They washed and combec their hair, braided it, and attached hair strings of bone pipes and she[ beads. They put on their finest robes of well-tanned, dazzling white doeskin covered with wonderful designs of porcupine quills more color- ful than the rainbow. They placed bone and shell chokers around thei: necks and shell bracelets around their wrists. On their feet they pu: fully quilled moccasins. Finally the women painted their cheeks witl:-_ sacred red face paint. Thus wonderfully decked out, they started on their journey to the men's camp.

In the village of the male creatures, Old Man was cross and ill- humored. Nothing pleased him. Nothing he ate tasted good. He slep: fitfully. He got angry over nothing. And so it was with all the men. ''I don't know what's the matter," said Old Man. "I wish women were beautiful instead of ugly, sweet-smelling instead of malodorous, good- tempered instead of corning at us with stones or bloody knives in their hands."

"vVe wish it too," said all the other men. Then a lookout came running, telling Old Man: "The women being~

are marching over here to our camp. Probably they're coming to kill us. Quick everybody, get your bows and arrows!"

"No, wait!" said Old Man. "Quick! Go to the river. Clean yourselves Anoint and rub your bodies with fat. Arrange your hair pleasingly. Smoke yourselves up with cedar. Put on your best fur garments. Pain: your faces with sacred red color. Put bright feathers on your heads.· Old Man himself dressed in the quilled robe stolen from the women's camp which he had made into a war shirt. He wore his great chief's headdress. He put on his necklace of bear claws. Thus arrayed, the mer_ assembled at the entrance of their camp, awaiting the women's coming.

The women came. They were singing. Their white quilled robes dazzled the men's eyes. Their bodies were fragrant with the good smeI: of sweet grass. Their cheeks shone with sacred red face paint.

Old Man exclaimed: "Why, these women beings are beautiful! They delight my eyes! Their singing is wonderfully pleasing to my ears. Thei.:: bodies are sweet-smelling and alluring!"

"They make our hearts leap," said the other men.

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"I'll go talk to their woman chief," said Old Man. "I'll fix things up -;r.::h her."

The woman chief in the meantime remarked to the other women: (

-1Yhy, these men beings are really not as uncouth as we thought. Their :2.;•,T1ess is a sort of strength. The sight of their arm muscles pleases my =~icS. The sound of their deep voices thrills my ears. They are not al- =·gether bad, these men."

Old Man went up to the woman chief and said, "Let's you and I go ;:meplace and talk."

·Yes, let's do that," answered the woman chief. They went some- =~2.ce. The woman chief looked at Old Man and liked what she saw. ,)ld :.\1an looked at the woman chief and his heart pounded with joy. 'let's try one thing that has never been tried before," he said to the -;..-:,man chief.

"I always like to try out new, useful things," she answered. ··:.\Iaybe one should lie down, trying this," said Old Man. ":.\Iaybe one should," agreed the woman chief. They lay down. _.\.fter a while Old Man said: "This is surely the most wonderful thing

:::2.r ever happened to me. I couldn't ever imagine such a wonderful . . " =-:ng.

·'And I," said the woman chief, "I never dreamed I could feel so good. T-iis is much better, even, than eating buffalo tongues. It's too good to :x properly described."

"Let's go and tell the others about it," said Old Man. \\-hen Old Man and the woman chief got back to the camp, they

::und nobody there. All the male creatures and the women beings had ~:eady paired off and gone someplace, each pair to their own spot. T-iey didn't need to be told about this new thing; they had already ::und out.

\\nen the men and women came back from wherever they had gone, ::::ey were smiling. Their eyes were smiling. Their mouths were smiling, :::eir whole bodies were smiling, so it seemed.

Then the women moved in with the men. They brought all their :_=::_:_ngs, all their skills to the men's village. Then the women quilled and ==::med for the men. Then the men hunted for the women. Then there -;n.s love. Then there was happiness. Then there was marriage. Then ::::.ere were children.

-Based on four fragments dating from 1883 to r9ro.

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of the soapwood plant for the initiation and then spoke to them all: ··From now on, wear the costumes I have made for you. You are rain gods, created to call the rain when you dance before my people. They will worship you for all time." And after she had instructed each of the gods and given each his costume and a prayer, she told them that they ,rnuld have a sacred chamber in each of the four mountains. And so everything was as it should be.

-Based on a legend reported by C. Daryll Forde in 1930, and on various oral accounts.

The Hopis tell this as the tale of Bahana, the lost White Brother, replacing the

oisters with brothers throughout. This version from Acoma shows Spanish in~uence

:n the mention of "sin," a concept unknown on this continent until after Columbus; :he role of the snake in tempting N ao-tsiti may also be colored by knowledge of the

3ible.

• EARTH MAKING

• [CHEROKEE]

The Cherokee are one of the very few Indian tribes who conceive

of the sun as female. This version is unusual for the Cherokee be-

cause it refers to Sun as "he."

• 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 •

Earth is Boating on the waters like a big island, hanging from four raw- ::ide ropes fastened at the top of the sacred four directions. The ropes ~e tied to the ceiling of the sky, which is made of hard rock crystal. When the ropes break, this world will come tumbling down, and all ==.ing things will fall with it and die. Then everything will be as if the e1rth had never existed, for water will cover it. Maybe the white man .rill bring this about.

\Vell, in the beginning also, water covered everything. Though living c::eatures existed, their. home was up there, above the rainbow, and it

amllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll[

(

was crowded. "We are all jammed together," the animals said. "We need more room." Wondering what was under the water, they sent Water Beetle to look around.

Water Beetle skimmed over the surface but couldn't find any solid footing, so he dived down to the bottom and brought up a little dab of soft mud. Magically the mud spread out in the four directions and be- came this island we are living on-this earth. Someone Powerful then fastened it to the sky ceiling with cords.

In the beginning the earth was Hat, soft, and moist. All the animals were eager to live on it, and they kept sending down birds to see if the mud had dried and hardened enough to take their weight. But the birds all Hew back and said that there was still no spot they could perch on.

Then the animals sent Grandfather Buzzard down. He Hew very close and saw that the earth was still soft, but when he glided low over what would become Cherokee country, he found that the mud was getting harder. By that time Buzzard was tired and dragging. When he Happed his wings down, they made a valley where they touched the earth; when he swept them up, they made a mountain. The animals watching from above the rainbow said, "If he keeps on, there will be only mountains,'' and they made him come back. That's why we have so many mountains in Cherokee land.

At last the earth was hard and dry enough, and the animals descended. They couldn't see very well because they had no sun or moon, and someone said, "Let's grab Sun from up there behind the rainbow! Let's get him down too!" Pulling Sun down, they told him, "Here's a road for you," and showed him the way to go-from east to west.

Now they had light, but it was much too hot, because Sun was too close to the earth. The crawfish had his back sticking out of a stream, and Sun burned it red. His meat was spoiled forever, and the people still won't eat crawfish.

Everyone asked the sorcerers, the shamans, to put Sun higher. They pushed him up as high as a man, but it was still too hot. So they pushed him farther, but it wasn't far enough. They tried four times, and when they had Sun up to the height of four men, he was just hot enough. Everyone was satisfied, so they left him there.

Before making humans, Someone Powerful had created plants and ani- mals and had told them to stay awake and watch for seven days and sever. nights. (This is just what young men do today when they fast anc: prepare for a ceremony.) But most of the plants and animals couldn': manage it; some fell asleep after one day, some after two days, some

106

~ ,22.ken b:,- :~_...:::-~ '"T.:-:.e rock is ok. :...- -:,

.11r ::-2.5:.·· T.::e;- stretched th:: ,-'---

~-e need t Water

animals see if the the birds

perch on. wry close .-er what

c5 getting e flapped d1; when jng from ,untains,"

escended. oon, and

bo,Y! Let's 2 road for

1::1.er. They ·~ey pushec . 2nd vrher. ot enougt.

_:sand ar.:- ,s and seYt=- • e\- fast 2::-.~

;ls coulc::-. :

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after three. Among the animals, only the owl and the mountain lion were still awake after seven days and nights. That's why they were given the gift of seeing in the dark so that they can hunt at night.

Among the trees and other plants, only the cedar, pine, holly, and laurel wer still awake on the eighth morning. Someone Powerful said to them: "Because you watched and kept awake as you had been told, you will not lose your hair in the winter." So these plants stay green all the time.

After creating plants and animals, Someone Powerful made a man and his sister. The man poked her with a fish and told her to give birth. After seven days she had a baby, and after seven more days she had another, and every seven days another came. The humans increased so quickly that Someone Powerful, thinking there would soon be no more room on this earth, arranged things so that a woman could have only one child every year. And that's how it was.

::"Jow, there is still another world under the one we live on. You can reach it by going down a spring, a water hole; but you need underworld people to be your scouts and guide you. The world under our earth is exactly like ours, except that it's winter down there when it's summer up here. We can see that easily, because spring water is warmer than the air in winter and cooler than the air in summer.

-Told at a Cherokee treaty council meeting in

New York City, 1975 .

• THE EARTH DRAGON

• [ NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST]

• llllllllll!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII •

Before this world was formed, there was another world with a sky made flt sandstone rock. Two gods, Thunder and Nagaicho, saw that old sky laei..rig shaken by thunder.

-The rock is old," they said. "We'll fix it by stretching it above, far to ~ east."

They stretched the sandstone, walking on the sky to do it, and under

r 1r· ;;r ·"·· .... ;::;_ • .... ,,,, · · 'A#' -- -~- ~"'~· _.5_;'----:. • · · - -= .... _ · ',r~;;~"':. /'"":'r..~· wef1L-:--CHOSEN COL.l;;ToN; FRO~ G;~D SOURC;s. W~LL . . , . . - .

PRESENTED FOR USE EITHER AS AN INTRODUCTION TO·THE STUDY OF MYTHOL~~y OR

AS A CONVENIENT REFER~NCE' WORK AND REFRESHER OF MEMORY." .

. ""7 JOSEPH CAMPBEl.:i..

)

, HarperOne

For Herb

PRIMAL MYTHS: Creation Myths Around the World. Copyright © 1979 by Barbara C. Sproul. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information please e-mail the Special Markets Department at SPsales@harper- collins.com.

HarperCollins Web site: http://ww'W.harpercollins.com

HarperCollins ®, ~ ®, and HarperOne Th< are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers.

FIRST HARPERCOLLINS EDITION PUBLISHED IN 1991

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sproul, Barbara C. Primal myths.

Bibliography Includes index. 1. Creation-Comparative studies. I. Tide.

BL325.C7S68 1979 291.2 78-4429 ISBN: 978-0-06-067501-l

15 16 17 18 RRD(H) 40 39 38

PREFACE 1x

INTRODUCTIO"

ONE AFRICAN MYTI

Bushman: Cap

Hottentot: Tl:e

Barotse: God R

Yao: The Chan

Swahili: Mak.::1

Bushongo: B~rn

Bulu: How Z2.:i

and the God

Ngombe: The (

How the E2.:1

Nandi: When C

Dogon: The f:J

Man de: The C 1

Krachi: The Sc: Fon: The G::-e2.1

TWO NEAR EASTER:

Ancient Egyptiar: \I

Theology frorr. 11.

History of the C1

Myth of Ptah ==-~ The Repulsir:g j

Incantation fr;::::1

Sumerian, Babyk::-_.:.1

The Enuma L.s.l

.::-.;-erial city c:::.:-: · �� Cpper-Ci.:z:

" ·::-y our king .:. - : -... ere given t::-.-::

<· .y;er those of : - : 0 c xen origir:.:. T:-.ere existed :::

..:e with the k::-.; e :,:, be conside�:::

: Indeed, it w2.> :.

c::':erence bet,\e-:· .. .:: ':)ove had be::·

::-.a.le element .. -". c:·.:ded in this,.,:.

c:stricts.

:.::.::s the tasks t::-:. e :a.ught them::- .:

0: .:onnected n2: _ · . ·,.. ear today. T �:

e.::.·;e wool and c :--

1;.;:,jects everytr.::-;

Jf the numerc _ ::nmediately i�:

earth of the m2.� :· displayed tr.e ·

i:-. houses, grou;:-:: 2.::d they came ·

\ them. After 5

:xissessed arrr.::: c.:i;ne of their o,., -

,,.: bludgeons. :.:-st king, we sh.:.

:::e river which-_,:

:::e west, as far 2.

.1:- as the QueqL::· ·,illages built, t::-:

::,:· our city whic: :::e great, illust,.· :::ards] took frc .e here during r:--: .:.re descended. ::-

EIGHT VERSIONS OF THE CREATION LEGEND 305

the same way that all of us, all your relatives, are. I am unable to say exactly at 11ihat date the Sun sent his first children down to earth, because that demands

calculation that is beyond my memory; let us say that it was at least four hun dred years ago. Our Inca's name was Manco Capac and our Coya Mama, Occlo

Huaco. They were brother and sister, as I explained to you before, the children of

the Moon and the Sun. "I believe now that I have answered all your questions and, in order not to

make you weep, I have held' back from my own eyes the tears of blood wrung from my heart by sorrow at the spectacle of our Inca's downfall and our lost Em pire." -Darcilaso de la Vega. The Incas. Alain Gheerbrant, ed., Maria Jolas, trans. New York: Avon Books, 1964, pp. 43-47.

YARURO ( ____

Eight Versions of the Creation

Legend The Yaruros live along the Rio Capanaparo in Venezuela and worship a mother goddess, Kuma, the consort or mother of the sun and source and establisher of all. Kuma came into being with her brothers Puana (the water ser pent) and ltciai (the jaguar), who created water and earth respectively and who still serve as identifications of the two exogamous matrilineal moieties into which Y aruro society is divided.

Only the shamans among the Yaruros can contact Kuma now and visit her land of giants (a heaven in which perfect, huge forms of every creatures exist eternally) in the west. With a pole set up in front of him, the shaman enters a trance and de scribes his soul's journey while people dance around him, men in one direction and women in another.

These eight short versions of the Yaruro myth show interesting variations (and structural similarities) within the central themes of creation, the descent of the culture hero, and the emergence of the people.

I At first there was nothing. Then Puana the Snake, who came first,

created the world and everything in it, including the river courses, ex cept the water. ltciai the Jaguar created the water. Kuma was the first person to people the land. Then the other people were created. Then came India Rosa from the east. The Guahibos were created last. That is the reason that they live in the

forest. Horses and cattle were given to the Yaruros. However, they were so large

that the Yaruros were afraid to mount them. The "Racionales" were not afraid,

and so the horses were given to them. The sun travels in a canoe from east to west. At night it goes to Kuma's

land. The stars are her children and they wander about at night. The moon, which is a sister to the sun, travels in a boat.

t:-: :1es], erect- a:·:er planting bc2.st. the pig, ·:. the turkey, . :he "taqua-

c-.:.d. the frog, ·,,idow [red-

~-.,.:. the barn e:-:ly. the ant, ::1.e sparrow, :-e are in the

,:,:-: when Our 2.nimals were ::1e duck, the :o seize. The

~rform their ·,. like that of

r-:ng is neces-

;-erformance] c. :he skyrock- e, [ than their e older broth- .:Jstumes and

c, you. Excuse

:·2., away. You :-oad, there is

g:i: I will show

e,y great tree . ..:.d already as- .g \·ery far up . .:. t the base of

ti:ey should re- ::im. Then he

see them." ·ome animals.

ORDERING THE ·.,. = ~ -= : "Liar," she said. "These cannot be they. They of whom you speak are.:.:-.. :-:-.~ •

She questioned [the animals]. "Is it you?" They shook the tree ir. :--::: . [They could not talk now because they were animals.] Then some refuse fei: ::-. her eye, and [in anger] she commanded that they should remain like animals for all time .

"Now you will eat the fruit of the tree," [she ordered]. "You do not wish to be good."

Then the kings [of the Jews] gathered together against Our Father God. They ran after him; he ran away. [On the way] there was a man working.

"What are you doing?" [asked God]. "What are you planting?" "I am planting some stones." "Within three days these stones will become very large," [said God].

"Some men are following me; if they question you, do not tell them that I passed by."

"There was one who passed by when I was planting my stones sixty days ago," [ the man told the kings]. From there they followed God, with machete, with weapon, with lance. "Until we have killed him," said the kings.

There was another man planting beans [on the route over which God was fleeing]. Our Father God asked, "What are you doing?"

"I am planting a little of my beans." "Within three days your beans will be dry," [ God told him]. "There are

some men following me; if they question you, don't tell them anything." "There was one who passed by when I was planting my beans about sixty

days ago," he told them [the kings]. He [God] now walked very little. The kings seized him and killed him.

Then, when they had finished killing him, they, the kings, nailed him to the cross, opening his arms and putting nails through them. Then they went away .

He [God] placed a ladder on the cross and went away by means of this ladder. He arrived in heaven. Then began the light in the seat of heaven, the cock crowed, the beasts and the cattle howled. The world [that God formed] became clear, and then the sun lit up and the kings were burned. -Morris Siegel. "The Creation Myth and Acculturation in Acatan, Guatemala." Journal of Ameri-

can Folklore, 1943, 56, 121-124. Philadelphia: American Folklore Society. <:::::::::::::::::: INCA

Ordering the world The great Inca Empire succeeded a long series of prehistoric Peruvian cultures when it came to prominence c. 1200 A.D. and became powerful enough to take over neighboring tribes by force c. 1440. When Pizarro conquered the Inca in 1553, he found an Empire stretching from Quito, Ecuador, to the Rio Maule in Chile. It was a highly organized and disci- plined socialist society, capable of monumental building projects, an extraordinary road system, and even a messenger service that could cover 150 miles a day. The upper class worshipped a high god with no name, who was most commonly re- ferred to by one of his titles ("Wiraqoca" to the Inca, "Viracocha" to the Span-

302 CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICAN MYTHS

ish). Perceived as the ground of being, the source of all power, this personification of the Holy had neither special function nor particular cult, and popular religious attention was therefore focused on his more immanent servants, the gods and god- desses of the sun, thunder, moon, sea, and the huacas, local sacred places and things.

This myth was recounted by one of the last Incas to Garcilaso de la Vega, the son of an Inca princess and a Spanish conquistador, around 1556 when he was a young man. It later became part of The Royal Commentaries Garcilaso wrote about the history of Peru. Appropriate to a culture so highly organized, the myth recalls the primitive animalistic state of people before "our father Sun" sent two of his children by the moon goddess to earth. The young Inca (emperor) and his sister-bride moved about until they found a place where they could easily plunge the golden rod their father had given them (that is, in mythological language, un- til they could find a place where Earth was properly receptive to sun's fertiliza- tion; or, in agricultural language, until they could find rich soil and good climate.) There they stopped, organized all the local people, and eventually ruled an empire of such size and power it could reach out and conquer others. The social order was essential to the empire's success: cities were divided into upper and lower halves; men and women were instructed in appropriate tasks. Thus the myth proclaims the divinity of all rulers descending from the first Inca and their divine sanction of the basic social structure.

"AT ONE TIME, all the land you see about you was nothing but moun- J-\... tains and desolate cliffs. The people lived like wild beasts, with nei-

ther order nor religion, neither villages nor houses, neither fields nor clothing, for they had no knowledge of their wool or cotton. Brought together haphazardly in groups of two and three, they lived in grottoes and caves and, like wild game, fed upon grass and roots, wild fruits, and even human flesh. They covered their na- kedness with the bark and leaves of trees, or with the skins of animals. Some even went unclothed. And as for women, they possessed none who were recognized as their very own.

"Seeing the condition they were in, our father the Sun was ashamed for them, and he decided to send one of his sons and one of his daughters from heav- en to earth, in order that they might teach men to adore him and acknowledge him as their god; to obey his laws and precepts as every reasonable creature must do; to build houses and assemble together in villages; to till the soil, sow the seed, raise cattle, and enjoy the fruits of their labors like human beings.

"Our father the Sun set his two children down at a place eighty leagues from here, on Lake Titicaca, and he gave them a rod of gold, a little shorter than a man's arm and two fingers in thickness.

"'Go where you will,' he said to them, 'and whenever you stop to eat or to sleep, plunge this rod into the earth. At the spot where, with one single thrust, it disappears entirely, there you must establish and hold your court. And the peo- ples whom you will have brought under your sway shall be maintained by you in a state of justice and reason, with piety, mercy, and mildness.

" 'To the entire world,' added our father the Sun, 'I give my light and my

brilliance; I give me and their cattle tom der to have a better my example. Do um loved children; for I cease to live like wile who accept our law

"Having thus missed them. They t each day to thrust ti shelter about seven ( it and that is why thi of Morning. Later. h village take pride i:1 Inca and his bride. o nothing but wild. m,

"The first hal called Huanacauri. , not only did it sink turned to his sister-t

" 'Our father ley, to settle here an mine, to call togethe, we might teach ther:

"Now they le spot being the first t uncle said, "that we perpetually adored ; The prince set out fo all whom they met t!: ers and benefactors ; and feed themseh'es

"The savages much at what they s were both arrayed ii our father the Sun. way we, their desceni gion seen anything : worshiped our ances kings. The news cf :1 a great gathering of ready to follow them

"Our soverei~ of persons, ordering

• • 1-

• '~

lie

• Iii: is F • .. I. Ill:

• It

• .-

• i-.. ir I[ .. • •

•

l ORDERI:-S:G -:-:--:::: ,:, : : -= :

brilliance; I give men warmth when they are cold; I cause the:~ :':e:.:, : : and their cattle to multiply; each day that passes I go all around the ·.\ 2~-= _:- : ~- der to have a better knowledge of men's needs and to satisfy these needs: ,-2::::-.- my example. Do unto all of them as a merciful father would do unto his well-be- loved children; for I have sent you on earth for the good of men, that they might cease to live like wild animals. You shall be the kings and lords of all the peoples who accept our law and our rule.'

"Having thus declared his will to his two children, our father the Sun dis- missed them. They then left Lake Titicaca and walked northwards, trying vainly each day to thrust their rod of gold into the earth. And so they came to a little shelter about seven or eight leagues from here. Day was breaking when they left it and that is why the Inca called this spot Caparec Tempu, which means: the Inn of Morning. Later, he filled it with people and, to this day, the inhabitants of that village take pride in this name that comes from our first king. From there, the Inca and his bride, our queen, entered into Cuzco valley which, at that time, was nothing but wild, mountainous country .

"The first halt they made in this valley," my uncle said, "was at a place called Huanacauri, a half-day's walk from here. There they tried their rod and not only did it sink into the earth, but it disappeared entirely. Then our Inca turned to his sister-bride:

" 'Our father the Sun,' he said, 'has commanded us to remain in this val- ley, to settle here and make it our home. You then go your way, and I shall go mine, to call together and assemble the inhabitants of these regions, in order that we might teach them good, as we have been ordered to do.'

"Now they left the hill of Huanacauri, each going his own way; and this spot being the first to have been trod on by their feet, you will understand," my uncle said, "that we built a temple there, so that our father the Sun should be perpetually adored in recognition of the signal favor he showed us on that day. The prince set out for the north and the princess for the south. They explained to all whom they met that their father the Sun had sent them on earth to be the rul- ers and benefactors of this country, to teach them all how to live, how to clothe and feed themselves like men, instead of like animals.

"The savages to whom they spoke these promising words marveled as much at what they saw as at what they heard: for the Inca and his sister-bride were both arrayed in garments and ornaments that had been given to them by our father the Sun, and both of them had ears that were pierced and open the way we, their descendants, wear ours today. Never had the inhabitants of this re- gion seen anything like it; therefore, they believed all that was told them, they worshiped our ancestors as the children of the Sun, and obeyed them as their kings. The news cf this wonderful event began to spread from place to place and a great gathering of men and women was soon assembled about the two Incas, ready to follow them wherever they might lead.

"Our sovereigns then distributed the necessary tasks amongst this crowd of persons, ordering some to go seek food for all, whilst others, following their

-- 1

-------

ORDERING THE WORLD 303

brilliance; I give men warmth when they are cold; I cause their fields to fructify and their cattle to multiply; each day that passes I go all around the world in or- der to have a better knowledge of men's needs and to satisfy these needs: follow my example. Do unto all of them as a merciful father would do unto his well-be- loved children; for I have sent you on earth for the good of men, that they might cease to live like wild animals. You shall be the kings and lords of all the peoples who accept our law and our rule.'

"Our sovereigns then distributed the necessary tasks amongst this crowd of persons, ordering some to go seek food for all, whilst others, following their

304 CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICAN MYTHS

instructions, were to begin to build huts and houses. Thus our imperial city came into existence, and was divided into two halves: Hanan-Cuzco, or Upper-Cuzco. and Hurin-Cuzco, or Lower-Cuzco. Hanan-Cuzco was founded by our king and Hurin-Cuzco by our queen, and that is why the two parts were given these names, without the inhabitants of one possessing any superiority over those of the other, but simply to recall the fact that certain of them had been originally brought together by the king, and certain others by the queen. There existed only one single difference between them, a difference in accordance with the king's desire, and that was, that the inhabitants of Upper-Cuzco were to be considered as the elder, and those of Lower-Cuzco as the younger brothers. Indeed, it was as it is in the case of a living body, in which there always exists a difference between the right and the left hands, for the reason that those from above had beer, brought together by the male, and those from below by the female element. AL the cities and all the villages in our Empire were subsequently divided in this wa: into upper and lower lineages, as well as into upper and lower districts.

"While peopling the city, our Inca taught the male Indians the tasks tha: were to be theirs, such as selecting seeds and tilling the soil. He taught them ho\', to make hoes, how to irrigate their fields by means of canals that connected natu- ral streams, and even to make these same shoes that we still wear today. Tht queen, meanwhile, was teaching the women how to spin and weave wool and cot- ton, how to make clothing, as well as other domestic tasks.

"In short, our sovereigns, the Inca king, who was master of the men, anc Queen Coya, who was mistress of the women, taught their subjects everythin~ that had to do with human living.

"The first subjects of the Inca were soon well aware of the numerov benefits they derived from their new situation and they went immediately int the mountains to proclaim to all their neighbors the arrival on earth of the ma~- velous children of the Sun. In proof of their statements, they displayed the:~ clothing and their foodstuffs, explaining that now they lived in houses, groupe: together in villages. Soon, the savages began to marvel, too, and they came i~ droves to join the Inca and his sister, remaining to serve and obey them. Afters: or seven years, they had become so numerous that the Inca possessed arme_ troops for his defense and for subjugating those who did not come of their O\, - accord. He had taught them to make bows, lances, arrows, and bludgeons.

"In order to shorten this account of the exploits of our first king, we sh2- say simply that he extended his rule towards the east as far as the river which \\: call Paucartampu, that he conquered eight leagues of land to the west, as far ~ the great Apurimac river, and nine leagues to the south, as far as the Queqi.:: sana. In this latter direction, he had more than one hundred villages built, tc, most important of which contained a hundred homes.

"Such then," my uncle concluded, "were the beginnings of our city whic' today, as you can see, is rich and populous; such were those of the great, illust~ ous Empire that your father and his companions [i.e., the Spaniards] took frc us; and such were our first Incas, our first kings, those who came here during t'. first centuries of the world and from whom all our other kings are descended .. -

' '1 I', EIG

the same way that all of us. what date the Sun sent his alculation that is beyond r tired years ago. Our Inca's i Huaco. They were brother a the Moon and the Sun.

"I believe now that I make you weep, I have he!, from my heart by sorrow at ;:ire." -{;arcilaso de la Vega. The Inc;; lo.xs, 1964, pp. 43-47.

YARURO

Eight Versii Legend The worship a mother godde establisher of all. Kum2. pent) and ltciai (the j2., still serve as identifica t:, Yaruro society is divide

Only the shamans aIT. of giants (a heaven in-.,] in the west. With a pole scribes his soul's journe:, women in another.

These eight short ve~; structural similarities) , culture hero, and the e:1

I At first there wa1 created the world -,C the water. ltciai the Jag1

. pipie the land. Then the oth; 1 • east. The Guahibos were , '-.:St.

Horses and cattle were . .. the Yaruros were afraid ; • so the horses were given

The sun travels in a c2 ; ...... The stars are her child '.111ich is a sister to the sun, tr

".":2.l city came L pper-Cuzco.

:, Jur king and -:-e given these , e"." those of the bce:1 originally

"."e existed only ... :th the king's c· ·:ie considered .ceed, it was as e,ence between ::,.ove had been :e element. All

.ced in this way s:ricts. s the tasks that ·.:ght them how

.::0nnected natu- e2.r today. The ·e wool and cot-

,:.~- the men, and ;ects everything

~ the numerous .. :nediately into =:-th of the mar- displayed their

::ouses, grouped .d they came in :hem. After six

~ssessed armed ::ce of their own ·::,iudgeons. st king, we shall e river which we e west, as far as 2.s the Queque-

:llages built, the

:· our city which, he great, illustri- :.1rds] took from

!";ere during the ..:."."e descended, in

EIGHT VERSIONS OF THE CREATIO:,.; LEGE"-= : • :

the same way that all of us, all your relatives, are. I am unable to say ex.a.:: .•. what date the Sun sent his first children down to earth, because that demancs calculation that is beyond my memory; let us say that it was at least four hun- dred years ago. Our Inca's name was Manco Capac and our Coya Mama, Occlo Huaco. They were brother and sister, as I explained to you before, the children of the Moon and the Sun.

"I believe now that I have answered all your questions and, in order not to make you weep, I have held back from my own eyes the tears of blood wrung from my heart by sorrow at the spectacle of our Inca's downfall and our lost Em- pire." -Garcilaso de la Vega. The Incas. Alain Gheerbrant, ed., Maria Jolas, trans. New York: Avon Books, 1964, pp. 43-47.

YARURO

Eight Versions of the Creation Legend The Yaruros live along the Rio Capanaparo in Venezuela and worship a mother goddess, Kuma, the consort or mother of the sun and source and establisher of all. Kuma came into being with her brothers Puana (the water ser- pent) and Itciai (the jaguar), who created water and earth respectively and who still serve as identifications of the two exogamous matrilineal moieties into which Yaruro society is divided.

Only the shamans among the Yaruros can contact Kuma now and visit her land of giants (a heaven in which perfect, huge forms of every creatures exist eternally) in the west. With a pole set up in front of him, the shaman enters a trance and de- scribes his soul's journey while people dance around him, men in one direction and women in another.

I At first there was nothing. Then Puana the Snake, who came first, created the world and everything in it, including the river courses, ex- cept the water. Itciai the Jaguar created the water. Kuma was the first person to people the land. Then the other people were created. Then came India Rosa from the east. The Guahibos were created last. That is the reason that they live in the forest.

Horses and cattle were given to the Y aruros. However, they were so large that the Yaruros were afraid to mount them. The "Racionales" were not afraid, and so the horses were given to them.

The sun travels in a canoe from east to west. At night it goes to Kuma's land. The stars are her children and they wander about at night. The moon, which is a sister to the sun, travels in a boat.

.:.i:::a lance and ::er over with

~:~ _-\uhu what 2:-nents and to ::e would find

:-.s of the dove. ::-unk of a fal-

:::s call. N antu , s,ing through .:.ding straight

__ .:,st entreating t::2: she did not tc· escape. Thus

. Jved one and :.:.::.choly condi- : .:ry. ·'Aishiru.

:-. .::.d transpired. g::t out Unush:

'.' sons born of . A:·ter this had :::s sons. They

ge black clouds ced with great oi.;gh the sky. .::.::.p of thunder <: of lightning :e;y a powerfu: · :::ient of war.

:: so much tha: ·,::: sides, going g them to figh: :. So successfu: .iJns. this being

g:-oup, secretly ..; 2ny manhooc ::::ost would be· , of :\iika, some 2.:-.d you will be·

·,\ar. : :hat had beer. .:.:id sought ou:

THE PEOPLE CLIMBED OUT 313

Ahimbi, accusing him of being responsible for all the trouble because of his con- duct with Mika. Seizing him, they brought him to the Pongo Manseriche. Here Etsa took the trunk of a hollow chonta palm and thrust Ahimbi in it. Then Etsa, blowing upon the chonta tube after the fashion of a blowgun, turned it slowly while so doing. As he did so, Ahimbi slowly came forth from the other end in the form of Pangi, the boa. After he had emerged completely from the chonta log, Etsa bound him up and placed him under the waters of the Pongo Manseriche. The boiling, turbulent waters of this narrow gorge are brought about by Ahim- bi's titanic efforts to free himself from his bonds.

After this punishment had befallen him Ahimbi desired that his sons should have peace, so he thrashed his tail and sprayed water into the air, forming the rainbow, as a sign to Etsa to be compassionate and release his bonds in order that he might restore peace among the warring factions. Masata, however, saw the rainbow and ingeniously placed clouds and rain in the way so that Ahimbi's signal would not be seen by Etsa, and thus bring about an end to the fighting . Whenever Ahimbi attempts his signal, he has always been thwarted thus far by Masata, who has obscured the rainbow with rain and mists.

Having successfully prevented this threat of peace, Masata once more started visiting each of the tribes, hurling out his slogan, "Make war! Make war!" Chingaso, however, feeling sorry for the plight of Ahimbi and desiring to see peace brought about, went down to the Pongo Manseriche in a canoe with the intention of releasing him. Ahimbi, however, thrashing about in his rage, did not recognize her. He overturned her canoe and ate her, thus ending his best oppor- tunity for freedom.

Thus ends the Nuhifio of the Jivaros. -M. M. Sterling. "The Nuhiiio or Earth Story of the Jivaros," U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 117 (Historical and Ethnographical Material of the Jivaros Indians). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1938, pp. 124-129

MUNDURUCU

The People Climbed Out Like many Indians of the Amazon Basin in Brazil, the Mundurucu have come to identify their creating cul- ture hero with the Christian supreme god and thereby to elevate him to a position of equal prominence. In this earlier myth, however, Karusakaibo is still rather earthbound and immanent: with the help of an armadillo, he discovers people liv- ing in the womb of the earth and, like a midwife, begins to deliver them. Then the rope (symbolizing both the axis mundi and the umbilical cord) breaks, and half of the people remain in the earth as "ancestors." Thus the cycle of being emerging out of not-being at birth and eventually returning to it at death is established.

KARUSAKAIBO had made the world but had not created men. One day Daiiru, the armadillo, offended the creator and was forced to take refuge in a hole in the ground. Karusakaibo blew into the hole and stamped his

314 CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICAN MYTHS

foot on the earth. Daiiru was blown out of the hole by the rush of air. He report- ed that people were living in the earth. He and Karusakaibo made a cotton rope and lowered it into the hole. The people began to climb out. When half of them had emerged, the rope broke and half remained underground, where they still live. The sun passes through their country from west to east when it is night on the earth; the moon shines there when the earth has moonless nights. -Donald Horton, "The Mundurucu." U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143 (Handbook of South American Indians) Vol. 3, The Tropical Forest Tribes. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1948, p. 281.

WULAMBA

The Origii tralian myths speak heroes of the begini northeastern Arnhe: drous Djanggawul b creative, who wande: tors of the Aborigine the dua moiety ( the the Wulamba: then, symbolic of the phaL dered the land, rem Wulamba, everythin1 uals. In all of these a as is related in some cred paraphernelia u ions. This presumpti here it is symbolized brother.

The great and eas) annually; women an< unborn babies, while nally the women and of the Djanggawul si selves the roles of the taining the still sacre

IN THE BEGIN:".T and trees. The other creatures; and upon