Primal Myths

by Barbara C. Sproul

  —James A., Teit. Folk-Tales of the Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes. Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, 1917, II, 84. New York: G. E. Stechert, for the American Folk-Lore Society.

  BLOOD

  The Creation of Man J. MacLean recorded this myth from the Blood Tribe of the Blackfoot Indian Confederacy (including the Piegan, Blackfoot, and Blood tribes) in Alberta, Canada, in the early 1880s. And he described his difficulties even then in finding genuine Indian myths: “The separation of the tribes, the rapid settlement of the country by the white people, the death of many of the old chiefs, and the depressed spirits of the people have seriously impaired the purity of the folk-lore of the natives. The following fragments were gathered from the lips of Blood Indians as I sat in their lodges with note-books in hand. The younger members of the tribe could not be relied on to relate these myths accurately. Those I have given have been repeatedly verified by the aged members of the tribe.”

  The disordered state of the world in the beginning is clearly dramatized in this myth: Napioa, the old creator, sent four creatures to look for earth in the bottom of the waters, but only the fourth, turtle, ever returned. And after he had made solid ground, he found on it strange, two-headed people, the untamable and monstrous remnants of chaos. Even in making human beings, Napioa had trouble distinguishing women’s sexual and oral apertures. (Since both are sources of creation, physical and verbal, their connection here is not accidental.) Finally, Napioa created men and encouraged them to overcome their fear and have relations with the women.

  The unsettled character of Blood Indian life and the disassociation from their religious roots is reflected not only in the myth’s general tone of sadness and anxiety, but in its uncertainties about the origin of Napioa himself and of white people.

  NAPIOA, the Old Man, floated upon a log in the waters, and had with him four animals: Mameo, the fish; Matcekupis, the frog; Maniskeo, the lizard; and Spopeo, the turtle. He sent them down into the waters in the order named, to see what they could find. The first three descended, but never returned; the turtle, however, arose with his mouth full of mud. Napioa took the mud from the mouth of the turtle, rolled it around in the hollow of his hand, and in this manner made the earth, which fell into the waters, and afterward grew to its present size.

  There was only one person named Napioa. He lived in the world when the people who dwelt with him had two heads. He did not make these people, although he made the world, and how they came upon the earth no one knows. The Bloods do not know where Napioa came from. They do not know whether he was an Indian or not. He was not the ancestor of the Blackfeet, but the Creator of the Indian race. He was double-jointed. He is not dead, but is living in a great sea in the south. He did not make the white people, and the Indians do not know who made them.

  After he made the earth, he first made a woman. Her mouth was slit vertically, and he was not satisfied, so he closed it, and recut it in the same shape as it has remained till to-day. Afterward he made several women, and then he made several men. The men lived together, but separate from the women, and they did not see the women for some time. When the men first saw the women they were astonished and somewhat afraid. Napioa told them to take one woman each, but they were afraid. He encouraged them, and then they each took a wife.

  Napioa made the buffalo. They were quite tame. He gave bows and arrows to the Indians and told them to shoot the buffalo. They did so; and as the buffalo were tame, they killed a large number.

  —J. MacLean. “Blackfoot Mythology.” Journal of American Folklore. 1883. 6, 166–167.

  HURON

  The Making of the World The Huron Confederation of four tribes speaking the Wyandot language (of the Hokan-Siouan family) lived in Ontario and numbered about 20,000 until their continuing war with the Iroquois reached a climax in the late 1640s. Strengthened by firearms, the Iroquois attacked in 1648, decimated the Huron, and destroyed the Confederation. Remnants of the Huron joined others (the Tobacco Nation, the Neutral Nation, and the Erie Indians), but were still pursued by the Iroquois until they moved west. (A small group of Huron fled to Quebec and were ultimately given a reservation at Lorette.) Eventually the Huron who had joined with the Tobacco Nation settled in Ohio and fought with the British in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. In 1842, they moved to Kansas and in 1867 to northeastern Oklahoma, where they now reside as citizens.

  These forced migrations are not reflected in the Huron’s creation myth, which is typical of the tribes of the eastern woodlands. Although a Catholic mission was established amongst them in 1642 by Father Jean de Brebuff, the strong dualistic nature of this myth presumably did not derive from Christianity. Rather, it seems a development of the double characteristics of most culture heroes and tricksters gods. Instead of both good and evil forces being contained in one hero, here they are externalized and separated into two individuals.

  In the beginning, when the world was chaotic, all the creatures were present and welcoming to the sacred woman who fell from heaven. It was they who saved her and dove for earth so that she could make land. (As in some Buddhist myths, the turtle holds up the earth here; when he moves, the earth will crumble.) Although killed by the birth of her evil son, the continuing creativity of the fallen goddess is emphasized by the transformation of her body into essential plants. Her power is echoed by that of her sons: after creating all the good and bad creatures in their separate domains, the malevolent twin is visited by his opposite. The good hero subdues all the monsters (cutting them down to an appropriate size), and agrees to a final combat with his brother.

  Although they are anthropomorphized here, the twins are called Good Mind and Evil Mind in some Huron cosmologies. That kind of sophistication is evident even in the depiction of their struggle in this myth, where each understands the specific vulnerability of the other. When Good (being) ultimately wins, Evil (not-being) departs to the west to establish a land of the dead.

  IN THE BEGINNING there was nothing but water, a wide sea, which was peopled by various animals of the kind that live in and upon the water. It happened then that a woman fell down from the upper world. It is supposed that she was, by some mischance, pushed down by her husband through a rift in the sky. Though styled a woman, she was a divine personage. Two loons, which were flying over the water, happened to look up and see her falling. To save her from drowning they hastened to place themselves beneath her, joining their bodies together so as to form a cushion for her to rest on. In this way they held her up, while they cried with a loud voice to summon the other animals to their aid. The cry of the loon can be heard to a great distance, and the other creatures of the sea heard it and assembled to learn the cause of the summons. Then came the tortoise (or “snapping turtle,” as Clarke called it), a mighty animal, which consented to relieve the loons of their burden. They placed the woman on the back of the tortoise, charging him to take care of her. The tortoise then called the other animals to a grand council, to determine what should be done to preserve the life of the woman. They decided that she must have earth to live on. The tortoise directed them all to dive to the bottom of the sea and endeavor to bring up some earth. Many attempted it,—the beaver, the musk-rat, the diver, and others,—but without success. Some remained so long below that when they rose they were dead. The tortoise searched their mouths, but could find no trace of earth. At last the toad went down, and after remaining a long time rose, exhausted and nearly dead. On searching his mouth the tortoise found in it some earth, which he gave to the woman. She took it and placed it carefully around the edge of the tortoise’s shell. When thus placed, it became the beginning of dry land. The land grew and extended on every side, forming at last a great country, fit for vegetation. All was sustained by the tortoise, which still supports the earth.

  When the woman fell she was pregnant with twins. When these came forth they evinced opposite dispositions, the one good, the other evil. Even before they were born the same characters were manifested. They struggled together, and t
heir mother heard them disputing. The one declared his willingness to be born in the usual manner, while the other malignantly refused, and, breaking through his mother’s side, killed her. She was buried, and from her body sprang the various vegetable productions which the earth required to fit it for the habitation of man. From her head grew the pumpkin-vine; from her breasts the maize; from her limbs the bean and the other useful esculents. Meanwhile the twins grew up, showing in all they did their opposing inclinations. The name of the good one was Tijuskeha, which means, Clarke said, something like saviour, or good man. The evil brother was named Tawiskarong, meaning flinty, or flint-like, in allusion probably to his hard and cruel nature. They were not men, but supernatural beings, who were to prepare the world to be the abode of men. Finding that they could not live together, they separated, each taking his own portion of the earth. Their first act was to create animals of various kinds. The bad brother made fierce and monstrous creatures, proper to terrify and destroy mankind,—serpents, panthers, wolves, bears, all of enormous size, and huge mosquitoes, “as large as turkeys.” Among other things he made an immense toad, which drank up all the fresh water that was on the earth. In the mean time the good brother, in his province, was creating the innocent and useful animals. Among the rest he made the partridge. To his surprise, the bird rose in the air and flew toward the territory of Tawiskarong. Tijuskeha asked him whither he was going. The bird replied that he was going to look for water, as there was none left in that land, and he heard there was some in the dominion of Tawiskarong. Tijuskeha then began to suspect mischief. He followed the course which the partridge had taken, and presently reached the land of his evil brother. Here he encountered the snakes, ferocious brutes, and enormous insects which his brother had made, and overcame them. Finally he came to the monstrous toad, which he cut open, letting the water flow forth. He did not destroy the evil animals,—perhaps had not the power to do so,—but he reduced them in size, so that men would be able to master them.

  The spirit of his mother warned him in a dream to beware of his evil brother, who would endeavor to destroy him by treachery. Finally they encountered, and as it was evident that they could not live together on the earth, they determined to decide by a formal combat (a duel, as Clarke styled it) which of them should remain master of the world. It was further agreed that each should make known to the other the only weapon by which he could be overcome. This extraordinary article of their agreement was probably made necessary by the fact that without such a disclosure the contest would have lasted forever. The good brother declared that he could be destroyed only by being beaten to death with a bag full of corn, beans, or some other product of the bread kind; the evil brother rejoined that he could be killed only by the horn of a deer or of some other wild animal. (In these weapons it seems evident that there is some reference to the different characters or attributes of the brothers.) They set off a fighting-ground, or “list,” within which the combat was to take place. Tawiskarong had the first turn, or, as duellists would say, the first fire. He set upon his brother with a bag of corn or beans, chased him about the ground, and pounded him until he was nearly lifeless and lay as if dead. He revived, however (perhaps through the aid of his mother’s spirit), and, recovering his strength, pursued in turn his evil brother, beating him with a deer’s horn until he killed him. But the slain combatant was not utterly destroyed. He reappeared after death to his brother, and told him that he had gone to the far west, and that thenceforth all the races of men after death would go to the west, like him. “And,” said Clarke, “it is the belief of all the pagan Indians that after death their spirits will go to the far west, and dwell there.”

  —Horatio Hale. “Huron Folklore.” Journal of American Folklore, 1888, le, 175–183. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, for the American Folklore Society, 1888. Reprinted by Kraus Publishing, New York, 1963.

  MANDAN

  First Creator and Lone Man When North American Indian tribes were not destroyed by white men, they were often decimated by their weapons and diseases: the Mandan were ultimately victims of cholera and smallpox. Tradition describes a more eastern origin, but by the middle of the eighteenth century they resided in nine villages near the mouth of the Heart River in the southern part of central North Dakota. Suffering severely from attacks by the Assiniboine and Sioux and finally all but wiped out by smallpox, they moved westward along to Missouri to the Knife River. When Lewis and Clarke visited in 1804, the Mandan numbered about 1,250; by 1837, after another outbreak of smallpox and cholera, there were only 150 left. Joining with the Hidatsa and eventually the Arikara tribes, they moved north to Fort Berthold, where they now live on a reservation.

  Related by the mother of Arthur Mandan who recorded it at a Catholic mission in the late 1920s, the Mandan myth combines many Indian and Christian features. In an Arikara myth, Lone Man was born from a plant, but here he walks over the newly created earth with the First Creator. The earth-diver motif, Lone Man’s birth, and his thwarting of the evil and chaotic monsters are typically Indian. Even his claim of connection between his body and the cedar tree, possibly echoed in the cross of Christ, is related to other Plains Indian myths: in another Arikara myth, Corn Mother left a cedar tree to represent her when she departed from the people. Here it is constructed with hoops, forming a kind of basket protection against the flood to come; and, with its characteristics as a pointer to the heavens and a source of life, it is a perfect religious symbol of the axis mundi. (It was around this cedar tree, called the Great Canoe, that the Mandan conducted their most sacred Okipa ceremony, in which great warriors sacrificed themselves through dances and pain for the good of the world and the placation of evil spirits.)

  The total goodness of Lone Man, however, introduces a rather Christian element into the myth. This is particularly evident in his refusal to marry, in his rebuke of the evil spirits, and in his claims of creation. (In related Arikara myths, he fights with evil spirits, but these are more typically primordial, personifications of the recently thwarted chaos.)

  IN THE BEGINNING the surface of the earth was all water and there was darkness. The First Creator and Lone Man were walking on the top of the waters and as they were walking along they happened to see a small object which seemed to have life and upon investigation they found it to be a small bird of the duck family—the kind that is very fond of diving.—“Well!” they said, “Let us ask this creature where it gets its subsistence. We don’t see any kind of food on the waters and she must have something to keep her alive.” So they asked her and she told them that she got her food in the bed of the waters. They asked her to show them a sample of the food. She told them she would be very glad to do so and at once she dived down to the bed of the waters and up she came with a small ball of sand. Upon seeing the sand they said, “Well! if this keeps the bird alive it must be good for other creatures also. Let us create land out of this substance, and living creatures, and let us make the land productive that it may bear fruit for the subsistence of the creatures that we shall create. Let us choose therefore the directions where each shall begin.” So Lone Man chose the northern part and the First Creator the southern, and they left a space between in the water which is the Missouri river. Then, after agreeing to compare results, they began the creation.

  The First Creator made broad valleys, hills, coulees with timber, mountain streams, springs, and, as creatures, the buffalo elk, black-tailed and white-tailed antelope, mountain sheep and all other creatures useful to mankind for food and clothing. He made the valleys and coulees as shelter for the animals as well as for mankind. He set lakes far apart. Lone Man created for the most part level country with lakes and small streams and rivers far apart. The animals he made lived some of them in the water, like beaver, otter, and muskrat. Others were the cattle of many colors with long horns and long tails, moose, and other animals.

  After all this was ended they met as agreed upon to compare their creations. First they inspected what Lone Man had created and then they went on t
o what First Creator had made, then they began to compare results. First Creator said, “The things you have created do not meet with my approval. The land is too level and affords no protection to man. Look at the land I have created. It contains all kinds of game, it has buttes and mountains by which man can mark his direction. Your land is so level that a man will easily lose his way for there are no high hills as signs to direct him. Look at the waters I have created,—the rivers, brooks, springs with running water always pure and refreshing for man and beast. In summer the springs are always cool, in winter they are always warm. The lakes you have made have most of them no outlet and hence become impure. The things I have made are far more useful to man. Look at the buffalo,—they are all black save here and there a white one so rare as to be highly prized. In winter their hair grows long and shaggy to combat the cold; in warm weather they shed their hair in order to endure the heat more comfortably. But look at the cattle you have created with long horns and tail, of all colors, and with hair so short and smooth that they cannot stand the cold!” Lone Man said, “These things I have created I thought were the very things most useful to man. I cannot very well change them now that they are once created. So let us make man use first the things that you have made until the supply is exhausted and then the generations to come shall utilize those things which I have created.” So it was agreed between them and both blessed their creation and the two parted.