Primal Myths

by Barbara C. Sproul

  IN THE BEGINNING the waters covered everything. It was said “Who will make the land appear?”

  Lock-chew, the Crawfish, said: “I will make the land appear.”

  So he went down to the bottom of the water and began to stir up the mud with his tail and hands. He then brought up the mud to a certain place and piled it up.

  The owners of the land at the bottom of the water said:

  “Who is disturbing our land?” They kept watch and discovered the Crawfish. Then they came near him, but he suddenly stirred the mud with his tail so that they could not see him.

  “Lock-chew continued his work. He carried mud and piled it up until at last he held up his hands in the air, and so the land appeared above the water.

  The land was soft. It was said: “Who will spread out the land and make it dry and hard?” Some said: “Ah-yok, the Hawk, should spread out the soft land and make it dry.” Others said “Yah-tee, the Buzzard, has larger wings; he can spread out the land and make it dry and hard.”

  Yah-tee undertook to spread out and dry the earth. He flew above the earth and spread out his long wings over it. He sailed over the earth; he spread it out. After a long while he grew tired of holding out his wings. He began to flap them, and thus he caused the hills and valleys because the dirt was still soft.

  “Who will make the light?” it was said. It was very dark.

  Yohah, the Star, said, “I will make the light.”

  It was so agreed. The Star shone forth. It was light only near him.

  “Who will make more light?” it was said.

  Shar-pah, the Moon, said: “I will make more light.” Shar-pah made more light, but it was still dark.

  T-cho, the Sun, said: “You are my children, I am your mother, I will make the light. I will shine for you.”

  She went to the east. Suddenly light spread over all the earth. As she passed over the earth a drop of blood fell from her to the ground, and from this blood and earth sprang the first people, the children of the Sun, the Uchees.

  The people wished to find their medicine. A great monster serpent destroyed the people. They cut his head from his body. The next day the body and head were together. They again slew the monster. His head again grew to his body.

  Then they cut off his head and placed it on top of a tree, so that the body could not reach it. The next morning the tree was dead and the head was united to the body. They again severed it and put it upon another tree. In the morning the tree was dead and the head and body were reunited.

  The people continued to try all the trees in the forest. At last they placed the head over the Tar, the cedar tree, and in the morning the head was dead. The cedar was alive, but covered with blood, which had trickled down from the head.

  Thus the Great Medicine was found.

  Fire was made by boring with a stick into a hard weed.

  The people selected a second family. Each member of this family had engraved on his door a picture of the sun.

  In the beginning all the animals could talk, and but one language was used. All were at peace. The deer lived in a cave, watched over by a keeper and the people were hungry. He selected a deer and killed it. But finally the deer were set free and roved over the entire earth.

  All animals were set free from man, and names were given to them, so that they could be known.

  —John R. Swanton. “Creek Stories,” No. 90. U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 88 (Myths and Tales of the South Eastern Indians). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1929, pp. 84–85.

  FOUR APACHE CREATION MYTHS

  The ancestors of the Apache entered the southwestern part of what is now the United States around 1000 A.D. from the north, following the herds of buffalo and other game they hunted. At the time of contact with the Spanish, they were still dividing into separate subtribes: among them, the Jicarilla and Lipan lived east of the Rio Grande, while the White Mountain (an aggregate of subtribes) and the Chiricahua moved to the west. Social organization remained simple, because the harsh desert conditions required living in small groups. With the acquisition of horses and firearms, intertribal warface escalated and ultimately permitted the raiding of neighboring settlements to become a way of life. Although their own name for themselves was Tinde (“the people”), they were called Apache (“enemy”) by the Zuni.

  Renowned for their fighting ability, the Apache successfully resisted Spanish and later Mexican and American incursions until the middle of the nineteenth century when the United States obtained the region and began large-scale migrations westward through their lands. Strong Apache resistance lasted until 1886 when Geronimo and his Chiricahua followers surrendered. Remnants of the tribes now live on reservations in Arizona and New Mexico.

  CHIRICAHUA APACHE

  When the Earth Was New After the Indian War of 1886, the Chiricahua were removed from Arizona and imprisoned first in Florida, then Alabama, and finally Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where they were released in 1913. The majority of those remaining joined the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico, where this myth was recorded.

  Strongly influenced by the punitive aspects of Christian doctrine, the myth recalls a flood sent to destroy the people who worshipped Indian—now false—gods. The creators of the Indians presumably escaped, but pottery and arrowheads were all that remained of their creations. When the waters receded and people again populated the earth, they were offered a choice of weapons. That the white man took the gun and the Indian was left with bow and arrow signifies to the informant the unfortunate turn of events that led to his present situation.

  THERE WERE many people on earth. They did not know God. They prayed to the Gahe (mountain-dwelling gods), Lightning, and Wind. They did not know about the living God. So the ocean began to rise and covered the earth. These people of ancient times were drowned. Just a few were saved.

  South of Deming, New Mexico, is a tall mountain, “White-ringed Mountain.” It was the only mountain which was not covered. About a half mile of it was sticking out. They have showed me the place where the water stopped. There is a circle of white like white paint all around this spot. It looks pretty.

  When the flood came the turkey ran up this mountain ahead of it. The water followed and got his tail wet. That’s why the turkey has white at the tips of the tail feathers.

  When the water started to go down, the people, animals, and birds on the mountain top were saved and increased again from these few. I guess White-Painted Woman and Child-of-the-Water went up [to the sky] before this happened. I don’t know whether the people who left pottery and arrowheads were the ones killed off by this flood.

  After the water had gone down, a bow and arrow and a gun were put before two men. The man who had the first choice took the gun and he became the white man. The other had to take the bow and he became the Indian. If the second man had got the gun, he would have been the white man, they say.

  —Morris Edward Opler. Myths and Tales of the Chiricahua Apache Indians. Memoirs of the American Folklore Society, 1942, 37, 1–2. New York: The American Folklore Society, 1942.

  WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHE

  The Earth Is Set Up Believing in a universe alive with spiritual power, the Apache recognized shamans or medicine men as people capable of bridging the gap between the sacred and profane dimensions. Possessed of great power and wise in the ways of nature, the shamans could forecast future events, counteract evil spirits, heal the sick, and guide their people in matters of proper conduct. Palmer Valor, a ninety-five-year-old shaman who related this myth in 1932 warned that: “Tales are to be told during the night, at any time from dusk to dawn. The sun should not see you doing it. They are meant to be heard only during the cold months, from November to February. In the spring, summer and fall too much danger is abroad—snakes, poisonous insects and lightning. For this reason people will wait until such evil things are absent so they will not hear themselves spoken of and punish the narrator or his family.” Like his explanation, Valor’s myth is full of respect for t
he sacred and ambivalent powers of nature. Both they and the four “people” who ordered them are described personally and with drama, reflecting the close relation between the Apaches and their world.

  The White Mountain Tribe consists of several groups of Apache subtribes, including the Mimbreno, Mogollon, Pinaleno, Chiricahua, and Arivaipa. Numbering around 4,000, the tribe lives on a reservation in Arizona.

  FOUR PEOPLE started to work on the earth. When they set it up, the wind blew it off again. It was weak like an old woman. They talked together about the earth among themselves. “What shall we do about this earth, my friends? We don’t know what to do about it.” Then one person said, “Pull it from four different sides.” They did this, and the piece they pulled out on each side they made like a foot. After they did this the earth stood all right. Then on the east side of the earth they put big black cane, covered with black metal thorns. On the south side of the earth they put big blue cane covered with blue metal thorns. Then on the west side of the earth they put big yellow cane covered with yellow metal thorns. Then on the north side of the earth they put big white cane covered with white metal thorns.

  After they did this the earth was almost steady, but it was still soft and mixed with water. It moved back and forth. After they had worked on the earth this way Black Wind Old Man [the wind of the east] came to this place. He threw himself against the earth. The earth was strong now and it did not move. Then Black Water Old Man threw himself against the earth. When he threw himself against the earth, thunder started in the four directions. Now the earth was steady, and it was as if born already.

  But the earth was shivering. They talked about it: “My friends, what’s the matter with this earth? It is cold and freezing. We better give it some hair.” Then they started to make hair on the earth. They made all these grasses and bushes and trees to grow on the earth. This is its hair.

  But the earth was still too weak. They started to talk about it: “My friends, let’s make bones for the earth.” This way they made rocky mountains and rocks sticking out of the earth. These are the earth’s bones.

  Then they talked about the earth again: “How will it breathe, this earth?” Then came Black Thunder to that place, and he gave the earth veins. He whipped the earth with lightning and made water start to come out. For this reason all the water runs to the west. This way the earth’s head lies to the east, and its water goes to the west.

  They made the sun so it traveled close over the earth from east to west. They made the sun too close to the earth and it got too hot. The people living on it were crawling around, because it was too hot. Then they talked about it: “My friends, we might as well set the sun a little further off. It is too close.” So they moved the sun a little higher. But it was still too close to the earth and too hot. They talked about it again. “The sun is too close to the earth, so we better move it back.” Then they moved it a little higher up. Now it was all right. This last place they set the sun is just where it is now.

  Then they set the moon so it traveled close over the earth from east to west. The moon was too close to the earth and it was like daytime at night. Then they talked about it: “My friends, we better move the moon back, it is like day.” So they moved it back a way, but it was still like daylight. They talked about it again: “It is no good this way, we better move the moon higher up.” So they moved it higher up, but it was still a little light. They talked about it again and moved it a little further away. Now it was just right, and that is the way the moon is today. It was night time.

  This is the way they made the earth for us. This is the way all these wild fruits and foods were raised for us, and this is why we have to use them because they grow here.

  —Granville Goodwin. Myths and Tales of the White Mountain Apache. Memoirs of the American Folklore Society, 1939, 33. 1–2. New York: J. J. Augustin, for The American Folklore Society.

  LIPAN APACHE

  The Way of the Indian Differing from Chiricahua and White Mountain peoples, the Lipan Apache envisage a chaotic beginning in which they existed, embryonic and animalistic, in the womb of the earth. With the same moral ambivalence encountered in trickster gods of other American Indian myths, the first two explorers sent up by the people betrayed and forgot them; only the badger returned and reported the existence of land.

  The combined forces of two great chaotic powers, wind and water, had revealed the earth, but it was left to four “Indians” (one for each direction, a totality of power) to order it. Using one as earth material, and thus reemphasizing the symbiotic relation between the Indians and the earth, the three formed the land and made it habitable. The “people”—animals, birds and trees—then emerged from Mother Earth in a grand imitation of birth, and journeying across her surface under the direction of sun and moon (as the Lipan had on their migrations) established their new homes. This great march of the family of nature, of which human beings are only a part, emphasizes the essential unity evident in the Apache world view.

  The Lipan were scattered and all but annihilated on the eve of the southwestern reservation period.

  IN THE BEGINNING they were going to create human beings. The part about that is not very long. Then comes the part about Killer-of-Enemies, and that is longer. The white men have their way and the Indians have theirs. I am going to do my best to explain the way of the Indian.

  Down in the lower world, at the beginning, there was no light; there was only darkness. Down there, at the bottom, were some people. They knew of no other places; they lived there.

  They held a council down there. They discussed whether there was another world. They decided to send someone above to find out. They looked at each other and asked who should be sent out.

  One said, “How about Wind?”

  They asked him. Wind agreed to go.

  [Wind went upward. He was a whirlwind. He came up to this earth. Nothing but water covered the earth then. He rolled back the water like a curtain.

  After the wind had rolled back the water, land appeared. The water was all at one side.

  Then they sent Crow out to look over the dry land. Crow saw the dead fish that had been left on the dry land. He stayed there and picked the eyes out of the fish. He didn’t come back as he had promised to do.

  At that time the land was very level. There were no mountains on earth. The ground was just like ashes or like the places where there is white alkali on the earth’s suface now.

  The crow never came back. The people below wondered what had happened to him. They wanted news. So they sent Beaver out.

  The water was getting low now. Instead of going back to his people Beaver busied himself building dams. He went around from stream to stream. The people below wondered what had happened to him.

  Then, because the beaver didn’t come back, they sent Badger out. He was faithful to his fellows in the lower world. He came up and looked around. He saw that it was all dry up there. He went back and told the others. Then they were all happy, for he was the only one who did faithful work.

  Then they sent four others after that, four men, to look over this world above. These first four who came up on earth to prepare it were called by the word that means Indians. I know of no other name for them. These four chose one from whom were to be made the things of the earth as we know it now. They selected Mirage. They put up Mirage in the form of a ball. They walked away from Mirage and looked. It looked very pretty. That ball of mirage became a part of this earth.

  Now they fixed the world. They were going to make hills and mountains. They made a little lightning. They made little arroyos, and water came running to them. That is the way the earth and the mountains, the hills and the water were made. At first it was all level, but of Mirage they made all the things of the earth.

  Now all was ready on the earth. Springs and channels were made. All was prepared for the people of the lower world. Then the people of the lower world prepared to ascend. They came up to the upper world. They are here now.

  After the
y came up, they moved around the edge of the earth clockwise. All those people were animals, birds, trees, and bushes. The real humans were not here yet. Animals, birds, grass, and trees were people at that time and could talk as humans do. They had one language and all understood each other. These were the first people. Even the rocks and the plants that are on the earth now were among these people. All these were the first people, those who were first on this earth. The animal and tree people came out first. Then the real humans came out after them. The different kinds of animals and birds, the different grasses and trees,—each represents a different tribe.

  When they started from the place of emergence, the first to stop were the western people, the Chiricahua perhaps. As they went along clockwise, different people dropped off. As they stopped they became different tribes and had different languages. “You shall be such and such a people and speak this language,” they were told. That is how all these different tribes and languages were made.

  All the northern tribes use the dog for a horse. They used the dog for a horse at this time as they moved north.

  At the very end of the journey the Tonkawa dropped off with the Lipan. The Lipan were the very last to stop the journey and find a home.

  Now the people were all fixed.

  When the people first came out and were going clockwise, they came to a certain stream. There the willow people stopped. “We’ll stay and live here,” they said. That is why the willow tree is both green and grey. It stands for the old and young at the same time.