(retrieved from: http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/history/religion/abmyth3.html)
This creation
story, of the Gros Ventres
Indians, is similar to the origin story of at least two other Algonquin tribes
(the Arapahos and the Crees). It is also similar to
stories handed down among the Huron and Iroquois tribes of eastern North
America and to one related in 1953 by the oldest Chehalis Natives near the
Washington coast.
The people before
the present people were wild and did not know how to do anything. Because the
Creator did not like the way they lived, he thought, "I will make a new
world." He had the chief pipe. He went outdoors, hung the pipe on three
sticks, and picked up four buffalo chips. He put one under each of the three
sticks supporting the pipe, and took the fourth chip for his own seat.
The Creator said to
himself, "I will sing three times and shout three times. Then I will kick
the earth. There will be heavy rain, and soon, water will cover the
earth."
So, he sang three
times, he shouted three times, and he kicked the earth. The earth cracked and
water came out. Then it rained many days and many nights until water was deep
over the earth. Because of the buffalo chips, he and the pipe floated. Then the
rain stopped. For days he drifted, floating where the wind and water took him.
All the animals and birds had drowned except Crow.
Above the Creator,
Crow flew around, crying. When it became tired, it cried, "My father, I am
tired and I want to rest."
Three times Crow
said these words. After the third time, the Creator replied, "Alight
yourself on the pipe and rest."
At last the Creator
became tired from sitting in one position and he cried. For a long time he did
not know what to do. Then he remembered to unwrap the
pipe. It contained all the animals. He took out all those that have a long breath
and, thus, are able to dive through water. Large Loon, which he selected first,
was not alive, but its body was wrapped up in the pipe. The Creator sang to it
and then commanded it to
dive and try to bring up
some mud. Not half way down, Large Loon lost its breath and turned back. Almost
drowned, it reached the place where the Creator sat.
Then the
Creator took Small Loon's body from the pipe, unwrapped
it, sang, and commanded it to dive for mud. Small Loon nearly reached the
bottom before it lost its breath and turned back. It was almost dead when it
came back to the surface. Then the Creator took Turtle from the pipe, sang
until it became alive, and sent it down after some mud.
Meanwhile, Crow
flew about, crying for rest. The Creator paid no attention. After a long time,
Turtle came up from the water, nearly dead.
"Did you reach the mud?" asked the
Creator.
"Yes,"
answered Turtle. "I had much of it in my feet and along my sides, but it was washed away before I reached you."
"Come to
me." The Creator looked in the cracks along its sides and in its feet.
There he found a little earth, which he scraped into his hand. Then he began to
sing. Three times he sang, and three times he shouted.
"I will throw
this little dust in my hand into the water," he said. "Little by
little, let there be enough to make a strip of land large enough for me."
He began to drop
it, little by little, opening and closing his hand carefully. When he had
finished, there was a small strip of land, big enough for him to sit on. Then
the Creator said to Crow, "Come down and rest. I have made a piece of land
for myself and for you."
Crow came down and
rested, and then flew up again. The Creator took from his pipe two long wing
feathers, held one in each hand, and began to sing. Three times he sang, and
three times he shouted, "Youh, hou, hou!" Then he spread
out his arms, closed his eyes, and said to himself, "Let there be land as
far as my eyes can see around me."
When he opened his
eyes, the water was hone and there was land as far as he could see. He walked
over the earth with his pipe and with Crow. When he became thirsty, he did not
know what to do to get water. Then he thought, "I will cry." So, he closed his eyes and cried until his tears,
dropping on the ground, formed a large spring in front of him. Soon, a stream
ran from out of the spring. When the Creator stopped crying, a large river was
flowing. In this way he made all the streams.
When he became
tired of being alone with Crow and his pipe, he decided to make persons and
animals. First, he took earth and made it into the shape of a man. Then he took
another piece of earth and made it into the shape of a woman. He molded more
figures out of earth until he had created many men and women.
When the Creator
thought he had enough people, he made animals of all kinds, in pairs. Then he
gave names to the tribes of people and names to all kinds of animals. He sang
three times, shouted three times, and kicked the earth. When he had finished,
many pairs of living creatures stood before him, persons and animals.
He called the world
"Turtle" because Turtle had helped him create it. Then he made bows
and arrows, and he taught men how to use them. The pipe, he gave to a tribe
called Haa-ninin (Gros Ventres).
He said to the
people, "If you are good, there will be no more water and no more fire.
Long before the flood came, the world had been burned. Now this is the third
life."
Then he showed
people the rainbow and said, "This rainbow is the sign that the earth will
not be covered with water again. Whenever you have had rain, you will see the
rainbow. It will mean that the rain has gone. There will be another world after
this one."
No comments:
Post a Comment