The Aztec Legend Of Creation

Quetzalcoatl, the light one, and Tezcatlipoca, the dark one, looked down from their place in the sky and saw only water below. A gigantic goddess floated upon the waters, eating everything with her many mouths.
The two gods saw that whatever they created was eaten by this monster. They knew they must stop her, so they transformed themselves into two huge serpents and descended into the water. One of them grabbed the goddess by the arms while the other grabbed her around the legs, and before she could resist they pulled until she broke apart.
Her head and shoulders became the earth and the lower part of her body the sky.
The other gods were angry at what the two had done and decided, as compensation for her dismemberment, to allow her to provide the necessities for people to survive; so from her hair they created trees, grass, and flowers; caves, fountains, and wells from her eyes; rivers from her mouth; hills and valleys from her nose; and mountains from her shoulders.
Still the goddess was often unhappy and the people could hear her crying in the night.
They knew she wept because of her thirst for human blood, and that she would not provide food from the soil until she drank.
So the gift of human hearts is given her.
She who provides sustenance for human lives demands human lives for her own sustenance. So it has always been; so it will ever be.

---

Myth 2The mother of the Aztec creation story was called "Coatlique", the Lady of the Skirt of Snakes.
She was created in the image of the unknown, decorated with skulls, snakes, and lacerated hands.
There are no cracks in her body and she is a perfect monolith (a totality of intensity and self-containment, yet her features were square and decapitated).
Coatlique was first impregnated by an obsidian knife and gave birth to Coyolxanuhqui, goddess of the moon, and to a group of male offspring, who became the stars.
Then one day Coatlique found a ball of feathers, which she tucked into her bosom. When she looked for it later, it was gone, at which time she realized that she was again pregnant. Her children, the moon and stars did not believe her story.
Ashamed of their mother, they resolved to kill her.
A goddess could only give birth once, to the original litter of divinity and no more.
During the time that they were plotting her demise, Coatlique gave birth to the fiery god of war, Huitzilopochtli.
With the help of a fire serpent, he destroyed his brothers and sister, murdering them in a rage.
He beheaded Coyolxanuhqui and threw her body into a deep gorge in a mountain, where it lies dismembered forever.
The natural cosmos of the Indians was born of catastrophe. The heavens literally crumbled to pieces.
The earth mother fell and was fertilized, while her children were torn apart by fratricide and them scattered and disjointed throughout the universe.
Ometecuhlti and his wife Omecihuatl created all life in the world.
Their children were:

Xipe Totec - The Lord of the Springtime

Huitzilopochtli - the Sun god

Quetzalcoatl - the Plumed Serpent

Tezcatlipoca - the god of Night and Sorcery

Coatlicue - She of the Serpent Skirt

The End of The World According to MAYANS

The sacred Aztec calendar is properly called the Eagle Bowl. It represents the solar deity Tonatiuh. The amazingly accurate calendar has been in use in various forms for more than 2,000 years. A Zapotec prophecy, based on the Eagle Bowl, states: “After Thirteen Heavens of Decreasing Choice, and Nine Hells of Increasing Doom, the Tree of Life shall blossom with a fruit never before known in the creation, and that fruit shall be the New Spirit of Men.”
The 13 Heavens and 9 Hells were each 52 years long (1,144 years total). Each of the 9 Hells were to be worse than the last. On the final day of the last Hell (August 17, 1987), Tezcatlipoca, god of death, would remove his mask of jade to reveal himself as Quetzelcoatl, god of peace.
In the mythology of the Aztecs, the first age of mankind ended with the animals devouring humans. The second age was finished by wind, the third by fire, and the fourth by water. The present fifth epoch is called Nahui-Olin (Sun of Earthquake), which began in 3113 BC and will end on December 24, 2011. It will be the last destruction of human existence on Earth. The date coincides closely with that determined by the brothers McKenna in The Invisible Landscape as “the end of history” indicated by their computer analysis of the ancient Chinese oracle-calendar, the I Ching.
The Mayan calendar is divided into Seven Ages of Man. The fourth epoch ended in August 1987. The Mayan calendar comes to an end on Sunday, December 23, 2012. Only a few people will survive the catastrophe that ensues. In the fifth age, humanity will realize its spiritual destiny. In the sixth age, we will realize God within ourselves, and in the seventh age we will become so spiritual that we will be telepathic.

The popal Voh

The Popol Vuh is the creation story of the Maya. Below is one part of this story that recounts the first attempts of the creator, Heart of Sky to make humans. The story goes on to explain that the final attempt, that resulted int the "True people" was accomplished by constructing people with maize. This is a very reasonable explanation since, in essence, it was the cultivation of maize that gave the early Maya culture the means to change from hunters gatherers to their highly advanced civilization. I have edited this sample, based on the wonderful translation by Dennis Tedlock. His book is available through Amazon.com and is listed below. I've also included here a few preliminary illustrations I would like to use on an interactive CD someday. THE CREATION Here is the story of the beginning, when there was not one bird, not one fish, not one mountain. Here is the sky, all alone. Here is the sea, all alone. There is nothing more –no sound, no movement. Only the sky and the sea. Only Heart-of-Sky, alone. And these are his names: Maker and Modeler, Kukulkan, and Hurricane. But there is no one to speak his names. There is no one to praise his glory. There is no one to nurture his greatness. And so Heart-of-Sky thinks, "Who is there to speak my name? Who is there to praise me? How shall I make it dawn?" Heart-of-Sky only says the word, "Earth," and the earth rises, like a mist from the sea. He only thinks of it, and there it is. He thinks of mountains, and great mountains come. He thinks of trees, and trees grow on the land. And so Heart-of-Sky says, "Our work is going well." Now Heart-of-Sky plans the creatures of the forest -birds, deer, jaguars and snakes. And each is given his home. "You the deer, sleep here along the rivers. You the birds, your nests are in the trees. Multiply and scatter," he tells them. Then Heart-of-Sky says to the animals, "Speak, pray to us." But the creatures can only squawk. The creatures only howl. They do not speak like humans. They do not praise Heart-of-Sky And so the animals are humbled. They will serve those who will worship Heart-of-Sky. And Heart-of-Sky tries again. Tries to make a giver of respect. Tries to make a giver of praise. Here is the new creation, made of mud and earth. It doesn't look very good. It keeps crumbing and softening. It looks lopsided and twisted. It only speaks nonsense. It cannot multiply. So Heart-of-Sky lets it dissolved away. Now Heart-of-Sky plans again. Our Grandfather and Our Grandmother are summoned. They are the most wise spirits. "Determine if we should carve people from wood," commands Heart-of-Sky. They run their hands over the kernels of corn. They run their hands over the coral seeds. "What can we make that will speak and pray? asks Our Grandfather. What can we make that will nurture and provide?" asks Our Grandmother. They count the days, the lots of four, seeking an answer for Heart-of-Sky. Now they give the answer, "It is good to make your people with wood. They will speak your name. They will walk about and multiply." "So it is," replies Heart-of-Sky. And as the words are spoken, it is done. The doll-people are made with faces carved from wood. But they have no blood, no sweat. They have nothing in their minds. They have no respect for Heart-of-Sky. They are just walking about, But they accomplish nothing. "This is not what I had in mind," says Heart-of-Sky. And so it is decided to destroy these wooden people. Hurricane makes a great rain. It rains all day and rains all night. There is a terrible flood and the earth is blackened. The creatures of the forest come into the homes of the doll-people. "You have chased us from our homes so now we will take yours," they growl. And their dogs and turkeys cry out, "You have abused us so now we shall eat you!" Even their pots and grinding stones speak, "We will burn you and pound on you just as you have done to us!" The wooden people scatter into the forest. Their faces are crushed, and they are turned into monkeys. And this is why monkeys look like humans. They are what is left of what came before, an experiment in human design.

The end of the World

This time Sótuknang came to Spider Woman and said, "There is no use waiting until the thread runs out this time. Something has to be done lest the people with the song in their hearts are corrupted and killed off too. It will be difficult, with all this destruction going on, for them to gather at the far end of the world where I have designated. But I will help them. Then you will save them when I destroy this world with water."

"How shall I save them?" asked Spider Woman.

"When you get there look about you," commanded Sótuknang. "You will see these tall plants with hollow stems. Cut them down and put the people inside. They I will tell you what to do next."

Spider Woman did as he instructed her. She cut down the hollow reeds, and, as the peThis time Sótuknang came to Spider Woman and said, "There is no use waiting until the thread runs out this time. Something has to be done lest the people with the song in their hearts are corrupted and killed off too. It will be difficult, with all this destruction going on, for them to gather at the far end of the world where I have designated. But I will help them. Then you will save them when I destroy this world with water."

"How shall I save them?" asked Spider Woman.

"When you get there look about you," commanded Sótuknang. "You will see these tall plants with hollow stems. Cut them down and put the people inside. They I will tell you what to do next."

Spider Woman did as he instructed her. She cut down the hollow reeds, and, as the people came to her, she put them inside with a little water and hurúsuki (white cornmeal dough) for food, and sealed them up. When all the people were thus taken care of, Sótuknang appeared.

"Now you get in to take care of them, and I will seal you up." he said. "Then I will destroy the world."

So he loosed the waters upon the earth. Waves higher than mountains rolled in upon the land. Continents broke asunder and sank beneath the seas. And still the rains fell, the waves rolled in.

The people sealed up in their hollow reeds heard the mighty rushing of the waters. They felt themselves tossed high in the air and dropping back to the water. Then all was quiet, and they knew they were floating. For a long, long time, (so long a time that it seemed it would never end) they kept floating.ople came to her, she put them inside with a little water and hurúsuki (white cornmeal dough) for food, and sealed them up. When all the people were thus taken care of, Sótuknang appeared.

"Now you get in to take care of them, and I will seal you up." he said. "Then I will destroy the world."

So he loosed the waters upon the earth. Waves higher than mountains rolled in upon the land. Continents broke asunder and sank beneath the seas. And still the rains fell, the waves rolled in.

The people sealed up in their hollow reeds heard the mighty rushing of the waters. They felt themselves tossed high in the air and dropping back to the water. Then all was quiet, and they knew they were floating. For a long, long time, (so long a time that it seemed it would never end) they kept floating.

The end of the World

Somewhere at a place where the prairie and the Maka Sicha, the Badlands, meet, there is a hidden cave. Not for a long, long time has anyone been able to find it. Even now, with so many highways, cars and tourists, no one has discovered this cave. In it lives a woman so old that her face looks like a shriveled-up walnut. She is dressed in rawhide, the way people used to before the white man came. She has been sitting there for a thousand years or more, working on a blanket strip for her buffalo robe.

Stumble It!

She is making the strip out of dyed porcupine quills, the way ancestors did before the white traders brought glass beads to this turtle continent. Resting beside her, licking his paws, watching her all the time is Shunka Sapa, a huge black dog. His eyes never wander from the old woman, whose teeth are worn flat, worn down to little stumps, she has used them to flatten so many porcupine quills.

A few steps from where the old woman sits working on her blanket strip, a huge fire is kept going. She lit this fire a thousand or more years ago and has kept it alive ever since. Over the fire hangs a big earthen pot, the kind some Indian peoples used to make before the white man came with his kettles of iron. Inside the pot, wojapi is boiling and bubbling. Wojapi is berry soup, good and sweet and red. That soup has been boiling in the pot for a long time, ever since the fire was lit.

Every now and then the old woman gets up to stir the wojapi in the huge earthen pot. She is so old and feeble that it takes a while to get up and hobble over to the fire. The moment her back is turned, Shunka Sapa, the huge black dog starts pulling the porcupine quills out of her blanket strip. This way she never makes any progress, and her quillwork remains forever unfinished.

The Sioux people used to say that if the old woman ever finishes her blanket strip, then at the very moment that she threads the last porcupine quill to complete the design, the world will come to an end.

The Cannible King

Long ago in the land of North, a king called Shiri Badat lived. This king was no ordinary king, for he had his organs made out of metal and Hunza butter(maltash).
  Shiri Badat had a rule that a house submitted to him a goat or lamb turn by turn,as tax.Once it so happened that an old  women in the valley of Nagar had only a single lamb which she had fed with her breast milk, as it's own mother had died and as the labor of the king's tax fell upon her, she had no option but to surrender the lamb.
At night when it was dinner time in the royal palace, the cooked meat of the old women's lamb was brought. When he tasted the meat, the king was amazed at how good the meat tasted. He asked his wazirs, why this was so but the wazirs didn't know either.The king ordered his guards to ask the owner of the lamb. When the guards inquired they found out that the women had fed the lamb with her own milk. When the king was informed of this, he immediately changed his rule of a lamb per house to a child had to be given as tax and so after that a child was given as tax to the cannibal king Shiri Badat. The people of the his kingdom were so grieved at sending their young as food for the king. This went on and on, people tried to get rid of the king but whatever they did, had no effect on Shiri Badat for he was indestructible to the human eye. The king had a daughter and she to felt disgust by her father. One day in a plan to get rid of him she asked, " Tell me father what is it that can kill, so that i maybe able to protect you" the king trusted his a daughter alot. He said to his daughter " My dear daughter, i my body made out of steel and so are my organs but my heart is made of Maltash (Hunza butter), only a great fire could put to rest, anything else is just useless".
   Now that his daughter knew of his weakness she joined the people of the kingdom in devising a plan to kill the king, once and for all. One day while the king was hunting the people dug a trench in his path and filled it with wild, dried bushes. When the king came to the place where  the trench had  been dug he fell and the people quickly set  the bushes afire. Shiri Badat's heart being made out of butter, melt and the cannible king was no more. The people of the kingdom celebrated and the king's daughter became the queen.
 years later the some people saw the king and started a festival to by which on 21st of december the people gather and burn the king again to make sure he dosen't come back. This festival is still celebrated in Hunza. it's called thumashaling.

The end

Creation of Man

we find the legend of the creation of mankind out of clay among the Shilluks of the White Nile, who ingeniously explain the different complexions of the various races by the different coloured clay out of which they were fashioned. They say that the creator Juok moulded all men of earth, and that while he was engaged in the work of creation he wandered about the world. In the land of the whites he found a pure white earth or sand, and out of it he shaped white men. Then he came to the land of Egypt and out of the mud of the Nile he made red or brown men. Lastly, he came to the land of the Shilluks, and finding there black earth he created black men out of it. The way in which he modeled men was this. He took a lump of earth and said to himself, 'I will make man, but he must be able to walk and run and go out into the fields, so I will give him two long legs, like the flamingo.' Having done so, he thought again, 'The man must be able to cultivate his millet, so I will give him two arms, one to hold the hoe, and the other to tear up the weeds.' So he gave him two arms. Then he thought again, 'The man must be able to see his millet, so I will give him two eyes.' He did so accordingly. Next he thought to himself, 'The man must be able to eat his millet, so I will give him a mouth.' And a mouth he gave him accordingly. After that he thought within himself, 'The man must be able to dance and speak and sing and shout, and for these purposes he must have a tongue.' And a tongue he gave him accordingly. Lastly- the deity said to himself, 'The man must be able to hear the noise of the dance and the speech of the great men, and for that he needs two ears.' So two ears he gave him, and sent him out into the world a perfect man.'

The Warlike Seven

   ONCE seven people went out to make war, -- the Ashes, the Fire, the Bladder, the Grasshopper, the Dragon Fly, the Fish, and the Turtle. As they were talking excitedly, waving their fists in violent gestures, a wind came and blew the Ashes away. "Ho!" cried the others, "he could not fight, this one!"
   The six went on running to make war more quickly. They descended a deep valley, the Fire going foremost until they came to a river. The Fire said "Hsss -- tchu!" and was gone. "Ho!" hooted the others, "he could not fight, this one!"
   Therefore the five went on the more quickly to make war. They came to a great wood. While they were going through

---

-159-

it, the Bladder was heard to sneer and to say, "He! you should rise above these, brothers." With these words he went upward among the tree-tops; and the thorn apple pricked him. He fell through the branches and was nothing! "You see this!" said the four, "this one could not fight."
   Still the remaining warriors would not turn back. The four went boldly on to make war. The Grasshopper with his cousin, the Dragon Fly, went foremost. They reached a marshy place, and the mire was very deep. As they waded through the mud, the Grasshopper's legs stuck, and he pulled them off! He crawled upon a log and wept, "You see me, brothers, I cannot go!"
   The Dragon Fly went on, weeping for his cousin. He would not be comforted, for he loved his cousin dearly. The more he grieved, the louder he cried, till his body shook with great violence. He blew his

---

-160-

red swollen nose with a loud noise so that his head came off his slender neck, and he was fallen upon the grass.
   "You see how it is, said the Fish, lashing his tail impatiently, "these people were not warriors!" "Come!" he said, "let us go on to make war."
   Thus the Fish and the Turtle came to a large camp ground.
   "Ho!" exclaimed the people of this round village of teepees, "Who are these little ones? What do they seek?"
   Neither of the warriors carried weapons with them, and their unimposing stature misled the curious people.
   The Fish was spokesman. With a peculiar omission of syllables, he said: "Shu . . . hi pi!"
   "Wan! what? what?" clamored eager voices of men and women.
   Again the Fish said: "Shu . . . hi pi!" Everywhere stood young and old with a

---

-161-

palm to an ear. Still no one guessed what the Fish had mumbled!
   From the bewildered crowd witty old Iktomi came forward. "He, listen!" he shouted, rubbing his mischievous palms together, for where there was any trouble brewing, he was always in the midst of it.
   "This little strange man says, 'Zuya unhipi! We come to make war!'"
   "Uun!" resented the people, suddenly stricken glum. "Let us kill the silly pair! They can do nothing! They do not know the meaning of the phrase. Let us build a fire and boil them both!"
   "If you put us on to boil," said the Fish, "there will be trouble."
   "Ho ho!" laughed the village folk. "We shall see."
   And so they made a fire.
   "I have never been so angered!" said the Fish. The Turtle in a whispered reply said: "We shall die!"

---

-162-

He blew the water all over the people

   When a pair of strong hands lifted the Fish over the sputtering water, he put his mouth downward. "Whssh!" he said. He blew the water all over the people, so that many were burned and could not see. Screaming with pain, they ran away.
   "Oh, what shall we do with these dreadful ones?" they said.
   Others exclaimed: "Let us carry them to the lake of muddy water and drown them!"
   Instantly they ran with them. They threw the Fish and the Turtle into the lake. Toward the center of the large lake the Turtle dived. There he peeped up out of the water and, waving a hand at the crowd, sang out, "This is where I live!"
   The Fish swam hither and thither with such frolicsome darts that his back fin made the water fly. "E han!" whooped the Fish, "this is where I live!"

---

-163-


   "Oh, what have we done!" said the frightened people, "this will be our undoing."
   Then a wise chief said: "Iya, the Eater, shall come and swallow the lake!"
   So one went running. He brought Iya, the Eater; and Iya drank all day at the lake till his belly was like the earth. Then the Fish and the Turtle dived into the mud; and Iya said: "They are not in me." Hearing this the people cried greatly.
   Iktomi wading in the lake had been swallowed like a gnat in the water. Within the great Iya he was looking skyward. So deep was the water in the Eater's stomach that the surface of the swallowed lake almost touched the sky.
   "I will go that way," said Iktomi, looking at the concave within arm's reach.
   He struck his knife upward in the Eater's stomach, and the water falling out drowned those people of the village.

---

-164-


   Now when the great water fell into its own bed, the Fish and the Turtle came to the shore. They went home painted victors and loud-voiced singers.

The Yin And Yang

Chinese mythology and cosmology rest on the idea that the universe is shaped and maintained by two fundamental forces called Yin and Yang. Although opposites, Yin and Yang are not in conflict with one another. Rather, they interact constantly, achieving a delicate balance. Nature and society depend on this balance for harmony. When Yin and Yang fall out of balance, disaster follows.

According to tradition, the idea of two opposing but intertwined cosmic forces developed before 2000 B.C. The ancient notion underlies both Taoism and Confucianism, two of the major strands of Chinese philosophy and religion. The Japanese adopted Yin and Yang, calling them In and Yo.

Yin and Yang are represented in pairs of attributes or things that are opposites or halves of a whole. Yin is associated with the earth, darkness, femaleness, cold, moisture, softness, and inactivity. Yang is linked with the sky, light, maleness, heat, dryness, and activity. Yin is a negative force; Yang is a positive one. Yin is represented by a broken line, Yang by an unbroken one. Various combinations of broken and unbroken lines in groups of three, called trigrams, form the basis of an ancient Chinese work known as the I Ching, which is used in divination.

cosmology set of ideas about the origin, history, and structure of the universe
cosmic large or universal in scale; having to do with the universe
attribute quality, property, or power of a being or thing
divination act or practice of foretelling the future

Beyond Yin and Yang lies a single absolute or ultimate reality called the T'ai Chi, a force or power that gives existence to all

In Chinese mythology, Yin and Yang are two fundamental, connected but opposing, forces that influence nature and society. A circular symbol called the T'ai Chi represents the power beyond Yin and Yang that gives existence to all things.

things. Through the interplay of Yin and Yang, the T'ai Chi brings forth "the ten thousand things," the visible universe. The symbol of the T'ai Chi is a circle. A circle divided by a wavy line—creating two tadpole-shaped halves, one light and one dark—represents Yin and Yang within the Tai Chi.

Legend says that the Yin and Yang are controlled by the constellation of stars known as the Big Dipper in the West or as the Bushel in China. Certain mythological events, such as the annual meetings of two divine lovers known as the Weaver Girl and the Herder, represent Yin and Yang coming together in proper unity. Yin-Yang symbols occur frequently in traditional myths. For example, the throne of the goddess Xi Wang Mu features two creatures, a dragon and a tiger, representing the cosmic balance and opposition of Yin and Yang.

Chinese Myth - Creation

In the beginning, the universe was a black egg where heaven and earth were mixed together, and in this egg was contained Pangu. He felt suffocated, so he cracked the egg with a broadax, and the light, clear part of the egg floated up to form Heaven while the cold, heavy part stayed down and formed Earth. Pangu stood in the middle, and he and the egg's two parts grew and grew until he was nine million li in height.

When Pangu died, his breath became the wind and clouds, his voice the rolling thunder, and his eyes the sun and the moon. His hair and beard became the stars in the sky, the flowers and trees from his skin, the marrow in his bones became jade and pearls, and his sweat the good rain that nurtured the Earth.

There are several versions of the Pangu legend, but one that is common in southern China is that of King Fang and King Gao Xin. Pangu was King Gao Xin's dog, and King Gao Xin had a great enmity with King Fang. He proclaimed, "Anyone who can bring me King Fang's head will have my daughter's hand in marriage," but no one would try because of King Fang's fearsome army.

One day Pangu slipped away and went to King Fang's court. King Fang was happy to see that he had deserted King Gao Xin, and welcomed him with a banquet. However, that night, Pangu sneaked into the king's chambers and bit off his head, returning back to King Gao Xin with it.

King Gao Xin was overjoyed to see that Pangu had brought King Fang's head, but did not think to marry his daughter to a dog. Pangu would not eat for three days, and the king asked, "Why do you not eat? Are you angry that I would not marry my daughter to you?"

Pangu said, "No, just cover me with your golden bell for seven days and I'll turn into a man." The king did so, but the princess peeked under on the sixth day. She found that Pangu already had man's body but retained a dog's head. However, once the bell had been raised the magic change stopped, and he remained a man with a dog's head. The princess married him and the settled in southern China, where they had four children, who became the ancestors of mankind. 

Mon-u-lum Dado

This story is one of the oldest of  Hunza and who knows could be real?


 I shall tell of a story that has been a mystery to our people for many generations, a story which some believe is true. Once a man called Darbesho(Dar-bee-sho) took his herd to the meadows in the direction of the hanuman mon  for grazing as was the tradition in Hunza.Upon arriving he let his herd graze and laid down on the grass for a nape, when he laid down to sleep a shout came "Darbesho Darbesho" he woke up and saw a beautiful maiden looking down at him. she said" My father is calling" . When darbesho herd  this he quickly got up and followed the beautiful maiden. They walked and soon came near Hanuman mon(mon means a giant rock or a hill). On approaching a door came out of the mountain and darbesho entered following the girl. When he entered he saw an old man with a golden mustache and there were seven beautiful girls sitting by him with sitars . The old man asked his daughters to play a tune for darbesho and asked darbesho to dance. The girls started playing with such sweet voices but darbesho hesitated, seeing this the old man spoke " Do not fear my son, i am your grandfather. My name is mon-uh-lum dado. These are my daughters and this one is my wife" said Mon-uh-lum dado. Hearing this Darbesho danced without fear. Mon-uh-lum dado asked his wife to get some diram bread for darbesho( diram bread is a special kind of sweet bread found in hunza) . After darbesho ate the bread. mon-uh_lum dado asked one of his daughters to lead darbesho back from where he came. One of the maidens got up and took darbesho back to his house. After this darbesho felt sleepy and slept. When he woke up again he thought it was all a dream but then he remembered it wasn't. He got out and told all of his friends about what happened. Upon hearing this all of them were amazed.

Achomawi Creation Myth

In the beginning all was water. In all directions the sky was clear and unobstructed. A cloud formed in the sky, grew lumpy, and turned into Coyote. Then a fog arose, grew lumpy, and became Silver-Fox. They became persons. Then they thought. They thought a canoe, and they said, "Let us stay here, let us make it our home." Then they floated about, for many years they floated; and the canoe became old and mossy, and they grew weary of it.
"Do you go and lie down," said Silver-Fox to Coyote, and he did so. While he slept, Silver-Fox combed his hair, and the combings he saved. When there was much of them, he rolled them in his hands, stretched them out, and flattened them between his hands. When he had done this, he laid them upon the water and spread them out, till they covered all the surface of the water. Then he thought, "There should be a tree," and it was there. And he did the same way with shrubs and with rocks, and weighted the film down with stones, so that the film did not wave and rise in ripples as it floated in the wind. And thus he made it, that it was just right, this that was to be the world. And then the canoe floated gently up to the edge, and it was the world.
Then he cried to Coyote, "Wake up! We are going to sink!"
And Coyote woke, and looked up; and over his head, as he lay, hung cherries and plums; and from the surface of the world he heard crickets chirping. And at once Coyote began to cat the cherries and the plums, and the crickets also.
After a time Coyote said, "Where are we? What place is this that we have come to?"
And Silver-Fox replied, "I do not know. We are just here. We floated up to the shore."
Still all the time he knew; but he denied that he had made the world. He did not want Coyote to know that the world was his creation. Then Silver-Fox said, "What shall we do? Here is solid ground. I am going ashore, and am going to live here."
So they landed, and built a sweat-house and lived in it. They thought about making people; and after a time, they made little sticks of service-berry, and they thrust them all about into the roof of the house on the inside. And by and by all became people of different sorts, birds and animals and fish, all but the deer, and he was as the deer are today. And Pine-Marten was the chief of the people; and Eagle was the woman chief, for she was Pine- Marten's sister. And this happened at 'texcag-wa [the word will not translate].
And people went out to hunt from the sweat-house. And they killed deer, and brought them home, and had plenty to eat. Arrows with pine-bark points were what they used then, it is said, for there was no obsidian. And Ground-Squirrel, of all the people, he only knew where obsidian could be found. So he went to steal it.
To Medicine Lake he went, for there Obsidian-Old-Man lived, in a big sweat- house. And Ground-Squirrel went in, taking with him roots in a basket of tules. And he gave the old man some to eat; and he liked them so much, that he sent Ground-Squirrel out to get more. But while he was digging them Grizzly-Bear came, and said, "Sit down! Let me sit in your lap. Feed me those roots by handfuls."
So Ground-Squirrel sat down, and fed Grizzly-Bear as he had asked, for he was afraid. Then Grizzly-Bear said, "Obsidian-Old-Man's mother cleaned roots for some one," and went away.
Ground-Squirrel went back to the sweat- house, but had few roots, for Grizzly-Bear had eaten so many. Then he gave them to the old man, and told him what the bear had said about him, and how he had robbed him of the roots. Then Obsidian-Old-Man was angry. "Tomorrow we will go," he said, Then they slept.
In the morning they ate breakfast early and went off, and the old man said that Ground-Squirrel should go and dig more roots, and that he would wait, and watch for Grizzly-Bear.
So Ground-Squirrel went and dug; and when the basket was filled, Grizzly-Bear came, and said, "You have dug all these for me. Sit down!"
So Ground-Squirrel sat down, and fed Grizzly-Bear roots by the handful. But Obsidian-Old-Man had come near. And Grizzly-Bear got up to fight, and he struck at the old man; but he turned his side to the blow, and Grizzly-Bear merely cut off a great slice of his own flesh. And he kept on fighting, till he was all cut to pieces, and fell dead. Then Ground-Squirrel and Obsidian-Old-Man went home to the sweat-house, and built a fire, and ate the roots, and were happy. Then the old man went to sleep.
In the morning Obsidian-Old-Man woke up, and heard Ground-Squirrel groaning. He said, "I am sick. I am bruised because that great fellow sat upon me. Really, I am sick."
Then Obsidian-Old-Man was sorry, but Ground-Squirrel was fooling the old man. After a while the old man said, "I will go and get wood. I'll watch him, for perhaps he is fooling me. These people are very clever."
Then he went for wood; and he thought as he went, "I had better go back and look."
So he went back softly, and peeped in; but Ground-Squirrel lay there quiet, and groaned, and now and then he vomited up green substances. Then Obsidian-Old -Man thought, "He is really sick," and he went off to get more wood; but Ground-Squirrel was really fooling, for he wanted to steal obsidian.
When the old man had gotten far away, Ground-Squirrel got up, poured out the finished obsidian points, and pulled out a knife from the wall, did them up in a bundle, and ran off with them.
When the old man came back, he carried a heavy load of wood; and as soon as he entered the sweat-house, he missed Ground-Squirrel. So he dropped the wood and ran after him. He almost caught him, when Ground-Squirrel ran into a hole, and, as he went, kicked the earth into the eyes of the old man, who dug fast, trying to catch him.
Soon Ground-Squirrel ran out of the other end of the hole; and then the old man gave chase again, but again Ground-Squirrel darted into a hole; and after missing him again, Obsidian-Old-Man gave up, and went home.
Ground-Squirrel crossed the river and left his load of arrow-points, and came back to the house and sat down in his seat. He and Cocoon slept together. Then his friend said, "Where have you been?"
And Ground-Squirrel replied, "I went to get a knife and to get good arrow-points. We had none."
Then the people began to come back with deer. And when they cooked their meat, they put it on the fire in lumps; but Ground-Squirrel and Cocoon cut theirs in thin slices, and so cooked it nicely.
And Weasel saw this, and they told him about how the knife had been secured. In the morning Ground-Squirrel went and brought back the bundle of points he had hidden, and handed it down through the smoke-hole to Wolf. Then he poured out the points on the ground, and distributed them to every one, and all day long people worked, tying them onto arrows. So they threw away all the old arrows with bark points; and when they went hunting, they killed many deer.

American Legends

Here is an old american legend, it's full of wisdom and kinda like the the ying,yang of the east.


 The Two Wolves

An old Grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, "Let me tell you a story.
I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do.

But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times." He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.

But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger,for his anger will change nothing.

Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit."

The boy looked intently into his Grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?"

The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, "The one I feed."