Allan A. Macfarlan - Native American Tales and Legends

In the beginning there was no sun, no moon, no stars. All was dark, and everywhere there was only water. A raft came floating on the water. It came from the north, and in it were two personsTurtle (Anosma) and Father-of-the-Secret-Society (Peheipe). The stream flowed very rapidly. Then from the sky a rope of feathers, called Pokelma, was let down, and down it came Earth-Initiate. When he reached the end of the rope, he tied it to the bow of the raft, and stepped in. His face was covered and was never seen, but his body shone like the sun. He sat down, and for a long time said nothing.

At last Turtle said, Where do you come from? and Earth-Initiate answered, I come from above. Then Turtle said, Brother, can you not make for me some good dry land, so that I may sometimes come up out of the water? Then he asked another time, Are there going to be any people in the world? Earth-Initiate thought awhile, then said, Yes. Turtle asked, How long before you are going to make people? Earth-Initiate replied, I dont know. You want to have some dry land: well, how am I going to get any earth to make it of? Turtle answered, If you will tie a rock about my left arm, Ill dive for some.

Earth-Initiate did as Turtle asked, and then, reaching around, took the end of a rope from somewhere, and tied it to Turtle. When Earth-Initiate came to the raft, there was no rope there: he just reached out and found one. Turtle said, If the rope is not long enough, Ill jerk it once, and you must haul me up; if it is long enough, Ill give two jerks, and then you must pull me up quickly, as I shall have all the earth that I can carry. Just as Turtle went over the side of the boat, Father-of-the-Secret-Society began to shout loudly.

Turtle was gone a long time. He was gone six years; and when he came up, he was covered with green slime, he had been down so long. When he reached the top of the water, the only earth he had was a very little under his nails: the rest had all washed away. Earth-Initiate took with his right hand a stone knife from under his left armpit, and carefully scraped the earth out from under Turtles nails. He put the earth in the palm of his hand, and rolled it about till it was round; it was as large as a small pebble. He laid it on the stern of the raft. By and by he went to look at it: it had not grown at all. The third time that he went to look at it, it had grown so that it could be spanned by the arms. The fourth time he looked, it was as big as the world, the raft was aground, and all around were mountains as far as he could see. The raft came ashore at Tadoiko, and the place can be seen today.

When the raft had come to land, Turtle said, I cant stay in the dark all the time. Cant you make a light, so that I can see? Earth-Initiate replied, Let us get out of the raft, and then we will see what we can do. So all three got out. Then Earth-Initiate said, Look that way, to the east! I am going to tell my sister to come up. Then it began to grow light, and day began to break; then Father-of-the-Secret-Society began to shout loudly, and the sun came up. Turtle said, Which way is the sun going to travel? Earth-Initiate answered, Ill tell her to go this way, and go down there. After the sun went down, Father-of-the-Secret-Society began to cry and shout again, and it grew very dark. Earth-Initiate said, Ill tell my brother to come up. Then the moon rose. Then Earth-Initiate asked Turtle and Father-of-the-Secret-Society, How do you like it? And they both answered, It is very good. Then Turtle asked, Is that all you are going to do for us? and Earth-Initiate answered, No, I am going to do more yet. Then he called the stars each by its name, and they came out.

When this was done, Turtle asked, Now what shall we do? Earth-Initiate replied, Wait, and Ill show you. Then he made a tree grow at Tadoiko, the tree called Hukimtsa ; and Earth-Initiate and Turtle and Father-of-the-Secret-Society sat in its shade for two days. The tree was very large, and had twelve different kinds of acorns growing on it.

After they had sat for two days under the tree, they all went off to see the world that Earth-Initiate had made. They started at sunrise, and were back by sunset. Earth-Initiate traveled so fast that all they could see was a ball of fire flashing about under the ground and the water. While they were gone, Coyote and his dog Rattlesnake came up out of the ground. It is said that Coyote could see Earth-Initiates face. When Earth-Initiate and the others came back, they found Coyote at Tadoiko. All five of them then built huts for themselves, and lived there at Tadoiko, but no one could go inside of Earth-Initiates house. Soon after the travelers came back, Earth-Initiate called the birds from the air, and made the trees and then the animals. He took some mud, and of this made first a deer; after that, he made all the other animals. Sometimes Turtle would say, That does not look well: cant you make it some other way?

Some time after this, Earth-Initiate and Coyote were at Estobusin Yamani. Earth-Initiate said, I am going to make people. In the middle of the afternoon he began, for he had returned to Tadoiko. He took dark red earth, mixed it with water, and made two figures, one a man, and one a woman. He laid the man on his right side, and the woman on his left, inside his house. Then he lay down himself, flat on his back, with his arms stretched out. He lay thus and sweated all the afternoon and night. Early in the morning the woman began to tickle him in the side. He kept very still, and did not laugh. By and by he got up, thrust a piece of pitchwood into the ground, and fire burst out. The two people were very white. No one today is as white as they were. Their eyes were pink, their hair was black, their teeth shone brightly, and they were very handsome.

It is said that Earth-Initiate did not finish the hands of the people, as he did not know how it would be best to do it. Coyote saw the people, and suggested that they ought to have hands like his. Earth-Initiate said, No, their hands shall be like mine. Then he finished them. When Coyote asked why their hands were to be like that, Earth-Initiate answered, So that, if they are chased by bears, they can climb trees. The first man was called Kuksu, and the woman, Morning-Star Woman (La Idambulum Kule).

When Coyote had seen the two people, he asked Earth-Initiate how he had made them. When he was told, he thought, That is not difficult. Ill do it myself. He did just as Earth-Initiate had told him, but could not help laughing, when, early in the morning, the woman poked him in the ribs. As a result of his failing to keep still, the people were glass-eyed. Earth-Initiate said, I told you not to laugh, but Coyote declared he had not. This was the first lie.