Читать книгу American Indian Creation Myths - Teresa Pijoan Phd - Страница 11

The Pawnee are part of the Caddoan language family. Once, they lived freely from Nebraska to southern Arkansas and into Kansas. The Pawnee were removed to the Indian Reserve in 1876. This version was given by two tellers and has been verified by several texts, one of which is Legends and Lore of the American Indians, edited by Terri Hardin, Barnes and Noble, New York, 1993, and the BAE Anthology. This story was gathered at a car repair shop in Window Rock, Arizona. The tellers wanted to remain anonymous.

In the beginning, Atius created the earth. He put Stone People on the earth. Stone People were strong and powerful, they felt they were more powerful than Atius. Every day they would laugh at Atius as they crushed animals, tore up trees, and trampled the land. Atius was disappointed in his creations.

Atius decided to kill them. He called the clouds from the North, East, South, and West to come and bring rain. The clouds came and poured water on the earth. Mountains slid into rivers, trees disappeared, birds couldn't fly for their wings were soaked, animals drowned.

Stone People tried to get to the mountain tops, but they were too heavy to move quickly and soon sank down into the mud and all was quiet, for a time.

Mosquito flew over the water. Tiny Little Duck swam around in circles in the water and soon the two of them found each other. Tiny Little Duck asked Mosquito how he survived. Mosquito answered, “I have been living on water foam. How have you been doing?”

Tiny Little Duck pointed at the water with his beak, “I dive down to where the green plants are under the water and they are my food.” Mosquito was excited. “I would like to see the green plants, this foam is not very good.”

Tiny Little Duck tucked Mosquito under her wing, between her feathers, where Mosquito would remain dry. Tiny Little Duck dove down under the water to the green plants, but as soon as she touched a plant, the water disappeared. Suddenly, all around them was dry land. There was nothing, it was dry, flat and quiet.

Atius decided to make all the living things he had made before. Trees, plants, animals, birds and other things appeared once again on the earth's surface. People were made and again, they were as strong and as powerful as Atius. These powerful people were disrespectful to Atius. He, once more, destroyed everything on earth.

One more time, he recreated all things, but this time he made them up in the Sky World. This way he could watch them and talk with them. He made First Man. First Man knew there was a creator and spoke to him, “How is it to be now?” Atius realized First Man was alone and made First Woman. After watching over all these things for some time, Atius decided they should be put down on the earth.

Atius called to Lightning and asked him to place all things on earth. Lightning came with Cloud and they put all the living things from the Sky Place on his back. Lightning with his excited spirit, zapped them down with his lightning bolt. The living beings crashed to earth, were pushed through the mud and sent underground. Lightning was saddened by this and cried. This is why there is always thunder when there is lightning.

Confusion brought fear and terror to the living beings underground. They were crawling over each other, trying to survive. Mole decided to burrow out of this chaos. He dug through the crust and into the brilliance of the sunlight. It was so bright he lost his sight. He buried down to the others to tell them what he had found and how it had hurt him.

The others followed Mole up to the surface. Mole didn't want to come up with them, but he did. The earth was barren. There were no trees, no plants, no birds, many animals were not there. It was decided they would walk away from this place to find another place which would better suit their needs.

Each night they camped and the next day they moved farther away from the place of emergence. On one of these mornings, the people moved without waking a young boy who was still sleeping. They left him there, alone. When he woke up he couldn't see which way the people had gone. He stared up into the sky and said, “Help! Father, help!”

Beside him there appeared a bundle. This bundle guided him to the people. When they saw the young boy, they were glad he found them and were impressed with his guiding bundle. Soon after this they had to stop. In front of them was a deep ravine. The sides of the ravine dropped radically and the people had no way of crossing it. They turned to the young boy with the bundle.

The boy opened the magic bundle and out flew Bone Striker. Bone Striker has a very sharp beak and whatever he pecks he punctures. He is considered a sacred bird. Bone Striker flew to the sides of the ravine and began to peck at the hard clay. Soon the sides of the ravine fell away and a bridge of dirt was made available for the people to cross.

Some crossed, but not all for this dirt bridge disappeared. Those who were left on the bridge, when it disappeared, fell into the ravine. They became badgers, snakes, and animals that burrow under the ground. This is where those animals came from and they are our ancestors.

The others walked on until they came to a thick forest. The trees grew tightly together and there was no path. Young Boy came forward with his bundle. He told the bundle of their problem and it opened up and out flew Owl.

Owl could see the way with his eyes. Owl led the people through the forest. Some of the people in the back of the line moved slowly. Those who couldn't keep up were old or too young. Trees grew to block them. These people changed into bears, wild cats, elks, raccoons, squirrels, and animals of the forest. They are our ancestors and we respect them when we hunt.

The other people followed Owl. Owl led them out of the forest. They were stopped by a huge river with roaring currents and raging waterfalls. A path opened up for the people to cross from one side of the river to the other where there was dry land. The people moved together and hurried across. There were those who were too slow and before they could get to the other side, the river roared forth and covered them. They became the fish, water snakes, toads, frogs and water creatures.

This was sad for many were lost. The grief of losing loved ones slowed the people down. They decided to play games and think of something else besides their loss. Some of the people were very good at the games and the people began to bet on who would win. This brought arguments and fighting. The fighting and anger frightened the animals which had been following the people, and they hurried off to hide and live their lives away from people.

The fighting people brought divisions within the group. Atius saw the people fighting with each other and in the night, he changed their language to many languages. In the morning, the people couldn't understand some of the others and this brought confusion. The people divided up in language groups which left them to go their own way. There were eight groups of people who left that morning.

The ninth remaining people were by themselves on the side of Blue Mountain. Young Boy was called to ask the bundle what they should do and where they should go.

Out of the bundle came the Pipe and when the Pipe was held in the air all of the people's anger disappeared. The Pipe, when smoked, is used for prayer to this day. Then out of the bundle appeared Flint Arrow Head. Young Boy told the people, “This is what we will make one day to protect ourselves and to use for the hunt.” Next an ear of corn came out of the bundle. “This is our Mother and she will feed us and guide us if we care for her. She will teach us to make bows and arrows when the time arrives.”

This ninth group traveled to the Missouri River. When they got to the Missouri River the bundle was brought forward again. Young Boy said, “This is where we are to live life, this is a good place.” The people made camp, but they decided it was too close to the river. This is the place where the Pawnee started. This is the story of The People.