An Apache Legend

[Rod]

An Apache Legend

In the beginning nothing existed: no Earth, no Sky, no Sun, no Moon.
Only darkness was everywhere.

Suddenly from the darkness emerged a thin disc, one side yellow and the
other side white, appearing suspended in midair. Within the disc sat a
small bearded man, Creator, the One Who Lives Above.

As if waking from a long nap, he rubbed his eyes and face with both hands.

When he looked into the endless darkness, light appeared above. He
looked down and it became a sea of light. To the East, he created yellow
streaks of dawn. To the West, tints of many colors appeared everywhere.
There were also clouds of different colors.

Creator wiped his sweating face and rubbed his hands together, thrusting
them downward. Behold! A shining cloud upon which sat a little girl.

"Stand up and tell me where are you going," said Creator. But she did
not reply. He rubbed his eyes again and offered his right hand to the
Girl-Without- Parents.

"Where did you come from?" she asked, grasping his hand.

"From the East where it is now light," he replied, stepping upon her cloud.

"Where is the Earth?" she asked.

"Where is the sky?" he asked, and sang, "I am thinking, thinking,
thinking what I shall create next." He sang four times, which was the
magic number.

Creator brushed his face with his hands, rubbed them together, then
flung them wide open! Before them stood Sun-God. Again Creator rubbed
his sweaty brow and from his hands dropped Small-Boy.

Creator, Sun-God, Girl-Without-Parents, and Small-Boy sat in deep
thought upon the small cloud.

"What shall we make next?" asked Creator. "This cloud is much too small
for us to live upon."

Then he created Tarantula, Big Dipper, Wind, Lightning-Maker, and some
Western clouds in which to house Lightning-Rumbler, which he just finished.

Creator sang, "Let us make Earth. I am thinking of the Earth, Earth,
Earth; I am thinking of the Earth," he sang four times.

All four gods shook hands. In doing so, their sweat mixed together and
Creator rubbed his palms, from which fell a small round, brown ball, not
much larger than a bean.

Creator kicked it, and it expanded. Girl-Without-Parents kicked the
ball, and it enlarged more. Sun-God and Small-Boy took turns giving it
hard kicks, and each time the ball expanded. Creator told Wind to go
inside the ball and to blow it up.

Tarantula spun a black cord and, attaching it to the ball, crawled away
fast to the East, pulling on the cord with all his strength. Tarantula
repeated with a blue cord to the South, a yellow cord to the West, and a
white cord to the North. With mighty pulls in each direction, the brown
ball stretched to immeasurable size--it became the Earth! No hills,
mountains, or rivers were visible; only smooth, treeless, brown plains
appeared.

Creator scratched his chest and rubbed his fingers together and there
appeared Hummingbird.

"Fly North, South, East, and West and tell us what you see," said Creator.

"All is well," reported Hummingbird upon his return. "The Earth is most
beautiful, with water on the West side."

But the Earth kept rolling and dancing up and down. So Creator made four
giant posts--black, blue, yellow, and white to support the Earth. Wind
carried the four posts, placing them beneath the four cardinal points of
the Earth. The Earth sat still.

Creator sang, "World is now made and now sits still," which he repeated
four times.

Then he began a song about the sky. None existed, but he thought there
should be one. After singing about it four times, twenty- eight people
appeared to help make a sky above the Earth. Creator chanted about
making chiefs for the Earth and sky.

He sent Lightning-Maker to encircle the world, and he returned with
three uncouth creatures, two girls and a boy found in a turquoise shell.
They had no eyes, ears, hair, mouths, noses, or teeth. They had arms and
legs, but no fingers or toes.

Sun-God sent for Fly to come and build a sweat house.
Girl-Without-Parents covered it with four heavy clouds. In front of the
East doorway she placed a soft, red cloud for a foot-blanket to be used
after the sweat.

Four stones were heated by the fire inside the sweat house. The three
uncouth creatures were placed inside. The others sang songs of healing
on the outside, until it was time for the sweat to be finished. Out came
the three strangers who stood upon the magic red cloud-blanket. Creator
then shook his hands toward them, giving each one fingers, toes, mouths,
eyes, ears, noses and hair.

Creator named the boy, Sky-Boy, to be chief of the Sky-People. One girl
he named Earth-Daughter, to take charge of the Earth and its crops. The
other girl he named Pollen-Girl, and gave her charge of health care for
all Earth- People.

Since the Earth was flat and barren, Creator thought it fun to create
animals, birds, trees, and a hill. He sent Pigeon to see how the world
looked. Four days later, he returned and reported, "All is beautiful
around the world. But four days from now, the water on the other side of
the Earth will rise and cause a mighty flood."

Creator made a very tall pinion tree. Girl-Without-Parents covered the
tree framework with pinion gum, creating a large, tight ball.

In four days, the flood occurred. Creator went up on a cloud, taking his
twenty-eight helpers with him. Girl-Without-Parents put the others into
the large, hollow ball, closing it tight at the top.

In twelve days, the water receded, leaving the float-ball high on a
hilltop. The rushing floodwater changed the plains into mountains,
hills, valleys, and rivers. Girl-Without-Parents led the gods out from
the float-ball onto the new Earth. She took them upon her cloud,
drifting upward until they met Creator with his helpers, who had
completed their work making the sky during the flood time on Earth.

Together the two clouds descended to a valley below. There,
Girl-Without- Parents gathered everyone together to listen to Creator.

"I am planning to leave you," he said. "I wish each of you to do your
best toward making a perfect, happy world.

"You, Lightning-Rumbler, shall have charge of clouds and water.

"You, Sky-Boy, look after all Sky-People.

"You, Earth-Daughter, take charge of all crops and Earth-People.

"You, Pollen-Girl, care for their health and guide them.

"You, Girl-Without-Parents, I leave you in charge over all."

Creator then turned toward Girl-Without-Parents and together they rubbed
their legs with their hands and quickly cast them forcefully downward.
Immediately between them arose a great pile of wood, over which Creator
waved a hand, creating fire.

Great billowy clouds of smoke at once drifted skyward. Into this cloud,
Creator disappeared. The other gods followed him in other clouds of
smoke, leaving the twenty-eight workers to people the Earth.

Sun-God went East to live and travel with the Sun. Girl-Without-Parents
departed Westward to live on the far horizon. Small-Boy and Pollen-Girl
made cloud homes in the South. Big Dipper can still be seen in the
Northern sky at night, a reliable guide to all.