Native American Legends
Apache Creation Legend
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.
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