Creation Myths of Primitive America: In relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of MankindCurtin, Jeremiah
Religion
Creation Myths of Primitive America: In relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind
Curtin, Jeremiah
Creation -- Mythology; Indian mythology -- North America; Indians of North America -- Folklore
He gathered each kind of flint into a heap by itself, then pushed it,
and said while he pushed, "You go to this place or to that place."
White flint he pushed and said, "Go you, to Hakamatu."
The white flint went away; disappeared from the robe; went to
Hakamatu, and there is plenty of white flint in that place to-day.
Blue flint he sent east to the edge of our Yana country. Yellow flint
he fixed at Iwiljami. To the west he sent flint with fine black, blue,
and white stripes; he sent it to Hakachimatu. Green flint he put in
Jigulmatu and said,--
"You will find these flints always in the places where I put them
to-day, and people who come after you will find them there. There will
be flint in those places forever, as long as people want it."
Besides flint Kaltsauna gave each of the Mapchemaina a wedge made of
deer-horn, and a piece of stone; showed them how to dress the flint
and make arrow-points. The first arrow-points on earth were those
which Kaltsauna made.
Next morning, after he had given the flint and shown the Mapchemaina
how to make arrow-points, Kaltsauna went home. On the second day Jupka
called all the Mapchemaina together and said,--
"Get your arrow-points ready; sweat to-night; swim early in the
morning, and go out on a great hunt to-morrow."
They did all that Jupka commanded, and went on the following morning
toward Jidjilpa. They went west along Jidjilpa, went on both sides of
it; went west toward Tahaujwakaina, which is in the cañon beyond
Hakamatu. They went to the rock and went beyond it.
Some distance west of the rock a grizzly bear ran out of a clump of
live-oak brush. Among the people hunting was Chichepa, and the bear
rushed at him. Chichepa had dreamed the night before that this rock in
the cañon had jumped up from the ground and frightened him. When he
came near the live-oak brush, the bear growled and sprang out.
Chichepa ran back, ran till he came to Tahaujwakaina, the bear close
after him. The bear was so angry that he tore up big oak-trees as he
ran. There was a hole in the top of the rock. Chichepa sprang into it.
The bear stood on his hind legs. He could barely look over the top of
the rock. He looked and saw nothing, dropped down, ran all around the
rock, looked everywhere, saw no sign of Chichepa. Then he turned back
and went into the thick clumps of brush from which he had started.
The people went west a while, then toward the south, and began to find
deer. Bohkuina killed the first deer, Howichinaipa the second,
Kechowala the third, Jihkulu the fourth, Petaina the fifth, and so on
till twenty had deer. The party divided then into two. Those who had
deer turned home toward Jigulmatu, and went in the order in which they
had killed them, Bohkuina first, the others following each in his
turn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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