The Plesiosaur Site - Creation Myths

41. Nuu-chal-nuth Creation Myth
http://www.stavacademy.co.uk/mimir/

The great spirit Quatz created woman, whom he left alone in the dark forest. The woman lamented day and night, until Quatz took pity and appeared to her in a canoe of copper, in which many handsome young men were rowing. One of the rowers told her it was the great spirit who was supplying her with the companionship she craved. At these words she cried the more, and as the tears trickled down, they fell to the ground. Quatz commanded her to look, and she saw with amazement a tiny child, a boy, entirely formed. Her firstborn son became the ancestor of the taises, while from her other sons the common people are descended.

42. Penobscot Creation Myth
http://www.stavacademy.co.uk/mimir/

In the beginning there was only Kloskurbeh, the All-Maker. One day from the foam of a wave a young lad was born. He became Helper-to-the-All-Maker. The two of them created animals, plants and all manner of things. Another day a beautiful woman was born of a magical plant and some dew. This woman, First Mother, married the Helper and produced many children. When there became too many people to live off the animals, First Mother asked her husband to kill her and drag her body back and forth across the land, and then bury her in the center of the field. He did as she asked and months later when he and the children returned to the field they found it full with ripe corn and in the center where he had buried her was fragrant tobacco.

43. Salish Creation Myth
http://www.stavacademy.co.uk/mimir/

The Old One made the people after he dried the land. He took the last mud balls from the earth and fashioned the people. Then he sent Coyote to teach these Indians how to do things. And Coyote traveled the earth teaching the Indians and making life easier and better for them.

44. Tewa Pueblo Creation Myth
http://www.stavacademy.co.uk/mimir/

In the beginning the People lived in the darkness of the underground. One day the Mole came to visit them. The People asked him if there was another world beside the one they lived in. The Mole told them to follow him. The People formed a line behind the Mole as he began to dig his way upward. The People took the soil he loosened and passed it back to the end of the line. That is why the tunnel that was dug was closed behind them and they could never find their way back. He led them to a land with sunlight and blue skies. That is the end of the story.

45. Tiahuanaco Creation Myth
http://www.stavacademy.co.uk/mimir/

In the beginning, Lord Con Ticci Viracocha, prince and creator of all things, emerged from the void and created the earth and the heavens. Then he created animals and a race of giants (who lived in eternal darkness as he had neglected to create a source of light). These beings enraged the Lord, and he turned them into stone. Then he flooded the earth till all was under water, and all life extinguished. In a new start, he created the sun, moon, and stars. Now he created new birds and animals. Again he decided to form human beings: these he fashioned from stone. Some he painted with long hair, some with short hair; some women he painted as pregnant, some as caring for the babies fashioned beside them; and on each figure he painted the clothes they would continue to wear. Finally he divided the stone figures into groups, giving each group its own language, its own food to grow, and its own songs to sing. Then he buried all the figures in the earth to await his command that would bring them to life. Viracocha then summoned his helpers and told them to go forth on the earth in different directions to prepare places for the new humans to occupy. Viracocha then traveled the land, calling each group into life as he passed the land they were to populate, whereupon he taught them how to live on the land selected for them. (There is a continuance of this story that has Viracocha and his companions, when finished with their teachings, walking on the waves of the ocean as they disappear toward the setting sun. Viracocha means "foam of the sea".)

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