FABLE AND FOLKLORE 105 



lection of northern archives," that the deluge resulted 

 from the sudden melting of a snowfall so deep that tall 

 trees were buried. This disastrous melting was produced 

 by the release of the sun from a bug in which it had been 

 hidden by sorcery. Then the sun flew away and began 

 to shed its heat. There's a sun-myth for you ! 



In the resulting freshet so philosophically accounted for 

 the few persons who had been left unburied in the world 

 of snow fled toward a high mountain, but only a man 

 and a woman reached it. On this mountain were gathered 

 pairs of all the kinds of animals in the country. The flood 

 persisted, and there was nothing to eat. Then the mal- 

 lard, the little grebe, or hell-diver, and the buzzard (?) 

 were sent to dive into the sea and try to find its bottom. 

 All failed repeatedly, but the buzzard dived again a few 

 days later, and came up with his bill full of earth, which 

 showed that the flood was subsiding. Finally the waters 

 drained away or dried up, but the soil had been so ruined 

 by submergence that not even roots could be found to 

 serve as food. When everybody was nearly starved, how- 

 ever, the human pair and the animals succeeded in finding 

 the home of Raven, who lived far away, and from his 

 stores they obtained food. Then a new world of life 

 began. 



The Cheyennes and the Arikarees say that at the height 

 of the flood "a person" (masculine) was floating in the 

 water with all sorts of aquatic birds swimming about 

 him. He asked that one of them dive and get some earth. 

 All tried it and failed until a small duck brought up a 

 little mud in its beak and gave it to the man. He kneaded 

 it with his fingers until it was dry, then made little piles of 

 it on the surface of the water, which enlarged and 

 coalesced into a wide plain. 



