CHAPTER XIV 



THE MEDICINE DANCE 



(rls. 49,50) 



Origin Myth 



What it was out father sat on when he came to consciousness is 

 uncertain. Then his tears flowed and he began to cry. Not long did 

 he think. He saw nothing and nothing was there anywhere. He 

 took something from the seat on which he was sitting and made a 

 portion of our earth. 



Then he sent the earth below him. From where he sat and as he 

 looked at his own creation, it became similar to our earth. However, 

 nothing grew upon it and it was entirely without a covering. It 

 had not become quiet but was spinning around. 



Suddenly he thought, "If I do this, it will become quiet." Then 

 he made a covering (hair) for it. He took a weed from his seat to 

 make grass for the earth and earthward he sent it. That he did and 

 then looked at his own creation. It was not quiet but still kept on 

 turning. "This way I will do again," he thought. He took a tree 

 and toward the earth he sent it and again looked at his creation, but 

 still it kept spinning around. Then he sent four men, brothers, and 

 placed one in the east, one in the west, one in the south, and one in 

 the north, and again looked at his creation. It was, however, still spin- 

 ning around. " Perhaps it will become quiet in the following way," 

 he thought. So he made four of what are called water-spirits and 

 below the earth he placed them, and for that reason they are called 

 island-weights. Then he scattered a female sphit over the earth, by 

 which stones are meant. Finally he looked at his creation and he 

 saw that the earth had become quiet. 



He had sent the stones clear through the earth, throughout its 

 extent, and only the heads remained uncovered. He looked at his 

 creation and saw that it had become quiet. No clouds appeared 

 anywhere, the light of day appearmg motionless, and the vibrations 

 of heat seemed to be like spider webs going past, floating. 



All the birds that were to roam over the sky, all the quadrupeds 

 that were to be on this earth and those called subterranean animals^ 

 he placed in houses that he had made for them and scattered here 

 and there. Then he made all those insects that were destined to 

 live on the earth. Finally, at the end of his thinking he made us, 

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