IV— THE MYTHS 



COSMOGONIC MVTHS 

 I. HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE 



The earth is ;i g-reat island fiDating- in a sea of water, and suspended 

 at each of the four I'ardinal j)()ints by a cord hanging down from 

 the sky vault, which is of solid rock. When the woi'ld grows old and 

 worn out, the people will die and the cords will bi'eak and let the earth 

 .sink down into the ocean, and all will be water again. The Indians 

 are afraid of this. 



When all was water, the animals were above in Galun'lati, beyond 

 the arch; but it was very unich crowded, and they wi>re wanting more 

 room. They wondered what was below the water, and at last Dayu- 

 ni'si, ''Beaver's Grandchild." the little Water-beetle, ofl'ered to go and 

 see if it could learn. It darted in every direction over the surface of 

 the water, but could tind no firm place to rest. Then it dived to the 

 bottom and came up with some soft nuid. which began to grow and 

 spread on every side until it became the island which we call tiie 

 earth. It was afterward fastened to the sky with four cords, but no 

 one remembei's who did this. 



At tirst the earth was tlat and very soft and wet. The animals were 

 anxious to get down, and sent out different birds to see if it was yet 

 drj', but they found no place to alight and came 1)ack again to Galun'- 

 lati. At last it seemed to be time, and they sent out the Buzzard and 

 told him to go and make ready for them. This was the Great Buz- 

 zard, the father of all the })uzzards we see now. He flew all over the 

 earth, low down near the ground, and it was still soft. When he 

 reached the Cherokee country, he was very tired, and his wings began 

 to flap and strike the ground, and wherever they struck the earth 

 there was a valley, and where they turned up again there was a 

 mountain. When the animals above saw this, they were afraid that 

 the whole world would be mountains, so they called him back, but the 

 Cherokee country remains full of moiuitains to this day. 



When the earth was dry and the animals came down, it was still 

 dark, so they got the sun and set it in a track to go every day across 

 the island from east to west, just overhead. It was too hot this way, 

 and Tsiska'giir, the Red Crawtish, had his shell scorched a bright red, 

 so that his meat was spoiled: and the Cherokee do not cat it. The 



