Parallel Myths (11 page)

Yuma

I
n the very beginning, there was nothing but water and darkness. The water sloshed around, splashing foam and spray. Some of the spray congealed and formed the sky. Kokomaht, the Creator, lived underneath the water and was two beings in one. He rose up out of the water and said his own name, Kokomaht, the Father and Creator of all.

But out of himself came another being called Bakotahl. When the other being called to Kokomaht out of the water, he asked, “Did you rise up from the water with your eyes open or shut?” Kokomaht knew that this other was evil, and decided to deceive Bakotahl, answering that his eyes had been open. So Bakotahl emerged from the water with his eyes open and became blind. Evil ones to this very day are still blind:
bakotahl
means “the blind one.” All things made by
Kokomaht were good, while all things that Bakotahl produced were evil.

The two stood on the waters as there was no firm land created yet. Kokomaht asked his blind brother, “Where is the north?” But, being blind, Bakotahl pointed toward the south.

Then Kokomaht responded, “That is not the north,” and then he created the four directions. He faced west and said, “This shall be the west.” Then he faced east and said, “This shall be the east,” and so on. He took four steps to the south and the south came into being; he took four steps north to create the north.

Then Kokomaht told his blind brother, “I will scatter the waters and make earth.” So Kokomaht turned to face the north, creating a whirlwind that blew away enough water to create dry land. And Kokomaht then seated himself on the land. Bakotahl came to join him. Wishing to outdo his good brother, Bakotahl then said that he would make human beings.

Feeling around in the wet clay, Bakotahl took clay and water and began to make human beings, but they did not have fingers and toes. When the creatures were finished, Bakotahl showed them to Kokomaht, who knew that they were not right.

So Kokomaht decided to make humans. Taking clay, he formed a male with complete hands and feet. Kokomaht took the male and swung it four times to the north and then four times to the south, and it came to life. Then he made a female and did the same thing.

In the time that Kokomaht was busy making humans, Bakotahl had created seven beings. Kokomaht asked his brother what he was doing. Bakotahl responded that he was making humans, too. Kokomaht told his evil brother to examine the proper humans, perfectly made. Unlike the creatures made by Bakotahl, Kokomaht’s humans had fingers that enabled them to make things and create works of art. Bakotahl was jealous and didn’t like these perfect humans at all. Kokomaht stamped his feet and Bakotahl’s creatures fell into the water and became ducks and geese.

This angered Bakotahl, who made a whirlwind that created all the enemies of humankind: disease, bad intentions, and plagues.

Kokomaht was now alone on the land with only a man and a
woman. So Kokomaht went to work creating more people—a male and a female of each race—the Cocopahs, the Mojaves, and the ancestral parents of all other peoples on earth. The last group he created were the white people. Kokomaht taught all these couples how to have intercourse and propagate the race.

As the people scattered to their own places on the earth, Kokomaht saw that his work of creation was done. But among the people was the Frog (Hanyi), who rebelled against Kokomaht and wished to destroy him through her powerful magic. Hanyi burrowed into the ground underneath the feet of Kokomaht and pulled out his breath until his throat became dry and he began to die. As he died, he taught the people the road of death.

Kokomaht had made himself a son, Komashtam’ho, who took up the post of the Creator. It was Komashtam’ho who made the sun that shines during the day by spitting into his hand, making a ball, and casting it into the sky. He threw it into the east, where the sun still rises. He spat into his hand and cast it into the heavens, where it became the stars.

The death of Kokomaht caused the people to despair. Komashtam’ho decided to burn the body of his father, the Creator, teaching the people the funeral rites. But there were no trees to burn in the fire. So, with a word, Komashtam’ho called trees out of the north and built a funeral pyre.

Before his death, Kokomaht had told the Coyote, “Take my heart; be good to all my creatures.” But Coyote misunderstood the command. What Kokomaht had meant was “Be as I was;” Coyote thought that this command was to steal and eat the heart of Kokomaht. So the Coyote prowled around the funeral pyre waiting for just the right moment to climb up and eat the Creator’s heart.

Komashtam’ho knew of Coyote’s intentions and he dispatched the Coyote to travel to the east as the sun was rising, to fetch fire. Komashtam’ho knew very well that the humans would need fire in order to survive. When Coyote returned with the fire, he again plotted how to steal the heart of Kokomaht. However, the badger jumped up on the funeral pyre and succeeded in stealing the heart. All of the other animals tried to catch the badger, but none succeeded.

Komashtam’ho told the Coyote, “You will always be a thief, living by stealing. Men will despise you and kill you to defend their flocks.” And all the people heard this.

Then Komashtam’ho spoke to all the people as the flames consumed the body of Kokomaht. He told them, “You will never again see Kokomaht in the flesh; he is dead. All of you will die someday as well. If Kokomaht had been allowed to live, then all of you would be immortal and the world would be overpopulated. But Kokomaht’s spirit lives on and so will your spirits.” The fire was so hot that it dried up the land, turning it into the desert where the Yuma people live today.

Just then a whirlwind formed around the ashes of Kokomaht and the people asked what it was. Komashtam’ho replied that the wind was the mighty spirit of Kokomaht. Although the body dies, the spirit lasts forever. Each man’s spirit, at death, leaves the body and goes off to live with the spirits of those whom it loved in life.

The spirit of Kokomaht lives on to protect all that is good. Bakotahl lives under the earth and turns around, causing earthquakes. Bakotahl still causes suffering and evil among men. But the good spirit of Kokomaht can overcome any evil.

Pima

CHUHWUHT: THE SONG OF THE WORLD

I
n the beginning there was only darkness and water. The darkness congealed in certain places and it is from this that the Creator was made. He wandered aimlessly above the water [compare this to the Genesis story] and began to think. He became fully conscious of who he was and what he was to do. He then reached into his heart and pulled out a magic creation stick.

He used this as a walking stick and when some resin formed on the tip [compare this to the Japanese Creation myth], he made it into
ants. He took more of this resin and rolled it with his feet into a perfect ball while chanting

As he chanted, the ball grew larger and larger until it became the present size of the earth; thus was the earth created. Then the Creator took a great rock, broke it, and threw it into the heavens, where the pieces became the stars. Then he made the moon in a similar fashion, but neither the moon nor the stars furnished enough light.

So the Creator then took two bowls of water from out of his flesh and he thought thoughts of light. The sun appeared in the sky as he pulled the bowls apart. But the sun did not yet move. So the Creator bounced it like a ball to the east and it bounced back to the west, even as it does today.

Zuni

NOTE
: Compare the spread of the green algae in this myth with the theory of scientific evolution.

I
n the beginning, there was only moisture, which became clouds. The Great Father Sun, the Creator Awonawilona, thickened the clouds into water that then formed a great sea. With his own flesh Awonawilona fertilized the sea and green algae grew over it. The
green algae produced the earth and sky. The marriage of earth and sky and the action of the sun on the green algae produced all living things.

From the lowest of the four caves of the earth, the seeds of men and animals were incubated as eggs. The Creator provided enough warmth that the eggs were hatched and all living creatures were produced.

The Playanos
*
of Southern California

A
n invisible, all-powerful being named Nocuma made the world.
He
rolled it into a ball with his hands. But it did not sit in its appointed place so he inserted a great black rock called Tosaut as ballast.

In the beginning the sea was a series of small streams choked with fish. It was so crowded that some of the fish tried to colonize the land, but they failed and died in the hot sun. Then some of the larger fish attacked Tosaut, releasing salt and more water; thus was the ocean produced.

With the sea and land completed, Nocuma took some soil and sea-water and made a man, calling him Ejoni. Then he made a woman whom he called Ae. They were the parents of all human beings.

Maya

NOTE
: The Mayas were an advanced people who lived in the area now known as Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and the Mexican state of Yucatán, where their descendants now live. This story is from the Popol Vuh, the Mayan epic. It is both a Creation myth and a beautiful morality tale.

T
here were four gods in heaven and each of them sat on his chair, observing the world below. Then the yellow lord suggested that they make a man to enjoy the earth and offer praise to the gods. The other three agreed.

So the yellow god took a lump of yellow clay and made a man from it. But his creation was weak; it dissolved in water and could not stand upright.