Parallel Myths (21 page)
Authors: J.F. Bierlein
NOTE
: It would appear that Hawaii had its own indigenous flood myth before the arrival of the missionaries. But there are two versions, one clearly influenced by the Bible story and one that preceded it. The following comes from Martha Beckwith,
Hawaiian Mythology
.
T
welve generations from the beginning of the race, in the genealogy of Kumuhonua, during the so-called Era of Overturning, occurs the name of Nu’u, called also Nana Nu’u … He is called “a great Kahuna” and in his time came the flood
known as Kai-a-ka-hina-li’i, which may be translated as “Sea caused by Hahinali’i” or as “Sea that made the chiefs fall down.” Nu’u himself is called Kahinali’i from this catastrophe, and after the flood he is known as Ku-kapuna, his wife as Ku-kekoa, and their three sons have names of winds that bring rain.The story of Nu’u as told to the missionaries shows a decided tendency to strain after biblical analogy.
In the Fornander version, Nu’u builds “a large vessel and a house on top of it …” In this he is saved from the flood and after its subsidence Kane, Ku, and Lono enter the house and send him outside, where he finds himself on the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii at a place where there is a cave named after his wife Lili-noe. He worships the moon with offerings of awa (a leaf), pig, and coconuts, thinking that this is the god who has saved him. Kane descends (some say on a rainbow) and explains his mistake and accepts his offerings. In this version, as told on the island of Hawaii, he has three sons and his wife is named Lili-noe….
Although Hawaiian tradition knows of the flood of Kahinali’i and the term Wa’a-halau-ali’i-o-ka-moku is familiar to old Hawaiians and may be translated “Canoe like a chiefs house,” the idea of a houseboat such as the legend describes is not a native tradition. Old people on Hawaii [have said] that “they were informed by their fathers that all the land had been overflowed by the sea except a small peak on Mauna Kea where two human beings were preserved from the destruction that overtook the rest, but that they had never heard of a ship of Noah, having always been accustomed to call it the Kai-akinali’i.
(Aztec)
NOTE
: In contrast to the Hawaiians, the Aztecs did have a flood myth that was clearly indigenous and preceded the arrival of Europeans. Note the similarities with the American Indian myths given later.
D
uring the era of the fourth sun, the Sun of Water, the people grew very wicked and ignored the worship of the gods. The gods became angry and Tlaloc, the god of rains, announced that he was going to destroy the world with a flood. However, Tlaloc was fond of a devout couple, Tata and Nena, and he warned them of the flood. He instructed them to hollow out a great log and take two ears of corn—one for each of them—and eat nothing more.
So Tata and Nena entered the tree trunk with the two ears of corn, and it began to rain. When the rains subsided and Tata and Nena’s log landed on dry land, they were so happy that they caught a fish and ate it, contrary to the orders of Tlaloc. It was only after their stomachs were full that they remembered Tlaloc’s command.
Tlaloc then appeared to them and said, “This is how I am repaid for saving your lives?” They were then changed into dogs. It was at this point, where even the most righteous people were disobedient, that the gods destroyed the world, ushering in the present era of the Fifth Sun.
(Greece)
A
t a very early point in history, perhaps even before the end of the golden age, humankind grew very wicked and arrogant. They
grew more tiresome by the day until Zeus finally decided to destroy them all. Prometheus, Titan creator of mankind, was warned of this coming flood and he in turn warned his human son, Deucalion, and Deucalion’s wife, Pyrrha. Prometheus placed the two of them in a large wooden chest. And it rained for nine days and nine nights until the entire world was flooded except for two mountain peaks in Greece, Mount Parnassus and Mount Olympus, the latter being the home of the gods.
Finally the wooden chest landed on Mount Parnassus, and Deucalion and Pyrrha got out of it only to see that the entire world around them had been destroyed. From the trunk, they took out enough provisions to feed themselves until the waters subsided. Then when they came down from the mountain, they were horrified. Everywhere around them were dead bodies of humans and animals; everything was covered with silt, slime, and algae. The couple was grateful to be saved and they gave thanks to the gods for their deliverance.
Zeus spoke to them out of the sky, saying, “Veil your heads and cast behind you the bones of your mother.” Pyrrha responded, “We have no mother with us, only my husband and I were in the chest.” But Deucalion knew what Zeus meant and threw some rocks behind him. For rocks are the bones of Mother Earth, the mother of all. These rocks were transformed into people who repopulated the earth.
*
Mandan
NOTE
: This account comes from George Catlin’s nineteenth-century book,
Manners, Customs and Conditions of North American Indians
.
In the middle of the ground, which is trodden like a hard pavement, is a curb (somewhat like a large hogshead [barrel] standing
on its end) made of planks (and bound up with hoops) some eight or nine feet high, which they religiously preserve and protect from year to year, free from mark or scratch, and which they call “the big canoe;” it is undoubtedly a symbolic representation of their traditional history of the flood.
Knisteneaux
NOTE
: This story was also reported by Catlin.
M
any centuries ago a great flood covered the earth, destroying all the nations. At that time, all of the tribes of the Coteau des Prairies climbed up the Coteau, a ridge emerging out of the prairie, in order to escape the rising waters. After the tribes had gathered, the water rose to cover them all, turning their bodies into a mass of red pipestone rock. From that day on, the Coteau has been considered neutral ground to all the tribes, and there they could meet in safety to smoke the peace pipe.
While the people were all drowning, a young virgin named K-wap-tah-w grabbed the foot of a very large bird who was flying over the Coteau. The bird carried her up to a high cliff, safely above the flood waters. Here the girl had twins fathered by the war-eagle. From those twins the world was repopulated.
Choctaw
NOTE
: This story was told to Catlin by the Choctaw Peter Pinchlin.
O
ur people have always had a tradition of the Deluge, which happened in this way: There was total darkness for a great time over the whole of the earth; the Choctaw doctors or mystery-men looked out for daylight for a long time, until at last they despaired of ever seeing it, and the whole nation was very unhappy. At last a light was discovered in the North, and there was great rejoicing, until it was found to be great mountains of
water rolling on, which destroyed them all, except a few families who had expected it and built a great raft, on which they were saved.
Creek-Natchez
T
he dog warned his master to build a raft because all things were about to be destroyed by a flood. The waters rose, lifting man and dog above the clouds into a wonderful land of trees. The dog told the man that the only way he could ever return to his homeland was if he, the dog, were thrown into the water. The man was loyal to his friend and was reluctant to do this. The dog also told the man not to leave the raft for seven days after the waters had subsided. With pain in his heart, the man threw the dog overboard.
As the dog had predicted, the waters did subside and the man waited seven days as he was instructed. At the end of the seven days, multitudes of people approached the raft, some wet and dressed in rags, and others were dressed in finery. When they arrived at the raft it was clear that they were not humans, but spirits of the many killed in the flood.