Apache Creation

Helga "Blazing MOOn"

In the beginning nothing existed--no earth, no sky, no sun, no moon,
only darkness was everywhere.

Suddenly from the darkness emerged a thin disc, one side yellow and
the other side white, appearing suspended in midair. Within the disc
sat a small bearded man, Creator, the One Who Lives Above. As if
waking from a long nap, he rubbed his eyes and face with both hands.

When he looked into the endless darkness, light appeared above. He
looked down and it became a sea of light. To the east, he created
yellow streaks of dawn. To the west, tints of many colours appeared
everywhere. There were also clouds of different colours.

Creator wiped his sweating face and rubbed his hands together,
thrusting them downward. Behold! A shining cloud upon which sat a
little girl.

"Stand up and tell me where are you going," said Creator. But she did
not reply. He rubbed his eyes again and offered his right hand to the
Girl-Without-Parents.
"Where did you come from?" she asked, grasping his hand.
"From the east where it is now light," he replied, stepping upon her
cloud.
"Where is the earth?" she asked.
"Where is the sky?" he asked, and sang, "I am thinking, thinking,
thinking what I shall create next." He sang four times, which was the
magic number.

Creator brushed his face with his hands, rubbed them together, then
flung them wide open! Before them stood Sun-God. Again Creator rubbed
his sweaty brow and from his hands dropped Small- Boy.

All four gods sat in deep thought upon the small cloud.

"What shall we make next?" asked Creator. "This cloud is much too
small for us to live upon."

Then he created Tarantula, Big Dipper, Wind, Lightning-Maker, and
some western clouds in which to house Lightning-Rumbler, which he
just finished.

Creator sang, "Let us make earth. I am thinking of the earth, earth,
earth; I am thinking of the earth," he sang four times.

All four gods shook hands. In doing so, their sweat mixed together
and Creator rubbed his palms, from which fell a small round, brown
ball, not much larger than a bean.

Creator kicked it, and it expanded. Girl-Without-Parents kicked the
ball, and it enlarged more. Sun-God and Small-Boy took turns giving
it hard kicks, and each time the ball expanded. Creator told Wind to
go inside the ball and to blow it up.

Tarantula spun a black cord and, attaching it to the ball, crawled
away fast to the east, pulling on the cord with all his strength.
Tarantula repeated with a blue cord to the south, a yellow cord to
the west, and a white cord to the north. With mighty pulls in each
direction, the brown ball stretched to immeasurable size--it became
the earth! No hills, mountains, or rivers were visible; only smooth,
treeless, brown plains appeared.

Creator scratched his chest and rubbed his fingers together and there
appeared Hummingbird.

"Fly north, south, east, and west and tell us what you see," said
Creator.
"All is well," reported Hummingbird upon his return. "The earth is
most beautiful, with water on the west side."

But the earth kept rolling and dancing up and down. So Creator made
four giant posts--black, blue, yellow, and white to support the
earth. Wind carried the four posts, placing them beneath the four
cardinal points of the earth. The earth sat still.

Creator sang, "World is now made and now sits still," which he
repeated four times.

Then he began a song about the sky. None existed, but he thought
there should be one. After singing about it four times, twenty- eight
people appeared to help make a sky above the earth. Creator chanted
about making chiefs for the earth and sky.

He sent Lightning-Maker to encircle the world, and he returned with
three uncouth creatures, two girls and a boy found in a turquoise
shell. They had no eyes, ears, hair, mouths, noses, or teeth. They
had arms and legs, butno fingers or toes.

Sun-God sent for Fly to come and build a sweathouse. Girl- Without-
Parents covered it with four heavy clouds. In front of the east
doorway she placed a soft, red cloud for a foot-blanket to be used
after the sweat.

Four stones were heated by the fire inside the sweathouse. The three
uncouth creatures were placed inside. The others sang songs of
healing on the outside, until it was time for the sweat to be
finished. Out came the three strangers who stood upon the magic red
cloud-blanket. Creator then shook his hands toward them, giving each
one fingers, toes, mouths, eyes, ears, noses and hair.

Creator named the boy, Sky-Boy, to be chief of the Sky-People. One
girl he named Earth-Daughter, to take charge of the earth and its
crops. The other girl he named Pollen-Girl, and gave her charge of
health care for all Earth-People.

Since the earth was flat and barren, Creator thought it fun to create
animals, birds, trees, and a hill. He sent Pigeon to see how the
world looked. Four days later, he returned and reported, "All is
beautiful around the world. But four days from now, the water on the
other side of the earth will rise and cause a mighty flood."

Creator made a very tall pinon tree. Girl-Without-Parents covered the
tree framework with pinon gum, creating a large, tight ball.

In four days, the flood occurred. Creator went up on a cloud, taking
his twenty-eight helpers with him. Girl-Without-Parents put the
others into the large, hollow ball, closing it tight at the top.

In twelve days, the water receded, leaving the float-ball high on a
hilltop. The rushing floodwater changed the plains into mountains,
hills, valleys, and rivers. Girl-Without-Parents led the gods out
from the float-ball onto the new earth. She took them upon her cloud,
drifting upward until they met Creator with his helpers, who had
completed their work making the sky during the flood time on earth.

Together the two clouds descended to a valley below. There, Girl-
Without-Parents gathered everyone together to listen to Creator.

"I am planning to leave you," he said. "I wish each of you to do your
best toward making a perfect, happy world.
"You, Lightning-Rumbler, shall have charge of clouds and water.
"You, Sky-Boy, look after all Sky-People.
"You, Earth-Daughter, take charge of all crops and Earth-People.
"You, Pollen-Girl, care for their health and guide them.
"You, Girl-Without-Parents, I leave you in charge over all."

Creator then turned toward Girl-Without-Parents and together they
rubbed their legs with their hands and quickly cast them forcefully
downward. Immediately between them arose a great pile of wood, over
which Creator waved a hand, creating fire.

Great billowy clouds of smoke at once drifted skyward. Into this
cloud, Creator disappeared. The other gods followed him in other
clouds of smoke, leaving the twenty-eight workers to people the
earth.

Sun-God went east to live and travel with the Sun. Girl-Without-
Parents departed westward to live on the far horizon. Small-Boy and
Pollen-Girl made cloud homes in the south. Big Dipper can still be
seen in the northern sky at night, a reliable guide to all.