Reading Notes, California and the Old Southwest Part A

Creation and Longevity: Coyote and Eagle are the main characters. Together they helped form the earth and all of its life. They each had separate jobs during the creation. Coyote created the planet, while eagle created the mountains. Coyote created hills, while Eagle created the valleys and ridges. Eagle was responsible for creating trees and bushes, and Coyote was responsible for medicine. Together they created man, and decided that if man wanted to live, they could, but if they wanted to die, they would let them die. Coyote was responsible for fire to warm the Indians.

Ole Mole and Coyote: In this story, we hear about the journey that Coyote took to get the fire back to the Indians. He traveled eastward towards the white Fire Stone and stole the fire stone to bring back to the Indians so that they could be warm. We then hear about Sun, and his nine brothers. Each of them was flaming hot just like Sun, so Coyote had to kill the nine brothers to save the world from burning. Then we hear about Moon, he had nine brothers as well, and each of them were made of ice. Coyote had to travel out of his way with a flint stone knife, and he killed the nine brothers with it to save the people from freezing at night. Whenever it rains on the earth, it is because there is a sick Indian in heaven crying. The rain started long ago, when there was a good young Indian on earth who died. In his passing, all the Indians cried so much that a flood came upon the earth and left only one couple standing.

Legend of the Flood: This story goes into more depth of the great flood talked about in the previous story. Coyote was the only one to be saved, and when he realized he was the only one left, he got right to work refurbishing the planet. He journeyed over the entire earth collecting feathers from the fallen birds. He took these feathers to every one of the once Indian villages, and he planted the feathers and grew trees. These trees then turned into man and the earth was inhabited again.

Creation of the World: This story is about the creation of the earth and the creator, The Earth Doctor. Before the earth was created, there was only a great wind that would blow the spirit of the Earth Doctor from place to place. At one point, the Earth Doctor came upon a little plant, and picked it up. He set it up straight and then he brought forth an earth cake. He began to grow the earth cake, and upon this earth cake, he created insects, spiders, and other plants to inhabit it. He danced on the earth cake until it stretched out to the size it is now. Once the earth cake was big enough, he then created a round sky to cover it. The earth continued to shake and break apart so the Earth Doctor created a spider to spin webs around the outer edges of the earth to hold it together. Then he made water, mountains, trees, grass and weeds, and all the other plants that we see now. He then poured some water into a bowl, and it became ice. He dropped this ice at the northern most part of the earth, and this became symbolic as the place where the earth and the heavens met. The sun grew from this ice and found its place into the sky. Once again he threw more ice into the northern most part of the earth, and it grew into the moon. He saw that even with the sun and the moon shining, the earth was still too dark, so he finally poured some water into his mouth and spit it across the sky to make the stars.

Spiders Creation: After the creation of the earth, a spider from the lower world came forward and created two parcels which grew into animals and insects. Then he placed to more parcels which grew into people. He separated these people into clans. Then he created six more kinds of people, who were in charge of the rain, lightning, thunder, clouds, rainbows, and lastly the earth. He then created homes for these people out of giant trees in the mountains of the north, east, west, and south, along with a tree on zenith, and finally in nadir. He then divided the world into three parts, the earth “ha-arts,” the middle plain “tinia,” and the upper plains “hu-wa-ka.” The people talked with each other and made homes and created light. The people used white shells, turkis, red stones, and and abalone shell to create the sun. When they realized that the sun only lit the world during the day, they created the moon. They then realized that the moon was not bright enough for the night, so they created star people, and made their eyes sparkle like white crystals.

Moon, Sun, and Tree
credit: pixabay

Bibliography: Katharine Berry Judson, Southwestern and California Legends, California and the Old Southwest