Week 11 Story - The Creation of the World

Oak Tree

In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness. Over time this darkness grew and accumulated, and the spirit of the Earth Doctor floated over this darkness like a piece of spiders web in the wind. Noticing how lonesome he was, he began to weep.

As his teardrops fell and hit the darkness, they began to form a small pond. After noticing the pond, the Earth doctor ceased his weeping. He came close to the pond to examine his creation. In it, he saw his reflection for the first time. He saw his rich brown skin, deep brown eyes, and long black hair.

He took a piece of his hair and let fall into the pond. Out sprouted a big healthy oak tree, but with nothing to keep the tree in place, it kept falling over. The Earth Doctor then scooped up some of the darkness and mixed it with some water from the pond and some of the leaves of the oak tree and squeezed it, and molded it between his hands. In his hands, he had a small ball of dirt. He blew on it, and it dispersed and covered the ground in a layer of rich soil.

The oak tree took root and was able to stay upright. The Earth Doctor, now content with his creation, still felt lonesome. He took some soil and mixed it with water from the pond and created different figures from the mud. Then he placed them under the oak tree and blew on them. The figures came to life and so the coyote, eagle, bison, deer, crow, spider, and fish were created.

But everything was still in darkness, for the animals could not see as the Earth Doctor could. So they asked the Earth Doctor for light. The Earth Doctor took some water from the pond and breathe cold air onto it. It froze and he through the ball of ice into the sky where it shines brightly as the sun. But this was too much for the animals, so they asked the Earth Doctor to make it stop. So he pulled the sun from the sky, and the animals complained again saying that they could not see again. So the Earth Doctor made a new ball of ice and covered it with a layer of leaves from the oak tree so that it may not shine as bright. This he threw in the air and shines as what we now call the moon. When the animals saw that it was still very dark, they complained once more saying that they missed the sun. So the Earth Doctor threw the sun into the sky once more and made it so that the sun and moon would take turns shining in the sky, giving us day and night.

Once the animal's eyes got used to the light they looked at each other and they did not like each other. They wanted to be as far away from each other as possible. Yet there was nowhere to go, so the Earth doctor created the plains and told the bison that it may roam free among the grasses. Next, he created the sky and told the crow he may soar through the winds. Then he created the forest and told the deer that it may take shelter amongst the trees. Then it created the mountains and told the eagle it may watch the earth from its highest points. Then he turned the ponds into a vast ocean and told the fish it may swim in its waters. The coyote and spider, being clever beings, did not want to be restricted to a single place. So they snuck away from the Earth Doctor and now can be found amongst all the lands.

Authors Note:

My story is loosely based on the story of "The Creation of the World" from the book Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson (1912). It's a story from the Pima people from central and southern Arizona. I did not keep many of the things from the original story, I kept the Earth Doctor as my main character, as well as some of the animals. The creation of the moon and sun were also similar to that of the original story as well as the beginning.