Creation of the Skraelings'

Creation

Many, many moons ago, in the beginning of time, the earth was all water. There was no land. All the four-leggeds, all the animals, all the winged-ones, lived up in the sky on the clouds. They were waiting for the land to dry, but it would not dry. They would send one animal but he would come back unable to find dry land. The animals would regularly check the water below. Finally, after a dog had looked and reported back that it was still wet, they sent the water beetle. The water beetle dove into the water, grabbed a handful of mud at the bottom, brought it up and placed it on top of the water; and it started to dry, started to build land. He brought more and more; and still they waited for it to dry, still they waited and waited.

Finally, they sent grandfather buzzard, the mighty buzzard, down and the land was almost dry. As the buzzard flew, he'd fly down close to the land; and every time he would flap his mighty wings, he would form a mountain and a valley. That's why the Skraeling land has mountains and valleys in it today. All the animals came down and settled on the earth.

After they did, they realized they had no light. So they called to Grandfather and asked would he give them light, and he did. He brought to them the sun. He put the sun down right by the ground, and it was too hot for the animals. So they pushed and pushed, till finally they got it far enough out that it would not burn all the time; but it was still so hot that the crawfish was baked. That's why, if you look at him today, he is red from the sun being too close.

Finally, they got the sun far enough out so it would not burn and we would have night. And Grandfather told them, "Now that I have done this for you, I ask that all the four-legged, and all the animals, and all the plants stay awake for seven days and for seven nights." This is why today, when a warrior goes to cross his manhood, he fasts and sweats for seven days.

All the animals and all the plants fell asleep except for some. The owl stayed awake, and that's why he has vision to hunt at night now. The plants, the Douglas fir, the cedar, the pine, and a few others stayed awake for seven nights and for seven days. That's why only these, among all the plants, are allowed to stay green all the year round. The other plants fell asleep and so must sleep part of every year.

For many moons we did not have fire. People on the other side of the earth, they had fire; and the four-leggeds knew it. They held a council to determine how to obtain the fire. The first one to volunteer to go and bring back the fire was the great buzzard. He flew halfway across the earth, swooped down into the other's camp and, with a mighty claw, grabbed up a handful of the fire. As he was flying away, he hid it in the feathers on the back of his head. The fire was too hot and burned his feathers off. That's why, when you see the buzzard today, you'll see he has no feathers there. That's why he's bald. So the buzzard returned to camp.

Now the possum decided it was his turn to try. He would go and bring back the fire for his people. "I can sneak into camp," he thought. "I can get the fire." So he traveled halfway across the earth, waited till nightfall, sneaked into the camp, grabbed some of the fire and hid it in his tail. Before he could leave, the fire burned off all the fur on his tail. That's why the possum has no fur on his tail now. He used to have such a beautiful furry tail! He went back to camp, and they all thought that it was lost. They could not do this. They could not get the fire. But all the while, the small grandmother spider kept saying, "I can do this. I know I can!" Everyone laughed at her, but still the small spider kept insisting that she could do it! Still she wanted her chance to try! So they all agreed to let her try. First, she dug up some clay and made a pot, then began spinning her web. Halfway around the world she traveled, spinning her web and carrying her pot, all the way to the other's camp. She waited till night and sneaked into their camp. She took a bit of their fire, put it into the clay pot, then carried it back to their side of the earth to share with her people. That's how we got fire, and that's also the beginning of how the Skraeling people learned pottery making.

Many years ago, there were only two people in the world; Old Man and Old Woman. One time while they were travelling around the earth, Old Woman said to Old Man, "Let's come to an agreement of some kind. Let's decide how the people should live when they come to this earth."
"Well," said Old Man, "I should have the first say in everything."
"I agree with you," said Old Woman. "That is, of course, if I may have the second say in everything."
Then Old Man began to make his plans. "The women will have the job of tanning hides. They will rub the brains of the animals on the hides to make them soft, and scrape them with the scraping tools. And they should do all of this very quickly, for it won't be hard work."
"No," said Old Woman, "I won't agree to this. They have to tan hides like you say, but it has to be hard work, so that the good workers can be found out and honored."
"Well," said Old Man, "we will let the people have eyes and mouths, set straight up and down in their faces in a nice, neat line."
"No," replied Old Woman. "Let's not do that that way. Let's put the eyes and mouths in the face like you said, but let's put them crosswise."
"Well," said Old Man, "the people will have ten fingers on each hand."
"No, no, no!" Old Woman cried. "That's way too many. They'd just get in the way. They should have four fingers and one thumb on each hand."
And so the two went on like this until they'd decided everything for how the people would live when they came to the earth.
"What should we do about life and death?" asked Old Woman. "Should the people live forever, or are they going to die sometime?"
Old Woman and Old Man had difficulty agreeing about this one. But finally, Old Man said, "I'll tell you what. I'll throw a buffalo chip in the water. If it floats, the people will die for four days and then come back to life again; if it sinks, they'll die and stay dead."
So, he threw a buffalo chip into the water, and it floated.
"No," said Old Woman, "We WON'T decide it that way, since the buffalo chips always float. I'll throw this rock into the water. If it floats, the people will die for four days and come back, and if it sinks, they will die forever."
So, she threw the rock in the water, and it sank quickly.
"There," said she. "It is better for the people to die forever. If they didn't, they wouldn't feel sorry for each other, and there'd be no sympathy in the world."
"Well," answered Old Man, "let it be that way, then."
After a while, Old Woman had a daughter, who soon became sick and then died. Old Woman was then very sorry that they'd agreed that people should die forever. "Let's talk this over again!" she pleaded.
"No." answered Old Man. "We're not changing what we agreed upon."
And so, to this day, when people die, they stay dead.

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