Western Apache

(map)

There was a time when nothing existed -- no earth, no sky, no sun or moon. Then a thin circular disc, no larger than a hand, yellow on one side and white on the other, appeared in midair. On the disc sat a bearded man little larger than a frog. This was Kuterastan, The One Who Lives Above, who had the task of creating all things.

Kuterastan created light. Then to help him he created Stenatlihan, Woman Without Parents; Chuganaai, the Sun; and Hadintin Skhin, a small boy. He next created Tarantula, the Big Dipper, the Wind, Lightning Maker, and Lightning Rumbler. Together they created Nigostun, the Earth, which at first was just a smooth, treeless, reddish-brown plain. Datilye, the Hummingbird, was created to examine the earth. After circling it, he reported that the earth was very smooth and beautiful, with water on the western side.

But the earth kept shifting and rolling, so Kuterastan made four great posts -- colored black, blue, yellow, and white -- to support it. As Stenatlihan sang, Nilchidilhkizn, the Wind, dashed to the cardinal points with the posts and placed them under the sides of the earth, and the world then sat still.

Feeling that there ought to be a sky, Kuterastan began another song. After chanting it four time, there appeared twenty-eight men and women to help make a sky. He chanted another song to create chiefs for the sky and the earth. Ndidilhkizn, the Lightning Maker, circled the world and returned with three people. Though they had head, arms and legs, they had no eyes, ears, hair, mouth, nose, fingers, or toes. Chuganaai sent for Doh, the Fly, to erect a sweathouse. The three newcomers and five others entered it. They sang their songs as the sweat began. When they were finished, Kuterastan and Stenatlihan placed them on a blanket and made their fingers, toes, etc. These three became Sky Boy, chief of the sky, Earth Daughter, in charge of earth and its crops, and Pollen Girl, in care of the health of earth's people.

Kuterastan made a few animals, birds, trees, and a hill to relieve the earth's barren flatness. Then he sent Agocho, the pigeon, to see how it looked. Four days later Agocho returned and said all was beautiful, but in four days more the water in the west would rise and flood the land. Kuterastan at once created a piñon tree. Stenatlihan tended it so that it grew to enormous size. With four great limbs as a framework, she made a very large water jar, covering it with gum from the piñon. When the water appeared as predicted, Kuterastan went up on a cloud, taking his twenty-eight helpers with him, while Stenatlihan summoned the others into the jar, closing its mouth when they were all in.

The flood completely submerged the earth for twelve days. Then the waters subsided, leaving the jar on the summit of the hill Kuterastan had made. The waters had changed the smooth plain into a series of mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys. The Turkey and Crow were the first to tour the land. At the base of the hill, the Turkey got the tips of his tail feathers dipped in a small alkaline creek, and they have been white ever since. They reported that everything looked beautiful as far as they went. Stenatlihan then sent the Pigeon to make a complete circuit, and he reported that the beautiful landscape extended in all directions.

Kuterastan and his helpers had completed the sky during the flood. Kuterastan then summoned his people to the valley below the hill, where he told them he was going to leave them. He charged Sky Boy, Earth Daughter, and Pollen Girl to care for the sky, earth, and people, Lightning Rumbler to have charge over the clouds and water, and Stenatlihan to have overall charge. Kuterastan and Stenatlihan rubbed their hands on their thighs and then cast their hands downward, and a great pile of wood appeared. They set it afire, and Kuterastan disappeared into the clouds of white billowy smoke. The other gods and goddesses followed, leaving the twenty-eight who had helped build the sky to people the earth. Chuganaai went east to travel with the sun; Stenatlihan made her home in the west. Hadintin Skhin and Pollen Girl sought homes among the clouds in the south, and the Big Dipper may still be seen in the north.

Edward S. Curtis, The North American Indian, vol. 1 (Cambridge, MA: The University Press, 1907), 1: 23-29.