Ramkokamekra

(map)

Before there were Indians, the Sun and Moon went around trying things out. Moon decided people who died should stay dead, and he stopped tools from working on their own, so that people would need to labor.

Sun wanted Woodpecker's hat, which was very hot. Woodpecker tossed it to Sun, who tossed it from hand to hand until it cooled enough that he could wear it. Then Moon wanted one, too. Woodpecker tossed one down, but Moon could not stand the heat and dropped it, and the earth caught on fire. Sun had already thought about what he would do if this happened, so he quickly ran and hid in a mud wasp's nest. Moon entered straw nests and tree holes and had to run again when the fire reached these; finally he escaped into an armadillo hole.

Moon felt hot and went to bathe in the river. Sun warned him not to touch the turtle there, but Moon did so anyway. The river waters rose and pulled Moon down the current. Sun came and tossed him branches to grab, but the current was too strong. Moon almost drowned, but he was able to grab a tree by the bank and pull himself up.

Johannes Wilbert and Karin Simoneau, Folk Literature of the Ge Indians (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 1984), 2: 17-30.