"Bid every living creature which is on the hill take off the nail from
the little finger of his right hand, if a man; if a bird, or beast, of
the right foot or claw. When each has done this, bid him blow in the
hollow of the nail with the right eye shut, pronouncing these
words--'_Shake Tebe skahpeshim ose_,' that is, 'Nail become a canoe,
and save me from the wrath of the moon.' The nail so besought will
become a large canoe, and in this canoe will its owner be safe."
The Master of Life ceased speaking, and the hunter rose to see that
his commands were obeyed, both by his family and the beasts. Soon was
each supplied with a vehicle of safety, by the side of which he stood
as the influence of the mother of the stars caused the waters to flow
in upon the hill Wecheganawaw. The canoes rose buoyant upon the element,
and soon floated upon the surface of the waters which covered the
face of the earth. That they might not be dispersed Sakechak caused
them all to be bound together by thongs of buffalo-skin.
They continued floating for a long time upon the surface of the
waters, till at last Sakechak said, "This will not do--we must have
land. Go," said he, to a raven which sat in her canoe near him, "and
fetch me a little earth from the bottom of the abyss. I will send a
woman, because the eyes of a woman are so curious, and searching, and
inquisitive, that if it is wished to find anything hidden in utter
darkness, and lost to all else, a woman will be sure to find it before
you have counted your fingers over twice."
The raven, proud of the praise bestowed on her sex, answered, that she
had no objection to undertake the commission. So, leaving her
tail-feathers at home, she dived into the abyss. She was gone a long
time, but, notwithstanding her being a woman, she returned baffled of
her object. Whereupon Sakechak said to the otter, "My little man, I
will send you to the bottom, and see if your industry and perseverance
will enable you to accomplish what has been left undone by the wit and
cunning of the raven." So the otter departed upon his dangerous
expedition.
He accomplished its object. When he again appeared on the earth, he
held in his paw a lump of black mud, as large as the tip of the thumb
of a full-grown man. This he gave into the hands of Sakechak. But the
hunter of the hill Wecheganawaw was without the wisdom which would
make the mud avail to the re-production of the world. He fell on his
knees, and besought the Great Master of all to endow him with the
knowledge which should lead to the re-establishment of things as they
were before the deluge. The Master answered not; but his intentions to
communicate his wishes to the good hunter were made known by the ant.
So Sakechak slept and dreamed, and this was his dream:--
He saw again the Great Master, who bade him divide the lump of mud
into five portions. The central portion--that which came out of the
middle of the lump--he was commanded to take into the hollow of his
hand, to wet with spittle, and to mould into a cake, a little highest
in the middle, and flattened all around the edges. He was commanded,
when he had done this, to blow a bubble upon the water, and set the
little cake afloat in the bubble; with these words:--_I-yah
ask-ke_--"I make an earth." He was not to suffer the little world to
break away, but was to attach it to his canoe by a string formed of
the sinews of the mud-turtle. As it increased in size, he was to strew
upon it the remaining portions of mud, which he was enjoined to be
very careful to crumble fine, and rub thoroughly to dust. The voice
told him, that in less than three moons the lump would be so swelled
that he might disembark upon it, he and all the creatures that were
with him.
Sakechak did as the voice of the Master bade him. He divided the lump
into five portions, and that which came out of the middle of the lump
he moulded into a cake, a little highest in the middle, and flattened
all around the edges. He blew the bubble upon the water, and he set
the cake afloat in the bubble, having first fastened it to his canoe
with a string formed of the sinews of the mud-turtle. As it increased
in size, he strewed upon it a part of the remaining portions of the
lump, first crumbling them very fine, and rubbing them thoroughly into
dust. The wind, which was high at the time, blew the yellow dust,
which was lightest, into his eyes, and thence the eyes of the Indian
have always been tinged with yellow. The little cake increased rapidly
in size. One day, as Sakechak had taken up the third portion of the
mud to prepare it, by crumbling and rubbing, for strewing upon the
earth, his wife discovered a star--the first which had been seen since
the breaking up of the fountain. The loud shout of joy which burst
from her, and her cry "A star! a star!" so discomposed Sakechak, that
he forget what he was about, and threw down the lumps, unrubbed or
uncrumbled. This carelessness occasioned the unevenness of the earth;
the mountains and the rocks which are now found upon it are the lumps
which he threw down unrubbed. He, however, strewed upon it the
remaining portion, which is the reason why rocks are found so far
below the surface. And the earth, so formed from the mud brought up by
the otter, grew so fast that, upon the seventh sun of the third moon,
the hunter Sakechak, and his family, and all the beasts, birds, and
other living things which were with him, left their canoes for the dry
and stable earth, which thenceforth became, and has since continued,
their residence.
Upon the earth thus created trees soon sprung up; but they were only
trunks destitute of branches. But the wit of Sakechak soon gave them
what they wanted. He shot arrows into the trunks, and these became
branches, and took the nature of the trunks. Each became an oak, or a
pine, or a tulip, or a sweet gum, following the nature of the trunks.
Many seasons passed away, however, before the hills were all clothed
with trees, or the dense cloud of leaves hid the bosom of the valleys.
The earth was re-peopled from the loins of Sakechak; from him, from
one family of Caddos, are all men descended. No matter whither they
have been carried; whether they have covered their tent with leaves
beneath the warm sky of the south, or built it of ice, where the earth
never thaws; whether they are red like myself, or white like the wise
man at whose bidding we are gathered together; they are descended from
one man, the hunter Sakechak, of the hill Wecheganawaw.