_Cherokee_
The earth is a great floating island in a sea of water. At each of the
four corners there is a cord hanging down from the sky. The sky is of
solid rock. When the world grows old and worn out, the cords will
break, and then the earth will sink down into the ocean. Everything
will be water again. All the people will be dead. The Indians are much
afraid of this.
In the long time ago, when everything was all water, all the animals
lived up above in Galun'lati, beyond the stone arch that made the sky.
But it was very much crowded. All the animals wanted more room. The
animals began to wonder what was below the water and at last Beaver's
grandchild, little Water Beetle, offered to go and find out. Water
Beetle darted in every direction over the surface of the water, but it
could find no place to rest. There was no land at all. Then Water
Beetle dived to the bottom of the water and brought up some soft mud.
This began to grow and to spread out on every side until it became
the island which we call the earth. Afterwards this earth was
fastened to the sky with four cords, but no one remembers who did
this.
At first the earth was flat and soft and wet. The animals were anxious
to get down, and they sent out different birds to see if it was yet
dry, but there was no place to alight; so the birds came back to
Galun'lati. Then at last it seemed to be time again, so they sent out
Buzzard; they told him to go and make ready for them. This was the
Great Buzzard, the father of all the buzzards we see now. He flew all
over the earth, low down near the ground, and it was still soft. When
he reached the Cherokee country, he was very tired; his wings began to
flap and strike the ground. Wherever they struck the earth there was a
valley; whenever the wings turned upwards again, there was a mountain.
When the animals above saw this, they were afraid that the whole world
would be mountains, so they called him back, but the Cherokee country
remains full of mountains to this day. [This was the original home, in
North Carolina.]
When the earth was dry and the animals came down, it was still dark.
Therefore they got the sun and set it in a track to go every day
across the island from east to west, just overhead. It was too hot
this way. Red Crawfish had his shell scorched a bright red, so that
his meat was spoiled. Therefore the Cherokees do not eat it.
Then the medicine men raised the sun a handsbreadth in the air, but it
was still too hot. They raised it another time; and then another time;
at last they had raised it seven handsbreadths so that it was just
under the sky arch. Then it was right and they left it so. That is why
the medicine men called the high place "the seventh height." Every day
the sun goes along under this arch on the under side; it returns at
night on the upper side of the arch to its starting place.
There is another world under this earth. It is like this one in every
way. The animals, the plants, and the people are the same, but the
seasons are different. The streams that come down from the mountains
are the trails by which we reach this underworld. The springs at their
head are the doorways by which we enter it. But in order to enter the
other world, one must fast and then go to the water, and have one of
the underground people for a guide. We know that the seasons in the
underground world are different, because the water in the spring is
always warmer in winter than the air in this world; and in summer the
water is cooler.
We do not know who made the first plants and animals. But when they
were first made, they were told to watch and keep awake for seven
nights. This is the way young men do now when they fast and pray to
their medicine. They tried to do this. The first night, nearly all the
animals stayed awake. The next night several of them dropped asleep.
The third night still more went to sleep. At last, on the seventh
night, only the owl, the panther, and one or two more were still
awake. Therefore, to these were given the power to see in the dark, to
go about as if it were day, and to kill and eat the birds and animals
which must sleep during the night.
Even some of the trees went to sleep. Only the cedar, the pine, the
spruce, the holly, and the laurel were awake all seven nights.
Therefore they are always green. They are also sacred trees. But to
the other trees it was said, "Because you did not stay awake,
therefore you shall lose your hair every winter."
After the plants and the animals, men began to come to the earth. At
first there was only one man and one woman. He hit her with a fish. In
seven days a little child came down to the earth. So people came to
the earth. They came so rapidly that for a time it seemed as though
the earth could not hold them all.