Straddlebug || myBlog

Subject : Yurok: Ocean Story
Date/Time : 8/2/2012 10:27:47 AM

How Thunder and Earthquake Made Ocean

Thunder lived at Sumig.
One day he said, “How shall the people live there is just prairie there?
Let us place the ocean there.” He said to Earthquake, “I want to have
water there, there so that the people may live. Otherwise they will have
nothing to live on.” He said to Earthquake, “What do you think?”

Earthquake thought. “That is true,” he said. “There should be water there.
Far off I see it. I see the water. It is at Opis.
There are salmon there and water.”

“Go,” said Thunder. “Go with Kingfisher, the one
who sits there by the water. Go and get water at Opis.
Get water that is to come here.”

Then the two of them went. Kingfisher and Earthquake went
to see the water. They went to get the water at Opis. They had
two abalone shells that Thunder had given to them.
“Take these shells,” Thunder had said.
“Collect the water in them.”

First Kingfisher and Earthquake went to the north end of the world.
There Earthquake looked around. “This will be easy,” he said.
“It will be easy for me to sink the land.” Then Earthquake ran around.
He ran around and the ground sank.
It sank there at the north end of the world.

Then Kingfisher and Earthquake started for Opis.
They went to the place at the end of the water. They made the ground
sink behind them as they went. At the Opis they saw all kinds of animals
and fish that could be eaten there in the water at Opis.
Then they took water in the abalone shells.

“No we will go to the south end of the world,” said Earthquake.
“We will go there and look for water. Thunder, who was at Sumig,
will help us breaking down the trees. The water will extend all the way
to the south end of the world. There will be salmon and fish of all kinds
and seals in the water.”

Now Kingfisher and Earthquake came back to Sumig.
They saw that Thunder had broken down the trees.
Together the three of them went north.
As they went together they kept sinking the ground.
The Earth quaked and quaked water flowed over it as Kingfisher
and Earthquake poured it from their abalone shells. Kingfisher emptied
his shell and it filled the ocean halfway to the north end of the world.
Earthquake emptied his shell and it filled the ocean the rest of the way.

As they filled in the ocean, the creatures which would be food swarmed
into the water. The seals came as if they were thrown in handfuls.
Into the water they came, swimming toward shore. Earthquake sank the
land deeper to make gullies and the whales came swimming through the
gullies where the water was deep enough for them to travel.
The salmon came running through the water.

Now all the land animals, the deer and elk, the foxes and minks,
the bear and others had gone inland. Now the water creatures were there.
Now Thunder and Kingfisher and Earthquake looked at the ocean.
“This is enough,” They said. “Now the people will have enough to live on.
Everything that is needed is in water.”

So it is that the prairie became ocean. It is so because Thunder wished it so.
It is so because Earthquake wished it so. All kinds of creatures are in the ocean
before us because Thunder and Earthquake wished the people to live.

Subject : Sauk Proverb
Date/Time : 8/1/2012 11:48:36 AM

Sharing and giving are the ways of God.

Subject : The Coming of Corn
Date/Time : 8/1/2012 11:48:10 AM

I will relate the manner in which corn first came. According to tradition handed down to our people, a beautiful woman was seen to descend from the clouds, and alight upon the earth, by two of our ancestors who had killed a deer, and were sitting by a fire roasting a part of it to eat. They were astonished at seeing her, and concluded that she was hungry and had smelt the meat. They immediately went to her, taking with them a piece of the roasted venison. They presented it to her, she ate it, telling them to return to the spot where she was sitting at the end of one year, and they would find a reward for their kindness and generosity. She then ascended to the clouds and disappeared. The men returned to their village, and explained to the tribe what they had seen, done ad heard, but were laughed at by their people. When the period had arrived for them to visit this consecrated ground, where they were to find a reward for their attention to the beautiful woman of the clouds, they went with a large party, and found where her right hand had rested on the ground corn growing, where the left hand had rested beans, and immediately where she had been seated, tobacco.

~ Sauk leader Black Hawk (Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak) 1833

Subject : Omaha Proverb
Date/Time : 7/27/2012 12:29:30 PM

It is easy to be brave from a distance.

Subject : Mohawk - Monster Bear Story
Date/Time : 7/26/2012 9:22:57 AM

A long time ago there was a Mohawk village of bark houses along the Oswego River. One day Mohawk hunters discovered the tracks of a Giant Bear. After that, they saw the tracks many times. Sometimes, the tracks would circle the Mohawk village. The animals began to disappear from the forests, and the Mohawks knew that the Giant Bear was killing and carrying off all the animals.

Because of the scarcity of food, famine came to the Mohawks. The meat racks were empty. The people were hungry. Starvation tempted them. One of the chiefs said, "We must kill this Giant Bear who is causing all our trouble." At once a party of warriors set out in search of the bear. They soon came across his tracks in the snow. They followed the bear tracks for many days. They finally came upon the huge beast. At once the air was filled with the arrows of the warriors. To the surprise and dismay of the Mohawks, the arrows failed to pierce the thick hide of the bear. Many broken arrows fell from his tough skin.

At last the angry bear turned and charged the hunters who fled but were soon overtaken. Most of them were killed. Only two hunters escaped and they returned to the village to tell the sad tale. The two hunters told the council of the Great Bear. They told what happened to the war party.

Party after party of warriors set out to destroy the Great Bear but they always failed. There were many battles fought between the bear and the warriors. Many warriors were slain.

As time went on, more and more deer vanished from the forest. The smoking racks were empty. The people became very thin because of the lack of food. Starvation caused many to become sick. The people were filled with fear and their hungry bodies crept close to the fire at night. They feared the Great Bear, whose giant tracks circled their town each night. They feared to leave their village because they could hear, coming from the darkness of the forest, the loud cough of the Great Bear.

One night three brothers each had a strange dream. On three successive nights, they had the same vision. They dreamed they tracked and killed the Great Bear. They said, "The dream must be true."

So, getting their weapons and scanty supply of food, they set out after the bear. In a little while, they came upon the tracks of the great beast. Quickly, they followed the trail, their arrows ready.

For many moons they followed the tracks of the bear across the Earth. The tracks led them to the end of the world. Looking ahead, they saw the giant beast leap from the earth into the heavens. The three hunters soon came to the jumping-off place. Without hesitation, the three of them followed the bear into the sky. There in the skis, you can see them chasing the bear during the long winter nights.

In the fall of the year, when the bear gets ready to sleep for the winter, the three hunters get near enough to shoot their arrows into his body. His dripping blood caused by the wounds from the arrows turn the autumn leaves red and yellow. But he always manages to escape from the hunters. For a time, after being wounded, he is invisible. He afterwards reappears.

When the Iroquois see the Great Dipper in the sky, they say, "See, the three hunters are still chasing the Great Bear!"

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