Tales of World Creation

The Good Twin and
The Evil Twin
[Yuma]

This is how it all began.
There was only water-there
was no sky, there was no land,
only nothingness. Then out of
the waters rose a mist, and
it became the sky. Stil there
were no sun, no moon, no
stars-just darkness. But deep
down in the waters lived Kokomaht,
the Creator. He was bodiless,
nameless, breathless, motionless,
and he was two beings-twins.

Then the waters stired and
rushed and thundered, and
out of the spray and foam
rose the first twin, the
good twin. With closed eyes
he cleaved the waves and came
to the surface. He stood upon
the waters, opened his eyes,
and saw. There he named himself
Kokomaht-All Father.

And from beneath the waters a
second voice called out to
Kokomaht: "Brother, how did
you rise? With eyes open or
with eyes closed?"

Bakotahl was the evil twin,
and Kokomaht wanted to make
it more difficult for him to
do harm. So Kokomaht lied to
him, saying: " I opened my eyes
while I was under water." The
second twin opened his eyes as
he rose, and when he reached the
surface he was blind. Kokomaht
said: "I name you Bakotahl-the
Blind One."

Then Kokomaht said: "Now I shall
make the four directions." He
pointed with his finger and
took four steps, walking on the
water. Then he stood stil for a
while and said, "Ho, this is north."
Then he went back to his starting
place, and in the same manner made
the west, the south, and the
east-always takeing four steps
in each direction alway returning
to the center.

"Now," Kokomaht said, "I
shall make the earth."

Blind Bakotahl said: "I
don't think you have the
power to do this."

"Certainly I have,"
said Kokomaht.

"Let me try to make the earth
first," ask Bakotahl.

"Certainly not," Said Kokomaht.

Kokmaht stirred the waters
into a foaming whirlpool with
his hand. They frothed and
swelled and bubbled, and when
they subsided there was land.
And Kokomaht sat down upon it.

Bakotahl was angry because he
would have liked to create earth,
but he said nothing and settled
down by Kokomht's side. The Blind
Evil One said to himself: "I shall
make something with a head, with
arms and legs. I can make it out
of the earth." Bakotahl formed
something resembling a human being,
but it was imperfect. Instead of
hands and feet there were lumps;
it had neither finger nor toes.
Bakotahl hid it from Kokomaht.

Then Kokomaht said: "I feel
like makeing something." Out
of mud he shaped a being that
was perfect. It had hands and
feet, fingers and toes, even
fingernails and toenails.
Kokomaht waved this being four
times toward the north and then
stood it on its feet. It moved,
it walked, it was alive: it was
a man. Kokomaht made another being
in the same way, it was alive:
it was a woman.

Bakotahl went on trying to
make humans, piecing together
seven beings out of earth. All
were imperfect. "What are you
makeing?" Kokomaht asked.

"People," answered Bakotahl.

"Here," said Kokomaht,
"feel these people I've
made. Yours have no hands
or feet. Here; feel; mine
have fingers, thumbs, to
work to fashion things, to
draw bows, to pick fruit."
Kokomaht examined the beings
Bakotahl had formed. "These are
no good," he said, and stamped to
pieces. Bakotahl was so enraged
that he dove down deep beneath
the waters amid rumbling and
thunderings. From the depths he
sent up the whirlwinds, bringer
of all evil. Kokomaht stepped on
the whirlwind and killed it-except
for a little whiff that sliped out
from under his foot. In it were
contained all the sicknesses which
plague people to this day.

So Kokomaht was by himself
except for the two beings
he had made. These were Yumas,
and in the same way that he had
created them, Kokomaht now made
the Cocopahs, the Dieguienos,
and the Mojaves. In pairs he
created them. Then he rested, Four
tribes he had created. After haveing
rested, he made four more tribes:
the Apaches, the Maricopas, the
Pimas, and the Coahuilas. In all,
he made twenty-four kinds of people.
The white people he left for last.

The one he made first, the Yuma
man, said to Kokomaht: "Teach us
how to live."

"You must learn how to increase,"
said Kokomaht. In order to teach
them he begat a son. Out of
nothing, without help from a
woman, sired him and named him
Komashtam'ho. He told men and
women not to live apart, but to
join togather and rear children.

Still something was missing.
"It is to dark," said Kokmaht.
"There should be some light."
So he made the moon, the morning
star, and all the other stars.
Then he said, "My work is done.
Whatever I have not finished,
my son Komashtam'ho will finish."

Now, among the beings Kokomaht
had made was Hanyi, the Frog.
She was powerful; fire could
not destroy her. She envied
Kokomaht his power and thought
to destroy him. Kokomaht, knew
this because he knew the thought
of all the beings he had made,
but he said to himself: "I taught
the people how to live. Now I must
teach them how to die, for without
death there will soon be too many
people on the earth. So I will
permit Frog to kill me."

Hanyi burrowed down underneath
the spot where Kokomaht was
standing and sucked the breath
out of his body through a hole
in the earth. Then Kokomaht
sickened and lay down to die. He
called all the people to come to
him, and all came except the white
man, who stayed by himself in the
west.

The white man was crying
because his hair was faded
and curly and skin pale and
washed out. The white man
was always pouting and selfish.
What ever he saw, he had to have
at once. He had been created
childish and greedy.
Komashtam'ho, tired of hearing
the white man crying, went over
to him and tied two sticks
together in the form of a cross.
"Here, stop crying," he said.
"Here's something for you to
ride on." The white man straddled
these sticks and they turned into
a horse, so the greedy one
was satisfied-for a while.

For the last time now Kokomaht
taught the people. "Learn how
to die," he told them, and
expired.

"I have to make what my father
could not finish," said
Komashtam'ho. He spat into
his hand and from his spittle
made a disk. He took it and
threw it up into the sky toward
the east. It began to shine.
"This is the sun," Komashtam'ho
told the people. "Watch it move;
watch it lighting up the world."

Then Komashtam'ho prepared to
burn the body of his father,
but since there were no trees
yet, he had no wood. Komashtam'ho
called out: "Wood, come into
being! Wood, come alive! Wood,
come here to where I stand." Wood
came from everwhere and formed itself
into a great funeral pyre.

Before he died, Kokomaht had told
Coyote: "Friend, take my heart. Be
faithful. Do what I tell." Coyote
misunderstood Kokomaht and thought
that he was supposed to eat the
heart. Komashtam'ho knew this
because he could see into Coyote's
mind. So he told Coyote: "Go get a
spark form the sun to light a fire."

As soon as Coyote was gone,
Komashtam'ho took a sharpened
stick and twirled it in some
soft wood until he sparked a
flame. "Look, my people," he said,
"this is the way to make fire.
Quick now, before Coyote comes back."
With these words he lit the funeral
pyre. The people did not lament for
Kokomaht because they did not yet
understand what death was. But before
the flames had consumed the body,
Coyote returned and leapt up quick
as a flash to seize Kokomaht's heart.
He ran off with it, and though all
the other animals and the people too
chased after him, he was too fast
for them.

Komashtam'ho called after Coyote:
"You have done something bad. You
will never amount to anything.
You will be a wild man without a
house to live in. You wil live by
stealing, and for your thefts the
people will kill you."

After Kokomaht's body had been
burned, the people asked
Komashtam'ho: "When will
Kokomaht come back."

"He will never come back," he told
them. "He is dead. He let himself
be killed because if he had gone
on living, then all you people
would also live forever, and
soon there would be no room left
on the earth. So from now on,
everybody will die sometime."

Then all the people begain to
lament.They wept for Kokomaht
and for themselves. They did not
want to believe that he would
never come back. As they sat
grieving, they saw a little
whirlwind like a dust devil rising
from the spot where Kokomaht had
been burned. "What is it? What can
it be?" they cried.

Komashtam'ho told them: "It is
the spirit of Kokomaht. His body
died, but his soul is alive. He
will go someplace-north or south,
east or west-somewhere his spirit
will dwell. He will never tire,
he will never be hungry or thirsty, and
though we weep because he has died,
Kokomaht's spirit will be happy
always."

And Komashtam'ho instructed the
people in the nature of death.
"When you die, you will be again
with those you love who have gone
before you. Again you will be
young and strong, though you might
have been old and feeble on the
day you died. In the spirit land
the corn will grow and all will be
happy, whether they were good or bad
when they were alive. So death is
not something to be afraid of."
And when they heard this, the
people stopped weeping and
smiled again.

Then Komashtam'ho chose one man,
Marhokuvek, to help him put the
world in order. The first thing
that Marhokuvek did was to say,
"Ho, you people, as a sign that
you mourn the death of your father
Kokomaht, you should cut your hair
short." Then all the people, animals,
and birds did as they had been told.
The animals at this time were people
also: they looked like humans. But
when he saw them Komashtam'ho said:
"These animals and birds don't look
well with their hair cut," and
changed them into coyotes and deer,
into wild turkeys and
roadrunners-into the animals and
birds we have now.

After sometime, Komashtam'ho let
fall a great rain, the kind that
never stops. There was a flood
in which many of the animals were
drowned. Marhokuvek was alarmed.
"Komashtam'ho, what are you
doing?" he cried.

"Some of these animals are too wild.
Some have big teeth and claws and
are dangerous. Also, there are
simply too many of them. So I am
killing them off with this flood."

"No, Komashtam'ho, stop the flood,"
pleaded Marhokuvek. "The people
need many of hese animals for
food. They like to hear the songs
of the birds. Rain and flood make
the world too cold,and the people
can't stand it."

So Komashtam'ho made a big fire
to cause the waters to evaporate.
The fire was so hot and fierce
that even Komashtam'ho himself
was slightly burned. Ever since
that time, the deserts around
here have been hot, and the people
are used to the warmth.

After that, he called the people
together and told them:
"Over there is your father
Kokomaht's house. We must
pull it down, because when
a man dies, the spirits of his
house and of all his belongings
follow him to the spirit land.
So people must destroy
all the things he owned
in this life so that their
spirits can serve him in the
other world. Also, after a man
has died, it is not good to
look upon the things hat he
used to own. One sees his
house, but he who dwelt in it
is gone. One sees his water
olla, but he who owned it is
no longer here to lift it
to his lips. It makes people sad,
and they sicken with grief
and longing. Therefore you
Yuma people must always burn
the house and possessions of
those who die, and you must
move to another dwelling where
nothing reminds you of the dead.
Also, never again mention the
name of him who is gone. He
belongs to another life, while
you must start on a new one."
And from that time on, the
Yuma have followed these rules.

Komashtam'ho
took a huge pole, smashed
the house of Kokomaht, and
rooted up the ground on which
it had stood. Water welling
up from the rut made by the
pole became the Colorado River.
And in it swam the beings
that Bakotahl-the Blind Evil
One-had formed, the creatures
without hands or feet, toes
or fingers. These were the fish
and other water animals.

Now Kahk, the Crow, was
a good planter and
reaper. He brought corn and all
kinds of usefull seeds from
the four corners of the world.
He flew south to the great
water, stopping four times on the
way and crying: "Kahk, kahk!"
Each time he did this, a big
mountain arose. After the
overflow of the river which
Komashtam'ho had made, Crow
brought many seeds from the
south for the people to plant.

The tribes had been scattered
all over the world, but
Komashtam'ho kept the Yuma
near him because they were the
special people he love. "Listen
closely," he said to them.
"I cannot stay with you forever.
I am now only one, but soon
I will become four. My name
will no longer be Komashtam'ho.
I will turn myself into
four eagles-the black eagle
of the west, the brown eagle
of the south, the white eagle
of the east, and the forth
eagle, whose name is 'unseen,'
because no man has ever
caught a glimpse of him."

When Komashtam'ho
had turned himself into the
four eagles, he dwelt no longer
among the Yuma in the shape
of a man. He kept watch over
them, however, and in their
dreams he gave them power
from Kokomaht. Thus Kokomatha
advises the people through
Komashtam'ho and tells them while
they sleep: "Think about me,
think of what I taught you.
Sick people especially
should follow my teachings."

Now Bakotahl, the Evil Blind
One, is under the earth and
does bad things. Usually he
lies down there quietly,
but sometimes he turns
over. Then there is a great
noise of thunder, the earth
trembles and splits open, and
mountainsides crack, while flames
and smoke shoot out of their
summits.Then the people are
afraid and say: "The Blind Evil
One is stirring down below."

Everything that is good comes
from Kokomaht,and everything
evil comes from Bakotahl.
This is the tale-how it was,
how it is, and how it will be.

---Retold from several sources,
among them Natalie Curtis's
report in 1909.

The Jicarilla Genesis

[Jicarilla Apache]

In the beginning the earth was covered with water,
and all living things were below in the underworld.
Then people could talk, the animals could talk,
the trees could talk and the rocks could talk.

It was dark in the underworld, and eagle plumes
were used for torches. The people and the animals
that go about by day wanted more light, but the
night animals--the bear, the panther, and the
owl--wanted darkness. After a long argumentthey
agreed to play the thimble-and-button game, and
if the day animals won there would be light, but
if the night animals won it would always be dark.

The game began. The magpie and the quail, who
love the light and have sharp eyes, watched
until they could see the button through the
thin wood of the hollow stick that served as a
thimble. This told the people where the button
was, and in the first round, the people won.
The morning star came out and the black bear
ran and hid in the darkness. They played again,
and again the people won. It grew bright in the
east and the brown bear ran and hid in a dark
place. They played a third time, and the people
won. It grew brighter in the east and the
mountain lion slunk away into the darkness.
They played a fourth time, and again the
people won. The sun came up in the east, and
it was day, and the owl flew away and hid.

Even though it light now, the people still
didn't see much because they were underground.
But the sun was high enough to look through a
hole and discover that there was another
world--this earth. He told the people, and they
all wanted to go up there. They built four
mounds to help them reach the upper world. In
the east they mounded the soil and planted it
with all kinds of fruits and berries that were
colored black. In the south they heaped up
another mound and planted all kinds of fruits
that were blue. In the west they built a mound
that they planted with yellow fruits. In the
north they planted the mound with fruits of
variegated colors.

The mounds grew into mountains and the bushes
blossomed, fruited, and produced ripened
berries. One day two girls climbed up to pick
berries and gather flowers to tie in their
hair. Suddenly the mountains stopped growing.
The people wondered, and they sent Tornado
to learn the cause. Tornado went everywhere
and searched into every corner, and at last he
found the two girls and brought them back to
their people. But the mountain did not grow any
more, and this is why a boy stops growing when
he goes with a woman for the first time. If he
never did, he would countinue to grow taller.

The mountain had stopped growing while their
tops were still a long way from the upper
world. So the people tried laying feathers
crosswise to make a ladder, but the feathers
broke under weight. The people made a second
ladder of larger feathes, but again they were
too weak. They made a third ladder of eagle
feathers, but even these would not bear much
weight. Then a buffalo came and offered his
right horn, and three others also contributed
their right horns. The horns were strong and
straight, and with them the people were able
to climb up through the hole to the surface
of the earth. But the weight of all those
humans bent the buffalo horns, which have
been curved ever since.

Now the people fastened the sun and moon with
spider threads so that they could not get away,
and sent them up into te sky to give light.
And since water covered the whole earth,four
storms went to roll the waters away. The black
storm blew to the east and rolled up the waters
into the eastern ocean.The blue storm blew to
the south and rolled up the waters in that
direction. The yellow storm rolled up the
waters in the west, and the varicolored storm
went to the north and rolled up the waters
there. So the tempest formed the four oceans
in the east,the south, the west, and the north.
Having rolled up the waters, the storms
returned to where the people were
waiting, grouped around the mouth of the hole.

The Polecat first went out, when the ground was
still soft, and his legs sank in the black mud
and been black ever since. They sent the
Tornado to bring him back, because it wasn't
time. The badger went out, but he to sink in
the mud and got black legs, and Tornado called
him back. Then the beaver went out, walking
though the mud and swimming through the water,
and at once began to build a dam to save the
water still remaining in pools. When he did not
return, Tornado found him.

"Because I wanted to save the water for the
people to drink," said the beaver.

"Good," said Tornado, and they went back
together. Again the people waited, until at
last they sent out the gray crow to see if
the time had come. The crow found the earth
dry, and many dead frogs, fish, and reptiles
lying on the ground. He began picking out
their eyes and did not return until Tornado
was sent after him. The people were angry
when they found he had been eating carrion,
and changed his color to black.

But now the earth was all dry, except for the
four oceans and the lake in the center, where
the beaver had dammed up the water. All the
people came up. They traveled east until they
arrived at the ocean; then they turned south
until they came again to the ocean; then they
went west to the ocean, and they turned north.
And as they went, each tribe stopped where it
wanted to. But the Jicarillas continued to
circle around the hole where they had come up
from the underworld. Three times they went
around it, when the Ruler became displeased
and asked them where they wished to stop.
The said, "In the middle of the earth." So
he led them to a place very near Taos and
left them, and there near the Taos Indians,
the Jicarillas made their home.

---Based on a tale reported by
James Mooney in the 1890s.

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