Primal Myths

by Barbara C. Sproul

  Raven asked Man how many times he had turned over, and he answered, “four.” “That was four years,” said Raven, “for you slept there just four years.” They had gone only a short distance beyond this, when they saw a small animal like a shrew-mouse; this was a wi-lu-gho-yuk. It is like the shrew that lives on the land, but this one always lives at sea on the ice. When it sees a man it darts at him, and, entering the toe of his boot, crawls all over his body, after which, if he keeps perfectly quiet, it will leave him unharmed and the man will become a successful hunter. In case the man moves even a finger while this animal is on him, it instantly burrows into his flesh and goes directly to his heart, causing death.

  Then Raven made the a-mi-kik, a large, slimy, leathery-skin animal, with four long, wide-spreading arms. This is a fierce animal, living in the sea, which wraps its arms about a man or a kaiak and drags them under the water; if the man tries to escape from it by leaving his kaiak and getting on the ice it will dart underneath, breaking the ice beneath his feet, and even pursuing him on shore by burrowing through the earth as easily as it swims in the water, so that no one can escape from it when it once pursues him.

  Beyond this, they saw two large dark-colored animals, around which swam a smaller one. Raven hurried forward and sat upon the head of the smaller animal, and it became quiet. When Man drew near, Raven showed him two walrus, and said that the animal upon whose head he was borne was a walrus dog (az-i-wu-gumki-mukh-ti). This animal, he said, would always go with large herds of walrus and would kill people. It was long and rather slender, covered with black scales which were not too hard to be pierced by a spear. Its head and teeth were somewhat like those of a dog; it had four legs and a long, round tail covered with scales like those on the body; with a stroke of this tail it could kill a man.

  Some whales and grampus were seen next. Raven told Man that only good hunters could kill them, and that when one was killed an entire village could feast. Then they saw the i-mum ka-bvi-a-ga, or sea fox, an animal very much like the red fox, except that it lives in the sea and is so fierce that it kills men. Near this were two i-mum isni-kak or i-mum pikh-tukh-chi, the sea otter, which is like the land otter, but has much finer fur, tipped with white, and is very scarce, only the best hunters being able to capture it. They passed many kinds of fish and then the shore rose before them, and overhead could be seen the ripples on the surface of the water. “Close your eyes, and hold fast to me,” said Raven. As soon as he had done this, Man found himself standing on the shore near his home, and was very much astonished to see a large village where he had left only a few huts; his wife had become very old and his son was an old man. The people saw him and welcomed him back, making him their headman; he was given the place of honor in the kashim, and there told the people what he had seen and taught the young men many things. The villagers would have given Raven a seat by the old man in the place of honor, but he refused it and chose a seat with the humble people near the entrance.

  After a time the old man began to wish to see the fine sky land again, but his people tried to induce him to stay with them. He told his children that they must not feel badly at his absence, and then, in company with Raven, he returned to the sky land. The dwarf people welcomed them, and they lived there for a long time, until the villagers on the earth had become very numerous and killed a great many animals. This angered Man and Raven so much that one night they took a long line and a grass basket with which they descended to the earth. Raven caught ten reindeer, which he put into the basket with the old man; then one end of the cord was fastened to the basket and Raven returned to the sky, drawing it up after him. The next evening they took the reindeer and went down close to Man’s village; the deer were then told to break down the first house they came to and destroy the people, for men were becoming too numerous. The reindeer did as they were told and ate up the people with their sharp, wolf-like teeth, after which they returned to the sky; the next night they came back and destroyed another house with its people in the same manner. The villagers had now become much frightened and covered the third house with a mixture of deer fat and berries. When the reindeer tried to destroy this house they filled their mouths with the fat and sour berries, which caused them to run off, shaking their heads so violently that all their long, sharp teeth fell out. Afterward small teeth, such as reindeer now have, grew in their places, and these animals became harmless.

  Man and Raven returned to the sky after the reindeer ran away, Man saying, “If something is not done to stop people from taking so many animals they will continue until they have killed everything you have made. It is better to take away the sun from them so that they will be in the dark and will die.”

  To this Raven agreed, saying, “You remain here and I will go and take away the sun.” So he went away and, taking the sun, put it into his skin bag and carried it far away to a part of the sky land where his parents lived, and it became very dark on earth. In his father’s village Raven took to himself a wife from the maidens of the place and lived there, keeping the sun hidden carefully in the bag.

  The people on earth were very much frightened when the sun was taken away, and tried to get it back by offering Raven rich presents of food and furs, but without effect. After many trials the people propitiated Raven so that he let them have the light for a short time. Then he would hold up the sun in one hand for two days at a time, so that the people could hunt and get food, after which it would be taken away and all would become dark. After this a long time would pass and it required many offerings before he would let them have light again. This was repeated many times.

  Raven had living in this village an older brother who began to feel sorry for the earth people and to think of means by which he could get the sun and return it to its place. After he had thought a long time he pretended to die, and was put away in a grave box, as was customary. As soon as the mourners left his grave he arose and went out a short distance from the village, where he hid his raven mask and coat in a tree; then he went to the spring where the villagers got their water, and waited. In a short time his brother’s wife came for water, and after she had filled her bucket she took up a ladle full of water to drink. As she drank, Raven’s brother, by a magic spell, changed himself into a small leaf, falling into the ladle, and was swallowed with the water. The woman coughed and then hastened home, where she told her husband that she had swallowed some strange thing while drinking at the spring, to which he paid little attention, saying it was probably a small leaf.

  Immediately after this the woman became with child, and in a few days gave birth to a boy, who was very lively and crept about at once and in a few days was running about. He cried continually for the sun, and, as the father was very fond of him, he frequently let the child have it for a plaything, but was always careful to take it back again. As soon as the boy began to play out of doors he cried and begged for the sun more than ever. After refusing for a long time, his father let him take the sun again and the boy played with it in the house, and then, when no one was looking, he carried it outside, ran quickly to the tree, put on his raven mask and coat, and flew far away with it. When he was far up from the sky he heard his father crying out to him, “Do not hide the sun. Let it out of the bag to make some light. Do not keep it always dark.” For he feared his son had stolen it to keep it for himself.

  Then Raven went home and the Raven boy flew on to the place where the sun belonged. There he tore off the skin covering and put the sun in its place again. From this place he saw a broad path leading far away, which he followed. It led him to the side of a hole surrounded by short grass glowing with light, some of which he plucked. He remembered that his father had called to him not to keep it always dark, but to make it partly dark and partly light. Thinking of this, he caused the sky to revolve, so that it moved around the earth, carrying the sun and stars with it, thus making day and night.

  While he was standing close by the edge of the earth, just before sunrise, he stuck into the sky a bunch of the glowing
grass that he held in his hand, and it has stayed there ever since, forming the brilliant morning star. Going down to the earth he came at last to the village where the first people lived. There the old people welcomed him, and he told them that Raven had been angry with them and had taken the sun away, but that he had put it back himself so that it would never be moved again.

  Among the people who welcomed him was the headman of the sky dwarfs, who had come down with some of his people to live on the earth. Then the people asked him what had become of Man, who had gone up to the sky with Raven. This was the first time the Raven boy had heard of Man, and he tried to fly up to the sky to see him, but found that he could rise only a short distance above the earth. When he found that he could not get back to the sky, he wandered away until he came to a village where lived the children of the other men last born from the pea-vine. There he took a wife and lived a long time, having many children, all of whom became Raven people like himself and were able to fly over the earth, but they gradually lost their magic powers until finally they became ordinary ravens like the birds we see now on the tundras.

  —E. W. Nelson. The Eskimo About Bering Strait. 18th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington, D.C.: 1899, pp. 452–462.

  CHUCKCHI ESKIMO

  Creator Makes Men and Animals About 1,600 Eskimo live on the Chuckchi Peninsula at the northeastern tip of Siberia, the westernmost boundary of Eskimo-inhabited territory, which stretches through arctic and subarctic regions all the way to Greenland. Re’mkilin, a Reindeer Chuckchi man, related this creation myth at his camp on the Omolon River during the summer of 1895. It tells of two lands—Lu’ren and Qe’nieven—the ancestral homes respectively of the Maritime and Reindeer branches of the Chuckchi.

  While Raven is one of the primary creators in many Eskimo myths, here he is portrayed as an incompetent assistant of the creator. But even though he fails to peck through the sky to the light above and is punished for that failure, Raven is nevertheless still recognized as the first of God’s creatures, closest to the creator and therefore honored for his primacy.

  Most Eskimo myths presume the existence of land and therefore express the drama of creation through the opposition of darkness and light rather than through the more common opposition of liquid and solid. Order is established along with the day, when the wagtail finally pecks through the crust of the sky.

  The rest of the myth involves the creation and education of human beings. Creator descended to earth and made people out of seal bones, emphasizing the continued dependency of the Eskimo on these sea mammals. Retreating back to his sacred realm. Creator searched for worthy messengers capable of traveling between heaven and earth. Birds were obvious choices, but Ptarmigan failed; so Creator made the foxes and wolves and sent them down in turn, but these too did not fulfill their purpose. To punish all these creatures, Creator made them scavengers, as he had made Raven—outlaws to himself and the human community. Finally descending to earth himself, he instructed people in their sexuality, thus making them creators in their own right, and gave them fire, food, and appropriate occupations.

  The bear created at the end of the myth is reminiscent of the Ainu bears, sacrificed at annual festivals so that their spirits may be released to guard villages at night. Here the bear fails to find a fire-drill, which, by the time Creator locates it, has transformed itself into a Russian (a Chuckchi pun connects the words for “fire-drill” and “Russian”). Self-transformed—that is, existing in a different system from the Chuckchis—the Russian is nonetheless given social and economic function by the creator.

  ONCE UPON A TIME it was quite dark. There existed only two lands, Lu’ren and Qe’nievin. Creator sat on the noonday-side of these lands, and considered how he could make the sunshine. So he created Raven and said to him, “Go and peck; and with your pecking set free the morning-dawn.” The Raven flew eastward and pecked, but he could do nothing. So he came back to Creator and said to him, “I could do nothing.” Creator was angry. He caught Raven and cast him aside. “No need of you. Be off. I will not give you food; go find it for yourself.”

  Then Creator made Wagtail, and he was a large, fine bird. Wagtail flew away and pecked and pecked. He wore out his beak pecking. At last he made a tiny hole, and came back to Creator. Creator asked him, “How far did you succeed?” I succeeded in making a very tiny hole.” “Go back and make a bigger one,” said Creator. So Wagtail went back and pecked again. At last, pecking and pecking, he made a large hole. The dawn spurted through, and it was light.

  Wagtail had worn off all his beak with pecking. His body was skin and bones and all his feathers dropped out. He had no wings to fly with. Wagtail went back on foot to Creator. There was nothing to eat along the way, and even his bones became brittle and thin; he grew quite small and weak. At last he came to Creator, “How is it? Have you done the task?” “Yes, I have done it. There is light over the earth.” “Ah, ah.” Creator clothed him with new feathers and made his beak sharp-pointed again. Then he gave him a new house under a grass hummock, and he said, “Live here and bring forth children; your food shall be the worms in the ground.”

  After that Creator descended to the earth. He scattered seal bones and said to them, “Be living human creatures!” Then he came back. After a while he thought, “Who will bring me news from the earth?” He sent Ptarmigan, “Go and visit the earth and humankind.” Ptarmigan went for a short distance. He came back and said to Creator, “Oh, it is too far away, I could not reach it.” Creator caught Ptarmigan and cast him way off into the thick willow bushes. “I do not want you. Live alone in the open. I will not give you food. Go find it for yourself.” After that Creator made a large Polar Owl. He said to Owl, “Go and visit the land of Lu’ren.” Owl set off and came to Lu’ren. He looked from afar. Four human beings, two men and two men, were standing there upon the ground. They did not dare to sit down.

  The other land, Qe’nievin, was a ridge of mountains, quite long and high. Four men were there made of four little stones. Creator thought about this land also and said to himself, “How shall I know the news of Qe’nievin?” He created Yellow Fox and sent him there. “Go and bring news from Qe’nievin.” Yellow Fox went, but he could not reach it. So he came back and tried to deceive Creator. Yellow Fox said, “There is no such land; there are no men; nothing at all.” Creator caught him and cast him aside. “No need of you. Live in the open. I shall not give you any more food. Find it for yourself.”

  Then Creator made an Arctic Fox and sent him likewise. “Go and bring news from Qe’nievin.” Arctic Fox started off and indeed he reached Qe’nievin. He looked from a great distance. Four men were there standing upon their feet. They did not dare to sit down. Arctic Fox was sorely frightened. He ran back and came to Creator panting for breath. “Well now?” “Ah, men, men.” Creator was very angry. He caught Arctic Fox and threw him aside. “Oh, you good-for-nothing. Why are you so afraid? Why have you brought me no news? Be off. I shall give you no more food. Live in the open. Feed by yourself!”

  After that he thought again, “Oh, whom shall I send to fetch news from Qe’nievin?” He plucked some dry grass of the last year, and of the year before that. Of this he made a Wolf. He said “Go and visit Qe’nievin. See the people who are there.” Wolf went and looked also from a distance and saw the men. They were standing on their feet, as they were afraid to sit down. Wolf was frightened. He ran away and came back to Creator. “Ah, I saw men,” he said. “They had eyes and eye-brows and hair upon their heads. They were standing on their feet, as they were afraid to sit down. They are half-crazy, quite awful to look upon.” Creator retorted, “Why did you not go nearer?” “I was afraid.” Creator caught Wolf and cast him aside. “Why are you so full of vain fright? Be off. I do not want you. Neither shall I give you any more food. Find it for yourself!”

  Creator lost all patience and went himself. He came to the men and took the male by the shoulder. “Sit down!” Then he made the female sit down close by the male’s
side. He said to both, “Lie down.” Then to the woman again, “Turn upon your back, face upward.” And she did. “Now spread your legs.” And she did. “Wider.” He took the man and put him upon the woman. So they copulated, and multiplied and became humankind.

  Creator made reindeer of some willow sprigs. “These are for your food,” he said. “Slaughter them and live on them!” He prepared clothes for the Maritime people of sealskin, and for the Reindeer people, of reindeer skin. Then he made a fire-drill of hard wood of drifted pine. He produced fire by drilling. He made the reindeer multiply. The first fawn was born. They killed a reindeer buck, cooked the brisket whole and threw into the fire some raw fat and some tallow. The reindeer fawn sucked its mother. After that man and woman moved off and they forgot the fire-drill in their former camping place. They pitched a new camp. The woman fetched some fuel and wanted to make a fire, but she had nothing to start it with. They asked Creator about it. He thought for a while; then he took a handful of black soil and created the Black One who walks barefooted (the Bear). “Go and fetch the fire-drill. See what has become of it.” Bear set off, but when he had gone half-way, he was so tired he lay down and fell asleep right in the path. A ptarmigan fluttered up gibbering. Bear started up and ran off back to Creator. “Where is the fire-drill?” “I could not find it.” Something white and awful fluttered up on the very road and drove me back.” Creator struck Bear. “Be off. No need of you, if even a ptarmigan frightens you off. Oh, you lazy sleeper, Heavy-Walking-One.” Creator went himself, and lo, the fire-drill had turned into a man. He said, “What then? Since it is so, be a man, be a Russian. Produce tea and sugar, tobacco and salt, hardware and calico. Be rich. Possess yourself of iron, and let all the tribes be your slaves, but let the Reindeer and the Maritime Chuckchee people have a fair trade with you.”