Parallel Myths

by J. F. Bierlein

  The man and the woman had many, many children. Unfortunately, they had so many children that they were unable to feed them all by hunting and picking wild foods. The mother was filled with grief to see her children hungry, and the father despaired. One day the mother went down to a stream, entering it sadly. As she reached the middle of the stream, her mood changed completely and she was filled with joy. A long green shoot had come out of her body, between her legs. As the mother left the stream, she once again looked unhappy.

  Later, the father asked her what had happened during the day while he was out trying to gather food. The mother told the whole story. She then instructed the father to kill her and plant her bones in two piles. The father, understandably, was upset by this command and he questioned the mother many times about it. Naturally, it was shocking and disturbing to think that he had to kill his wife in order to save his children. But she was insistent.

  The father immediately went to Kloskurbeh for advice. Kloskurbeh thought the story very strange, but then he prayed to Manitou for guidance. Kloskurbeh then told the father that the mother was right; this was the will of Manitou. So, the father killed his wife and buried her bones in two piles as he was commanded to do.

  For seven moons, the father stood over the piles of bones and wept. Then one morning, he noticed that from one pile had sprouted tobacco and, from the other, maize. Kloskurbeh explained to the man that his wife had really never died, but that she would live forever in these two crops.

  To this day, a mother would rather die than see her children starve, and all children are still fed today by that original mother. Men like to plant in the cornfields extra fish they catch as a gift of thanks to the first mother and a remembrance that we are all children of the union of sea and land.

  THREE STORIES OF MAUI THE TRICKSTER

  (POLYNESIA)

  NOTE: Maui, for whom the Hawaiian island was named, is the great trickster of Polynesian mythology, appearing throughout Polynesia from Hawaii to New Zealand.

  MAUI PUSHES UP THE SKY

  Maui as a trickster, the son of Tangaroa [Kanaloa, in Hawaiian] and a mortal woman. It was his nature to test the limits and patience of the gods, and he wasn’t exactly the most honest of beings. By the time he was a young man, he was very handsome and charming, and also prone to bragging about his strength.

  One day, at the time when the sky was still low enough to touch the earth, Maui happened to be walking along and saw a girl trying to push up the sky. “I have chores to do,” she said, “but the sky keeps falling down on me, keeping me from getting where I need to be.” As she was a very beautiful girl, Maui began bragging about his strength, that he was the son of Tangaroa and that he could certainly solve this problem. However, the girl giggled and said, “Whoever you are, you are a braggart!” Maui then began picking up big rocks and the girl became quite impressed with him.

  Then Maui told the girl that he would be more than happy to push up the sky if she would sleep with him [in the original: “if he might have a drink from her gourd”]. Maui was so strong, handsome, and charming that she could not resist his advances. To keep his side of the bargain, Maui closed his eyes and pushed up the sky.

  However, this feat made Maui so egotistical that it was the beginning of his undoing.

  MAUI STEALS FIRE

  Maui was warned by his mother not to irritate Mahui-Ike, his great-great-grandmother, who was the keeper of the fire in the underworld. Maui thought of how powerful he would be if only he had fire. So he found the opening in the earth that leads to the underworld and went to see Mahui-Ike. The old woman was thoroughly charmed by her handsome descendant and asked what she could do for him. Maui asked for some fire to take home with him. So Mahui-Ike plucked out one of her fingernails, which was a blazing fire, and Maui returned with it to the world above.

  Safely out of the sight of the old woman, Maui extinguished the fire in a stream. He then went back to Mahui-Ike and explained that the fire had gone out on his way home. The old lady responded that such things happen sometimes and she plucked out another fingernail and gave it to him. Again, he extinguished it as soon as he was in the upper world.

  He did this over and over again until Mahui-Ike had only one toenail left. She had been patient with Maui until now, but it had become clear to her that her great-great-grandson was a trickster who had been toying with her. So she plucked out this toenail and chased Maui into the upper world with a great flame. She threw it to the ground, crying, “If it’s fire you want, here it is!” At that the entire world was set afire. Maui changed himself into an eagle to escape the blaze. Then, consulting his father, Tangaroa, he made it rain, extinguishing the flames in all but one place from which all of today’s fires have their origin.

  Maui noticed that wood burns best, and to this day people burn wood for fuel.

  MAUI TRIES TO CHEAT DEATH

  Hina, the first woman, is the keeper of the underworld of the dead. It is she who decides who dies and who lives. No one ever questioned this but Maui.

  Maui had become annoyed with his brother-in-law, and he turned him into a dog. This distressed his sister so much that she tried to drown herself, but was saved at the last possible minute. Everyone agreed that what Maui had done to his brother-in-law was a horrible thing and that he would have to die for it. Maui then went to his father, Tangaroa, and asked what could be done to save his life. Tangaroa told him to go to Hina and ask her to be lenient with him, as he was the son of a god. Maui might have succeeded, but his arrogance made him believe that he could trick and mock death.

  When Maui arrived in the underworld, the great Hina was sleeping. Maui asked all the animals to be quiet in order not to disturb her. Maui then crawled up between her legs and then came back out through her mouth. No one ever dared even think of doing such a thing. Maui knew that if he succeeded in doing this a second time, he would be immortal.

  Beyond the gods, there is a justice which cannot be tampered with. For all of his powers, Maui was stupid in not realizing this. So he crawled back up between her thighs. The animals were so amazed at his audacity that a little bird broke out laughing aloud, waking Hina. Maui was then crushed to death.

  Since that time, no mortal has ever attained immortality, and Hina never sleeps anymore. In the old times, people only died during the night, when Hina was awake, never during the daytime when she was sleeping. Since Maui’s disturbance, people can die at any time of night or day.

  PROMETHEUS AND EPIMETHEUS

  (Greece)

  There was once a time when the Titans, powerful giants,* walked the earth. During the battle between the Titans and the Olympian gods, led by Zeus, there were two Titan brothers who fought on the side of Zeus. One was Prometheus, the creator of humankind, who fashioned people from clay, and the other was Epimetheus.†

  Although allies of Zeus, the two brothers were still Titans, and the Olympian gods did not entirely trust them. Once there was a discussion over what parts of the sacrificial bull should be offered to the gods. Of course, the gods expected the best parts, the fat and the good meat. But Prometheus deceived Zeus. He divided the bull into two sacks. In the one sack he placed the good meat, but put the entrails on top so that Zeus would think the sack useless and give it back to Prometheus. In the other sack, Prometheus put the bones, but placed the fat on top. When Prometheus offered the two sacks to Zeus, the god naturally chose the one with the fat on top. However, when Zeus learned that he had been deceived, he said, “Let Prometheus and the humans eat their meat raw—I will never let them have fire!”

  Prometheus knew that mortals would need fire in order for civilization to develop: Cooking, pottery, and metalwork all require fire. So Prometheus went to Athena, the goddess of wisdom, ostensibly to plead his case. However, he never spoke to Athena. He snuck into the palace of the gods through the back door, and when he came to the chariot of the sun, he stole some of the fire, concealing it in a hollow fennel stalk. He then returned and gave the fire to humankind in direc
t violation of Zeus’s command.

  When Zeus discovered the theft he was furious. Prior to the robbery, there had been only males among the humans. So Zeus ordered Hephaestus, the smith of the gods, to make a female human from clay. He made a beautiful woman, and Aphrodite gave her still more beauty and taught her charm. Athena gave her skills in cooking, weaving, and spinning, and other gods and goddess gave her still more gifts. Thus, she was called Pandora, meaning “all-gifted.”

  It was Zeus’s intention to give Pandora to Prometheus as a “gift.” As a further gift, the gods sent a sealed clay jar with her. Prometheus advised his brother, Epimetheus, not to accept these gifts. But Epimetheus ignored him. Zeus punished Prometheus for warning his brother by having Prometheus chained to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains, where a vulture perpetually tore at his liver.

  Alarmed by the horrible vengeance of Zeus, Epimetheus took Pandora as his wife. Pandora had been warned by Prometheus not to open the clay jar, but her curiosity got the better of her. Finally, she could bear it no longer; she opened the jar. Out flew every plague that has since oppressed mankind—greed, lust, sickness, old age, famine, and a host of others. Yet, there was one commodity left in the jar—hope. And as long as hope remains, we can bear all of the other ills that may befall us.

  THE ORIGIN OF MEDICINE

  (Cherokee)

  There was once a time, not long after the creation of the world, when humans and animals freely communicated. However, they did not remain on good terms for very long. The humans began to kill the animals for their furs and for food. It was easy to do at this time, as the animals were completely unprepared to be hunted and they walked up to human beings, trusting them. Then the animals became angry.

  The tribe of the bear met in council, led by old White Bear. After several of the bears had voiced their complaints against the human beings, the entire tribe declared war on the humans. Once the angry crowd calmed down, White Bear told them that the human beings had a decided advantage—the spear, and the bow and arrow. So the bears decided to make their own weapons.

  However, the bears had a problem: Their claws made it impossible to throw a spear. They couldn’t shoot arrows either, as their claws made it impossible to properly draw back on a bow. Some of the younger bears thought of cutting their claws, but White Bear told them that bears needed claws to climb trees and subdue their food.

  Meanwhile, the deer were also angry and they too met, presided over by Little Deer. The deer, of course, are less violent creatures than are bears, so they did not consider making war on human beings. However, they resolved to use their magic: Thenceforth if a hunter wished to kill a deer, he must first ask permission of the spirit of Little Deer or else seek his pardon afterward. Any human hunter failing to do so would be stricken with rheumatism.

  The fish and reptiles also met to discuss their future relationship with the humans. They decided to haunt mankind with terrible dreams of serpents. Only the Cherokee can banish such dreams with the help of a medicine man.

  The birds and insects met in council; each of them named a disease they could spread among the humans.

  The plants, however, thought that all of this was getting out of hand, pointing out that, since many of the animals themselves killed for food, they were wrong to be so sharp in their judgment. Since the plants are everywhere, they had overheard the councils of the bears, deer, fish and reptiles, birds and insects, and knew what diseases would be inflicted on humans. So each plant decided to act as a remedy for one of the diseases, and thus was medicine born.

  MURILÉ AND THE MOONCHIEF

  (Kenya)

  Once there was a youth named Murilé, whose mother incessantly nagged at him, criticizing him over every little thing. Nothing he did was ever right; even his best efforts brought snide remarks from her. Growing tired of this, Murilé borrowed his father’s stool, which had been in the family for countless generations. He sat on the stool and recited every magic incantation he knew. Suddenly the stool began to fly up off the earth in the direction of the moon.

  When he landed on the moon, he came to a village and asked for directions to the home of the Moonchief. The villagers asked Murilé to work for them in exchange for the information. They came to like him and then told him how to get to his destination, and he went on his way.

  When Murilé arrived at the village of the Moonchief, he was appalled at how backward the people there were. They knew nothing of fire; they ate their meat raw, had no pottery, and shivered at night from the cold. So Murilé took sticks and built a fire, which made him a great hero to the moon people and a favorite of the Moonchief. He was hailed as the greatest magician the people had ever known.

  In recognition of his services, Murilé was showered with gifts and honors. The Moonchief and his subjects could not give Murilé enough cattle and wives. Every father wanted Murilé to marry his daughters.

  Soon a very rich man with many cattle and wives, Murilé prepared to return to earth in triumph: Now his mother would see that her son had amounted to something. So he sent his friend, the mockingbird, to announce his imminent return to earth. However, Murilé’s family did not even believe their son was alive; they had given him up for dead long ago. When the mockingbird flew back to the moon with this report, Murilé could not believe that the mockingbird had spoken to his family. So the mockingbird went back to Murilé’s earthly village and brought back his father’s walking stick as proof of the visit.

  Finally convinced, Murilé prepared to return to earth. He dressed his wives and many children in their finest clothing and covered them with jewels. He had so much wealth to show off that his mother was sure to be impressed. With this great entourage to bring with him, Murilé could hardly travel back on the magic stool, so the entire party left on foot. Murilé became exhausted. One of his finest bulls told Murilé that he (the bull) would carry his master back to earth in exchange for a promise: that Murilé would never kill him and eat him. Murilé gladly consented.

  The family of Murilé on earth were thrilled to see him and marveled at his wealth and fine new family. Even his mother rejoiced to have him home. Consistent with her character, she went about bragging to everyone of her rich and powerful son. Murilé made his parents swear never to harm the bull that had brought him home, and they agreed.

  However, as time passed, the parents forgot their promise. After all, Murilé had so many cattle that they probably forgot which bull was which. So his parents killed the bull and Murilé’s mother prepared a dish seasoned with its fat and broth. As Murilé sat down to eat, the meat spoke to him, reminding him of the promise. As Murilé took the first taste of the bull’s meat, the earth swallowed him up.

  THE HUMAN RACE IS SAVED

  (Iroquois)

  There was once a great warrior named Nekumonta who was married to the beautiful Shanewis. During the winter when the snow was deep and food was scarce, a terrible plague struck the earliest people, and many died. Nekumonta watched as, one by one, all of his brothers and sisters and both of his parents perished. The plague continued until Nekumonta, Shanewis, and a handful of villagers were the only ones left. But it looked as if the race of humans was going to die out, for Shanewis fell ill and lay near death, and many of the villagers complained of symptoms. Nekumonta could not bear to think that he would lose his wife and knew that, if he could save her, the human race could be preserved.

  So Nekumonta prayed to the Great Spirit asking for guidance in finding the right herbs to save Shanewis’s life. Covering her with furs to keep her warm, Nekumonta set out to find a cure. He searched and searched for herbs in the deep snow, but found nothing. Exhausted, he fell asleep.

  When he awoke, he continued for three more days, wandering over frozen lakes, through forests, and over hills without success. Then a little snowshoe rabbit appeared to him.

  He asked the rabbit, “Where can I find the herbs planted by the Great Spirit, to save my wife and my people?” But the little rabbit just twitched his nose and hopped awa
y.

  Nekumonta then came to the den of a hibernating black bear and asked the bear for help. The sleepy bear just grunted and rolled over.

  On the third night of his journey, Nekumonta himself began to feel ill and he fell to the ground in a deep sleep. All the birds and animals remembered his many kindnesses. Nekumonta had never killed an animal unless he really needed it for food and clothing. They remembered how he had honored the trees and flowers. As they looked on him, their hearts were overcome with compassion and they resolved to help him. The animals, trees, birds, and plants all cried to the Great Spirit on his behalf.

  As Nekumonta slept, a message came to him from the Great Spirit. In his dream he saw the beautiful Shanewis, still ill, but singing a strange and beautiful song. Then he heard the sound of a waterfall. The waters now sang the same song, but the words were clearer: “Find us, Nekumonta, and your Shanewis will live!”

  At this, the young warrior awoke with a start, the words still clear in his mind. He looked in all directions, but found no waterfall. Yet the singing of the waters continued.

  Nekumonta frantically dug in the snow to find the waters. He began to take sticks and rocks and dig into the frozen earth. He continued digging until he had dug a very large hole in the ground. Suddenly, a tiny stream began to bubble up into the hole. Soon the waters began to fill the hole, and waves of health and happiness overtook him. Moments after bathing in the waters, Nekumonta was refreshed, stronger than ever.

  After raising his hands in thanks to the Great Spirit, he went back to the hole and took some clay to make a jar to carry the water back to his village. When Nekumonta returned to the village, he could see that he was just in time. The last remaining people were all very sick, and Shanewis herself was almost entering the land of shadows.