Reading Notes: Apache, Part A

Story: The Emergence

Story source: Jicarilla Apache Texts edited by Pliny Earle Goddard (1911).

Taos County, New Mexico

This is a creation story from Apache Native American people. I find the concept of emerging to be an intriguing one. Rather than coming out nothing, or having a god create everything, this story of creation begins with people emerging from the underworld.

In the beginning, he made a mounting. By "he" the story refers to the White God of the east, assisted by the Talking God of the south, the Yellow God of the west, and the Laughing God of the north. Then, the made the mountain taller and taller. He then made reeds come out of the center of the mountain and up into heaven.  Four girls went up and twisted the reeds going to the sky. 

Four ladders were made and placed in position: one black, one blue, one yellow, and one variegated. Then whirlwind went to the world above and looked. When he came back he reported that there was much water there. The Beaver and Badger went up and reported that it safe for the people to climb.

When the people ascended, a feeble old couple remained and begged for the other people to take them. But the people did not take them. Then one of them said, "You will come back here to me." And so they watch over the underworld.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Prosaic Introduction

Image
Hello! My name is Kevin Monreal, I am currently a senior at OU, finally. One of the coolest things about my major, Information Studies, is the flexibility that it gives you to pursue your own path and interests. I want to use my degree to work in the IT industry, I already work part-time for OU IT where I'm obtaining valuable experience. In the future, I am hoping to focus more on the realm of cybersecurity. Last semester was a great semester for me, my two favorite classes were data mining and website design; I know they sound really boring for some people but I found them interesting, and I learned a lot. Last semester, apart from passing all my classes, a significant accomplishment was getting a 4.0 for the semester, finally bringing my GPA out of life support. I have lots of hobbies. I like to read, the most recent books that I read were "Beyond Good and Evil" by Friedrich Nietzsche, "The Alchemist" by Paulo Cohelo, and "Norse Mythology" by Neil
Read more

Week 2 Story: The Hare in the Moon

Image
Source: Rabbit in the Moon . The Hare in the Moon And it came to pass the Buddha was born a Hare and lived in the woods. With him lived many friends, and he taught those friends–animals and humans alike–many wise things: that the moral law should be observed–that alms should be given to the poor–and that holy days should be kept. One day the Buddha said: "Tomorrow is a fast day. Feed any beggars that come to you by giving from your own store of food." They all consented. An old friend and Cheesemaker came to Buddha. "I have nothing to give, oh wise Hare. For I have nothing to myself. My goats and cattle ran out of good grass in my fenced fields, and I cannot let them out because a Tiger has been taking them. My animals are starving, and I cannot make any cheese."  The Hare, thinking in contemplation on the Kusha Grass said "bring them here. I shall feed them my own grass and protect them." To which the Cheesemaker replied, "oh great Har
Read more