At the
beginning there was a great mound. It was called Nanih Wiya. It was from this
mound that the Creator fashioned the first of the people. These people crawled
through a long, dark cave into daylight. They became the first Choctaw.
One day the
Great Spirit collected swirls of dust from the four directions in order to
create the Comanche people. These people formed from the earth had the strength
of mighty storms. Unfortunately, a shape-shifting demon was also created and
began to torment the people. The Great Spirit cast the demon into a bottomless
pit. To seek revenge the demon took refuge in the fangs and stingers of
poisonous creatures and continues to harm people every chance it gets.
When
Tu-chai-pai made the world, the earth was the woman, the sky was the man. The
sky came down upon the earth. The world in the beginning was a pure lake covered
with tulles. Tu-chai-pai and his younger brother, Yo-ko-mat-is, sat together,
stooping far over, bowed down by the weight of the sky. The Maker said to his
brother, "What am I going to do?"
"I do not
know," said Yo-ko-mat-is.
"Let us go a
little farther," said the Maker.
So they went
a little farther and sat down to rest. "Now what am I going to do?" said
Tu-chai-pai.
"I do not
know, my brother."
All of this
time the Maker knew what he was about to do, but he was asking his brother's
help. Then he said, "We-hicht, we-hicht, we-hicht," three times. He took tobacco
in his hand. and rubbed it fine and blew upon it three times. Every time he
blew, the heavens rose higher above their heads.
Younger
brother did the same thing because the Maker asked him to do it. The heavens
went higher and higher and so did the sky. Then they did it both together,
"We-hicht, we-hicht, we-hicht," and both took tobacco, rubbed it, and puffed
hard upon it, sending the sky so high it formed a concave arch.
Then they
placed North, South, East, and West. Tu-chai-pai made a line upon the ground.
"Why do you make that line?" asked younger brother. "I am making the line from
East to West and name them so. Now you make a line from North to South."
Yo-ko-mat-is
thought very hard. How would he arrange it? Then he drew a crossline from top to
bottom. He named the top line North, and the bottom line South. Then he asked,
"Why are we doing this?" The Maker said, "I will tell you. Three or four men are
coming from the East, and from the West three or four Indians are coming."
The brother
asked, "Do four men come from the North, and two or three men come from the
South?"
Tu-chai-pai
said, "Yes. Now I am going to make hills and valleys and little hollows of
water."
"Why are you
making all of these things?"
The Maker
explained, "After a while when men come and are walking back and forth in the
world, they will need to drink water or they will die." He had already made the
ocean, but he needed little water places for the people.
Then he made
the forests and said, "After a while men will die of cold unless I make wood for
them to burn. What are we going to do now?" "I do not know," replied younger
brother.
"We are going
to dig in the ground and find mud to make the first people, the Indians." So he
dug in the ground and took mud to make the first men and the first women. He
made the men easily, but he had much trouble making women. It took him a long
time. After the Indians, he made the Mexicans and finished all his making. He
then called out very loudly, "People, you can never die and you can never get
tired, so you can walk all the time." But then he made them sleep at night, to
keep them from walking in the darkness. At last he told them that they must
travel toward the East, where the sun's light was coming out for the first time.
The Indians
then came out and searched for the light, and at last they found light and were
exceedingly glad to see the Sun. The Maker called out to his brother, "It's time
to make the Moon. You call out and make the Moon to shine, as I have made the
Sun. Sometime the Moon will die. When it grows smaller and smaller, men will
know it is going to die, and they must run races to try and keep up with the
dying moon."
The villagers
talked about the matter and they understood their part and that Tu-chai-pai
would be watching to see that they did what he wanted them to do. When the Maker
completed all of this, he created nothing more. But he was always thinking how
to make Earth and Sky better for all the Indians.
For many
months Pele followed a star from the northeast, which shown brighter than the
rest, and migrated toward it. One morning, Pele awoke to the smell of something
familiar in the air. In the distance could be seen a high mountain with a smoky
haze hiding its peak. Pele knew she had found her new home. She named the island
Hawai'i.
Pele,
carrying her magic stick Pa'oa, went up to the mountain where a part of the
earth collapsed into the ground. She placed the stick into the ground. Pele
called this place Kilauea. Inside the Kilauea Crater was a large pit. She named
it Halema'uma'u, maumau being the fern jungle surround the volcano. Halema'uma'u
would be her new home.
There was a
fire God living on Kilauea named ‘Ailaau (forest-eater). He and Pele both wanted
Kilauea for their home. They started throwing fire balls at each other, causing
considerable damage. 'Ailaau fled and still hides in the caverns under the
earth. Pele alone would rule the Island of Hawai'i. The people of the island
loved and respected the Goddess Pele. The egg her mother gave Pele hatched into
a beautiful girl. Pele named her new sister, Hi'iaka'i-ka-poli-o-Pele (Hi'iaka
of the bosom of Pele). Kamohoali'i, the shark God taught Hi'iaka the art of
surfing.
Pele fell in
love with a man she saw in a dream. His name was Lohi'au, a chief of the island
of Kaua'i. Pele sent her sister Hi'iaka to fetch Lohi'au on Kaua'i to bring him
back to Hawai'i to live with Pele. Hi'iaka would have fourty days to bring
Lohi'au back or Pele would punish the girl by hurting Hi'iaka's girl friend
Hopoe. Upon reaching Kaua'i, Hi'iaka found Lohi'au dead. She quickly rubbed his
body with herbs and chanted to the Gods for help; bringing the young chief of
Kaua'i back to life. Grateful for Hi'iaka's help, Lohi'au agreed to return with
her to the Big Island.
The fourty
days had passed. Pele suspected that Hi'iaka and Lohi'au had fallen in love and
were not coming back. In her fury, Pele caused an eruption which turned Hopoe
into stone. On her return to Hawai'i with Lohi'au, Hi'iaka found Hopoe, a statue
in stone. Hi'iaka, filled with sadness and anger decided to take revenge.
Leading Lohi'au to the edge of the Halema'uma'u crater where Pele could see
them, Hi'iaka put her arms around Lohi'au and embraced him. Furious, Pele
covered Lohi'au with lava and flames.
The two
sisters, anger subsided, were remorseful. One lost a friend, the other a lover.
Pele decided to bring Lohi'au back to life to let him choose which sister he
would love. Pele was sure Lohi'au would choose her. Lohi'au chose Hi'iaka. Pele,
with aloha, gave the two lovers her blessing and Hi'iaka and Lohi'au sailed back
to Kaua'i.
Pele still
lives on Hawai'i where she rules as the fire Goddess of the volcanoes. The smell
of sulphur reminds the natives that she is still there in her home,
Halema'uma'u, her fiery lava building a new island to the south, still
submerged, named Loahi.
This universe
existed in the shape of darkness, unperceived, destitute of distinctive marks,
unattainable by reasoning, unknowable, wholly immersed, as it were, in deep
sleep.
Then the
Divine Self-existent, himself indiscernible but making all this, the great
elements and the rest, discernible, appeared with irresistible power, dispelling
the darkness.
He who can be
perceived by the internal organ alone, who is subtle, indiscernible, and
eternal, who contains all created beings and is inconceivable, shone forth of
his own will.
He, desiring
to produce beings of many kinds from his own body, first with a thought created
the waters, and placed his seed in them.
That seed
became a golden egg, in brilliancy equal to the sun; in that egg he himself was
born as Brahma, the progenitor of the whole world....
The Divine
One resided in that egg during a whole year, then he himself by his thought
divided it into two halves;
And out of
those two halves he formed heaven and earth, between them the middle sphere, the
eight points of the horizon, and the eternal abode of the waters.
From himself
he also drew forth the mind, which is both real and unreal, likewise from the
mind ego, which possesses the function of self-consciousness and is lordly.
Moreover, the
great one, the soul, and all products affected by the three qualities, and, in
their order, the five organs which perceive the objects of sensation.