The earth is a great island floating in a sea of
water, and suspended at each of the four cardinal points by a cord
hanging down from the sky vault, which is of solid rock. When the
world grows old and worn out, the people will die and the cords will
break and let the earth sink down into the ocean, and all will be
water again. The Indians are afraid of this.
When all was water, the animals were above in Gälûñ'lätï, beyond the
arch; but it was very much crowded, and they were wanting more room.
They wondered what was below the water, and at last Dâyuni'sï,
"Beaver's Grandchild," the little Water-beetle, offered to go and see
if it could learn. It darted in every direction over the surface of
the water, but could find no firm place to rest. Then it dived to the
bottom and came up with some soft mud, which began to grow and spread
on every side until it became the island which we call the earth. It
was afterward fastened to the sky with four cords, but no one
remembers who did this.
At first the earth was flat and very soft and wet. The animals were
anxious to get down, and sent out different birds to see if it was yet
dry, but they found no place to alight and came back again to
Gälûñ'lätï. At last it seemed to be time, and they sent out the
Buzzard and told him to go and make ready for them. This was the Great
Buzzard, the father of all the buzzards we see now. He flew all over
the earth, low down near the ground, and it was still soft. When he
reached the Cherokee country, he was very tired, and his wings began
to flap and strike the ground, and wherever they struck the earth
there was a valley, and where they turned up again there was a
mountain. When the animals above saw this, they were afraid that the
whole world would be mountains, so they called him back, but the
Cherokee country remains full of mountains to this day.
When the earth was dry and the animals came down, it was still dark,
so they got the sun and set it in a track to go every day across the
island from east to west, just overhead. It was too hot this way, and
Tsiska'gïlï', the Red Crawfish, had his shell scorched a bright red,
so that his meat was spoiled; and the Cherokee do not eat it. The conjurers put the sun another hand-breadth higher in the air, but it
was still too hot. They raised it another time, and another, until it
was seven handbreadths high and just under the sky arch. Then it was
right, and they left it so. This is why the conjurers call the highest
place Gûlkwâ'gine Di'gälûñ'lätiyûñ', "the seventh height," because it
is seven hand-breadths above the earth. Every day the sun goes along
under this arch, and returns at night on the upper side to the
starting place.
There is another world under this, and it is like ours in
everything--animals, plants, and people--save that the seasons are
different. The streams that come down from the mountains are the
trails by which we reach this underworld, and the springs at their
heads are the doorways by which we enter, it, but to do this one must
fast and, go to water and have one of the underground people for a
guide. We know that the seasons in the underworld are different from
ours, because the water in the springs is always warmer in winter and
cooler in summer than the outer air.
When the animals and plants were first made--we do not know by
whom--they were told to watch and keep awake for seven nights, just as
young men now fast and keep awake when they pray to their medicine.
They tried to do this, and nearly all were awake through the first
night, but the next night several dropped off to sleep, and the third
night others were asleep, and then others, until, on the seventh
night, of all the animals only the owl, the panther, and one or two
more were still awake. To these were given the power to see and to go
about in the dark, and to make prey of the birds and animals which
must sleep at night. Of the trees only the cedar, the pine, the
spruce, the holly, and the laurel were awake to the end, and to them
it was given to be always green and to be greatest for medicine, but
to the others it was said: "Because you have not endured to the end
you shall lose your, hair every winter."
Men came after the animals and plants. At first there were only a
brother and sister until he struck her with a fish and told her to
multiply, and so it was. In seven days a child was born to her, and
thereafter every seven days another, and they increased very fast
until there was danger that the world could not keep them. Then it was
made that a woman should have only one child in a year, and it has
been so ever since.
