Week 11 Story: The Sacred Legend

 A Tale of How Civilization Began

At the beginning of time men were in the water. They awoke from nothingness and found themselves in the water. Awareness coming to them, they came from the water to land. They were cold on land, so they twisted together grass and leaves to make clothes for themselves. Hungry they chased after deer and elk with clubs for food. Men went to bed cold and hungry many nights, dissatisfied with their lot.

One day a man took a rock and hit it upon another rock, breaking the first into sharp points. Learning this, he showed other men how to do the same. They took these sharp rocks and made arrows and spears. They used their new arrows and spears to hunt the deer and elk, making food much easier for them to find.

Yet, they were still cold, and they ate their meat raw. One man, when he was cold, took two elm roots and began to rub them together. When he did this a fog rose from the roots and a strong odor rose with it. Excited, he took what he learned back to the other men. Together they rubbed elm roots together and made fire. With this fire the men were warm, and they cooked their elk and deer over the fire. 

Yet, they grew to not like their meat cooked on the open fire and desired to find a new way to cook it. One day a man took some mud and brought it near the fire, where it turned hard. Excited, he took what he learned back to the other men and they gathered much of this mud. With it, they made pots and hardened them near the fires. Satisfied, they took the pots and filled them with water and meat and sat them in the fires. Now they had boiled meat to eat and were happy with it.

Yet, they realized that their homes were frail and cold. The grass they twisted together for their clothes they also made into their homes, but it blew away in the wind and left the men chilly at night. They tried taking the hide of deer and elk and making skin houses, but the pelts were too soft and tore when stretched fovea the frames they built. They tried to make houses of bark, but they were too heavy and collapsed. Finally, they took the hides of buffalo and stretched them over the frames. These held and made warm houses for the men. They took also these hides and made soft clothes for themselves to stay warm when they were not in their houses.

Yet, they needed to make more houses and could not chop wood quick enough. So, they took some of their sharp rocks and tied them to handles to make hatchets. The women used these hatchets to cut logs and limbs for more houses. They used their sharp rock knives to cut and treat the hides for the houses. With these, the group of men grew.

Yet, the men grew tired of eating just meat. One day a man went into the woods and found a pile of red, blue, and white stones. Thinking them valuable, he buried them by the village for him to find later. Many days later, he came back and found. plant where he buried the stones. Excited, he showed this to the other men who decided to let the plant grow and see what it would become. Many moons later, they harvested the plant and found its fruit to be beautiful reds, blues, yellows, and whites. They took these fruits and hid them for the next spring. Then they planted these stones and grew more of the colorful fruit, which they ate excitedly. 

Now men had grown from cold creatures on the shores of the water to communities where men were warm, well-fed, and growing. Men had shared with each other what they learned and all men grew from it.

Author's Note 

This story is a fairly simple retelling of the Sacred Legend of the Omaha people. It is a creation tale of sorts, but is much different than the typical creation tale. It focuses not on the gods or how animals contributed to creation and man's development, but how man helped himself to grow into a powerful force in nature. It is a tale of how men, when they rely upon one another, can help grow out of the coldest and darkest moments. I truly love this tale because it is such a different tale than any I have yet to read in this class. So often in mythology or folklore, mankind does not find its own way in the world but is assisted by other beings. This is a tale of how humanity did it themselves, they figured out the tricks and knowledge of how to survive in a hostile world, and they shared that knowledge with one another instead of hoarding it for themselves. I thought about trying to retell the tale in a different settings, but there seemed to be such a natural beauty to the tale that I wanted to keep it true to its original form. Thanks for reading and hoped you enjoyed it!

Image Source: WallPaperUse

Story Source: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Judson