Diguenos
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 tules. 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 after that
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.