IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning, the Muscogee people were born out of the earth itself. They crawled up out of the ground through a hole like ants. In those days, they lived in a far western land beside tan mountains that reached the sky. They called the mountains the backbone of the earth. Then a thick fog descended upon the earth, sent by the Master of Breath, Esakitaummesee. The Muscogee people could not see. They wandered around blindly, calling out to one another in fear. They drifted apart and became lost. The whole people were separated into small groups, and these groups stayed close to one another in fear of being entirely alone. Finally, the Master had mercy on them. From the eastern edge of the world, where the sun rises, he began to blow away the fog. He blew and blew until the fog was completely gone. The people were joyful and sang a hymn of thanksgiving to the Master of Breath. And in each of the groups, the people turned to one another and swore eternal brotherhood. They said that from then on these groups would be like large families. The members of each group would be as close to each other as brother and sister, father and son. The group that was farthest east and first to see the sun, praised the wind that had blown the fog away. They called themselves the Wind Family, or Wind Clan. As the fog moved away from the other groups, they, too, gave themselves names. Each group chose the name of the first animal it saw. So they became the Bear, Deer, Alligator, Raccoon, and Bird Clans. However, the Wind Clan was always considered the first clan and the aristocracy of all the clans. The Master-of-Breath spoke to them: "You are the beginning of each one of your families and clans. Live up to your name. Never eat of your own clan, for it is your brother. You must never marry into your own clan. This will destroy your clan if you do. When an Indian brave marries, he must always move with his wife to her clan. There he must live and raise his family. The children will become members of their mother's clan. Follow these ways and the Muskhogeans will always be a powerful force. When you forget, your clans will die as people."

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How the Earth Was Made

At last the excitement had died down. The news that Crawfish had brought back to the Council from the new lands below was important. Birds, he explained, could live on the new lands; animals could find their food for their survival. The mighty Eagle walked to the center of the fire and began to speak: "We are all filled with joy in our hearts to find that we cannot only send fish, but also birds and animals. Now we must prepare the lands for the coming of the new creatures, for they cannot live on the lands as they are now. I have an idea. I will ask permission from the Great Council to help create better land below." "Yes, yes," the Council cried, "It is our wish that the lands be a good place to live." The Eagle walked to the Crawfish and took the wet soil from between his claws. Round and round he rolled the soil between his powerful legs. Then, with a mighty flapping of his huge wings, he soared high above the Council. "What is he doing with the earth in his legs?" Does he intend to steal it?" they cried. Then, with a mighty swish, he hurled the red ball of soil earthward. The soil traveled so fast that it looked like a shooting star falling from the sky. A mighty roar sounded when the ball hit the oceans, making a large wave that parted the water. The red soil spread out and flattened so much that the earth was made in one move. At first, the lands were very wet, so the Eagle flew over them and dried them with his mighty wings. Soon the lands were dry enough to let the animal migration begin.

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The Thunder Helper

Once there was a boy who had no mother or father. All day long he would take long walks and play by himself. One day as the boy was walking along the creek, he heard a noise like Thunder. When he looked up, he saw a Tie-snake and the Thunder having a fight. The Tie-snake called to the boy saying, "Kill the Thunder, and I will tell you everything I know. I know all the things that are under the earth." Just as the boy was putting an arrow to his bow, he heard a loud noise. It was the Thunder speaking to him, "Boy, boy, don't pay any attention to the Tie-snake, I, Thunder, can help you to be brave, strong and wise. Shoot your arrow at the Tie-snake." The boy shot at the Tie-Snake, killed him, and the Tie-snake fell into the creek. Now the Thunder made the boy strong and wise, but the Thunder told the boy that he must never, never tell anyone that the Thunder had made him strong, brave and wise. The boy became the best hunter in the village. He was good and kind to all of the people. When he talked, the people listened. In the cold time, the people were very hungry, for there was no food and very little corn. Many days passed, and the boy stood before them and said, "Last night the owl in the tree talked to me. The owl told me to come to his tree. He told me there was a bear sleeping in a hole in the ground." The young men of the village laughed at him for saying the owl talked to him, but the old men did not laugh for they knew the boy was wise. One of the young men did not laugh. He told the boy he would go hunt the bear with him. He knew the people were hungry. The young man and boy went to the tree with the owl in it. By the tree, in a hole in the ground, they found the bear sleeping. They killed the bear and took it back to the village. The people were happy to have so much meat to eat. Now, when the boy said something, the people found what he said was true. The time came when the men of the village went to fight. Many men were killed. The women were so afraid; they knew the enemy would come and burn the village. The boy stood before the women and said, "Do not be afraid. I will go and kill the enemy. They will not burn our village." The boy went into the woods and found the men of the village. He said to them, "Stay where you are. I will go to meet the enemy and kill them. Never again will the enemy try to burn our village." The men watched the boy as he went to meet the enemy. They saw the Thunder and the Lightening. The Thunder and Lightening came down upon the enemy. All the enemy were killed. The men waited in the woods for a long time. The boy never came back. No one in the village ever saw him again. When the old men hear the Thunder and see the Lightening, they know what to think. They are now wise in many things. They are sure that they hear the boy call in the Thunder, and when the Lightening illuminates the sky, the old men are sure they can see the face of the boy. "The Thunder Helper laughs," the old men say, and then they go to sleep unafraid.

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How the Indian Got the Medicine

Now it came to pass that the first Indian who became ill did so after he killed the deer. The spirit of the deer was angry. The Deer Spirit told the Indian, "I gave you the first sickness for killing me. I also have the cure for this disease. Bring your wisest brave to me, and I will tell him how to cure the deer sickness." A search was made of all the Indians. They sought the Indian with the greatest mind. The Council took the chosen one to the place in the dark forest where the Deer Spirit spoke, "Only the man selected to receive the secret of the medicine may stay." The Deer Spirit told the brave that he would have to go deep into the forests and must remain alone. He must not eat for many moons. He must not speak to any man. 'When this is done," the spirit ordered, "return to me." After days of starvation in the forests, the man heard a voice speaking to him. "You have been chosen to keep the medicine for all your brothers. You will be their Medicine Man. The spirit spoke the following words, "For each animal will give a man a disease, and each animal has a cure for that disease. You must find those cures. Take these secrets that you find and keep them together. This will be most powerful and valuable. You must guard it. Many will try to steal it. Bundle it up. Each time there is a new sickness, I will give you a sign at the new fire. This sign will help you cure the new sickness. The animals will bring the cures. Each year bring this wonderful medicine back to the Green Corn Dance and open all magical cures to your people. When you grow old, you must take a young brave and teach him how to know the cures to help his brother. Give him the tests to make sure that he will make a good medicine man. Many false men will want to get the medicine," the Deer Spirit said. "I will give you part of my breath. Go and blow on the sick. Give them the medicine of the herbs and roots that I tell you. This will make them well." The first Medicine Man returned to the deer and cut the tip of his antler. This was the first magic object in the sacred medicine bundle of the Muskhogean.

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Rabbit Outwits Panther

Rabbit and Panther were friends. They were traveling together. After awhile they came to a place where there was a creek with a bad name. It was "Dogogaga Hatchi." Now, Rabbit wanted to go on and said that, since the creek had a bad name, it would not be good to camp there for the night. He said, "This creek has a bad name." "Why is that?" asked Panther. "Because everyone who camps here at night gets burned up!" "Well, I think it will be all right," remarked Panther. "We will camp here anyway." Rabbit did not want to, and he told Panther. But, at last they made ready their camp for the night, as Panther would go no further. When it got late, they prepared to sleep. They had talked all the evenings about the evil place and other things. Now Rabbit asked Panther, "What kind of noise do you make when are asleep?" (He meant how did he snore) Why, I say "Nutslagum! Nutslagum!" said Panther. Then he asked Rabbit what kind of noise he made. "I say, Nuts! Nuts! Nuts!" said Rabbit. Now, they went to bed and in a short time, Rabbit pretended he was asleep. He began to snore, saying, "Nuts! Nuts! Nuts!" and Panther thought that he was surely asleep, so he went to sleep himself, snoring "Nutslagum!" Now, when the Panther was sound asleep, Rabbit got up, took a piece of bark and shoveled many coals from the fire on it. Then he threw the coals on Panther and fell down quickly, laying as though he had been asleep all the time. Panther jumped up howling with pain and woke the Rabbit. Panther told Rabbit that he was right, that he had been nearly burned to death. Rabbit would only say, "I told you so. I told you so." Pretty soon, they settled down to sleep again. As soon as Rabbit thought Panther was asleep and got up and played the same trick on him again. But, this time Panther was only pretending to be asleep and he caught Rabbit in the act and jumped up to kill him. Rabbit barely escaped Panther's claws and ran as fast as he could. Panther gave chase, several times he nearly caught him, but Rabbit managed to keep ahead of him. But soon he began to lose strength. To save himself, he made an ocean spring up between himself and the angry Panther. Panther could not get across the water and that is why there is an ocean.

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