Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.storyteller (
More info?)
OoC: Hmmm, Take two, since take one has decided not to put in an
appearance.
Jane Palanis wrote:
> >
> > When her brain reboots she speaks. "Beer!."
>
> "Tap or bottle?" Jane asks as she produces a clean glass.
"Tap, please."
She draws her hand through some dust and rubs it between her fingers
and thumb.
"There was a world before this world, but the people in it did not know
how to behave themselves or how to act properly.
The Creating Power was not pleased with that earlier world. So he said
to himself, "I will make a new world." He had the pipe bag and the
chief pipe, which he put on the pipe rack that he had made in the
sacred manner. He took four dry buffalo chips, placed three of them
under three sticks and saved the fourth one to light the pipe.
The Creating Power said to himself, "I will sing three songs which will
bring a heavy rain. Then, I'll sing a fourth song, stamp four times on
the earth and the earth will crack wide open. Water will come out of
the cracks and cover all the land."
When he sang the first song it started to rain. When he sang the
second, it poured. When he sang the third, the rain-swollen rivers
overflowed their beds, but, when he sang the fourth song and stamped on
the earth it split open in many places, like a shattered gourd and
water flowed from the cracks until it covered everything.
The Creating Power floated on the sacred pipe and on his huge pipe bag.
He let himself be carried by waves and wind, this way and that,
drifting for a long time.
At last the rain stopped and by then all the people and animals had
drowned. Only Crow survived, but, he had no place to rest and was very
tired flying above the pipe. He said "Tunkshila, Grandfather, I must
soon rest." Three times Crow asked him to make a place for it to land.
The Creating Power watched Crow and thought "It's time to unwrap the
pipe and open the pipe bag."
The wrapping and the pipe bag contained all manner of animals and birds
from which, he selected four animals known for their ability to stay
under water for a long time.
First he sang a song and took the loon out of the bag. He commanded the
loon to dive and bring up a lump of mud. The loon did dive, but, it
brought up nothing. "I dived and dived but couldn't reach the bottom"
the loon said. "I almost died. The water is too deep."
The Creating Power sang a second song and took the otter out of the
bag. He ordered the otter to dive and bring up some mud. The sleek
otter at once dived into the water, using its strong webbed feet to go
down, down, down. It was submerged for a long time, but, when it
finally came to the surface, it brought nothing.
Taking the beaver out of the pipe's wrapping the Creating Power sang a
third song. He commanded the beaver to go deep below the water and
bring some mud. The beaver thrust itself into the water using its great
tail to propel itself downward. It stayed under water longer than the
others, but, when it finally came up again, it too brought nothing.
At last the Creating Power sang the fourth song and took the turtle out
of the bag.
The turtle is very strong. Among our people it stands for long life and
endurance and the power to survive. A turtle heart is great medicine,
for it keeps on beating a long time after the turtle is dead.
"You must bring the mud" the Creating Power told the turtle. It dove
into the water and stayed below so long that the other three animals
shouted "The turtle is dead, it will never come up again!."
All the time, Crow was flying around and begging for a place to land.
After what seemed to be eons, the turtle broke the surface of the water
and paddled to the Creating Power. "I got to the bottom!" the turtle
cried. "I have brought some earth!". Sure enough, its feet and claws -
even the space in the cracks on its sides between its upper and lower
shell - were filled with mud.
Scooping mud from the turtle's feet and sides the Creating Power began
to sing. He sang all the while that he shaped the mud in his hands and
spread it on the water to make a spot of dry land for himself. When he
had sung the fourth song, there was enough land for the Creating Power
and for Crow.
"Come down and rest" said the Creating Power to Crow and the bird was
glad for he was exhausted. Then the Creating Power took from his bag
two long wing feathers of the eagle. He waved them over his plot of
ground and commanded it to spread until it covered everything. Soon all
the water was replaced by earth.
"Water without earth is not good," thought the Creating Power, "but,
land without water is not good either." Feeling pity for the land he
wept for the earth and the creatures he would put upon it and his tears
became oceans, streams, and lakes. "That's better" he thought.
Out of his pipe bag the Creating Power took all kinds of animals,
birds, plants and scattered them over the land. When he stamped on the
earth, they all came alive.
>From the earth the Creating Power formed the shapes of men and women.
He used red earth and white earth, black earth and yellow earth and
made as many as he thought would do for a start. He stamped on the
earth and the shapes came alive, each taking the color of the earth out
of which it was made.
The Creating Power gave all of them understanding and speech and told
them what tribes they belonged to. The Creating Power said to them "The
first world I made was bad, the creatures on it were bad. So I burned
it up.
The second world I made was bad too, so I drowned it. This is the third
world I have made. Look, I have created a rainbow for you as a sign
that there will be no more Great Flood. Whenever you see a rainbow, you
will know that it has stopped raining."
The Creating Power continued "Now, if you have learned how to behave
properly and how to live in peace with each other and with the other
living things - the two-legged, the four-legged, the many-legged, the
fliers, the no-legs, the green plants of this universe - then all will
be well. But, if you make this world bad and ugly, then I will destroy
this world too. It's up to you."
The Creating Power gave the people the pipe. "Live by it," he said.
He named his land Turtle Island, because, it was there that the turtle
came up with the mud out of which the third world was made.
"Someday there might be a fourth world," the Creating Power thought.
Then he rested."
"This story was told to me by Leonard Crow Dog a gentleman and a
scholar."
> -Jane
> Point for Toby
-Wildwind
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