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California Creation Lore Yokut Native American Lore
A Great Flood had occurred upon Earth long,
long ago. While Earth was still covered with water, there
were no living creatures upon the land. Then out of the
sky one day glided an enormous Eagle with a black Crow riding
upon its back, searching for a place to light. Around and
around Eagle flew until he discovered a projecting tree
stump, or what appeared to be a stump, upon which he landed
to rest. There was a home at last upon the flat surface,
which was amply large enough for Eagle and Crow to roost
upon. From here, they surveyed the greenish gray water as
far as they could see. The sky was a gorgeous bright blue
with a few white drifting clouds, occasionally swirled by
a passing breeze. All seemed serene to Eagle and Crow. Small
fish were visible below the water, sometimes leaping out
of the sea playfully. Hunger caused Eagle and Crow to swoop
down, catching a meal for themselves from time to time.
Soon a game developed between the two birds to see which
one would be the winner in the fish-catching contest. Upon
their return to the stump, however, they always shared the
reward. Because of Eagle's great size and wingspan, he soared
to great heights and surveyed widely, as the two birds often
flew in opposite directions exploring for land. But no land
did they find. No other flying creatures did they see. But
they always returned to their home base on the tree stump.
Between them, they wondered "How can we possibly think of
a way to make land?" "We know we cannot dive deep enough
to find dirt, and the fish are of no help except to provide
food."
Day after day these scenes were repeated,
exploring in search of land or wondering how to create land,
only to return to their stump and catch more fish. One morning
soon thereafter and much to their surprise, a Duck was swimming
around and around their stump. Occasionally, it dived deep
in the water, rose to the surface chewing small fish, twisting
its head from side to side trying to swallow its meal. One
time, Duck emerged with more mud than fish in its mouth.
Eagle and Crow bird talked excitedly about this! "Can Duck
possibly bring up enough mud for us to build land?" they
wondered. How could they let Duck know that mud was what
they needed most? An idea occurred to Eagle, which he bird
talked to Crow, "If we supply fish for Duck, maybe he will
bring up more mud than fish." By trial and error, the two
birds caught fish for Duck, placing them at the edge of
the stump, until Duck learned that the fish were for him
in exchange for mud! When Duck appeared on the surface after
a deep dive, Eagle and Crow brushed off the mud from Duck's
bill and his body with their wings. Progress was slow but
steady. Gradually, Eagle had a pile of mud on his side of
the stump and Crow had a similar pile on his side. Each
placed fish on his own side for Duck, who now responded
by carrying more and more mud to Eagle and Crow. This became
a great game of fish-and-mud exchange. Duck worked very
hard, consequently he was always hungry.
The birds were surprised at how large each
one's mud pile grew every day. In bird talk they said, "Duck
is helping us to make a new world. This we will share equally."
Occasionally, Eagle and Crow flew toward the horizon, exploring
for any new signs of land. But they returned with nothing
new to report; however, they noticed a slight lowering of
water around the tree stump. "Surely, the flood must be
coming to an end," Crow and Eagle bird talked. Each day
they watched for a change in the waterline. Each day their
piles of mud seemed higher and higher. Faithful Duck kept
up his good work as Eagle and Crow caught fish for him and
scraped off mud from him for each side of the new world.
Another time, Eagle flew high and far in search of dry land,
not returning until late. The sun set and darkness enveloped
his world on the stump. Next morning, to Eagle's surprise,
he saw how much more mud he had acquired, and he was pleased.
But after looking across at Crow's mud pile, Eagle was astounded
to see that Crow had given himself twice as much mud while
Eagle was away. "Was this Crow's idea of sharing the new
world equally?" accused Eagle. Of course, they quarrelled
all that day and the next over Crow's unfairness. But the
following day, they went back to work making their new land.
Eagle decided that he must catch up. He caught two fish
for Duck and put them in his usual place. Duck responded
by bringing up mud twice to Eagle in exchange for his two
fish. All three worked very hard for many, many moons. Gradually,
Eagle's half of the new world became taller and taller than
Crow's half, even though Crow seemed to work just as hard
as Eagle. Duck was faithful to his task, never tiring in
his effort to supply mud. Of course, Duck continued to give
Eagle twice as much mud for his two fish. Crow never seemed
to notice why Eagle's half became higher and higher than
his half. One morning, as the sun rose brightly, the two
birds looked down through the water and saw what appeared
to be land! "So that is where Duck finds the mud," they
bird talked. They were pleased to see that the water was
subsiding. How they hoped that soon they would be high and
dry on their new world.
But all was not so easy, for that very night
lightning flashed across the waters and thunder rolled and
rolled from one horizon to the other followed by a heavy,
drenching rain. Eagle and Crow sought shelter in holes they
dug into the sides of their mud piles. All night long the
rain continued to fall, washing away much of the new world
into the sea. As the rain stopped and the sun rose, Eagle
and Duck looked out upon the waters and saw an arc of many
colours reaching from one edge of the horizon across the
sky to the other horizon. This brilliant display held their
eyes in wonderment. What did it mean? They marvelled at
how long the colours lingered in the sky. Eagle flew toward
the scene for a closer look, returning when the arc disappeared.
In bird talk, Eagle and Crow decided that the storm of the
night before must have been a clearing shower. They began
their land- building project again, hoping that Duck would
resume his work as mud-carrier. Soon the sun's rays burned
strong and hot, packing the mud until it was hard. Duck
appeared and the team of three continued to build the two
halves of the new world. Day by day, the waters subsided
and new land began to show above the waterline but far,
far below the new creation by Eagle and Crow. Eagle's half
became taller and taller and hard packed by the hot sun.
Crow's share of the new world was still great, but never
could become as large as Eagle's half of the new world.
In retelling this creation story, Yokut tribal
historians always claim that Eagle's half became the mighty
Sierra Nevada Mountains. They also tell how Crow's half
became known as the Coast Mountain Range. Yokut historians
end their tale by saying that people everywhere honour the
brave and strong Eagle, while Crow is accorded a lesser
place because of his unfair disposition displayed during
the creation of the new world by Eagle and Crow
