Creation Myth: How the Sun and the Moon Came Into Being
Once upon a time, the entire world was in darkness. There were human inhabitants of the earth, but they could hardly see but a few feet in front of their hands. They had been born of the dark clay of the earth and the breath of the creator god but they had no language, no arts, and spent all their days looking for food in the darkness. Of course, they could not plant anything so the best they could do was forage for roots and insects in the never-ending night.
The creator god had long passed into nothingness, but his sons remained in the cave in the sky that had been his former home, playing with a great fiery ball which they passed back and forth between the two of them. Sometimes they would show the ball to the world in the darkness. Depending on how they gripped it, it would look like a fist or a crescent shape.
Not all creatures were in as dire straits as the humans. The great scavenger bird...
But even he did not like the eternal darkness because he was black and no one could see his magnificent shape. "I will steal the great fiery ball the sons of the creator god seem so enamored with," he said to himself as he hovered by the mouth of the cave in the sky. "Then, everyone can admire me."
The brothers didn't know what had happened at first. One minute they were tossing the ball, and the next minute there was a rustle of feathers and the raven flitted in, a mass of wings and squawking. He grabbed the great ball with his beak from one of the brother's hands. The brother hung on to the ball, but the raven tore it away, helped by his sharp claws. Only a little bit of the fire was left in the palm of the one brother's hand, looking barely the size of a plum or a pebble in his giant fingers.
For a time, the raven flew with the fire in his mouth, pleased with his victory. Now everyone could see…
