Inuit

Inuit Bryan Hwu Colin Althaus Jonny Yockey

In the beginning, the world was covered by water. Then the Raven, who was the most powerful being, ordered the Beaver to dive to the bottom of the waters. The Beaver dove to the bottom of the waters and brought back to the surface a handful of mud (Gill and Sullivan, 78). When Beaver retrieved the mud, he gave it to Raven, who swallowed it. After the Raven swallowed it, the clay passed through the Raven's body until the Raven excreted it. When it was excreted, the mud fell from up in the sky where the Raven lived and fell in the water. It spread out in the water until it stretched over much of the earth and until it reached the bottom of the waters. This mud became the first land, and with the first land formed mountains and valleys (Leeming, 203). When the Raven created the land, he also created the Innuas with the the land. The Innua are spirits. All objects have their own Innuas, and their Innuas make up every part of the world. Some object's Innua allow it to change its shape. Their are good Innuas and bad Innuas, and the Innuas are responsible for all the good and bad in the world (Leeming and Page, 17). Raven created the entire world by beating its wings. The Raven could be both a human and a bird, and therefore could have the powers of both. In the beginning, the Raven's world was dark and silent, all there existed were mountains, water, and pea-pod plants.Five days later, a pea-pod broke and a man who was already full grown popped out, he was first to roam the Earth. Since he was disoriented, he drank from a pool of water. Following this, the Raven came to visit the man. Unaware of how the human came to be, the Raven questioned the man, and was surprised that the pea-pod he created would yield any people, but nonetheless he was pleased. Knowing that the person was hungry, the Raven went to go find food, four days later, he brought a meager amount of two raspberries and two healthberries. Discovering that the appetite of man was larger than he expected, the Raven went forth and created sheep from clay. to make sure the man won't eat all of them at once, he placed them far up in the mountains. The Raven continued to create a diversity of life, each one being just out of reach so that the man wouldn't each everything at once. As the Raven saw that more people were being born from pea-pods, he had to create something that the people would fear, which was to be the bear. Later on, the Raven wanted the man to be not alone, so he created a women with clay (which was softer and smaller than the man), the women were to be the man's helper and companion. Together, the man and women populated the Raven's world (Distant Train). After the Raven created the world, he stayed here since he loved all he made and was curious about them. The Raven developed a liking for kayaking. So one day when he was out kayaking, he saw a whale. Wondering that the belly of it was like, he went into the mouth and the mouth closed behind him. As it grew dark, Raven heard a sound similar to a drum or distant thunder storm. As he ventured deep into the whale, he found the center and saw a beautiful girl dancing. She had strings attached to her feet and hands. Raven found her beautiful and asked her to marry him.She replied that she is the the heart of the whale but in turn wanted him to stay around to make her happy. The girl's dancing was in correlation to the whale's movements. But then one day the girl stopped dancing, as she slept, the Raven had human-like emotions and felt and urge to take her away. As she turned into a bird and flew away with her, he heard her strings snap. As soon as the girl left the whale, it died, and the girl soon became tiny and disappeared all together. Realizing that everything that is alive has a heart and soul, but eventually everything dies. When the girl disappeared, the Raven became overcome with sadness and began to dance, when his heart was soothed, he flew into the sky. The raven then made a covenant with the people and animals that if they cared for each other and understand that everything lives, then dies, he would always return. It is said that the Raven's first tears were among the first. His dance and song of grief and healing were also the first as well (Simms). Humans were now created, but there was not yet a sun or moon. A man came to a woman in the dark to make love, but didn't reveal who he was. The woman, wishing to know, blackened her hands with soot and left the soot on the man. Later she discovered that the man was her brother. Learning this, she grabbed a bright torch and ran away into the sky. Her brother chased after her but only grabbed a dimmer torch. They chased each other, creating the cycle of day and night (Leeming 203). Although they are brother and sister, they must be separated because of their crime of incest (Smith). This is how the cycle of the sun and moon came to be (Leeming 203).

Distant Train. "The Myths." //The Big Myths//. Kids.net.au, 2007. Web. 21 Oct. 2010..

Gill, Sam P and Irene F Sullivan. //Dictionary of Native American Mythology//. Santa Barba, Cal: ABC-CLJO, 1992. Print.

Leeming, David A. //The Oxford Companion to World Mythology.// Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2005. Google Books. Web. 3 November 2010.

Leeming, David and Jake Page. //The Mythology of Native North America.// Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. Print.

Simms, Laura. "Raven and the Whale." //Treasure Chest//. HSA Organization, 2001.Web. 3 Nov. 2010. .

Smith, Derek. "Native People, Religion." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Web. 4 Nov. 2010. .