- Some cultures seem to have an origin story for fire that involves it being stolen from elsewhere.
- i.e. coyote steals it from "somewhere in the west"
- Prometheus steals it from the gods
- They also include a flood story that seems to eliminate everyone but just a few people.
- Is this indicative of a similar series of floods that may have actually killed many people a long time ago?
- The sun made of ice. What an interesting concept.
- Now a great fire instead of a great flood.
- Also, that guy was a real jerk.
- Couldn't get the girls so he decides to literally light the entire world on fire.
- It seems like there are three major creation animals in most of these myths:
- Coyote
- Spider
- Eagle
- Interesting explanation for why the moon is not as bright
- The reeds were wet and did not burn so well
- What if it was explained as just being smaller?
- ...were there lions in North America?
- Apparently, sort of?
- They lived until like 11,000 years ago.
- Still not sure where the lions from this myth come from.
- Here we see a brief mention of the possibility of man flying too close to the sun. A common theme perhaps.
- It seems like Old Man Above is really a jerk in this story. I don't quite understand why he was so angry at the Grizzlys.
- Still an interesting explanation of why bears only walk on their hind legs sometimes.
- Another great flood story.
- I like the idea that Earth Doctor doesn't quite get things right the first time.
- He also is apparently not the most powerful being in existence.
- Elder Brother sort of doesn't deserve to be the ruler.
- The whole flood thing was his fault anyway.
- Not sure what he thought the problem was with the original humans.
- Yet another flood story.
- At this point, I am convinced that there really was some cataclysmic flooding event that occurred at some point in the past. These stories are just explanations for how people survived such a terrible time.
- It should be noted that the Sia (or Zia) live in the desert. I think any great amount of rain in the mountains could have caused devastating floods for the arid/desert areas that fit the description of this story.
- The water did not come as rain but as "rivers between the mesas"
- Flowing down from the mountains.
- So did every living thing move upwards from a lower earth to a higher earth?
- Is the lower earth still flooded?
- Are coyotes really that friendly to man?
- Again, fire is stolen by coyote.
- Poor squirrel got burnt quite a bit.
- It's interesting that the final hero of the story is the weakest animal.
- So coyote is both a benevolent god figure and trickster.
- He seems to be killed by his own trickery quite often.
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| State Flag of New Mexico. Featuring the Zia Sun Symbol |
Bibliography:
By: Katharine Berry Judson
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