From Wichita Mythos
(Told by Towakoni Jim)
In the times of the beginning there was no sun, no stars, nor anything else as it is now. Time passed on. Man-never-known-on-Earth (Kinnekasus) was the only man that existed, and he it was who created all things. When the earth was created it was composed of land and water, but they were not yet separated. The land was floating on the water, and darkness was everywhere. After the earth was formed, Man-never-known-on-Earth made a man whose named was Having-Power-to-carry-Light (Kiarsidia). He also made a women for the man, and her name was Bright-Shining-Woman (Kashatskihakatidise). After the man and the woman were made they dreamed that things were made for them, and when they woke they had the things of which they had dreamed. Thus they received everything they needed. The woman was given an ear of corn, whose use she did not know, but this was revealed to her in her heart; that it was to be her good; that it was Mother-Corn; that it was to be the food of the people who should exist in the future, to be used generation after generation; that from Mother-Corn the people should be nursed. Still they were in darkness, not knowing what was better than darkness.
Once upon a time it came into the mind of Having-Power-to-carry-Light that he should go toward the east. He went further and further, not knowing where or why, but still wanting to find out what he was after. He kept on until he came to a grass-lodge. He found somebody existing on the earth besides himself. As he entered the grass-lodge there was light. He saw the man of the grass-lodge. This man of the grass-lodge said to him: “Well, I have brought you here. I put it in your mind to come this way and visit me. Therefore, you are here, and I am told to tell you of some things that are to come to pass. You have always thought you were the only person living, but I am here too. I have been created the same as you. The man that creates things is about to improve our condition. Villages shall spring up and more people will exist, and you will have power to teach the people how to do things before unknown to them.” While they were talking they heard a voice from the east, saying: “Hurry, you men in the grass-lodge! Come out with your arrows and shoot the deer that are now starting out to your shore!” The man of the grass-lodge replied to the voice: “All right, I will be ready to meet the deer, but I have not yet made my arrows, nor have I got my bow. I must cut and make these first.”
The man of the grass-lodge went and cut the bow and arrows. Again the voice came, saying: “Hurry, the deer are about to land on the shore that you are on. You are not to shoot the white deer or the black deer, but shoot the last one, that is half black and half white.” The man replied: “All right, I will have my bows and arrows ready for him.” The man peeled the bark off from his arrows and dried them. The voice came again, telling him to make haste and finish the arrows. The man of the grass-lodge again answered, telling how much he had done on the arrows, and that he was feathering them. After a time the voice came again, saying: “Hurry!” The man of the grass-lodge said: “I have my arrows ready, but I have yet to put on the string.” After he had put on the string the voice came again, and said: “The deer are about to land.” The two men went out and saw the deer coming out of the water toward them. When they got to the bank the white and black deer jumped out, and as it was jumping out the man of the grass-lodge shot it. After shooting it he heard a voice from above, saying he had done well. This meant that everything would move, that the sun would rise, the stars would move, and the darkness and the light would move on.
After shooting the deer he followed all of the deer. Now the voice was heard from above, saying: “You have done the right thing.” The white deer went ahead, then the black one, then the one that was wounded. The man of the grass-lodge followed them. This man now became Star-that-is-always-moving (Kinnihequidikidahis). Having-Power-to-carry-Light stayed there after the other man had left to follow the deer. By shooting the deer that was half black and half white it was signified that there should be days and nights. Having-Power-to-carry-Light, as he stood there, looked toward the east, where he heard the voice telling what to do, and there he saw a man standing across the water on the other shore, who said that thereafter he should be called Reflecting-Man (Sakidawaitsa), the sun. The man on the other shore thought that as he should be known as the sun, he would give light, that he would be seen at all times by the people and give them light, and by his powers he would aid them in having great powers. After looking, Having-Power-to-carry-Light looked back at the man who had been speaking to him and he was gone; but he saw the sun coming up. He then turned back to his home. As he went along he began to find out the object of his visit to the grass-lodge. This he liked very much. He had light to travel in and could see along way. He found that light was better than darkness. On his way back home he found he could travel faster than he could travel in darkness. In a very short time he reached his home. When he got home the sun went down and darkness followed, and he saw up in the sky three stars coming up, followed by a single star. Having-Power-to-carry-Light made up his mind that the three stars were the three deer and that the other star coming behind was the man that had wounded the deer. The three stars represented the three deer as they had come out of the water, while the fourth star, which came later, represented the man who had wounded the deer.
This was a new start for the man and the woman. They enjoyed this kind of life better than living in darkness. Time went on, and Having-Power-to-carry-Light saw that the promises which were made by Man-never-known-on-Earth to Star-that-is-always-moving were being fulfilled. He saw villages springing up. There were more people existing, and this was as had been promised.
After these things had happened the man and woman went from one village to another, showing the people how to use the things they had, how to make them, and what to use them for. The people in the village had things that they knew nothing about, and they did not hitherto know how to make or use them. They simply knew that they were existing as human beings. They knew neither where they had come from nor how to live. The woman and the man were greatly helped by the day. Having-Power-to-carry-Light then began his work among the men, teaching them what bows and arrows were; that the bow was a weapon of great strength; that the arrow was a thing to shoot and kill game with. He gave the men a ball, smaller than the shinny ball. He told them that this ball was to be used to amuse themselves with; that the men were to play together and the boys were to play together. Whenever a child was born, if it was a boy, this kind of ball was to be given to it, that he might observe it and learn how to move around. The ball had a string to it. The further the ball rolled – that is, the older the child should get, the faster it would move around. He went on and taught the men how to play the game, for the people were ignorant and did not know what the things were for. Finally the men were shown how the ball should be used. He showed them the clubs for the shinny game. He told them they should be divided equally in the game, one party on one side and the other party on the other side. Many men were interested, for the game was new to them. Many of the men were fast on their feet. The game was to be won by the side that should get the ball to the goal first. Having-Power-to-carry-Light also told them how to travel with the arrows and ball. This marks the time when they learned to travel fast from one place to another. The men went out hunting animals after they had been taught that animals existed for their use, and they traveled with their arrows and ball. They would shoot an arrow in the direction they wanted to go, then would go with the arrow as it went up. This is the way they traveled. They would hit the ball and as it flew the person would be on the ball. When the ball would hit the ground they would hit it again, and so they would go from place to place. Having-Power-to-carry-Light traveled like a spirit. When he heard of a place he would be right there, but the people who were made after him were a little slower in traveling. This sort of traveling was fast enough for these people. From this place he went to other places, and he taught the people how to use things. He would make the things for them at first, then would teach them how the things were made.
When the woman began her work among the women she gave them Mother-Corn, and told them that this was theirs, and this was their mother; that from this time they should be nursed; that with the use of Mother-Corn they could live and it would strengthen the young ones; that Mother-Corn was to be used as long as the world should last. There were no certain times for the women to plant the corn, because the time passed pretty fast. When the women planted their corn it would grow right up and they would gather their corn at once. The Moon told the women that whenever Mother-Corn was eaten by them, whether ground or dry, they must offer some food to Man-never-known-on-Earth. Then they were to eat of it, and as a prayer for blessing before eating of the food they were to take four kernels of corn and rub them over the child. These were the Moon’s instructions to the woman. Things progressed very rapidly. They young ones grew quickly. The woman told the women that Mother-Corn should be used for many different purposes. She gave them the things that they should use to enjoy themselves – namely, the double-ball game. She showed them how to play the game and told them that the ball was for their use in traveling. Now she told them the time was drawing near when she would have to leave them, for she had gone from one place to another, showing the women what to do, how to travel, how to raise Mother-Corn, how they must eat it and offer it, in all the ways that Mother-Corn was to be used. She told the women that after she had become something else she would ask the people, especially the women, to look upon her once in a while. She said that by her face women should be able to tell their condition; by their monthly flow, whether they were pregnant or not. She was to show herself a certain number of times, and by keeping count they might know what time the child would be born. She said that when she made her appearance the parents of the young child should turn its face toward her, implying a prayer, and asking her that the child might grow as fast as she did. By keeping track of the days and the months and the seasons they could foretell what things were about to happen. After the woman had given all these instructions to the women, telling them how to make their offerings to her and to the stars and other heavenly bodies, and all the important supernatural beings of the earth, she told the women that she had all their powers and they were to know their conditions at all times, through her. She then told the women she would be seen after the sun had gone down, then she disappeared. Late that evening after the sun had gone down, they saw her in the sky, and she had become the Moon.
Now, the man told the men that they, in bringing their game from the hunt, must offer to the moon, to the stars, and other heavenly bodies and to the important supernatural beings on the earth. After he had told them how to use all the other things he said he would have to leave them and become something else. He had told them all the things they were to have, to use and to do, that there was a place for him to go and that he was about to go to that place. He told them that when he should go to his place he would show himself early in the morning, before daylight, and if, at that time, people should take their children to the nearest flowing water and put them on the water and bathe them (but they must drink before bathing them) he might help them to grow up and enjoy life. He told them that that place was the one at which they would get powers that he would give them. He then told them that he would sometimes be seen in the early morning as a star, and sometimes as a human being, and that his name was to be known as the First-Star-seen-after-Darkness-passes-by (Hoseyasidaa)
Source:
The Mythology of the Wichita, George A. Dorsey, 1904
Kotharian Lightning 