Parallel Myths by J.F. Bierlein

stealing the heart. All of the other animals tried to catch the badger, but none succeeded.
    Komashtam’ho told the Coyote, “You will always be a thief, living by stealing. Men will despise you and kill you to defend their flocks.” And all the people heard this.
    Then Komashtam’ho spoke to all the people as the flames consumed the body of Kokomaht. He told them, “You will never again see Kokomaht in the flesh; he is dead. All of you will die someday as well. If Kokomaht had been allowed to live, then all of you would be immortal and the world would be overpopulated. But Kokomaht’s spirit lives on and so will your spirits.” The fire was so hot that it dried up the land, turning it into the desert where the Yuma people live today.
    Just then a whirlwind formed around the ashes of Kokomaht and the people asked what it was. Komashtam’ho replied that the wind was the mighty spirit of Kokomaht. Although the body dies, the spirit lasts forever. Each man’s spirit, at death, leaves the body and goes off to live with the spirits of those whom it loved in life.
    The spirit of Kokomaht lives on to protect all that is good. Bakotahl lives under the earth and turns around, causing earthquakes. Bakotahl still causes suffering and evil among men. But the good spirit of Kokomaht can overcome any evil.
     
    Pima
    CHUHWUHT: THE SONG OF THE WORLD
     
    I n the beginning there was only darkness and water. The darkness congealed in certain places and it is from this that the Creator was made. He wandered aimlessly above the water [compare this to the Genesis story] and began to think. He became fully conscious of who he was and what he was to do. He then reached into his heart and pulled out a magic creation stick.
    He used this as a walking stick and when some resin formed on the tip [compare this to the Japanese Creation myth], he made it intoants. He took more of this resin and rolled it with his feet into a perfect ball while chanting
    Chuhwuht tuh maka-i
Chuhwuht tuh nato
Chuhwuht tuh maka-i
Chuhwuht tuh nato
Himalo, Himalo
Himalo, Himicho!
    I make the world, and see,
the world is finished.
I make the world, and see,
the world is finished.
Let it go, let it go
Let it go, start it forth!
     
    As he chanted, the ball grew larger and larger until it became the present size of the earth; thus was the earth created. Then the Creator took a great rock, broke it, and threw it into the heavens, where the pieces became the stars. Then he made the moon in a similar fashion, but neither the moon nor the stars furnished enough light.
    So the Creator then took two bowls of water from out of his flesh and he thought thoughts of light. The sun appeared in the sky as he pulled the bowls apart. But the sun did not yet move. So the Creator bounced it like a ball to the east and it bounced back to the west, even as it does today.
     
    Zuni
    NOTE : Compare the spread of the green algae in this myth with the theory of scientific evolution.
    I n the beginning, there was only moisture, which became clouds. The Great Father Sun, the Creator Awonawilona, thickened the clouds into water that then formed a great sea. With his own flesh Awonawilona fertilized the sea and green algae grew over it. Thegreen algae produced the earth and sky. The marriage of earth and sky and the action of the sun on the green algae produced all living things.
    From the lowest of the four caves of the earth, the seeds of men and animals were incubated as eggs. The Creator provided enough warmth that the eggs were hatched and all living creatures were produced.
     
    The Playanos * of Southern California
    A n invisible, all-powerful being named Nocuma made the world. He rolled it into a ball with his hands. But it did not sit in its appointed place so he inserted a great black rock called Tosaut as ballast.
    In the beginning the sea was a series of small streams choked with fish. It was so crowded that some of the fish tried to colonize the land, but they failed and died in the