Indian Myths

The Animals stood far off. They loved Se' sta. They knew he would not be pleased when they ran out of his sight in the skyland. For he would have to return without help to his troubled land. Some of them said they should go back with him. Others said it would not be wise to do so. They were not of one mind. So they called to the Big Turtle for his opinion.

"The Council has said that we are to go to the Land of the Little People under the Great Island. We cannot change that now. We must go." he told them.

The Wolf was in fear. He knew that Se' sta could make the Animals do his will if he found them. All the Animals knew this. The wolf called Heno, the thunder god. And the angry Beaver said to Heno, "Cast down your dart of lightning upon Se' sta, O Heno! He is coming with the bag of white down given him by the Swans which live at the ends of the Great Island. Drive him back before he comes to take us again to the Lower World."

Heno rolled along the sky, calling in deep thunder tones, "I cannot harm him. He is greater than I. He is my master. I am his friend. I came with his mother when she fell down from Heaven with the Tree of Light. I cannot help you. Go on now to the Land of the Little People. Stay there until he returns to the Great Island."

Then the Little Turtle called the cloud. It is the great comet which sometimes burns across the heavens. It is the chariot of the sky. She had ridden in it from the Lower World to make the Sun. She caused the Animals to go into it. And she drove down the sky. She found the way dug for the Sun under the Great Island. Through this glorious passage they rode toward the Land of the Little People.

And the Little People were not pleased. Their land was yet for them alone. “Only the Sun and the Moon may come to us from the west,” they cried. “And when the Sun passes by he leaves us the night.”

The Little People used their magic power. A great stream of molten rock moved upward toward the cloud to consume it and destroy the Animals. The rock stream rolled along like a world of waters loosed. It roared like thunder and shook the earth. Terror filled the sky and all the Lower World. For here was to be a battle between the gods.

The cloud rose higher. But higher still rose the rocky stream. Black smoke and red lightning came from it, and its flames wrapped the sky. The stars stood still in awe of the awful conflict which was about to begin. But Heno rode down the west in the whirlwind to save the Great Council.

Then came the Mud Turtle. She stood clothed in fire between the great rocky stream and the cloud of the Little Turtle. She raised high the stone wand which all must heed. And she cried, “O my Little People! Is this the welcome you give to those who come in power and of right to visit you? Turn aside now this terrible river of rock which you have raised by your magic power. Let it not harm the Great Council. For they are gods, as you are. They will stay with us for a time and then depart for the land of the sky.”

The Mud Turtle was the ruler of the Little People. They were her children. They heard her. They did as she wished. The awful stream of rock flowed back from whence it came. The chariot of the Little Turtle came down. A great feast was made. And the Animals lived in the Land of the Little People many days.

And now when the earth groans beneath the weight and sting of the North Wind, and the sky is frightful with the fury of thick clouds boiling there above us, the Indians yet hear under their feet the roar and crash of the mighty conflict of the Little People with the Council of minor gods.