“ O utofth e remnantsofh isbones, mountainsgrew, and from

h isfl
esh , th e earth . ”

— A nonym ous

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L iterature
Before You Read T h e W ideH ouse
■ Do you know any myths? Where African (Yoruba) myth
did you hear about them?
■ How was the world created?
In the beginning of time, there lived Olorun, the Supreme Being.
He was served by other gods, including the Great God Orisha Nla. The
gods sometimes came down from their heavenly abode to play in the
marshy waste below on lace-like spider webs.
Olorun, having tired of the marshy waste, said to Orisha Nla, “With
this snail shell, make earth on the world below us.” Inside the shell,
there was loose earth, a pigeon, and a hen with five toes. With these
giGs in hand, Orisha Nla descended into the marshy waste. The magical
loose earth went into a small part of the marsh. Once the pigeon and
Insight
the hen were released, they went about scratching the earth until they
separated land from sea.
Orisha Nla then went to Olorun and reported, “I have followed
your command and created land onwhich to walk.” Olorun dispatched
Chameleon to inspect the land. Chameleon descended into the once
watery marsh on the lace-like spider web, and concluded that the
land was both wide and dry. Olorun named the land Ifé. In the Yoruba
language, ifé means “wide.” Later, Olorun added Ilé, which means
“house.” This was the first place on earth. To the Yoruba, the city of Ifé-
A nonym ousauth ors Ilé is the most sacred of cities to this day.
Myths are narratives that explain It took Orisha Nla four days to create earth. Orisha Nla rested on
how the world came to be according
to a certain culture. They are usually the fiGh day.
considered true and sacred, but Olorun, however, was still not satisfied. Once again, he summoned
include supernatural elements.Some Orisha Nla and said, “The earth will need trees to nourish and shelter
myths about the beginning of the
world, such as the ones you are about the humans I will create.” Olorun then gave Orisha Nla a palm nut to
to read, have their origin in times provide the earth’s first inhabitants with oil, juice to drink, and seeds
when no writing existed, so there is to plant. Rain fell from the sky to water the newly planted seeds at
no known author. Olorun’s request. They flourished into a great forest.
OlorunthenaskedOrishaNlatomoldfiguresfromtheearth.However,
Orisha Nla was unable to give them life, as that power is reserved for the
Supreme Being, Olorun himself. Orisha Nla, jealous of Olorun’s power to
give life, hid in the Supreme Being’s workshop to discover his life-giving
secrets. Olorun became aware of this and caused Orisha Nla to fall into a
deep sleep. When Orisha Nla woke from his slumber, Olorun had already
given life to the figures. To this day, Orisha Nla fashions the bodies of
humans, but only Olorun knows the secret to giving them life.

■ abode: [´" boU d] n. a place of residence; a house or home

■ wast e: [weIst] n. a wild, desolate region or piece of land
■ slum ber: [" sl´mb´r] n. a state of inactivity
■f ash ion: [" fæS´n] v. to give a particular shape or form

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 Reading

W eddingsinth e Sky, M aiz e onEarth

Native American (Pawnee) myth

Tirawa Atius, the god who created all things and creatures, organized
the universe to his liking. To the east he placed the Sun, and the Moon
to the west. He created the Path of Departing Spirits, which the white
man knows as the Milky Way. To the east of the Path of the Departing
Spirits is the Morning Star, or the Male Principle; to the West is the
Evening Star, or the Female Principle. Tirawa Atius gave the Evening
Star command over the wind, thunder, lighting, and clouds.
Morning Star began to court Evening Star, but she bided her time,
for she knew the time to make living things on earth had not come yet.
Morning Star became frustrated with the obstacles Evening Star placed
between them. In anger, he threw a ball of fire into the watery abyss
below. This endless expanse of water was ruled by the Great Serpent.
When the Great Serpent saw that the Morning Star had thrown a ball
of fire towards the water, it went beneath the waves to protect itself. As
the ball of fire hit the water, the drying water revealed earth and rocks.
Morning Star saw them and picked a pebble from the earthen materials.
He threw it into the chaos and it became the earth. Once the earth was
where it should be, then Tirawa Atius interceded to appoint the gods
North, South, East, and West to support the four corners of the world.
Morning Star and Evening Star eventually wed and had a daughter.
As a wedding giG, Evening Star asked Morning Star to water her celestial
garden, which lay in the Path of the Departing Spirits high above the
earth. He made the first rainfall for her. When their daughter was born,
Evening Star placed her on a cloud that took her to earth. Within
Evening Star’s celestial gardens, plants of all kinds flourished, even
Mother Maize, the greatest of food plants. As a giG to her daughter,
Evening Star gave her maize to plant on the newly created earth, but
her daughter put it away.
Sun and Moon wed and conceived a son. Son-of-Sun-and-Moon
married Daughter-of-Evening-Star-and-Morning-Star. They beget all
living beings. The daughter took the maize her mother had given her
and planted it with her husband. They were the first to plant maize
on earth. Evening Star, approving of their creations, made the sacred
bundle—a bag with a collection of sacred items from the earth—and
taught the inhabitants of this new world the Thunder Ceremony they
still perform today.

■ abyss:[´" bIs] n. anything profound, unfathomable, or infinite

[meIz] n. corn
■ m aiz e:

: [b´" gEt] v. to cause or produce

■ beget

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L iterature
While You Read F rom A sh esandT ree
■ What kind of climate do the Yoruba Norse (Icelandic) myth (adapted from the Elder Edda)
gods live in? What about the Norse
gods? Why do you think these
myths describe these climates? In the beginning, there was no heaven or earth, just an infinite
■ Why is maize called Mother Maize in darkness shrouded in mist. A fountain lay somewhere in the middle
the Pawnee myth? of the abyss. Twelve rivers flowed out from that fountain like spokes
in a wheel. These rivers froze in their journey away from their origin.
South of the dark mist, there was light. One day, a southern wind
blew in the direction of the rivers and the ice began to melt. The
warmth of the air and the cold of the ice created the clouds that
danced in the sky. From these clouds sprang forth Ymir, the frost
giant, and the cow whose milk nourished him, Audhumbla. The cow
licked the salt of the ground that had been exposed when the ice
began to melt. Audhumbla continued to lick and lick, until the ice
she had been licking began to take the appearance of a man. On the
first day, Audhumbla carved the man’s hair. On the second day, his
head and shoulders. The man’s entire body was done by the third
day. Thus Buri, the first god, was born. Buri became the father to Bor.
Bor later fathered the first Aesir gods, Odin, Vili, and Ve, with the
giantess Bestla.
Odin, Vili, and Ve slay Ymir. The seas were created by Ymir’s spilled
blood. Out of the remnants of his bones, mountains grew, and from
his flesh, the earth. His hair turned into the sacred plants, such as the
aske—ash—and embla—elm—trees. Odin saw it fit to populate the
earth, and created a man out of the ash. From the elm, he molded
a woman. Odin breathed life and soul into both of them. Vili giGed
them with reason and mobility; Ve granted them the ability to speak.
Odin then saw it fit to organize the world by separating light and
dark, thus creating day and night. He then created Midgard, or Middle
Earth, so that his newly created beings had a place to dwell upon.
For the gods, he created a heavenly home named Asgard. Yggdrasil,
the mighty ash tree, was the universe’s foundation. Yggdrasil’s roots
ground Midgard, Asgard, and Niflhel. It is in the underground world
of Niflhel where Odin’s sister, Hel, keeps a watchful eye on the souls
of the dead.
The young gods thought they had killed Ymir, but he never truly
died. A part of him lives at the foot of Yggdrasil. When Ymir moves,
the world shakes.

■ sh rouded: [S raU dId] adj. covered; hidden from view

■ spoke: [spoU k] n. each of the bars that support the rim of a wheel

■t h us: [ð´s] adv. in this way

■ dwel l: [dwEl] v. to live in a permanent residence

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A G iantW orl
d After You Read
Chinese myth ■ List the elements that all four
myths have in common.
■ What is the role of nature in
In the beginning, the world was chaos, and heaven and earth were
these myths? Why do you think
one. Within the darkness of the chaos, an egg formed. Pangu, the giant, this is so?
came to life within this cosmic egg. There he slept and grew for the next
18,000 years. He grew and grew until one day he stretched and broke
the egg into two. The top of the egg, which was light and clear, driGed
upwards to become the sky and heaven. The bottom, which was dark
and turbid, sank and became the earth. Thus, earth and heaven, the
female and male principle, Yin and Yang, came into being.
Pangu was like no man, being a giant. He was pleased with the
separation of heaven and earth and wanted it to remain that way. He
rose to his great height and placed his hands underneath the heavens,
and his feet firmly upon the earth. Over the next 18,000 years, Pangu
continued to grow at a rate of ten feet per day. Once heaven andearth
were separated at a fixed distance, the giant was satisfied that heaven
and earth would not join each other again.
AGer such an exertion, Pangu was tired. He lay down upon the
newly created earth never to rise again, for he died in his sleep. His
body, however, did not go to waste. Until his death, the world had only
been separated into heaven and earth. Now, his body helped fill the
rest of the world.
The soil was created from Pangu’s flesh; the rocks, metals and stones
from his bones. The rivers and seas sprang into being from his blood, the
roads all humankind travels came from his veins. North, south, east, and
west came from his arms and legs, and the mountains from his torso.
The grass and herbs on the land came from Pangu’s body hair. The rain
that nurtures the land sprang forth from the sweat on his brow. His bone
marrow became jade. The stars in the sky came into being from the hair
on his head. One of his eyes became the sun; the other, the moon. Pangu’s
voice awakened and gave way to thunder and lightning. His last breath
became the wind and clouds in the sky. From the creatures that feasted
on his decomposing body came all the different races that dwell on earth.
Some believe that, while Pangu’s body died, his spirit lingers. It is
said that as the mood of his spirit shiGs, so does the weather upon
heaven and earth.

■ cosm ic: [" kA zmIk] adj. related to the cosmos, or the universe, as a
harmonious system
■ exert
ion: [Ig" z´rS´n] n. great effort or activity
■ m arrow: [" mEroU ] n. a soft tissue inside bones

■linger: [" lIN g´r] v. to stay or remain in a place persistently

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