The Beginning of the World

Jirilla Apache

In the beginning of the world, there was nothing but darkness, water, and moving wind. Nothing lived except for the eternal Spirits that watched over the world. These Spirits had great power. Using this great power, they created the earth, the mother of all people, animals, and plants. The Spirits also created the sky, the father of all living creatures.

The greatest of the Spirits was Black Spirit. He mixed a raindrop with a handful of dirt and created a small amount of mud. From this mud, he created all of the birds and animals that live upon the earth. However, the Black Spirit could not stay on the earth forever. The animals begged the Spirit to create someone in his likeliness to keep them company and watch over them so that they would not be alone.

Thus, the Black Spirit ordered that the animals go to the ends of the earth and bring back what they could find. The animals went and brought pollen, red earth, white stones, blue turquoise, and many other things. Black Spirit took these materials and began to shape them into a man. The pollen became the man’s flesh, the red earth his blood, the turquoise his veins, and the white stones his bones. Black Spirit fashioned the man’s hair from a black cloud that eventually became a white cloud with age.

The Black Spirit then sent a whirlwind into the man which brought him to life. However, the animals commented that the man would be lonely without a companion. So, Black Spirit put the man to sleep to dream about the type of companion the man wanted. The man dreamt about a woman; when he awoke, a woman was sitting beside of him. They did everything together and ruled over the animals.

The Dawn and Dusk of Man is a Thinkquest Mythology Project by Sheila, Min, Ana and Tencia of Montgomery Blair High School.