ORIGINS & NAMINGS
GENESIS I
Water went they say. Land was not they say. Water only then, mountains were not, they say. Stones
were not they say. Fish were not they say. Deer were not they say. Grizzlies were not they say. Panthers
were not they say. Wolves were not they say. People were washed away they say. Grizzlies were washed
away they say. Panthers were washed away they say. Deer were washed away they say. Coyotes were
not then they say. Ravens were not they say. Herons were not they say. Woodpeckers were not they say.
Then wrens were not they say. Then hummingbirds were not they say. Then otters were not they say.
Then jack-rabbits, grey squirrels were not they say. Then long-eared mice were not they say. Then wind
was not they say. Then snow was not they say. Then rain was not they say. Then it didn't thunder they
say. Then trees were not when it didn't thunder they say. It didn't lighten they say. Then clouds were not
they say. Fog was not they say. It didn't appear they say. Stars were not they say.
It was very dark.
(Kato Indian)
ORIGINS & NAMINGS
GENESIS II
In the very beginning everything was resting in perpetual darkness: night oppressed all the earth
like an impenetrable thicket.
(And) Karora was lying asleep, in everlasting night, at the very bottom of the soak of Ilbalintja: as yet
there was no water in it, but all was dry ground.
Over him the soil was red with flowers & overgrown with many grasses: & a great pole was
swaying above him.
... And Karora's head lay at the root of the great pole:
he had rested thus ever from the beginning.
And Karora was thinking, & wishes & desires flashed through his mind. Bandicoots began to
come out from his navel & from his arm-pits. They burst through the sod above & sprang into life.
And now dawn was beginning to break.
From all quarters men saw a new light appearing: the sun itself began to rise at Ilbalintja, &
flooded everything with its light.
Then the gurra ancestor was minded to rise, now that the sun was mounting higher.
He burst through the crust that had covered him: & the gaping hole that he had left behind
became the Ilbalintja Soak, filled with the sweet dark juice of honeysuckle buds.
(Australia: Aranda)
ORIGINS & NAMINGS
GENESIS III
I
From the conception the increase.
From the increase the swelling.
From the swelling the thought.
From the thought the remembrance.
From the remembrance the desire.
2
The word became fruitful:
It dwelt with the feeble glimmering:
It brought forth night:
The great night, the long night, The lowest night, the highest night, The thick night to be felt, The night
to be touched, the night unseen.
The night following on, The night ending in death.
3
From the nothing the begetting:
From the nothing the increase:
From the nothing the abundance:
The power of increasing, the living breath
It dwelt with the empty space,
It produced the firmament which is above us.
4
The atmosphere which floats above the earth.
The great firmament above us, the spread-out space dwelt with the early dawn.
Then the moon sprang forth.
The atmosphere above dwelt with the glowing sky.
Then the sun sprang forth.
They were thrown up above as the chief eyes of heaven.
Then the sky became light.
The early dawn, the early day.
The midday. The blaze of day from the sky.
(New Zealand: Maori)
TECHNICIANS OF THE SACRED
ALL LIVES, ALL DANCES, & ALL Is LOUD
The fish does. . . HIP
The bird does. . . VISS
The marmot does. . . GNAN
I throw myself to the left,
I turn myself to the right,
I act the fish,
Which darts in the water, which darts
Which twists about, which leaps
All lives, all dances, & all is loud.
The fish does. . . HIP
The bird does. . . VISS
The marmot does. . . GNAN
The bird flies away,
It flies, flies, flies,
Goes, returns, passes,
Climbs, soars & drops.
I act the bird
All lives, all dances, & all is loud.
The fish does. . . HIP
The bird does. . . VISS
The marmot does. . . GNAN
The monkey from branch to branch,
Runs, bounds & leaps,
With his wife, with his brat,
His mouth full, his tail in the air,
There goes the monkey! There goes the Monkey!
All lives, all dances, & all is loud.
(Africa: Gabon Pygmy)