An Iroquoian Story of Creation

Continued from last week.

So they say again, after that, not long after that, one day Teharonhiawako was down on the earth. And he’s all by himself now. And his brother Sawiskera is living up in his “cabin in the sky” (I guess we can call it). Teharonhiawako is on the earth and he’s made two dolls. And they say that he used some of the Mother Earth. And that’s again one of the terms that I forgot to mention before when that young woman had died, the two boys’ mother, that the Grandmother told them that if they ever missed their mother, all they had to do is look down and she’s there wherever they go. And that’s where the term Mother Earth or Earth Mother comes from is from that time.

So, Teharonhiawako had made two dolls. And he had used some of the earth and some of the lake water. And he made it. And he’s formed these kinds of clay like dolls and they say they were red. And Sawiskera had noticed this was going on and he called down to his brother and asks him if can come down and maybe do some of that too. So Teharonhiawako, he was kind of lonely. So he says yes to his brother to come down, just to keep him company. He says, “Yes you can come and try this.” So Sawiskera came down. And Teharonhiawako tells him, he says, “Just get some of whatever it is that you like that is here in the natural world and use that to make some dolls with.” So Sawiskera goes off and he builds a humungous fire and he lets it burn down.

And during that same time Teharonhiawako, they say he had made two more dolls. And he had used some of the earth and some of the sea water, the sea foam sometimes they say and he made these dolls. And it’s always two, he makes a male and a female. And, they say, these ones are yellow. So Sawiskera had got all of these ashes. They say that they’re white, they’re really white, and they’re so hot too. They’re very,very hot. And he says okay he’s got his material, he says, “What are we going to do?” So together they make some more. And he says, well to start with the earth, that’s the basis of all life. So they both use earth and then they add their other material to it. And, they say that Teharonhiawako uses the earth and he puts air with it and he forms a male and female. Sawiskera takes earth and he puts the ashes with it and he makes a male and a female. And they say that they’re the black ones, and the white ones. And they’ve got dolls made and they’re made out of this clay.

And they say that Teharonhiawako, now he says that they have to make them come to life. And he says they’ve picked them up and to breathe into them three times, three breaths of life, the first breaths of life. So he does that. He picks up the first two and breathes in them and they start to wiggle and he puts them down and they head off. And they’re kind of playing off to one side. And it’s the red ones. He picks up two more, the yellow ones. And he breathes in them three times. And they start to move and he puts them down and they’re off and they play with the other ones. And there are four of them over there. And he picks up the other two.

And Sawiskera is trying as well. And he’s breathing into them but it won’t work for him. It’s maybe part of his power that’s missing. And he’s breathing in and he’s just getting more and more upset and frustrated that they won’t come to life. Teharonhiawako, he picks up the other two and he breathes into them three times. And they say they began to move. He puts them down and they begin to move. He puts them down and they run off and play. And, they say, they’re the black ones. And there are six of them over there now.

Sawiskera, again has a very short fuse. He gets very upset and he just decides to leave. That he can’t make it work. And they say Teharonhiawako asks if he should try it, if he can to this. Sawiskera told him he could have them. So Sawiskera got upset and he went back up to his “cabin in the sky” Teharonhiawako picked up these other two and he breathed into them three times. And they began to move and wiggle. And he sets them down and they go off and play with the other ones. So there’s eight of them over there, they say, all of the four original races, the last ones being the white ones.

Continued next week.