The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas
However the nights were very dark Human beings set out to inhabit that first world Spider Grandmother gave them advice never ceasing to weave her web to which she continuously added some new river or tree Then down the mountains came a trickster whose name was Iisawu Coyote And Muy’ingwa a generous spirit creator of maize Treating both with respect the people lived happily until something happened in their hearts They lost their way They began to behave so badly that Taawa crossed his arms over his chest and his crown of sunbeams grew dark The people were frightened as the sky broke into pieces and the earth shook A rain of fire fell from the clouds until a curtain of hail extinguished the flames and buried the houses The peo ple cried and tried to get to safety but it was impossible Taawa had made himself dark to destroy the world and punish the evil that had taken over the humans hearts Spider Grandmother felt compassion for those few who had kept their hearts pure She descended from her web amid the stars and led the chosen ones toward the Grand Canyon When all had assembled a giant hollow reed burst from the depths of the huge fissure in the ground Then Spider Grandmother said with a very strong voice My children the first world is over I have woven a home for you with beautiful meadows and blue buffalo resplendent skies and eagles of majestic flight That world awaits but you must strive hard to reach it You must climb upward inside this hollow reed that the Grand Canyon has gifted Help one another as you go After a long night you will arrive at the land that I your Spider Grandmother have promised The last human beings obeyed her They climbed up the great 2
reed and at the end of the long night they emerged through a sipaapu a portal into their new lives They awoke on the first morning of the new world Spider Grandmother took a net that she had knitted and carefully tied dewdrops on With all her might she threw that net into the heavens And on the first night of the new world a million stars began to glow 3
Aztlan Mexica Nahua tradition Cranes as white as purest salt clear water from the fountainhead blue skies above that peaceful isle how I long to return to Aztlan It was an island of resplendent whiteness ringed by waters of turquoise blue teeming with herons with snowy plum age The sun rose above its horizon like a bird of fire Emeralds rained when the poet prince sang his flower songs The wise men of that realm recorded in books the path of the stars across the night sky with ink both red and black The people called it Aztlan meaning Place of Whiteness some say or Isle of Herons others claim It seemed eternal and perhaps it was The golden sandals of the gods themselves trod those polished roads Boats plied its placid waters weighted with flowers and precious crops golden corn and sweet pump kins cocoa used to make the sacred drink and every possible hue of chili pepper 4
Purest air and bluest sky Warm and gentle weather balanced from north to south serene from east to west A land of ruddy sunset splendor and deep green night of dawn drowsing in the branches of the trees and the mockingbird’s four hundred songs It seemed eternal and perhaps it was Then the god Huitzilo pochtli Blue Hummingbird of the South tireless guardian of the sun appeared in majesty before Mexitli a proud prince and pious priest while he made sacrifices in the temple pricking his thighs with maguey spines to offer up his own precious blood Mexitli my mirror said Huitzilopochtli you must lead our people toward another destiny There is no time to lose Blow the sacred conch in all four directions let its trumpeting voice be heard The creators above have decreed the end of Aztlan so you must paint yourselves a new beginning Confusion and fear swirled in Mexitli’s heart hearing the order of Huitzilopochtli Would Aztlan disappear Would the white island sink into the turquoise waters He dared not ask but that blue hummingbird could read the chieftain’s mind The god frowned Aztlan will neither sink nor disappear because it is eternal But very soon no one will be able to see it It has fulfilled its pur pose the design for which the creators forged it Now Mexitli my mirror tell me will you obey The prince fell to his knees pressing his forehead on the ground before the majesty of Huitzilopochtli The god smiled satisfied at what he saw within Mexitli’s brave heart You shall take the people on a long pilgrimage They will walk to the South and on the way women will bear children that will inherit a new world Now you see me clearly but soon it will 5
