What is a summary of How the World Was Made A Cheyenne Myth as retold by Alice Marriott and Carol K Rachlin?

Answer 1

The Cheyenne creation myth as retold by Alice Marriot and Carol Rachlin is similar to the Christian creation story. It basically tells of how Maheo, the "All Spirit" created the heavens and the earth.

Maheo is the creator of all things - the All Spirit. He has the power to create anything. In his solitary existence, he decided it would be beneficial to create living things. So he created, in turn - the ocean with a sand and mud floor, water beings (fish, mussels, snails, crawfish), birds of all sorts, and light. A female snow goose came to him and asked for the ability to fly, which he granted. The birds thus took flight and darkened the sky. They grew tired, and a male loon came to him and asked for land. Maheo granted it, but to do so he needed the help of all the sea creatures, so that they might find land. The snow goose went down to the bottom of the sea - well, tried, more like. She could not find any land for Maheo to work off of. Then all of the others tried with no avail. Finally a little coot paddled to him and he too tried to find land. Unlike the others who flew and dove into the water, he just turned and swam. After being gone for an extremely long time, he returned with mud. Maheo used it to create land, using an old female turtle to put it on, forming the earth. Having done this, he gave the planet trees, grass, and flowers. He created from himself two humans - a man and a woman - to show his love for the turtle. Those two had many children (which had more, etc) and seperated. He gave the people animals to eat or use however they needed, and then the buffalo to serve all needs.