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The Navajo creation story

 

            The Navajo creation story involves three underworlds where important events happened to shape the Fourth World where we now know as earth. Before earth existed there was the First World, which lay in darkness for being at the bottom. In the First World lived six beings First Man, First Woman, Salt Woman, Fire God, Coyote, and Begochiddy the golden-haired child of the Sun. Begochiddy made four mountains in this first world including insects and plants. But there were conflicts and the first beings, tired of the First World and its darkness, decided to leave. Begochiddy also made a red mountain and planted a giant reed. So the First Beings gathered all of Begochiddy's creations and crawled inside of the hollow reed. The reed got bigger until it carried them into the Second World. The Second World was blue and Begochiddy was still creating new things. But the First beings had got to a fight with the cat people who lived in the second world. So the first beings collected their possessions and traveled in the giant reed up to the Third World. The Third World was beautiful, yellow and filled with light. There, Begochiddy created rivers and springs, animals and birds, trees and lightning, and many kinds of human beings. When the men and women began to argue, Begochiddy separated them. But they were so unhappy that Begochiddy reunited them, warning that the Third World would be flooded if there was any more trouble. But the Coyote caused conflict among the people. So the storms and heavy rains approached began and everyone fled to the giant reed, which led to the Fourth World, an island surrounded by water. But later Begochiddy found out it was the coyote that caused the problem. In the Fourth World, Begochiddy set out the mountains and placed the moon, sun, and stars in the sky. Begochiddy brought order out of chaos in the Fourth World by dividing it into four quadrants, marking each with a mountain.


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