The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-12
INDIAN IDEA OF CREATION.
STRANGE LEGEND RECITED by AN
OLD BRAVE BESIDE THE
CAMP FIRE.
How spce-ow Robbed the Spider.
Climbed Into Heaven by Rope
and stole the Daylight Box-Drop-
ped the Stars and the Moon.
Throws the SUN over the Sea.

Throws the sun over the sea
From the Boston Post.
Ever since the poet Longfcllow pub
lished Hiawatha, boys ana girls in Amer
lea have been interested in Indian legands.
These tales are often grotesane and wild
TO the last degree, but there is strange
fascination in them; and some Of the
most curious are still current among the
savages of the Pacific coast.
Among the Indians winter is story tell
ing time. A great log fire is kindled, and
a circle of figures crouch around it, pass
ing the hours in planning future eXpedl-
tions, or listening to tne grooming tale
of a story teller-some old brave who
knows all the legendary lore of@his people.
Where this stuff originated. or how II has
been preserved, is wonder to whlte
man. Indians seldom talk about these
things to white person, unless he has
lived with them for a long time. But If
he is familiar with their ways and Gus
toms. he may be- asked to fjoin7 the circle,
when the story teller is at work Stories
among the Indians take the place of news
papers. churches and theaters
When a story Is suggested the fire is
rebuilt, and thenarrator probablyfa very
old man. comes forward and begins. He
talks lust as long as the fire burns then
stops Nothing can induce him to con-
tinue longer. A big fire and a silent circle
of listeners seem to be Indispensable.
The legends have great variety of sub
| jects. They deal with the creation Of the
| world, account for geographical features
explain the present conditions OF things
| and answer, in rude way, thousand
! questions that the savage mind asks. The
| Iah-mah- na-wis belief runs through all
the tales. the Indian easily placing the
| currences at the door OF the Tah-mah-na-
Among the Indians of the coast the do
| ings of the Spee-ow, the Maker or Chang
4 err form the subjects of a number of pop
| ular stories. These tales treat of the be-
| ginning Of the world, and are extremely
| interesting The history of Spee-ow, as
| heard it by the pickering light of a log
! fire. runs thus, though it is difficult to give
exactly the Indian renderingiJe a i
long long time ago there was no light
| in the world; it was always night, and the
| people went about in darkness. The chief
! Tah-mah -na-wis was tai man with
! long white beard He was never seen, but
/ was known to the people BY his deeds
! His name was Spee-ow, the Maker. BY his
1 magic he found that there was another
| country beyond the sky, ruled over by the
i spider This spider chief was very large
| and carried a long rope with him to help
| him in his travels about his land. One day
when he was on journey, he came to
| place where the ground, which Is our sky
| had cracked open a little. Not knowing
what this meant, the SPIDER tyee Ctyee
4 j.
| tain how deep the hole was. He let down
/ 60 much roDe that he was unable to pull
! ii I'D again; so he tied it to tree, and
| While he was gone the blue-jay, who
| is always prying into other peoples bust
ness, came along, and seeing the rope,
/ flew down the hole to learn what was
| there. He followed the rope until he came
10 the country below, where we live There
| nv his noise, he attracted the attention
| OF Spee-ow. Spee-ow Immediately inves-
| tigated the matter and saw the blue-jay,
| who had alighted on the rope. The great
! TahAnah-na-wis at once started to climb
| up and catch the bird; but when he APP
! proached the Jay, assembled a little way
| and again alighted. Up climbed Spec
| ow. and up few the Jay, until both passed.
| through the hole in the sky and were in
1 the country of the spider
This place Spee-ow found to be a fine
| land, much like what our world now Is;
| and he thought he would look around
| and learn how to make his own domain
| resemble the new region. AS he did not
1 know what or whom he might meet
| Spee-ow changed himself into a beaver.
and went to a swamp to hide until he
could ascertain the nature Of the inhaD-
Now It CHANGED that the spider tyee
had set a beaver trap In this very swamp
| and poor Spee-ow was caught fast The
| tyee came to visit his trap, and think
] Spee-ow was a beaver killed him ana
| bore him to the lodge But spee-ow beine
1 a great Tah-mah-na-wis, was not really
/ killed: he still lived In the dead body Oh
! the beaver, and IN this manner was car
ried into the tyee's WigWam. When the
spider chief reached his home he skinned
| me beaver threw the body into a oor.
ncF and stretched the peit 10 dry Then
be went cut. Soon he returned bring
Ing with Nlm the sun, noon ana stars and