This class has finally done something that all of my other classes have failed at: making me use three pages for notes. Zach was up first with his rendition of the Norse creation myth, Ymir is the giant's name. Apparently a cow created a man by licking an iceblock, and that man proceeded to have kids, who became the Norse gods. Bailey told us of the banana and the stone. God sent down a rock to man and woman on a rope, the people rejected the rock because they saw no use for it. God sent down a banana in the same way, which they gladly ate. Then God told them that they should have chosen the rock because it gave immortality, but since they chose the banana we would die as the next generation comes in, which is how death came to us. Rosemary retold the Weeping Woman tale, as I speak no Spanish whatsoever, I'm not putting the Spanish name on here. I apparently got it really wrong in my last post so here it is again. Maria was beautiful, but poor, and married a man with a lot of money. They had two kids, then the husband began cheating on Maria, she found out, and got mad. While possessed by a demon she drowned her children in the river, on her way back the demon left her. She drowned herself in the river, and her spirit haunts the rivers looking for her children, and carrying off children she sees by themselves. She would also take away misbehaving children, thus bringing us to the term:warning stories. Jessica told us of how people used to shed their skins. Men could do this as they walked, but women must bathe in order to shed their skins. One woman left her child in their hut to bathe and shed her skin. The child didn't recognize her when she returned, and it upset her so much that she ran back and put her old skin back on. While we could shed our skin we lived forever, this one act brought death to us. Zachary told an "origional" story, apparently similar to a Japanese creation story. It spoke of four seeds that became two women, and two men. One woman took her eyes out and threw them into the sky where they became the sun and the moon. Kara and Mundus became lovers and Theos envied their love (these are the other three). I have written that Theos cried them an ocean (not how it was stated in the story, but you can get the idea). Clay swelled up to make the earth. The lovers wanted to go on a spiritual journey, and Theos got them to kiss one last time, so he could steal the diamonds from Kara's eyes. He ran off into the skys. The lovers created life and Kara tought everything to love, Mundus died, and created land. Kara in anguish tought everything to hate as well. Theos ran into the skys and swore to unite with Kara at the end of time, so he created time. He also spread the eye-diamonds into the sky creating stars. Lucy and I ended up with the same story. I'll put it up at the end of this post. Jeremy told the story of Genesis 1, where God created the world through his voice, and on the seventh day he rested. Christie told us of elves. God visited Adam and Eve, and they had several children, some of which were clean and presented to God, others were dirty and hidden. God can see all of course and turn the dirty children invisible, now we can only see elves if they desire for us to see them. Kevin gave us the Creation of Earth and Flood from Ovid. 1 god took chaos and made it into a ball creating land, then he used matter to make the animals. Man was created by a divine seed. The first two ages everything went along well, with some decline in the second age. The third age just got bad, and Jove wanted to throw thunderbolts at the people. Poseidon won out in the end though, and we got flooded. A single boat with one man and one woman survived to land on a mountain and started humanity over again. Jarod told a death story, where once we lived below ground, then women found a way to the surface. The men followed, but apparently one followed too closely to the women, so he was killed by the other men and buried. He then realized he was just underground again and could return to the surface, but the magpie made sure he stayed under the ground. Sherwood told a Comanche story, which I only have that there was swirling dust and that people came out of it, and that a shapeshifting demon came with them, and that the Creator banished it into a bottomless hole. Stefanie told us how elephants got their trunks. In the beginning they had stumps for noses, then one elephant child was too curious for his own good, and asked a crocodile what he ate for dinner. The crocodille stated that he was going to have baby elephant that night, and caught the elephant by the nose. The elephant turned his head away and got his nose stretched out. It was about here that Stefanie pulled out the visual aids. He soon found out how usefull his new nose was, and the other elephants were jealous, and stupid, enough to go get their noses stretched out by the crocodile. Abby told a creation by thought story, this is typical among the Native American tribes. Earth Father realizes that he has limbs, crys oceans, and realizes thoughts create things. That's all I have down. Courtney told us how the snake lost his legs. Apparently he had them once, and was quite boastful of them, it was cheetah that was without legs. One day Snake challenges Cheetah to a race, of course Snake wins. Then the gods tell Snake he's being a bad boy and give his legs to Cheetah. Danielle told us a Native American story of the creation of man. Once sun and earth were married, and moon and stars were there as well, living as people. One day sun, moon, and stars ditch earth. The Old One came and made earth as we know it, and charged sun, moon, and stars to remain with earth. He then breathed life into people. Quentin told us about the first lyre. Hermes stole Apollo's cows, and kills a tortoise, stringing it with cowgut. Hermes gives Apollo the lyre to end the fight between the two of them. Darrel told us how the Old One took five hairs and turns them into women, whom he ditches. One woman says she wants to be earth, the second wants to be water, the third wants to be fire, fourth wants to be greedy and have children, fifth wants to be valiant, noble, kind, and also have kids. So good and bad people arise from the children of the fourth and fifth. The third page of my notes is a near verbatim quote of the preface for the second chapter thing of From Primitives to Zens. It concerns the different catagories of creation stories.
Here is the story that I did for creation myths: "Who Can Say Whence if all Came and How Creation Happened?"
1. Then even nothingness was not, nor existance,
There was no air then, nor the heavens beyond it.
What covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping?
Was there then cosmic water? in depths unfathomed?
2. Then there was neither death nor immortality,
nor was there then the touch of night and day.
The One breathed mindlessly and self-sustaining
There was that One then, and there was no other.
3.At first there was only darkness wrapped in darkness.
All this was only unilluminated water.
That One which came to be, enclosed in nothing,
Arose at last, born of the power of heat.
4. In the beginning desire descended upon it-
that was the primal seed, born of the mind.
The sages who have searched their harts with wisdom
know that which is, is kin to that which is not.
5. And they have stretched their word across the void
and know what was above and what below.
Seminal powers made fertile mighty forces.
Below was strength, and over it was impulse.
6. But, after all, who knows, and who can say
whence it all came, and how creation happened?
The gods themselves are later than creation,
so who knows truly whence it has arisen?
7. Whence all creation had its origin,
he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,
he, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
he knows or maybe even he does not know.
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