The First Human Beings (North Africa)
In the beginning there were only one man and one woman and they lived not on the earth but beneath it. They were the first people in the world and neither knew that the other was of another sex.

One day they both came to the well to drink. The man said, "Let me drink."
The woman said, "No, I'll drink first. I was here first."

The man tried to push the woman aside. She struck him. They fought. The man smote the woman so that she dropped to the ground. Her clothing fell to one side. Her thighs were naked.

The man saw the woman lying strange and naked before him. He saw that she had a taschunt. He felt that he had a thabuscht. He looked at the taschunt and asked, "What is that for?"

The woman said, "That is good."
The man lay upon the woman. He lay with the woman eight days.

After nine months the woman bore four daughters. Again, after nine months, she bore four sons, And again four daughters and again four sons. So at last the man and the woman had fifty daughters and fifty sons. The father and the mother did not know what to do with so many children. So they sent them away.

The fifty maidens went off together towards the north. The fifty young men went off together towards the east. After the maidens had been on their way northwards under the earth for a year, they saw a light above them. There was a hole in the earth.

The maidens saw the sky above them and cried, "Why stay under the earth when we can climb to the surface where we can see the sky?"

The maidens climbed up through the hole and on to the earth.

The fifty youths likewise continued in their own direction under the earth for a year until they, too, came to a place where there was a hole in the crust and they could see the sky above them.

The youths looked at the sky and cried, "Why remain under the earth when there is a place from which one can see the sky?"

So they climbed through their hole to the surface.

Thereafter the fifty maidens went their way over the earth's surface and the youths went their way and none knew aught of the others.

At that time all trees and plants and stones could speak. The fifty maidens saw the plants and asked them, "Who made you?"

And the plants replied, "The earth."
The maidens asked the earth, "Who made you?"
And the earth replied, "I was already here."

During the night the maidens saw the moon and the stars and they cried, "Who made you that you stand so high over us and over the trees? Is it you who give us light? Who are you, great and little stars? Who created you? Or are you, perhaps, the ones who have made everything else?" All the maidens called and shouted. But the moon and the stars were so high that they could not answer.

The youths had wandered into the same region and could hear the fifty maidens shouting.

They said to one another, "Surely here are other people like ourselves. Let us go and see who they are." And they set off in the direction from which the shouts had come.

But just before they reached the place they came to the bank of a great stream. The stream lay between the fifty maidens and the fifty youths. The youths had, however, never seen a river before, so they shouted. The maidens heard the shouting in the distance and came towards it.

The maidens reached the other bank of the river, saw the fifty youths and cried, "Who are you? What are you shouting? Are you human beings, too?"

The fifty youths shouted back, "We, too, are human beings. We have come out of the earth. But what are you yelling about?"

The maidens replied, "We, too, are human beings and we, too, have come out of the earth. We shouted and asked the moon and the stars who had made them or if they had made everything else."

The fifty boys spoke to the river, "You are not like us," they said. "We cannot grasp you and cannot pass over you as one can pass over the earth. What are you? How can one cross over you to the other side?"

The river said, "I am the water. I am for bathing and washing. I am there to drink. If you want to reach my other shore go upstream to the shallows. There you can cross over me."

The fifty youths went upstream, found the shallows and crossed over to the other shore. The fifty youths now wished to join the fifty maidens, but the latter cried, "Do not come too close to us. We won't stand for it. You go over there, and we'll stay here leaving that strip of steppe between us."

So the fifty youths and the fifty maidens continued on their way, some distance, apart, but traveling in the same direction.

One day the fifty boys came to a spring. The fifty maidens also came to a spring.
The youths said, "Did not the river tell us that water was to bathe in? Come, let us bathe."

The fifty youths laid aside their clothing and stepped down into the water and bathed. The fifty maidens sat around their spring and saw the youths in the distance. A bold maiden said, "Come with me and we shall see what the other human beings are doing."

Two maidens replied, "We'll come with you." All the others refused.

The three maidens crept through the bushes towards the fifty youths. Two of them stopped on the way. Only the bold maiden came, hidden by the bushes, to the very place where the youths were bathing. Through the bushes the maiden looked at the youths who had laid aside their clothing. The youths were naked. The maiden looked at all of them. She saw that they were not like the maidens. She looked at everything carefully. As the youths dressed again the maiden crept away without their having seen her.

The maiden returned to the other maidens who gathered around her and asked, "What have you seen?"
The bold maiden replied, "Come, we'll bathe, too, and then I can tell you and show you."
The fifty maidens undressed and stepped down into their spring.

The bold maiden told them, "The people over there are not as we are. Where our breasts are, they have nothing. Where our taschunt is, they have something else. The hair on their heads is not long like ours, but short. And when one sees them naked one's heart pounds and one wishes to embrace them. When one has seen them naked, one can never forget it."

The other maidens replied, "You lie."
But the bold maiden said, "Go and see for yourselves and you'll come back feeling as I do."
The other maidens replied, "We'll continue on our way."

The fifty maidens continued on their way and so did the fifty youths. But the youths went ahead slowly. The maidens, on the other hand, described a half circle so that they crossed the path of the youths. They camped quite close to one another.

On this day the youths said, "Let us not sleep under the sky any more. Let us build houses."

A few of the youths began to make themselves holes in the earth. They slept in the holes. Others made themselves passages and rooms under the earth and slept in them. But a few of the youths said, "What are you doing digging into the earth to make houses? Are there not stones here that we can pile them one upon the other?"

The youths gathered stones and piled them one on the other in layers. When they had built the walls one of them went off and began to fell a tree.

But the tree cried and said, "What, you will cut me down? What arc you doing? Do you think you are older than I? What do you think to gain by it?"

The youth answered, "I am not older than you, nor do I wish to be presumptuous. I simply wish to cut down fifty of you trees and lay the trunks across my house for a roof. Your branches and twigs I will lay within the house to protect them from the wet."

The tree answered, "That is well."

The youth then cut down fifty trees, laid their trunks across his house and covered them with earth. The branches he cut up and stored away inside the house. A few of the larger trunks he set upright in the house to carry the weight of the roof. When the others saw how fine the house was they did even as he had done.

Among the youths there was a wild one, just as among the maidens one was wild and untamed. This wild youth would not live in a house. Rather he preferred to creep in and out among the houses of the others seeking someone whom he could rend and devour. For he was so wild that he thought only of killing and eating others.

The fifty maidens were encamped at a distance. Looking, they saw how the fifty youths first dug themselves holes and tunnels in the earth and how they finally built their houses.

They asked one another, "What are these other humans doing? What are they doing with the stones and the trees?"

The bold maiden said, "I'll go there again. I will sneak over and see what these other humans are doing. I have seen them naked once and I want to see them again."

The bold maiden crawled through the bushes to the houses. She came quite close. Finally she slid into a house. There was no one there. The maiden looked around and saw how fine the house was. The wild one came by outside. He scented the maiden. He roared. The maiden screamed and, dashing out of the house, made for the place where the other maidens were encamped.

All the youths heard the maiden scream and all jumped up and ran after her. The maiden ran through the bushes and screamed. The other maidens heard her. They sprang to their feet and ran in her direction to help her. In the bushes the fifty maidens and the fifty youths came together, each maiden with a youth. They fought in the bushes, the maidens with the youths. Even the wild maiden encountered the wild youth in the bushes.

It was dark in the bushes and they fought in pairs. No pair could see the next one. The fifty maidens were strong. They hurled the fifty youths to the ground, and threw themselves on top of them. And they said to themselves, "Now I will see at last if the bold maiden lied."

The maidens seized the youths between the thighs. They found the thabuscht. As they touched it, it swelled and the youths lay quite still. As the maidens felt the thabuscht of the youths, their hearts began to swell. The fifty maidens threw aside their clothes and inserted the thabuscht in their taschunt. The youths lay quite still. The fifty maidens began to ravish the fifty youths. Thereupon the fifty youths became more active than the fifty maidens.

Every youth took a maiden and brought her into his house. They married.

In the house the youths said, "It is not right that the woman lies on the man. In the future we shall see to it that the man lies on the woman. In this way we will become your masters." And in the future they slept in the fashion customary among the Kabyls today.

The youths were now much more active than the maidens, and all lived happily together in great satisfaction. Only the wild youth and the wild maiden, who had no house, roamed here and there seeking others to devour. The others chased them, and when they met them they beat them.

The wild ones said to each other, "We must be different from these humans that they treat us so badly. We will do better to keep out of their way. Let us leave this place and go to the forest."

The wild ones left and went to the forest from which, in future, they emerged only to steal children whom they devoured. The wild maiden became the first teriel (witch) and the wild youth the first lion. And they both lived on human flesh. The other young men and women were happy to be rid of the cannibals. They lived happily with one another. Their food consisted only of plants, which they uprooted.
 

The Creation and the Great Flood (Greek/Roman)
Before there was earth or sea or heaven, there existed only chaos: shapeless, unorganized, lifeless matter. There was no sun, no moon, and no air. Elements existed, but they had neither form nor character. The earth was without firmness, the water without fluidity, and the sky without light.

There was opposition in all things: hot conflicted with cold, wet with dry, heavy with light, and hard with soft.

Finally a god, a natural higher force, resolved this conflict, separating earth from heaven, parting the dry land from the waters, and dividing the clear air from the clouds, thus organizing all things into a balanced union. In the highest sphere he made a heavenly vault of weightless and untainted ether. The next lower region he filled with air, light but not without substance. Then came the heavy earth, which sank down under its own weight and was encircled by the sea.

Thus did the god, whichever god it was, set order to the chaotic mass by separating it into its components, then organizing them into a harmonious whole.

Then the god shaped the earth into a great ball and caused the seas to spread in one direction and the other. He created springs, pools, and lakes, then formed rivers, causing them to flow toward the seas. He flattened out the plains, caused valleys to sink down, and pushed up mountains from the level places.

The earth he organized into five zones, the same number that exist in heaven, which is divided into two regions on the right, two on the left, and one in the center. On earth the middle zone is too hot for habitation and the two outer zones are too cold, but between these extremes the god created two temperate zones where heat and cold are balanced.

Beneath the ether and above the earth hangs the air, where the god formed mist and clouds, placing thunderbolts within the clouds. To each of the four winds he assigned limits and purpose. He caused the stars, which heretofore had been veiled in darkness, to shine forth across the sky.

The waters he filled with fishes, the earth with wild animals, and the air with birds. But none of these creatures approached the gods in intelligence; none could rightly be called master over all the others.

Then man was born. Either the god who had created this better earth made man from divine seed, or Prometheus, molded an image of the gods from a clump of earth that had been newly separated from the ether and thus still retained some divine qualities. Whoever created man, this new being was made to stand erect with his eyes directed toward heaven and the stars, unlike other animals who hang their heads and gaze toward the ground.

The first age of man was a golden age, during which men did what was right without laws and without the threat of punishment. No one strayed far from home. Everyone lived at peace with his neighbors, and the earth itself gave up its fruits without cultivation or labor. Berries, fruits, grains, and flowers abounded although the land remained untilled. Rivers flowed with milk and nectar, and honey dripped from the trees. Springtime was the only season.

When Saturn lost his rule to Jove this golden age on earth gave way to a silver age. Jove, the sky god, shortened springtime and added the seasons of summer, fall, and winter. The earth now yielded its bounty of grain only from plowed fields, made fruitful by the labor of man and beast.

Then came an age of bronze. Just as bronze is harder than silver, men were now more disposed toward warfare than heretofore.

Finally came an age of iron, a metal baser and harder than gold, silver, or bronze. Now the natural virtues of man gave way to baser, harsher qualities. Modesty, truth, and loyalty were replaced by treachery, deceit, and greed. Sailors now traversed the seas seeking new lands and power. Men sought wealth in foreign places and from beneath the earth, wealth that in turn became the cause of much wickedness and suffering. Friend betrayed friend, and relative turned against relative.

The conflict on earth threatened even heaven. Legends tell how at that time giants attempted an attack on the realm of the gods by piling mountains together to reach the sky. Jove defended his heavenly kingdom with a mighty thunderbolt, which destroyed the tower of mountains, crushing the giants beneath it as it fell. Torrents of blood flowed forth from their bodies, drenching the earth. It is said that from this blood-soaked earth was born a new breed of men, who like their giant forebears had no respect for the gods.

Looking down from his kingdom in the sky, Jove saw that mankind was now hopelessly violent and cruel. He called together his council, and they came to him forthwith, traveling that famous bright path across heaven's vault, the Milky Way. Jove angrily demanded that the utterly corrupt human race be destroyed, promising that afterward he himself would supervise the creation of a new stock of men. The gods sadly agreed that only this extreme act would solve the threat of mankind's wickedness.

Jove was about to strike the earth with a barrage of thunderbolts when he realized that the conflagration caused by such an attack might threaten heaven itself, so he resolved to destroy the earth's inhabitants by water instead of by fiery lightning. To this end he fettered the North Wind, then charged the South Wind to bring forth endless rains. Jove's brother Neptune, god of the seas, caused the tides and the waves to rise upon the land and the rivers to overflow their banks.

Man and beast alike fell prey to the ever-rising flood. Orchards and planted fields were washed away. Houses and other buildings were either demolished by the crashing waves or submerged beneath a sea that had no shores. Not even the temples and sacred images were spared. The birds themselves, their wings finally tiring from continuous flight, in the end were forced to surrender to watery graves.

In the end only one place on earth remained above water: the twin summits of Mount Parnassus. It was here that the small boat carrying Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha ran aground. They alone had survived the great deluge.

When Jove saw that only one man and one woman were still alive on earth, and that this husband and this wife were virtuous people, both true worshippers, he released the North Wind and caused it to dissipate the storms and clouds. Then Neptune called upon Triton to recall the tides and waves with a signal from his conch-shell trumpet.

The earth was now restored, but lifeless, desolate, and empty. Deucalion and Pyrrha, seeing that they were the only living beings left on earth, sought guidance by going together to the Waters of Cephissus, which were again flowing in their usual channel. They sprinkled themselves with this holy water, then entered the temple and asked for assistance. The answer came through an oracle that they should leave the temple and scatter behind them their mothers' bones.

Deucalion could not believe his ears, and Pyrrha stated aloud that she would never dishonor her mother's spirit by thus disturbing her bones. Deucalion, however, thought that the words of the oracle were not to be taken literally, that the mother mentioned was not a human mother, but rather mother earth, and that the bones to be scattered were stones from the earth's body. Deciding to put this interpretation to the test, Deucalion and Pyrrha scattered behind them stones from the earth.

No one would believe what happened afterward, if it were not for the testimony of ancient legends. The stones, once thrown to the ground, lost their hardness and assumed human forms. Those scattered by Deucalion became male, and those scattered by Pyrrha became female. And thus the earth was repopulated.

Then through the natural process of warmth and moisture and earth reacting with one another the lower animals were reborn as well. Yes, fire and water are opposites, but moist heat is the source of all living things. Creation comes about through the resolution of opposing forces.
 

How the World Was Made (Philippines)
This is the ancient Filipino account of the creation.

Thousands of years ago there was no land nor sun nor moon nor stars, and the world was only a great sea of water, above which stretched the sky. The water was the kingdom of the god Maguayan, and the sky was ruled by the great god Captan.

Maguayan had a daughter called Lidagat, the sea, and Captan had a son known as Lihangin, the wind. The gods agreed to the marriage of their children, so the sea became the bride of the wind.

Three sons and a daughter were born to them. The sons were called Licalibutan, Liadlao, and Libulan; and the daughter received the name of Lisuga.

Licalibutan had a body of rock and was strong and brave; Liadlao was formed of gold and was always happy; Libulan was made of copper and was weak and timid; and the beautiful Lisuga had a body of pure silver and was sweet and gentle. Their parents were very fond of them, and nothing was wanting to make them happy.

After a time Lihangin died and left the control of the winds to his eldest son Licalibutan. The faithful wife Lidagat soon followed her husband, and the children, now grown up, were left without father or mother. However, their grandfathers, Captan and Maguayan, took care of them and guarded them from all evil.

After a time, Licalibutan, proud of his power over the winds, resolved to gain more power, and asked his brothers to join him in an attack on Captan in the sky above. At first they refused; but when Licalibutan became angry with them, the amiable Liadlao, not wishing to offend his brother, agreed to help. Then together they induced the timid Libulan to join in the plan.

When all was ready the three brothers rushed at the sky, but they could not beat down the gates of steel that guarded the entrance. Then Licalibutan let loose the strongest winds and blew the bars in every direction. The brothers rushed into the opening, but were met by the angry god Captan. So terrible did he look that they turned and ran in terror; but Captan, furious at the destruction of his gates, sent three bolts of lightning after them.

The first struck the copper Libulan and melted him into a ball. The second struck the golden Liadlao, and he too was melted. The third bolt struck Licalibutan, and his rocky body broke into many pieces and fell into the sea. So huge was he that parts of his body stuck out above the water and became what is known as land.

In the meantime the gentle Lisuga had missed her brothers and started to look for them. She went toward the sky, but as she approached the broken gates, Captan, blind with anger, struck her too with lightning, and her silver body broke into thousands of pieces.

Captan then came down from the sky and tore the sea apart, calling on Maguayan to come to him and accusing him of ordering the attack on the sky. Soon Maguayan appeared and answered that he knew nothing of the plot as he had been asleep far down in the sea.

After a time he succeeded in calming the angry Captan. Together they wept at the loss of their grandchildren, especially the gentle and beautiful Lisuga; but with all their power they could not restore the dead to life. However, they gave to each body a beautiful light that will shine forever.

And so it was that golden Liadlao became the sun, and copper Libulan the moon, while the thousands of pieces of silver Lisuga shine as the stars of heaven. To wicked Licalibutan the gods gave no light, but resolved to make his body support a new race of people. So Captan gave Maguayan a seed, and he planted it on the land, which, as you will remember, was part of Licalibutan's huge body.

Soon a bamboo tree grew up, and from the hollow of one of its branches a man and a woman came out. The man's name was Sicalac, and the woman was called Sicabay. They were the parents of the human race. Their first child was a son whom they called Libo; afterwards they had a daughter who was known as Saman. Pandaguan was a younger son and he had a son called Arion.

Pandaguan was very clever and invented a trap to catch fish. The very first thing he caught was a huge shark. When he brought it to land, it looked so great and fierce that he thought it was surely a god, and he at once ordered his people to worship it. Soon all gathered around and began to sing and pray to the shark. Suddenly the sky and sea opened, and the gods came out and ordered Pandaguan to throw the shark back into the sea and to worship none but them.

All were afraid except Pandaguan. He grew very bold and answered that the shark was as big as the gods, and that since he had been able to overpower it he would also be able to conquer the gods. Then Captan, hearing this, struck Pandaguan with a small thunderbolt, for he did not wish to kill him but merely to teach him a lesson. Then he and Maguayan decided to punish these people by scattering them over the earth, so they carried some to one land and some to another. Many children were afterwards born, and thus the earth became inhabited in all parts.

Pandaguan did not die. After lying on the ground for thirty days he regained his strength, but his body was blackened from the lightning, and all his descendants ever since that day have been black.

His first son, Arion, was taken north, but as he had been born before his father's punishment he did not lose his color, and all his people therefore are white.

Libo and Saman were carried south, where the hot sun scorched their bodies and caused all their descendants to be of a brown color.

A son of Saman and a daughter of Sicalac were carried east, where the land at first was so lacking in food that they were compelled to eat clay. On this account their children and their children's children have always been yellow in color.

And so the world came to be made and peopled. The sun and moon shine in the sky, and the beautiful stars light up the night. All over the land, on the body of the envious Licalibutan, the children of' Sicalac and Sicabay have grown great in numbers. May they live forever in peace and brotherly love!
 

How Singapore Came to Be
Sang Nila Utama, an imaginative & adventurous king was restless by nature and wanted to travel to far away places. He loved hunting wild animals, so when he heard that there were stags in the jungles of Tanjong Bentam which were not easy to hunt, he was excited and took with him a great fleet of ships to Tanjong Bentam. 

When the king arrived upon the island, he and his subjects had a hunting expedition that lasted several hours, slaying many wild and savage beasts, but no stags. This disappointed the king, for he had a sense of unfulfillment in his heart. 

Suddenly, a large stag darted out of the bush in front of Sang Nila Utama, giving the king a shock...but the king drew his silver dagger and hurled it at the stag, only grazing the animal. The stag began to run and the king pursued it (in those days, it was either your feet or nothing) 

The stag ran through the jungle and darted up a knoll. The king followed the stag up the hill, but upon reaching the summit, the stag was nowhere to be seen. There was a large rock, so the king climbed it and looked the land and sea spread out around him. In the distance, he saw a stretch of white sand - an island. Sang Nila Utama was fascinated by the sight of the island. He turned to one of his subjects who had followed him. 'What is the name of that island?'

The subject looked into the distance and smiled. 'That is Temasek, Your Highness.'
'Then we are going there.' The king ordered his fleet to set sail and they began on their journey towards the island.

Suddenly the once clear blue skies were covered with black clouds, heavy rain poured from them and strong bursts of wind threatened to tear the ships apart. The ship carrying Sang Nila Utama was in the very eye of the storm. The crew lowered the sails, started to bail the water from the ship and get most of the cargo for jettisoning. 

However, an idea came to the king's head. He remembered a story his grandfather told him of how one of his ancestors became the Sea-King and that his crown was the only thing which belonged to his ancestor. He removed his crown immediately & threw it into the sea. 

All at once, the storm broke. As suddenly as it started, the skies began to clear and the crew gave a shout of joy and set sail once more to the island of Temasek. 

When the king stepped upon the island, a creature stepped out of nowhere, and the king and his men were awe-struck by the magnificent creature. It was large and moved with grace, had a black head, covered in a furry mane, a whitish neck and a red body. When the king drew his bow & arrow, the beast stared back at him with golden eyes and let out a deafening roar before leaping into the jungle. 

'What sort of animal was that?', the king asked.
A wise old man stepped forth. 'I have seen animals in potraits from the Far West. Perhaps this is a 'singa', but I wonder how it got all the way here.'

'This must be a great place if it breeds such a beautiful animal. Let us live here...here on the island of Singapura.'
 

A Chinese Creation and Flood Myth (Miao People)
The Miao have no written records, but they have many legends in verse, which they learn to repeat and sing. The Hei Miao (or Black Miao, so called from their dark chocolate-colored clothes) treasure poetical legends of the creation and of a deluge. These are composed in lines of five syllables, in stanzas of unequal length, one interrogative and one responsive. They are sung or recited by two persons or two groups at feasts and festivals, often by a group of youths and a group of maidens. The legend of the creation commences: 

Who made heaven and earth?
Who made insects?
Who made men?
Made male and made female?
I who speak don't know. 

Heavenly King made heaven and earth,
Ziene made insects,
Ziene made men and demons,
Made male and made female.
How is it you don't know? 

How made heaven and earth?
How made insects?
How made men and demons?
Made male and made female?
I who speak don't know.

Heavenly King was intelligent,
Spat a lot of spittle into his hand,
Clapped his hands with a noise,
Produced heaven and earth,
Tall grass made insects,
Stories made men and demons,
Made men and demons,
Made male and made female.
How is it you don't know?

The legend of the flood tells of a great deluge. It commences: 

Who came to the bad disposition,
To send fire and burn the hill?
Who came to the bad disposition,
To send water and destroy the earth?
I who sing don't know. 

Zie did. Zie was of bad disposition,
Zie sent fire and burned the hill;
Thunder did. Thunder was of bad disposition,
Thunder sent water and destroyed the earth.
Why don't you know?

The young man, considering it unlikely that two stones thus rolled down from opposite hills would be found in the valley, one upon another, while pretending to accept the test suggested, secretly placed two other stones in the valley, one upon the other. The stones rolled from the hills were lost in the tall wild grass, and on descending into the valley, A-Zie called his sister to come and see the stones he had placed. 

She, however, was not satisfied, and suggested as another test that each should take a knife from a double sheath and, going again to the opposite hilltops, hurl them into the valley below. If both these knives were found in the sheath in the valley, she would marry him, but if the knives were found apart, they would live apart. 

Again the brother surreptitiously placed two knives in the sheath, and, the experiment ending as A-Zie wished, his sister became his wife. They had one child, a misshapen thing without arms or legs, which A-Zie in great anger killed and cut to pieces. He threw the pieces all over the hill, and next morning, on awakening, he found these pieces transformed into men and women. Thus the earth was re-peopled. 
 
 

Order of Life and Death (Native American: Blackfoot)
There was once a time when there were but two persons in the world, Old Man and Old Woman. One time, when they were traveling about, Old Man met Old Woman, who said, "Now, let us come to an agreement of some kind; let us decide how the people shall live." 

"Well," said Old Man, " I am to have the first say in everything." 

To this Old Woman agreed, provided she had the second say. 

Then Old Man began, "The women are to tan the hides. When they do this, they are to rub brains on them to make them soft; they are to scrape them well with scraping tools, etc. But all this they are to do very quickly, for it will not be very hard work." 

"No, I will not agree to this," said Old Woman. "They must tan the hide in the way you say; but it must be made very hard work, and take a long time, so that the good workers may be found out." 

"Well", said Old Man, "let the people have eyes and mouths in their faces; but they shall be straight up and down." 

"No," said Old Woman, "we will not have them that way. We will have the eyes and mouth in the faces, as you say; but they shall all be set crosswise." 

"Well," said Old Man, "the people shall have ten fingers on each hand." 

"Oh, no!" said Old Woman. "That will be too many. They will be in the way. There shall be four fingers and one thumb on each hand."

"Well," said Old Man, "we shall beget children. The genitals shall be at our navels." 

"No," said Old Woman, "that will make childbearing too easy; the people will not care for their children. The genitals shall be at the pubes." 

So they went on until they had provided for everything in the lives of the people that were to be. Then Old Woman asked what they should do about life and death. 

Should the people always live, or should they die? They had some difficulty in agreeing on this; but finally Old Man said, "I will tell you what I will do. I will throw a buffalo chip into the water, and, if it floats, the people die for four days and live again. But, if it sinks, they will die forever." 

So he threw it in, and it floated. 

"No," said Old Woman, "we will not decide in that way. I will throw in this rock. If it floats, the people will die for four days. If it sinks, the people will die forever." 

Then Old Woman threw the rock out into the water, and it sank to the bottom. 

"There," said she, "it is better for the people to die forever; for, if they did not die forever, they would never feel sorry for each other, and there would be no sympathy in the world." 

"Well," said Old Man, let it be that way." 

After a time Old Woman had a daughter, who died. She was very sorry now that it had been fixed so that people died forever. So she said to Old Man, "Let us have our say over again." 

"No," said he, "we fixed it once."