Old Man at the Beginning

A Crow Legend
At the beginning of the world, there was nothing but water.
It was dark in the world, and no one saw the water of the world.
Then the Old Man of the Crow People came into the world, and he looked all
around and said, "Is there nothing in this world but water?"
Off in the distance, Old Man saw that there were two little ducks swimming
about. These ducks had red eyes. Old Man called them to him. They came
swimming, paddling in the world of water.
Old Man said to them, "Is there nothing in this world but water?"
The elder duck answered, "We have never seen anything in this world but
water, but we think that there may be something down under the water. We
feel it in our hearts."
"Dive down, Younger Duck," said Old Man, and the younger of the little ducks
dove deep under the water, looking for the bottom. He was gone a long time,
and Old Man said, "Oh, I am afraid Younger Duck has drowned."
"No," said the Elder Duck, "we are able to hold our breath for a long time. He
will come back up." At about that time, Younger Duck came up with something
in his bill. It was a root.
"If there is a root," said Old Man, "then there must be earth as well. Dive down
Elder Duck, and see if you find some earth."
The elder duck dove deep, and was gone for a very long time. When he came
up, he had a ball of mud in his bill.
"This is what I have been looking for," said Old Man. He took the root and put
it in the ball of wet earth, and blew three times on it. Once he blew, twice he
blew, and again he blew on the ball of earth. The ball began to grow and fill the
world and push the water aside. It grew until there was a great land, with many
plants and animals living on it.
The ducks, who live in water, on land, and in the sky, brought up the earth, and
Old Man made the world for the Crow People.
Pangu and the Creation of the World

In the beginning there was darkness everywhere, and

Chaos ruled. Within the darkness there formed an egg,
and inside the egg the giant Pangu came into being. For
aeons, safely inside the egg, Pangu slept and grew. When
he had grown to gigantic size he stretched his huge limbs
and in so doing broke the egg. The lighter parts of the egg
floated upwards to form the heavens and the denser parts
sank downwards, to become the earth. And so was
formed earth and sky, Yin and Yang.

Pangu saw what had happened and he was pleased. But he feared
that heaven and earth might meld together again, so he placed
himself between them, his head holding up the sky and his feet
firmly upon the earth. Pangu continued to grow at a rate of ten feet
a day for 18,000 years, so increasing the distance between heaven
and earth, until they seemed fixed and secure, 30,000 miles apart.
Now exhausted, Pangu went back to sleep and never woke up.

Pangu died, and his body went to make the world and all its
elements. The wind and clouds were formed from his breath, his
voice was thunder and lightning, his eyes became the sun and
moon, his arms and his legs became the four directions of the
compass and his trunk became the mountains. His flesh turned
into the soil and the trees that grow on it, his blood into the rivers
that flow and his veins into paths men travel. His body hair became
the grass and herbs, and his skin the same, while precious stones
and minerals were formed from his bones and teeth. His sweat
became the dew and the hair of his head became the stars that trail
throughout heaven. As for the parasites on his body, these became
the divers races of humankind.

Although Pangu is dead, some say he is still responsible for the

weather, which fluctuates according to his moods.
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THE CREATION
‘BURNING ICE, BITING FLAME; THAT IS HOW LIFE BEGAN…’
WHAT DID THE VIKINGS BELIEVE?
Norse mythology tells us that the world as we know it began with the joining of the fires
from Muspell, in the south,with the frozen cold ice of Niflheim from the north. These
two primordial forces were originally separated by the great expanse of emptiness
known of the Ginnungagap but when the heat of the south met the cold of the north
water began to melt from the ice, these water droplets created a mighty giant, known as
Ymir, the forefather of Frost Giants and he was evil from the beginning.

The ice from Niflheim continued to melt and from the life giving water came Audumla,
the cow. Audumla fed off the ice, and whilst licking the salty blocks of ice, the body of a
man began to appear. Within three days this man of ice was freed and he was called
Buri, the grandfather of Odin, the Allfather of the Gods of Asgard.

However, although there was life, there was no land, no sky, nothing between the fiery
world of Muspell, home to Black Surt and his fiery sword who already was
awaiting Ragnarok (the great war that will kill the gods) and the frozen wastes of
Nifheim, so where did the world come from?

FROM THE BODY OF A GIANT…

The Viking sagas then tell us that Odin, along with his brothers Villi and Ve did not
have much love for the Giants and went on to kill the first of the Frost Giants. The Gods
then dragged Ymir’s body out into the middle of Ginnungagap and began to form his
body:
“THEY SHAPED THE EARTH FROM YMIR’S FLESH AND MOUNTAINS FROM HIS
UNBROKEN BONES; FROM HIS TEETH AND JAWS AND THE FRAGMENTS OF HIS
SHATTERED BONES THEY MADE THE ROCKS, BOULDERS AND STONES”
The myth continues that the brothers broke up the skull of the giant to create the four
corners of the sky and placed four dwarves to hold up each section. The Dwarves were
named, North, South, East and West. Sparks and embers from Muspell were taken and
placed high in the sky, becoming the sun, moon and stars, each given their proper
place.

Next, the nine worlds, that sit in the great world tree, Yggdrasill, were created from
the dismembered Giant, his eyebrows were used to form Midgard and Night and Day,
two giants were tasked with travelling around the world in their chariots.
 GREEK CREATION
Gaia the earth goddess was formed from a raging chaos, which existed before time began. She gave birth to Uranus, the
sky, who covered her completely with his starry mantle. The two of them became the first husband and wife.

They bore many children, most of which were terrible monsters; creatures with 100 arms and the Cyclops, mighty giants
with one eye each.

Uranus feared these powerful creations and hid them deep in the earth. This caused Gaia great pain, as she loved her
children. She became angry and plotted to destroy her husband.

Finally Gaia gave birth to several gods and goddesses who were not fearful monsters. Among them was Kronos who
was strong enough to overthrow Uranus. Gaia made him a sickle fashioned from the hardest rock she knew and gave it
to her son with instructions.

Kronos hid in his mother’s shadow until night fell, and Uranus the sky came to earth. When Uranus was resting at last,
Kronos sprang from his hiding place and killed his father with one stroke.

Thus Kronos became king of the sky in his father’s place. He married Rhea, an earth goddess, and had many more
children.

He created the first race of men, made of gold. This was called the Golden Age, when men didn’t have to work, and
there was no suffering or death.

But Kronos was also cruel and feared his children. After each was born he ate it whole with the clothes and all, so he
would never be overthrown.

Rhea was horrified by this and with the help of her mother Gaia, managed to give birth to her son Zeus in hiding on the
island of Crete. She gave her husband a stone wrapped in baby clothes, which he ate in one gulp.

Zeus grew quickly to be the most powerful god ever. When he had grown, he returned with an army of Gaia’s monsters
and the rest of the gods to overthrow Kronos.

The war was terrible and went on for years and years and years; all the men of the golden age were killed.

Zeus freed his brothers and sisters and built the palace of Olympus, where he ruled the earth, and all gods and men. He
then married his sister Hera and they had many children. Zeus had many other women in secret and they had children
too; soon the world was filled with other gods.

Eventually Zeus decided to create a second race of men to worship the Olympians; these were made of silver. The silver
men were foolish and had no respect for the gods. This was the Silver Age, in which nothing was sacred- it did not last
long.

The irreverent silver men angered Zeus, who hid them away deep in the far corners of the underworld. To replace them,
Zeus created a third race of men. They were made of bronze, and this began the Bronze Age.

The bronze men were aggressive and warlike. They destroyed each other with such venom that Zeus quickly hid these
away in the underworld too.

Zeus then made a race of heroes, who were the subjects of most of the countless myths in the Hellenic tradition. This
was the heroic age, and there were many great men and women born of it. When a hero died, he was given a special
place in the underworld, called the Blessed Isles, where it is always light and beautiful.

The men of the heroic age, too, passed away and gave rise to men of today. The race that lives now is the iron race;
which is said to be the hardest of all. Men of the Iron Age must toil all their lives and suffer and die. But the iron men are
the strongest of all and will survive the Olympian gods.

The Big Myth TM

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