A Creation Story of My Very Own

God created the World on His ninth birthday.  It was a dreary summer day, with heavy, unrelenting rain falling from thick grey clouds.

His parents lavished Him with many outdoor gifts: a glider that you assemble from balsa wood; a brand new baseball mitt made from crisp virgin leather that smelled soothing and dreamy; a green and white kite made from thin, light-weight vinyl to name a few.  God was longing to go outside to play with them all, but His parents forbade Him owing to the rain.

So He turned his attention to his other gifts, giving them a second look.  His eyes rested on a large flat box.  In His hurry to open everything, He had almost forgotten that He opened This.  It was an Artist's Kit.  He padded upstairs to His bedroom with His Kit and closed the door.

He started with His favorite colors, blue and green, in magnificent arcs, even before He knew what He wanted to Create.  Then, pausing to look through the window at the rain, He decided to make His Own World, without rain, of course.  He plunged back into the Art.

Soon the outline of His World was created in blue and green.  He decided the blue would depict vast pools, lakes and oceans, and the green would depict lush plants and magical forests.  But He used so much blue and green, He decided to save them for another time, so He added some brown features to His forest to make the plants tall and resplendent.

Then He decided to make other Gods just like Him.  He continued to use brown for a while, but then tried some other colors, such as yellow, red and, to be really silly, even white!  "White Gods!" He laughed out loud to Himself.

He included His pets, too.  First came His four Cats, which were orange, black, tan and grey.  Next came His Dog, which was brown.  But then He made Cats and Dogs in other colors, too.  Then He added His fish, plus mice, birds, lizards and bugs to amuse the cats.  But He decided to make a few of the birds wily and a few fierce, just to keep the cats in their place.

He was starting to get hungry -- He was looking forward to birthday cake.  He decided to hastily add several other creatures.  He thought it would be great if there were a type of dog that was large enough to sit on while it ran.  So He made that, which turned out to resemble a horse.

Finally, His World was Perfect.

And anyway, it was time for lunch, followed by birthday cake.  He closed all the paint containers, gathered up all the brushes, and hastily placed His World near the open window to dry before heading downstairs.

Leaving it near the window, was, of course, not the best thing to do on a rainy day, especially in a home with four curious cats.  For when He came back hours later it was gone!

Perhaps there were some birds splashing outside that window to draw the attention of one of the cats.  Some how His World slid out the window, landing on an out-of-sight awning of a lower-level window.  It quickly got soaked and Imperfect.


It is believed that one day, the awning will be taken down for painting or repair.  God will be much older, with a Son of his own.  He will find His World, look upon its imperfections, and cry.  His Son will see Him crying over His Imperfect World.  The most devout believe that His Son will carefully scrape the delicate weathered Imperfect World off the awning and tenderly restore it.

Quotes From "The Raven's Gift"

Ravens may drop walnuts on your head, storms may batter your canoe, blizzards may scatter your reindeer, but lighten up; nature is "'playing' with you and that is all.  It is not to be taken seriously." (page 210)

I wonder, does nature make traffic lights turn red just as you get to them?

The Koryak Creation Story

When the cosmos was new, there were no people, so Etinvin, our God, made people and placed them on the earth.  He started off first by making the Northern People.  He gave them the best, richest, and most wonderful place on the planet, right here near Vyvenka and above.  He put salmon in the rivers, seals in the bays, and reindeer on the tundra.

When Etinvin finished, there were many places left on the earth with no people.  But he ran out of genuine parts to make people with.  He asked Kutcha [the Raven God] what he should do and Kutcha suggested that they carve some people out of wood.  So Etinvin carved people out of wood.  These people became the Europeans.  They are stupid because they are made of wood and not genuine parts.  They fight too much and they don't think about the future of the earth.  They build too many machines that destroy the earth.

When all the people were finished, Etinvin looked down and saw a woman on the tundra.  She was giving birth and crying in great pain.  Her husband didn't know what to do, so he tried to cut the baby out of the woman's stomach with a large knife.  But that made the women and the baby dead.

Etinvin was sad and called Kutcha: "These people are new and they don't know how to live.  You must fly down from the heavens and teach the people how to live."

So Kutcha gathered the people, and explained: "Women must go to the tundra.  Watch the birds and see how they give birth."

The women walked out to the tundra and watched the birds laying eggs.  And then they understood.  They had many healthy babies and their numbers grew.  But still the people didn't know how to live very well.  So Etinvin called Kutcha again and told him to go back down to earth and tell the people out to live.

And Kutcha gave the following advice:

"Ocean water is full of salt and is not good to drink.  Drink water from the mountains.  That is the sweetest water.

"When the sun is setting, your children must not cry.  They must sit near you and you must tell them stories.  After the stories, the children must sleep.

"You must wake up early in the morning, especially in the spring, when the earth is waking after the winter night.

"If a child falls down, you the must say, 'Stand up.  Don't cry.'

"When fish swim up the river, you must have silence near the river.  The fish will have babies, so you must be quiet to respect the children.

"If you have a headache or stomachache or other pain, you must call Kutcha and say, 'Help me.'  And Kutcha will put on his raven coat and fly down from the heavens.  He will spit on the place that makes the pain.  Then you must push the pain through the body with one finger.  Pick up the pain on the other side of the body, grab it in your hand, and say, 'Go to your mother.  She lives in the darkest place in the North.'  Then you must go outside and throw the pain into the wind." (pages 194 - 195)

From "The Raven's Gift," by Jon Turk