A Brief Guide to Native American Myths and Legends by Lewis Spence Page B

‘I am teaching these children,’ and he closed the opening of the hive, so that Fox could not see inside. Fox desired very much to see what was in the hive making such a noise. ‘If you wish to see, stay here andteach them while I rest. When it is dinner time strike them with a club,’ said Rabbit, who then ran away. Fox patiently awaited the dinner hour, and then struck the hive with such force that he broke into it. The bees poured out and stung him until he rolled in agony. ‘When I see you again, I will kill you before you can say a word!’ declared he, as he started after Rabbit again. Fox tracked the Rabbit to a small hole in the fence around a field of watermelons belonging to a Mexican. The Rabbit had entered to steal, and was angered by the gum figure of a man which the owner of the field had placed beside the path. ‘What do you desire from me?’ he cried, as he struck at the figure with his forefoot, which stuck fast in the soft gum. He struck at the gum with every foot, and even his head was soon stuck in the gum. Thus Fox found him. ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked. ‘They put me here because I would not eat chicken for them,’ said Rabbit. ‘I will take your place,’ said Fox, ‘I know how to eat chicken.’ The Mexican found him in the morning and skinned him, and then let him go – still on the trail of the Rabbit who had so frequently outwitted him.
    (‘Myths of the Jicarilla Apache,’ Frank Russell,
The Journal of American Folklore
, Vol. XI, No. XLIII, 1898)
    Frequently the trickster is a transformer. Coyote, Old Man, and Raven are all transformers as well as tricksters.
    Native American myths contain another common agent, the culture hero, someone or more usually something responsible for creating a distinctive benefit or aspect of the tribe’s life. Native American mythology contains hundreds of culture heroes, a diverse array that reflects Amerindian respect for and connection with nature. The Seminole culture hero Breath Maker (Hisagita) creates both the Milky Way and the pumpkin. For the Haida Raven is the culture hero who steals light from the Old Man and makes the sun, moon and stars. As is the case with this Haida myth, the culture hero is sometimes combined in Native American mythology with the transformer, and also the trickster. The Raven in the mythology of the Pacific Coast tribes is such a tripartite being. Raven, it might be added, is therefore a prime example of how aboriginal American religion defies rigid boundaries and easy categorization. A god mayact as a creator, transformer, trickster or cultural hero, while a cultural hero may be an animal or natural element, while a Rabbit (say) may be a deity creator with a mind for destruction. Or for helping humanity.
    Duality, or the coupling of opposites, as in the Iroquian ‘The Battle of the Twin-gods’, occurs in numerous Amerindian myths and legends. Duality does not necessarily entail destruction; on the contrary, it can result, by the process of dialectics, in a positive synthesis. In Navajo myth, Monster Slayer is associated with light, while his twin brother is Child of Water with rain clouds. While journeying to see Sun, the warrior twins see smoke rising from a hole in the earth. Climbing down, they find themselves in the cave of Spider-Woman. She gives them magic feathers for their protection. After many adventures, the twins reach the house of Sun, who tests them by attempting to spear them, boil them, and poison them. With the aid of their magic feathers (and their own togetherness) they survive the ordeals, and the Sun recognizes them as his sons. The proud solar father gives them weapons to protect the Navajos.
    An important myth, such as that of the Navajo warrior twins and their search for their Sun-Father, is not to be told lightly. It will form the basis of a sacred ritual, including ceremonies in which the participants act out the story. An important myth told at the wrong time can bring calamity