Zuni Indian Mythology
By: Fonta • Essay • 748 Words • February 16, 2010 • 1,161 Views
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Hundreds of years ago the Zuni people created and told stories of human
and world creations, tales of love and lust, and just about anything
"that gave people an explanation for something they could not
understand" (Gaarder 25). They made up all these legends or myths
before there was anything called science. The stories came from the
heart and soul of these native people. Legends are not just silly
stories that were told for amusement they are like magic lenses, they
allow us to have a glimpse of social orders and the daily life of how
the Indians interpreted things long ago. One legend of the Zuni tribe
tells the tale of the sun and the moon and how these two heavenly bodies
came into being. The legend is called "Coyote Steals the Sun and Moon."
The story begins when an out of luck Coyote can never seem to kill
anything. He watches Eagle catch rabbit after rabbit with all the
ease. He decides to go to Eagle with a proposition. Coyote told Eagle
that they should hunt together, Eagle accepts, so they begin to hunt in
partnership. Still all Coyote catches is just a couple of grubs, while
Eagle is far ahead with many rabbits. At the time the world was still
dark, the sun and moon had not been placed into the sky yet. So coyote
blamed his hunting problems on the fact that he could not see and eagle
if he knew where they could find light. Eagle was not really sure, but
he figured it was somewhere on the west. So they set out to find it.
They soon came to the Kachinas' village, where the villagers were busily
going all out in their sacred dances. The Kachinas invited Coyote and
Eagle to rest and have a bite to eat while they continued to dance.
Eagle observed the people and could sense all the power they bestowed
within. He began to wonder if they were the ones who had control of the
light. Coyote pointed to two boxes, a large one and a small one. They
noticed that when the people wanted light they opened the lids of the
boxes. In the smaller box was the moon, it contained little light. In
the larger one was the sun and it gave off a lot of light. Coyote told
Eagle that they should go and steal the big box. So when all the
Kachinas went home to sleep, Eagle put both the sun and the moon into
one box and flew off. After a while Coyote wanted to carry the box
thinking that Eagle might be hiding something from him. He pestered and
pestered Eagle till he could not take it anymore and Eagle let him hold
the box. Coyote promised not to open