Reading Notes: How The World Was Made, Part A

How The World Was Made

The Earth was an island floating in a sea
The world will eventually get old and the people all will die and the earth will sink into the ocean
The Cherokee are afraid of this
When there was only water, the animals all lived in Gälûñ'lätï which was above the water
It was very crowded up there and they needed more room
The water beetle decided he would travel under the water to see what was down there
The water beetle swam all over and couldn’t find anywhere to rest
He then went under the water and brought some mud back to the surface
The mud turned into an island which is now Earth
The earth was flat and super soft and wet
The animals sent down a few birds to test if the earth was dry yet
There was no dry earth yet so the birds flew back up
Finally it seemed to be ready so they sent a buzzard down
He flew down but it was still soft
His wings when flapped down made valleys
His wings when going up made mountains
This became Cherokee Country
The earth dried and the animals came down while it was dark
The got the sun and made it go from east to west over the island everyday
It was too hot so they had to keep on moving it up in the sky until they did not overheat
Every night the son goes under an arch and then returns to the upper side where it first started

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