Mythology, and today were wrapping up creation myths. Over the past four episodes weve seen the
universe created from nothing, via the actions of earth mothers, sky fathers, and of course,
vomiting supreme beings. Weve seen creation used to explore the
relationships between parents and children and between men and women. And snakes.
And on that note, today, were going to
examine the earthly interconnection between humans and animals. High five, Thoth! What? Yes, I know humans are animals. You know what I mean. INTRO
Before we get into the creation myths, lets start with a little scientific mythology about
mans best friend.
Of course, I mean dogs. Sorry Thoth. Dogs were, if not the first, then among the
first domesticated animals, and they play an important role in mythology. Romulus? Remus? Im looking in your direction.
One of the stories that we tell about the
domestication of dogs is that it started when early hunter gatherers chose to tame and then
breed some of the less aggressive wolves in order to increase the hunters capacity
to capture game. Eventually, these cross and interbred wolves
became dogs. Whos a good boy? Whos a good boy? Thats Right! Any canine that didnt bite off your hand
is a good boy! Its a nice story and it seems to make sense,
but there are problems with it. In an article in National Geographic, Brian
Hare and Vanessa Woods argue that some scientists are flipping this narrative on its head and
saying that it was wolves that sought out humans, rather than the other way around.
It doesnt make much sense for humans to
try to capture wolves and get them to work for us. Early hunter gatherers were pretty good at
hunting, which is why they might have been to blame for the destruction of megafauna
in the prehistoric world. Also, why would humans want to share the spoils
of the hunt with a wolf? Theyre hungry. Like the wolf.
Hare and Woods explain that scientists think
it is more likely that wolves approached humans, probably by scavenging around their garbage
pits. These would have been the friendliest wolves;
aggressive ones would have been killed by anxious humans. So, it was the friendly wolves that, over
many generations, were bred into the loveable vacuum hating rapscallions that we know and
love. Dont ask me about cats, though.
I got nothing there. Are cats even really domesticated? I feel like theyre hiding something. Theres some plot. Theyre up to something.
Lets return, as we so often do, to the
Judeo-Christian Biblical story of creation from Genesis. In Chapter One, after creating the heavens
and the earth and the stars and all the animals: God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds
of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen 1 26-27) And God said, Behold
I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth and
every tree with every seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every
bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has breath of
life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. (Gen 1 29-30). Sounds like more gardening to me, surprise
surprise.
In the second chapter of Genesis, God grants
humans control over the other earthly creatures in a slightly different way. In this version, God creates man before the
animals. Then the LORD God said, It is not good
that man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him. So out of the ground the Lord God formed every
beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he
would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
(Gen 2 18-19)
Isnt that nice? Giraffes and sharks and biting flies were
made just to help us. Both creation stories set up a clear hierarchy
in the animal world with human beings at the top given the power to do whatever they want
with all animals below them. Basically, theyre our interns. The second version of the story affirms human
control over animals in two ways.
First, by having man created prior to the
animal kingdom, humans are granted literal primacy. Then, their power is increased over animals
by the first man receiving the privilege of naming them. And, I mean, he did a pretty good job. Especially with hippopotamus.
But not all myths about humans and animals
employ this strict hierarchy. In a number of creation stories from Native
American tribes animals are partners in creation, often acting as guides or even as the key
participants in creating the earth. The tribes of what is now the Southwestern
United States have creation stories that follow a model we havent yet seen, the emergence
myth. In these stories, humans or creatures that
become humans are led from an original underground world into a series of interim worlds until
they emerge into the surface world that is recognizably earth.
In a Hopi version of this story, various animals
including the Spider Grandmother, and a chipmunk help to find the entry hole or sipapuni, to
the land beyond the sky. Apparently, there is one of these entry ways
in the Grand Canyon. In a Navajo version of the emergence story,
the people, who are also sort of insects, fly through the sipapuni into the higher world,
assisted by swallows. I like these myths.
Humans working with nature! Literally rising towards creation! Its just a nice breath of fresh air, almost
literally, after all the vomiting and death that weve had so far. Another type of creation story featuring animal
helpers is called the earth diver myth. A good example comes from the Iroquois Indians
of the Northeastern Woodlands of the United States. Lets dive into Thoughtbubble.
A long time ago, humans lived up in the sky
in what we now consider heaven. The daughter of their great chief became very
sick, and they were unable to cure her. In the village was a great tree on which grew
the corn that had fed all the people. One of the chiefs friends had a dream in
which he was told to tell the chief to lay his daughter beside the tree and dig it up.
The chief did as the dream said. While this was going on an angry young man
came along. The angry young man didnt have the best
bedside manner. He pointed out the tree provided the fruit
which fed the people, and gave the sick daughter a push with his foot.
She fell through the hole that had been left
when the tree had been dug up. The young woman fell into this world, which
at the time was all water. On this water floated ducks, and geese and
all the other water birds. As there was no earth on this water at the
time, there was no place for the falling woman to land, so the birds joined their bodies
together into a sort of duck island, where the falling woman landed.
After some time, the birds grew tired and
asked who would care for the woman. The Great Turtle took the woman, and when
he grew tired he asked who would take care of her. They decided to prepare land on which she
would live-- the earth. The Toad, after some convincing, dove to the
bottom of the primal sea, and collected soil which was placed on the broad carapace of
the Great Turtle.
It increased in size until it provided the
land to accommodate all the living creatures. Thanks Thoughtbubble. And nice work, water birds. Also, Toad.
Thoth, meet Toad. So theres a lot more to the myth than this,
but it captures the key elements of the earth diver story. Although it has some things in common with
other creation myths weve seen, especially the idea that the world began as water, the
relationship between human beings and animals its quite different. For one thing, far from being dumb creatures
waiting to be named and tamed by a man, these animals can talk, think, deliberate and plan.
Animal empowerment! They also have emotions similar to the ones
we feel, especially getting tired and bored of a tedious task. Think about this the next time you watch a
horse pull a cart, or youre trying to entertain your cat by waving that feathery thing in
front him. Im telling you: theyre gettin fed
up. Even more important than being given real
agency in this creation story, its the animals who both save humans progenitors,
and create our home.
Without the helpful turtle and the brave toad,
there would be no land to live on, and also no earth to grow food. The creation of the world requires animals
and thus it is crucially important to be grateful to them. These Native American myths are very intricate
and when you read them and you should its important to remember that they
are very different from many of the other creation stories because they are living stories,
communicated by way of a constantly evolving oral tradition, unlike more or less stable
literary texts. Still, one of the interpretive take-aways
from these emergence and earth diver stories is that Native Americans perceive a different
relationship between animals and nature and humans than people from other traditions.
According to the biblical tradition, human
beings have a special relationship with God who prefers them to all other creatures. According to mythology professors Eva Thury
and Margaret Devinney, This privilege has been interpreted by some as giving believers
the right to dispose of nature as they please. On the other hand, according to these scholars,
Native Americans view this world as the place where their destinies will be fulfilled,
not by domination but by maintaining a balance achieved by living in harmony with themselves
and other humans as well as with animals and the exterior world. Now some of you might be saying, wait, this
sounds like a stereotypical view of Native Americans, like they have some mystical connection
with nature and that we should look to them for a way to understand how better to live
in harmony with it.
And you would be right, that is a cultural
stereotype, one that has often been uncritically linked with an idea of Native Americans as
primitive. But, I will say, maybe in comparison to the
other stories weve heard, with all the vomiting, and wars, and eating of children,
its kind of nice think of the universe as a place of collaboration, and not one of
acrimony. Except that jerk who kicked
that lady down the hole. Thanks for watching.
See you next episode..
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