Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v4.djvu/211

The Zufii Creation Myth 623 In the beginning men existed in an unfinished state in the lowest of the four cave wombs of the Earth, groping in darkness. Then appeared the first saviour who by virtue of his innate ' ' wisdom-knowledge' ' made his way to the upper world. At his entreaty the Sun Father impregnated with his beam the Foam Cap of the sea, from which were brought forth the Beloved Twain, twin gods of Fate and Chance, who figure in all pueblo folk-lore, "like to question and answer in deciding and doing." In one of their metamorphoses they are described : Strong were they Twain, Strong and hard favoured. Enduringly thoughtful were they Twain Enduring of will. Unyieldingly thoughtful were they Twain Unyielding of will. Swiftly thoughtful were they Twain Swift of will. The rest of the story, dealing with the rescue of men by the Beloved Twain, the rendering of the earth stable and safe, and the teaching of the arts of war and peace, is too involved for recapitulation. Tribal history is indicated, but in a mythologi- cal, mystical manner. The Zuni are by temperament disposed toward symbols and abstractions, for which their language is well adapted. The following description of the creation of the twin gods is an excellent example of the rhythmic, unmeasured matrix: To them the Sun Father imparted, still retaining, control- thought and his own knowledge-wisdom, even as to the offspring of wise parents their knowingness is imparted, and as to his right hand and his left hand a skilful man gives craft, freely, not surren- dering his knowledge. In presentation, the Zuni Creation Myth is dramatized. This is true so far as discoverable — for we do not know exactly how the Walam Olum was recited — of all the tribal cycles. But in dealing with Amerind drama we must distinguish between dramaturgic recapitulation of creative episodes, and drama as literary form. It has occurred to the primitive mind every- where that the gods are influenced by representations of their