Cherokee Creation Myth

     The Cherokee creation myth begins when all is water. There are no humans, only animals. All the animals live above in the sky in a place called Galunlati. One day Galunlati becomes crowded and they want more room so they decide to send Diyunisi, the water beetle, down to the water to look for space. Diyunisi goes down and can't fins any land, so he dives to the bottom of the water and brings up some clay, which expands into the earth as we know it today.
     Soon all the other animals above wanted to come down to the new earth, and the first to do so were the birds. The great buzzard was the first to go down, and he went when the earth was still soft. But he got tired and his wings hit the earth. Where they struck became the valleys and where they rose became the mountains. This is how Cherokee country was created. When the land was dry, all the animals came down, but it was dark out. So, they set the sun in the sky and rose it 7 days so it was just the perfect height.
     Next, all living things were told to keep watch for 7 nights. However, many of them fell asleep. Some animals such as the owl and panther stayed awake, so they were given the power to see at night and prey on those who slept. Some of the living things stayed awake such as the laurel and pine and these were allowed to keep their leaves during the winter while all other plants had to shed them.
    Finally, the first humans were a brother and sister. The brother struck the sister with a fish and told her to multiply. She had a child, and another child every 7 days after that, but it soon became too many children. So, it was said that a woman could only have one child a year.
    This myth falls under the category of earth diver because Diyunisi dives down and gathers the clay from which earth is created.