nor
sheep. Both the Sun and the Moon were dark, and the Morning Star was
the only one that shed any light on the earth. The Moon Was eating
lice from the hair of the Sun, and the Morning Star was watching at
night. There were 600 Tarahumares at that time, and they were much
hampered by the darkness. They could not do their work, and they had
to hold each other's hands, and they were stumbling all the time. Then
they cured the Sun and the Moon by dipping small crosses into tesvino,
and touching the Sun and the Moon on the chest, on the head, and on
the back. Then the Sun and the Moon began to shine and to shed light.
Star Legend
A man lived with three women. He was making arrows while they went
to look for squirrels and woodchucks, and when they could find none
they killed their father. Then they said: "It is of no use to stop
here any longer. Let us go away." When the man saw them running
away he shot arrows after them. The women were ascending to heaven,
holding each other's hands, and he transfixed them to the sky, where
they can still be seen just as they rose, as three bright stars in
the belt of Orion. The three women remained in heaven, but the man
remained in the world and was changed into a coyote.
Deluge Legends
When the world became full of water, a little girl and a little boy
climbed up on a mountain, called Lavachi (gourd), which is south of
Panalachic, and when the waters subsided they came down again. They
brought three grains of corn and three beans with them. The rocks
were soft after the flood, and the footprints of the little boy and
the little girl may still be seen. They planted the corn and went to
sleep and had a dream that night; then they harvested, and all the
Tarahumares are descended from them.
The Tarahumares were fighting among themselves and Tata Dios sent
much rain, and all the people perished. After the flood he sent three
men and three women to people the earth. They planted corn at once,
bringing three kinds, the same varieties still found here--soft corn,
hard corn, and yellow corn.
Giants
On the heights once lived giants. They were as big as pine-trees and
had heads as big as bowlders. They taught the Tarahumares how to plant
corn, by cutting down trees and burning them, but they ate children.
A woman bore a giant in a cave, which was situated very high up on
the side of a valley. She died, because the child was so large, and
he was taken c
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