The Creation of Animals

Then they made the small wild animals, the guardians of the woods, the spirits of the mountains, the deer, the birds, pumas, jaguars, serpents, snakes, vipers, guardians of the thickets.

So they said when they meditated and talked.

Promptly the deer and the birds were created.

Immediately, they gave homes to the deer and the birds.

“You, deer, shall sleep in the fields by the river bank and in the ravines. Here you shall be amongst the thicket, amongst the pasture; in the woods you shall multiply, you shall walk on four feet and they will support you. Thus be it done!”

Then they also assigned homes to the birds big and small.

“You shall live in the trees and in the vines. There you shall make your nests; there you shall multiply; there you shall increase in the branches of the trees and in the vines.”

Thus the deer and the birds were told. They did their duty at once, and all sought their homes and their nests.

The creation of all the four-footed animals and the birds being finished, they were told by the Creator and the Maker and the Forefathers:

“Speak, cry, warble, call, speak each one according to your variety, each, according to your kind.”

So was it said to the deer, the birds, pumas, jaguars, and serpents.

“Speak, then, our names, praise us, your mother, your father. Invoke then, Huracán, Chipi-Caculhá, Raxa-Caculhá, the Heart of Heaven, the Heart of Earth, the Creator, the Maker, the Forefathers; speak, invoke us, adore us.”

But they could not make them speak like men. They only hissed and screamed and cackled.

They were unable to make words, and each screamed in a different way.

When the Creator and the Maker saw that it was impossible for them to talk to each other, the Forefathers said to each other:

Then they said to them:

So they said, when they made known their will to the large and small animals which are on the face of the earth.

They wished to give them another trial. They wished to make another attempt. They wished to make [all living things] adore them.

But they could not understand each other’s speech. They could succeed in nothing, and could do nothing.

This is why they were sacrificed, and the animals which were on earth were condemned to be killed and eaten.

For this reason another attempt had to be made to create and make men by the Creator, the Maker, and the Forefathers.

And so they made [man’s] flesh from earth and mud.

But they saw that it was not good.

• It melted away.
• It was soft, did not move, had no strength.
• It fell down.
• It was limp.
• It could not move its head.
• Its face fell to one side.
• Its sight was blurred, it could not look behind.

At first it spoke, but had no mind. Quickly it soaked in the water and could not stand.