fairytale of the Haida people in Kanada

how the raven changed the chaos to order

The Haida people of British Columbia have a beautiful story about the origins of land and water. When the Great Spirit created all things, he became very tired and lay down to sleep for a long, long time. But many of the things, though created, were still mixed together and strangely bound together. A lot of things were not yet clear in terms of form and function and there was still no designated place for all the many animals on our mother earth, because everything was still a great primordial mush of land and water and it was perpetual twilight. Many of the created things lay so close together and were gripped with a leaden rigidity. Raven, the raven, however, was alive and kicking and so he rose on his wings to see what new living space had been created for him. High above the circle of the earth he made his orbits, flew from side to side, but saw nothing but the great tide. Since Raven was very clever, he was able to name many of the things and creatures, and so they were already released from the still great chaos by naming the name for their place on earth. He also called sea and land by name and so the animals that belonged in the water could get to their assigned place, and the creatures that were created for the land found their new home there. Tired, Raven settled down on the mainland too.. So Raven wasn't the actual creator of things, but he was the one who had freed them from the first chaos, as well as being a transformer, magician and healer. At this point, the raven noticed strange noises coming from a gigantic conch shell. Confused by the tone, Raven began chanting soothing melodies. As a quick-change artist, he was also able to transform himself into a beautiful singer with beautiful black hair. Finally, a small creature emerged from the conch shell. This one had long black hair, a round head, smooth brown skin and two legs like Raven, but no feathers. This was the first of the first humans of our raven clan. brown smooth skin and two legs like Raven, but no feathers. This was the first of the first humans of our raven clan. brown smooth skin and two legs like Raven, but no feathers. This was the first of the first humans of our raven clan.
Another ancient story (Wikipedia) tells how Raven brought sun, moon, stars, fresh water and fire into the world:
"Long ago, at the beginning of the world, Gray Eagle was the keeper of the sun, moon and stars, of the of fresh water and fire. Gray Eagle hated humans so much that he kept these things hidden. Humans lived in darkness, with no fire and no fresh water.
Gray Eagle had a beautiful daughter, and Raven fell in love with her. In the beginning was Raven was a snow-white bird, and as such he pleased Gray Eagle's daughter, who invited him to her father's longhouse.
When Raven saw the sun, the moon, and the stars, and the fresh water clinging to the sides of the Eagle cabin, he knew what to do. When nobody was looking, he grabbed them all and also the fire in the hut and flew out of the long house through the smoke hole. Once Raven was outside, he hung the sun in the sky. This made so much light that he was able to fly far into the dark to an island in the middle of the ocean. As the sun went down, he fixed the moon in the sky and hung the stars in different places. Through this new light he saw even further and flew over the sea and flew, carrying with him the fresh water and fire that he had stolen.

Then he flew back across the country. When he got to the right place, he dropped all the water he had stolen. It fell to the ground and it became the source of all freshwater streams and lakes in the world. Then he also took the fire out of the fire pot and held it with his beak so that everyone could see what gift he wanted to bring them. But the smoke from the fire swept back over his white feathers as he flew, turning them all jet black. But because the fire got too hot for his beak, he dropped it and it disappeared between two large stones. Therefore, if you hit two stones together, the sparks of the stolen fire will fall out.

Raven's feathers never turned white again after being blackened by the smoke from the immolation. That's why Raven is now a black bird.

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