Reading a Creation Story as Literature

The idea

Exam passages from oral tradition are answered by four questions, and the answers come from the printed text rather than from anything known about the people. First: what is there before creation, since water, darkness or a crowded sky above each start a different story, and the Iroquois begin in water while the Pima begin in darkness. Second: who acts, since the actor may be a falling woman, a diving animal or a single person, and the agent tells you what kind of power the story credits. Third: what the world is made from, since mud brought from the bottom, a turtle's back and a body's own substance are three different claims about the world's nature. Fourth: what the story explains at its close, since these narratives usually end by accounting for something the listener can see, whether maize and weeds, illness and its cures, or the tales themselves.