The Singing Scoutmaster: Dayuni'si and the Creation of the Earth

In the beginning, there was only water, stretching as far as the eye could see. All the animals lived crowded together in the sky above, looking down in curiosity at the endless waves below. They wondered what lay beneath the surface of the water, but none had dared to find out. One day, Dayuni'si, the little water beetle, spoke up. "I will go," he said. "I will see what is below."

Dayuni'si scurried across the surface of the water, but he found no solid ground. Determined, he dove beneath the surface and swam to the very bottom. There, he found nothing but mud. Scooping up a tiny bit of the mud, Dayuni'si carried it back to the surface to show the others. As they watched, the mud began to grow and spread, growing bigger and bigger until it formed a great island—the Earth as we know it today.

The animals were excited about this new land, but it was not yet ready for them to live on. It was still soft and wet. So, they decided to secure the land by tying it to the sky with four strong strings, one in each direction—north, south, east, and west.

Even with the land firmly in place, it was still too soft to walk on. The animals called on the great buzzard from the sky realm of Galun'lati to help prepare the land for them. The mighty buzzard flapped his huge wings and flew down from the sky, soaring over the new world. He flew and flew, and by the time he reached what would become the Cherokee lands, he was so tired that his wings drooped low and began to brush the ground.

Wherever the buzzard's wings touched, valleys formed. When his wings lifted, the earth rose up, creating mountains. He flew on, shaping the land with each beat of his wings until the Earth was full of hills, valleys, and mountains.

But there was still one more problem. The new world was covered in darkness. The animals could not see the beautiful land that the buzzard had shaped. They decided to create the sun and placed it high above on a path that stretched from the east to the west. The sun began its journey, lighting up the land and chasing away the darkness.

The animals were pleased. Day and night were established, and the world was finally ready for them to live on. The rivers and valleys, the mountains and hills, all came into being through the courage of a little water beetle and the tireless wings of a great buzzard.

And so, the animals came down from the sky and made their homes on the Earth. They looked around at the mountains and valleys, at the rivers flowing through the land, and at the sun moving across the sky, and they knew that this was a place where life could flourish. The world, which had once been only water, was now a land of light and shadow, of high peaks and deep valleys, a place of beauty created from the mud that Dayuni'si brought up from the depths.