Reading Notes: California and the Old Southwest Part B

 There was a world only filled with water. Hawk and Crow had a pole that stuck far out of the water that they perched on. They fought over who would get to sit on this pole. Then they created many other birds, including duck. Duck died when she went to the bottom and grabbed some mud. Hawk and Crow created the mountains from the mud. they each made a range of mountains, but crow's range was much larger. He then smoked some Indian tobacco which made him wise. He took the mountain ranges and spun them around until the two ranges had switched places.

Two boys who were playing in the river, they came upon an enormous boulder. They slept beside it. The boulder grew in size until the boys nor their tribe could see one another. All the animals came together to retrieve the children, each leapt as high as they could. Mouse jumped the lowest and lion jumped the highest. Measuring worm slowly made its way past all the other animals eventually to the top. He brought the boys down the same way he came, and now the rock is called Tutokanula.

There was a people known as Hohokam that settled along a river. There was a beautiful woman among them that had twins. They constantly asked, "Who is our father?" She told them to look into the sky and there father was a cloud. She said they could visit him if they wanted, but only if they made the journey without stopping. They made their way to their father cloud's house, who asked them to prove that they were his children. Small child sent a chain lightning bolt, and old child sent a heat lightning bolt. Cloud then took the children to a nearby house to drown them but they couldn't be drowned. The boys then made their way back to their mother.

The story is based on a rock formation in Yosemite National Park.
Wikipedia

Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Judson Books