VOCABULARY 4 DUE TOMORROW
ESSAYS DUE TOMORROW
The Walum Olum
This controversial work is purportedly a translation of a sequence of pictographs which give the epic of the Delawares, a tribe which lived in the central Eastern seaboard.
The Walam Olum origin myth involves an act of creation of all things by a 'Manitou', who subsequently battles an evil 'Magician' who brings death, disease and bad weather into the world. A genesis at the hands of a single masculine deity, and an ensuing cosmic struggle between good and evil, so central to Old World mythology, are, simply put, foreign concepts in Native American mythology.
For instance, in many Native American cultures, the world is created by an animal who dives to the bottom of the ocean and brings up land bit by bit, or by a pantheon of fathers and mothers. There is usually a trickster figure (in the Southwest, Coyote) who commits transgressive acts. However, the trickster is not considered 'evil' in the Judeo-Christian sense, but comic or stupid. Death, disease and so on are often brought into the world through an accident or misunderstanding, not as an intentional punishment by some entity. Another aspect of Native American mythology is the fluid boundary between the animal and human worlds, of which there is no evidence in the Walum Olum.
There may be some actual indigenous content in this text, but in retrospect this is either a unique outcropping of Old World mythology in an improbable location, or a 19th Century forgery. There are some similar and better documented pictographic records from the Plains area, but these have nowhere near the epic scope of the Walum Olum. In any case, this remains one of the lasting mysteries of Native American literature.
See handout for the accompanying pictographs. I cannot put all the images on the blog. Note that there are some accompanying questions, so make sure to get the class handout, if you are absent.
1. At first, in that place, at all times, above the earth,
1. Sayewi talli wemiguma wokgetaki,
2. On the earth, [was] an extended fog, and there the great Manito was.
2. Hackung kwelik owanaku wak yutali Kitanitowit-essop.
3. At first, forever, lost in space, everywhere, the great Manito was.
3. Sayewis hallemiwis nolemiwi elemamik Kitanitowit-essop.
4. He made the extended land and the sky.
4. Sohawalawak kwelik hakik owak [read, woak] awasagamak.
5. He made the sun, the moon, the stars.
5. Sohalawak gishuk nipahum alankwak.
6. He made them all to move evenly.
6. Wemi-sohalawak yulikyuchaan.
7. Then the wind blew violently, and it cleared, and the water flowed off far and strong.
7. Wich-owagan kshakan moshakwat [Var. moshakguat.] kwelik kshipehelep.
8. And groups of islands grew newly, and there remained.
8. Opeleken mani-menak delsin-epit.
9. Anew spoke the great Manito, a manito to manitos,
9. Lappinup Kitanitowit manito manitoak.
10. To beings, mortals, souls and all,
10. Owiniwak angelatawiwak chichankwak wemiwak.
11. And ever after he was a manito to men, and their grandfather.
11. Wtenk manito jinwis lennowak mukom.
12. He gave the first mother, the mother of beings.
12. Milap netami gaho owini gaho.
13. He gave the fish, he gave the turtles, he gave the beasts, he gave the birds.
13. Namesik milap, tulpewik milap, awesik milap, cholensak milap.
14. But an evil Manito made evil beings only, monsters,
14. Makimani shak sohalawak makowini nakowak amangamek.
15. He made the flies, he made the gnats.
15. Sohalawak uchewak, sohalawak pungusak.
16. All beings were then friendly.
16. Nitisak wemi owini w'delisinewuap.
17. Truly the manitos were active and kindly
17. Kiwis, wunand wishimanitoak essopak.
18. To those very first men, and to those first mothers; fetched them wives,
18. Nijini netami lennowak, nigoha netami okwewi, nantine'wak.
19. And fetched them food, when first they desired it.
19. Gattamin netami mitzi nijini nantine'.
20. All had cheerful knowledge, all had leisure, all thought in gladness.
20. Wemi wingi-namenep, wemi ksinelendamep, wemi wullatemanuwi.
21. But very secretly an evil being, a mighty magician, came on earth,
21. Shukand eli-kimi mekenikink wakon powako init'ako.
22. And with him brought badness, quarreling, unhappiness,
22. Mattalogas pallalogas maktaton owagan payat-chik yutali.
23. Brought bad weather, brought sickness, brought death.
23. Maktapan payat, wihillan payat, mboagan payat.
24. All this took place of old on the earth, beyond the great tide-water, at the first.
24. Won wemi wiwunch kamik atak kitahikan netamaki epit.
Thinking about the Walum Olum
1. List five of the Great Manio’s creations.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2. What did the evil Manito create?
3. What six troubles did a “mighty magician” bring to the earth?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
4. According to The Walum Olum, what constitutes a happy life for the Delaware?
5. Examine the pictographs carefully. What evidence is there that the “evil Manito” and the “evil being, a mighty magician” might be the same spirit?
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