The Creation of Earth and the Great Buzzard (Cherokee)
In the beginning, all was water, and animals lived in the sky world above the stone vault. The water beetle Dâyuni'sï volunteered to explore below and brought up soft mud from the ocean floor, which grew into the earth. The earth was initially soft and flat. The Great Buzzard flew down to survey the land, and his wings striking the ground created the mountains and valleys of Cherokee territory. When the animals saw what the Buzzard had done, they feared he would make the earth too rough, so they called him back, leaving the Cherokee mountains steep and the valleys deep. The sun was set on a tr