Creation Myths of Primitive America, by Jeremiah Curtin, [1898], at sacred-texts.com
Creation Myths of Primitive America, by Jeremiah Curtin, [1898], at sacred-texts.com
This myth of Hawt is very curious and subtle; it is one of the best told tales that I have found anywhere. There is a largeness about it, and, at the same time, a perfectly firm grasp on the part of Waida Dikit, the master of the assembly, that produce a grand effect.
Though the story is long, it needs, I think, no explanation beyond what is stated in the introduction and in preceding notes: except some remarks touching the character of Hawt.
Hawt, the great musician, is identified with water; he is, as it were, the spirit of water made visible.
In this myth, only the musical powers of Hawt are exhibited but in the Yana Tirukala, which means the same thing as Hawt (lamprey eel), we see the active side of the same personage, we see him as a worker. Original is Hawt indeed,--a living flute fingering his own body as he would an instrument inhaling air and blowing it out through the apertures in his sides.
The present lamprey eel has marks, as it were, of holes in his sides.