"Maybe it will be really good for your grandbabies
to have someone
always around to help them and to play with them," said Gladys.
"Or maybe they will always have someone to fight
with and cause trouble
with," countered Eileen.
"Well, I guess that could be so. But, probably
they'll be good kids and
do most of what their parents ask them to do. I'm sure they'll be
better than you were when you were a kid. Don't think I don't remember
all those days you stayed after school and all those times you had heck
to pay with your dad."
"Frankly, I'm surprised you remember anything
, dear."
"I remember plenty. In fact, I remember another
story about twins.
Well, this one is not so much about the twins as about the
creation of the world, and some twins' involvement in that. And these
twins certainly do what they are asked to, just like they ought to. The
Hopi of Arizona believe that the universe was created by the infinite
Taiowa, who then created Sotuknang."
"People of peace," interjected Eileen.
"What?"
"People of peace: that's what 'Hopi' means."
"That's interesting. Anyway, Sotuknang created
Spider Woman (not the
Marvel Comics kind) and told her to create life. So she created
Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya, the twins. She sent the twins over the
Earth to make it solid and through the Earth to make it resonante with
Taiowa's energy, then sent them to the poles to keep the world
rotating. After this, she made all the plants, animals and humans
and everyone lived in harmony for awhile. People were told that all
they had to do was live in harmony and remember their Creator. But, as
people are prone to do, they began to forget their Creator. Then the
people began to notice the differences between themselves and became
deeply divided."
"What else would you expect?"
"I don't know, but worrying about difference instead
of caring for
similarity has always caused most of humanity's problems. Anyway, the
Creator then had to destroy the world. So, he had Sotuknang take those
few who had remembered the Creator to hide in a giant ant hill for a
long time. During this time, the Creator burned the first world to
nothing and then formed it again. But, this time the world was not
quite as nice. Still, the people came out of hiding and developed
communities. But, of course, the same thing happened again! This time
the people discovered how to make war, and mostly forgot about the
Creator. The few who remembered were again sent to live with the ants,
while the Creator told Poqanghoya and Palongawhoya to leave the poles.
They did and the world spun out of control and was frozen over with
ice. This killed all the badness in the world, so that people could
start again. The Creator eventually sent them back to their posts and
life began outside of the ant hill again for the people who had
remembered and respected the Creator."
"Well see now, those boys helped kill people!"
exclaimed Eileen.
"They were only doing as they were told by their
Creator and parent. Anyway, the people began to multiply again and
build great cities. But, then they began to fight fierce and horrible
wars, and again forget the Creator. This time, Sotuknang set each good
person in the hollow of a reed and sent them adrift toward a series of
islands. While the good people were floating along, a great flood was
sent to destroy the terrible cities and people who had developed.
Eventually, the people floating in the reeds came to an island where
they were greated by Sotuknang who told them this would be the Fourth
World. This time, however, the world would be a little less nice than
the previous worlds had been. This time there would be heat and cold,
mountains and valleys, and the world would be less beautiful. The
people, the Hopi, spread out across this land. Some, the weak, stopped
in the nice areas that were warm and easy to survive in. Most kept
going until they reached the dry, difficult terrain between the
Colorado and Rio Grande Rivers. Here, they decided to live so that the
challenges they faced would always remind them of the Creator."
"That was a decednt story, but not much in the way
of twin action. I guess you are running out of material."
"Look, Eileen, I told you four stories. You only
managed to come up with two. I'm sure if I did some research I could
come up with more, but I think I did pretty well off the top of my
head! I know there are important twins in Indian, African, Native
American, Asian, and European traditions. In fact, almost every ethnic
group has important mythology related to twins. And that fact alone
should show you that twins are something special. You need to just
learn to count your blessings. You are getting two grandbabies to spoil
at once, but if you don't want them, send them my way! I'd be happy to
play with them."
"Oh, I see what this is about! You just want to have
my grandbabies all to yourself! Well, that is too bad because I am
going to be their number one Grandma, and you we'll just see if any of
those kids of yours manage to give you multiple grandbabies at once!"
"Oh, Eileen. I'll be happy to play with my own
grandbabies or yours, or any other babies that need playing with! I'm
just glad you've come to see that twins are not necessarily a bad
thing."
Author's Note: Ah, the end of the saga
of Gladys and Eileen. They are my original creation, but the story of
Hopi creation comes from the University of Georgia website.
