Tobacco and Women

How the Great Spirit Made the World

The Great Spirit made the world, and all that is in it, from His own body. First, there was nothing, except for water, hiding the earth everywhere. The Great Spirit made fish and shellfish to live in the water. Then, He told the crawfish to dive under the water and bring up mud to make the earth. As soon as the crawfish had done this, the Great Spirit made man. He called the land and the men "Chitimacha." He did not like man, because He had no eyes and no ears. However, He could see everything, could hear everything, and He knew everything.

The Great Spirit gave the Chitimacha laws to live by. For a while, all was well in the world. Then, the Chitimacha became careless and forgot the laws. The world was no longer good ,and men did not care to live. The Great Spirit knew that something must be done. He thought, and thought, and finally made tobacco and women. These, He gave to the Chitimacha.

The world needed light and heat, so the Great Spirit made the moon and the sun. The moon was a man, and the sun was his wife. The Great Spirit told them that they must bathe often in order to be strong enough to give off light and heat. The sun did what the Great Spirit said. She bathed often, and kept herself bright and shining. The Chitimacha have always honored the sun, and she has always been kind to them. The moon did not obey the order of the Great Spirit. He took no baths. To this day, he is pale and gives off no heat. He can still be seen chasing across the sky to catch the sun, who runs from her disobeying husband.

From the Chitimacha