
From the Huron Myth of Creation adapted by author, Virginia Hamilton: "In the beginning there was only one water and the water animals that lived in it. Then a woman fell from a torn place in the sky. She was a divine woman, full of power. Two loons flying over the water saw her falling. They flew under her, close together, making a pillow for her to lay on".
The story goes on to describe her life on earth as bearing two sons; twin boys. "They were opposites, one was good, and one was bad. One was born as
children are usually born, in a normal way. But the other one broke out of his mother's side, and she died.
When the divine woman was buried, all of the plants needed for life on earth sprang from the ground above her. From her head came the pumpkin vine. Maize came from her chest. Pole beans grew from her legs."
This legend is from the ancient Huron tribe which encompassed the North American continent for well over ten thousand years before the Europeans came, is full of visual treats. I chose one simple image to describe the first woman, but the image of her supplying the world's food source of pumpkin vines and maize and pole beans still lingers in my head.