The book “American Indian Myths and Legends” opens with “Rabbit Boy.” It’s a creation tale from the White River Sioux. Feel the beauty and meaning in this piece:
"In these far-gone days, hidden from us as in a mist, there lived a rabbit—a very lively, playful, good-hearted rabbit. One day this rabbit was walking, enjoying himself, when he came across a clot of blood. How it got there, nobody knows. It looked like a blister, a little bladder full of red liquid. Well, the playful rabbit began toying with that clot of blood, kicking it around as if it were a tiny ball.
Now, we Indians believe in Takuskanskan, the mysterious power of motion. Its spirit is in anything that moves. It animates things and makes them come alive. Well, the rabbit got into this strange moving power without even knowing it, and the motion of being kicked around, or rather the spirit of the motion—and I hope you can grasp what I mean by that—began to work on the little blob of blood so that it took shape, forming a little gut.
The rabbit kicked it some more, and the blob began to grow tiny hands and arms. The rabbit kept nudging it, and suddenly it had eyes and a beating heart. In this way the rabbit, with the help of the mysterious moving power, formed a human being, a little boy. The rabbit called him We-Ota-Wichasha, Much-Blood Boy, but he is better known as Rabbit Boy."
Before us lies nothing less than a “Big Bang,” the birth of the universe. So anything comes to life, from a cell to a star. It’s worthy of a book, but for now, note a couple things:
Though it’s unclear how the clot of blood got there, it might hint at violence. Many peoples’ creation myths start with a founder’s death. So the carefree Rabbit stumbles on a grim, dirty, meaningless thing.
Yet our Rabbit stands out with fullness and joy in life. He doesn’t fear it like others would—he joyfully plays with the “ghastly” clot of blood. No staring, no throwing stones, just leaps into the Game. Mind-blowing!
Thanks to this spontaneous move, the Spirit of All Motion—Christians call it grace—descends on Rabbit. From the co-creation of Rabbit and Takuskanskan, formless matter turns into a little man.
Rabbit gave the boy not just a name, but one that holds a sobering truth of his origin—Much-Blood Boy. So he, and all people, would never forget:
Fatal Chaos births blessed Cosmos when Creators act.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
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