Other characters

Ataentsic – in Iroquois and Huron mythology, the first woman, the progenitor of the human race. Ataentsic was born in the heavenly world. When she grew up, she married a great chieftain. When Ataentsic became pregnant, the chieftain mistakenly believed that the father of her child was a dragon. When Ataentsic gave birth to her daughter, "Breath of the Wind," her husband threw mother and child through a hole in the sky. Ataentsic fell into the landless waters that then covered the world. The animals living in the waters attempted to create land so that the woman could emerge. A musk rat managed to dredge up some mud from the depths. He placed it on the back of a turtle, and the mud immediately grew into dry land. With the help of water birds, Ataentsic reached the shore safely.

The White Buffalo Woman – a mysterious and beautiful woman of the Buffalo people from Lakota myth. She came to the Lakota tribe and presented them with a sacred pipe, the most important object in their ceremonies.

Brother Rabbit - Brer Rabbit. A trickster rabbit from American folklore. He descends from the trickster Hare of West African mythology and was brought to the southeastern United States by slaves. In his adventures, he usually outwits larger and more powerful figures like Brother Bear and Brother Fox.

Cuchama - "Sublime Place." In California, on the border between the United States and Mexico. The local Indians believed that this mountain was mysteriously constructed so that people could converse with the gods. They also call it the Mountain of Creation. Where Father Sky and Mother Earth celebrated their sacred wedding, there, to this day, the inhabitants of heaven reveal themselves to those who can see "with the eye of the heart," as the North American Indians say.

Coyote – one of the most popular mythical figures of Native Americans. Coyote appears as a trickster. In one Navajo myth, Coyote punished a giant who devoured children. Under cover of darkness, Coyote convinced the child-eating giant that he could perform a miracle by breaking his own leg and instantly healing it. He began pounding a skinned deer leg against the ground until it broke. The giant heard the bones crack. Then Coyote spat on his leg and sang, "Leg, be whole!" and then showed his own leg to the giant, who was surprised by its completely healthy appearance. Coyote offered to repeat the same miracle on his leg. He agreed, howling in pain as Coyote crushed his leg with a large boulder

The Raven is a cultural hero and trickster, appearing in the mythology of Native Americans, the Alaskan Inuit, and the peoples of the northeastern coast of America and Canada. The Raven was magically born to a woman who swallowed a feather or, according to another account, a stone. Some peoples, such as the Tlingit of southern Alaska, imagined two Ravens, one a trickster and the other a cultural hero. Typically, however, this figure possesses characteristics of both trickster and creator, as in the Tsimshian story of how the Raven stole the celestial bodies from a greedy chief and threw them into the sky. The Father of the Raven is the most important creator figure among the Alaskan Inuit. In the "first ages" of the world, he descended from the sky and created dry land, then man, numerous species of animals and plants, and finally woman, man's companion. He then taught them various skills, such as child-rearing, fire-making, and animal husbandry.

Corn - There are many North American myths explaining the origins of corn. A myth from the Mikasuki people of Florida tells the story of two brothers who lived with their grandmother. One day, stuffed with meat, they asked for a different meal. From then on, whenever they returned from hunting, she served them delicious corn. She never told them where she got it, so the younger brother followed her stealthily into the pantry. To his horror, he discovered she was stripping it from her own flesh. That evening, the brothers refused to eat the corn, and the old woman realized they had learned her secret. She told them she must leave them forever, but she would live on as corn that would grow on her grave.

Thunderbird – an eagle-like creature that in many Native American cultures embodies the spirit of lightning and the elemental forces of creation and destruction. Lightning flashes from this animal's eyes or beak, and the clap of thunder is the sound of flapping wings. The Thunderbird is said to possess immense creative and destructive power, and anything struck by lightning is believed to possess special spiritual power. On the northeastern coast, the Thunderbird is a great sky god and hunts whales, which it can carry in its talons. The Lakota of the Highlands view this creature as an aspect of the supreme being Wakan Tanka. There is a cult based on encounters with this animal. In the West, it is said that there is one Thunderbird for each of the four quarters of the world.

Manito, Manitu – a mysterious, unknown force permeating all of nature and the embodiment of natural forces and phenomena in their operation. Incorrectly named the god Manitou by the arriving white colonists. A Great Spirit wielding the powers of nature, spirits, and deities. In Anglo-Indian beliefs, it represents an impersonal causative force. It can be transmitted to certain people by ancestral spirits and utilized through specific rituals and magical spells.

Orenda – in Iroquois Indian beliefs, an invisible power, a spirit inherent in nature, both in objects and living beings. Anyone who masters it can use it according to their will.