An Original Creation Myth...

For our first humanities class of the Sophomore year, called Stories, we studied stories and specifically creation myths. In this class, we had to study creation myths and made them into stories. We had a professional storyteller come in on an FE and tell us creation myths. She also explained to us how to write a good story and what makes stories interesting and engaging. We also went to the Field Museum and visited the Ancient Americas exhibit as well as the Ancient Egypt exhibit. We went through the exhibits and took notes on specific creation myths from each culture. For our action project, we were asked to create and write a creation myth of our own. We had to describe our planet's name, and how it got it's name, as well as some features of our planet. My art piece depicts the great lake Glace. I used watercolor pencils and soft pastels to create the image. I wanted to create the dramatic bright look of the landscape. I used the watercolor pencils to create the bright shifting look of the water. I used watercolor pencils and soft pastels to create the bright green lush rolling landscape. My story is inspired by the Japanese Creation Myth, with Inzanagi and Inzanami. The myth depicts gods in the heavens who create a world by using water droplets from a sacred river.

CM "Lake Glace" Painting. (2017)

Once upon a time, there was a Demigod in the heavens. His name was Glace. Glace longed to create a land of his own. He was the youngest of nine sons under their father Kas. One day, Glace was ready to create his land. Glace went to his father and asked if he was ready to make a land of his own. Kas refused him the right saying he was not mature enough. Glace was upset. He thought he was old enough and mature enough to create his own land

Glace hurried over to the river and dipped his sword into the water. He went to the edge of the heavens and watched the water drip down into the nothingness. The water droplets formed into three different land masses that morphed together. Glace watched in amazement as his land came together. He had seen all of his brothers create their own lands. He sent his wishes down to the land and spawned the first human on the planet named Oran.

Glace was overcome with excitement. He ran back to his father, not remembering that he had disobeyed him. Kas looked at his son as he ran up with excitement on his face.

“I have created a land! It’s the most beautiful land I have ever seen!” yelled Glace.

“You what?” roared Kas. Glace realized his mistake and started to cry. “I will punish you for what you have done.”

Kas banished his son to his own planet, which he knew would not survive because he was not mature enough. Glace begged for forgiveness, but it was no use. Kas struck Glace with his sword and he fell down onto his planet.

Glace fell for what seemed like forever. He finally landed with a loud thud on his planet. Oran hurried over to the site where Glace landed.

“What has happened to you?” exclaimed Oran.

“I have been banished from the heavens, I am going to die here.” Before Oran could say anything, three huge chunks of the earth where Glace had landed came loose. They erupted into light and became the deities of Fire, Water, and Air.

“Who are you?” exclaimed Oran.

Glace responded with his dying breaths. “I am Glace. You need to show my father that this planet can survive.”

“How?” said Oran, but there was no answer. Glace cried and filled up the crater with tears. He then died right on the ground. His body dissipated and the magical lake filled with his tears formed. Oran sat there stunned. He was determined to make his planet survive.

In honor of the great demigod who created his planet, Oran named the planet Glace. Oran needed to make his planet habitable. There was a crater as big as the heavens themselves where Glace had landed, filled with glistening blue water. Oran decided to drink from the lake to gain strength. He submerged himself in the cool water. When he got out the water, droplets rolled off his body and formed more humans. The lake stood in the middle of the planet like a mighty ocean. The royal blue water splashed against the shores shimmering in the sunlight.

The people of the planet needed places to live, to shelter from the anger of Kas raining down on their planet. The people dug up the ground and threw it into mounds around the lake. They built the mounds so high they towered like skyscrapers guarding the lake. These mountains stood above looking down on the lake with a watchful eye. The mountains were rugged, steep, and smelled of wet mud and sand.

The people dug into the side of the mountains to create caves to shelter in. Oran built the biggest cave. It loomed in the sunlight like a mighty landmark. The rest of the people built their own caves on the sides of the mountains. The mountains were dotted with dozens of caves all around. The people prospered in their dark caves. Soon the planet was massively populated. Even more so than any of Glace’s brother's planets.



In the end, I thought that this project was actually very difficult. I thought it was one of the toughest projects I have ever done. I am a very prolific writer, but I am really bad at writing fantasy. I struggled with coming up with a world and a story, and I went through 2 other worlds before I finally settled on this world. Once I got into the groove of things, it got easier, but I still think the project was very difficult. I am happy with how it came out and I hope for people to read and enjoy my creation myth.