Jicarilla (Apache)
Before the Apaches emerged from the underworld, there were other
people on the earth. Dios told an old man and old woman that it
would rain forty days and nights. People were warned to go to
the tops of four mountains (Tsisnatcin, Tsabidzilhi, Becdilhgai,
and another whose identity isn't known) and not to look at the
flood or sky. The people didn't believe the old couple. When the
rains came, only a few people made it to the mountain tops and
shut their eyes. Those who looked at the flood turned into fish
or frogs; if they looked at the sky, they turned into birds. After eighty days, Dios told
the 24 people remaining to open their eyes and come down. These
24 people went into mountains. Eight other people survived the
flood who were able to travel by looking where they wanted to
go, and they were there. These people told the Apaches about the
flood before going into two mountains themselves. Around the turn
of the millennium, the surface of the earth will again be destroyed,
this time by fire.
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