The Gnawing (mythology by the Cheyenne)

There was an interesting arc in the book SCALPED by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. The arc was called the Gnawing and there was an interesting story told by Grandma Poor Bear to Officer Falls Down. It was the story of the Gnawing. This peaked my interest so I decided to dig further on the internet and actually found the full story....or maybe abbreviated story of "The Gnawing", which is from the Cheyenne mythology and I felt it pertinent to post here...because well it's my blog.

There is a great pole somewhere, a mighty trunk similar to the sacred sun dance pole, only much, much bigger. The pole is what holds up the world. The Great White Grandfather Beaver of the North is gnawing at that pole. He has been gnawing at the bottom of it for ages and ages. More than half of the pole has already been gnawed through. When the Great White Beaver of the North gets angry, he gnaws faster and more furiously. Once he has gnawed all the way through, the pole will topple, and the earth will crash into a bottomless nothing. That will be the end of the people, of everything. The end of all ends. So we are careful not to make the Beaver angry. That's why the Cheyenne never eat his flesh, or even touch a beaver skin. We want to the world to last a little longer.


Told by Mrs. Medicine Bull in Birney, Montana
American Indian Myths and Legends