I wouldn't want to do an entire notes section on it, but I wanted to mention how much I enjoy creation myths. The one included here with Elk and how land was formed was so beautiful. The ties with nature and animals make it so easy to visualize. I do love that one a lot.
The Omaha Legend of the Peace Pipes begins with people coming across the water on logs. They land and clear the land of grass so that they can see each other. I like the detail of "so they can see each other's faces." It opens the scene up to one wide landscape with everyone sitting with nothing in the way. They hear an owl and a woodpecker individually and they call to them for aid and to join their meeting.
The chief sent a servant to get an ash sapling in the forest. The servant beings back the wrong sapling and they let the servant know. They tell the servant the specificities of the ash sapling so they can get it right. They do this time. An eagle came by and dropped a white feather in the middle. They don't want that feather. A bald eagle also come down, very fierce, and that wasn't want anyone wanted either and sent it on its way. A spotted eagle came by and it was wrong too. The imperial eagle was the right one!
The peace pipe is finally formed with the feathers from all of the birds and the other materials! It's used to bring friendly relationships with others. (It's also on the Oklahoma state flag!) Seven other pipes were made to keep peace amongst themselves. It was used for revenge cases. If a family wanted to act on revenge and had already received and refused the pipes four times, they were to take the punishment and would not get help from anyone else.
Eastern Imperial Eagle (Wikimedia Commons)
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