"The World of Nanabush" is an Ojibwa legend.

In the beginning of time, the Great Spirit, Kitchi Manitou, dreamed of mountains and valleys, rivers and forests, animals and birds. He was meant to create the world he had dreamed.

In this world, the sun had the power to light the Earth and to warm it, and the Earth had the power to heal and grow. Water could renew and purify, and wind offered music and the breath of life. And to human beings Kitchi Manitou gave the power to dream.

But human beings had much to learn, so the Great Spirit sent them a teacher, Nanabush. Son of the West Wind, grandson of the Moon, Nanabush was a good teacher, though he was also a trickster. Nanabush had brothers, much lazier than he. Though Nanabush and his brothers enjoyed the companionship of birds and beasts, there was an enemy: the Serpent People.

One winter day, one of Nanabush's brothers went hunting, but he did not return the next morning. Nanabush had warned his brothers never to walk across the frozen lake, but he suspected that this brother had disobeyed him.

All that winter Nanabush searched for his brother, but as time passed he became convinced the Serpent People, who lived beneath the frozen lake, had drowned him.

One day he heard a loud booming sound. He scrambled to the top of a hill to see what he could see. Spring had come, and there, in the valley below, beside a lake, lay two Serpent People sunning themselves. The booming sound was the beating of their hearts.

Anger welled up in Nanabush. He drew his bow and shot an arrow into each serpent and, though the arrows hit their marks, the serpents slipped into the melting lake and disappeared.

Moments later the water in that little lake began to rise, and before long the whole valley was flooded.

Quickly he climbed to the top of the tallest pine tree, but the water continued to rise. As it reached his chin, a peculiar thing happened. The water began to recede.

Nanabush knew he had been warned.

When the floodwaters were gone, Nanabush began to take down the trees around him. With these logs he built a giant raft, that he left at the top of the highest hill. Then he wandered once again into the valley. Suddenly he saw a woman on a log. She was weeping.

"The wicked Nanabush has wounded my brothers," the woman cried. "We shall kill him."

Nanabush understood this was a serpent woman, but she did not recognize him.

"Ah, that trickster," Nanabush said, "he cannot be trusted. Allow me to help you. Where do you live? I will go help tend to your brothers."

She said, "When you reach the lake, walk right in, and there you will find a door. Behind that door are my people."

Nanabush moved swiftly into the lake, transforming himself into a serpent woman. He found the door, opened it and entered an enormous lodge. There lay the two wounded serpents, arrows still piercing their skin. Other fierce creatures guarded them.

In a far corner Nanabush saw his brother. And it was true; his brother had been drowned.

Nanabush leaped forward and pushed the arrows deep into the two serpents. A moment later they were dead.

"I have paid you for my brother's death!" Nanabush cried, and before the other creatures could recognize who this intruder was, he was gone.

The guardians roared. Soon they caused the lake to rise again. But this time Nanabush was ready. He raced to his raft, calling to every creature as he ran. "Come to my raft."

The floodwaters continued to rise until every part of the world was covered. Nanabush and the others floated safely.

Now Nanabush saw the world that they had always known was drowned, and gone with it were the wicked Serpent People.

Nanabush called Muskrat to his side. "Muskrat," he said, "dive below the water and bring me some mud so that I can create a new world."

He was gone for a long, long time, and everyone thought they had lost him. Then someone cried, "Look there!"

Nanabush reached into the water and pulled out the nearly drowned Muskrat. He dried him and warmed him and brought him to life, and then he saw that in his paw he held a few tiny grains of sand.

From these specks Nanabush made a tiny globe.

"Grow," he commanded the globe, and it began to spin, and as it spun, it grew larger, until it was large enough to hold two ants. The ants climbed on and began to run, making the globe spin faster, and it grew large enough to hold two mice that jumped aboard. The mice made the globe spin faster still, and so it grew, until at last it was large enough.

And that, the Objibwa say, is how Nanabush made the world we know today.