< Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu
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MEDIEVAL CREATION MYTHS
And God said, "Spit it out, Satanael." And he began to sputter and spat it all out, and wherever it fell cliffs and mountains grew up. Therefore is our earth greatly uneven.

"Wherefore hast thou made such mountains?" asked the Lord, "That man should weary himself in climbing them?"

"O Lord it is good that it is so hard," answered the Devil, "For now will man think of you and also not forget me. When he climbs up breathless he will say, 'Help, Lord!' When he descends the mountains he will think of me also, and say, 'The Devil has tempted me up on to this mountain, here one can break his neck only too easily.'"

Among the Philippone of the flat plains of Ost Preusen the story has this curious turn:

Then the earth grew in the mouth of the angel, he screamed and called on God for help, and spat out the earth at God's command, and there grew therefrom tobacco and hops.

We may continue the story as it is told among the Moguls (p. 67):

The earth grew continuously. As it had reached a large compass God and Satanael descended from the clouds and began to dwell upon the earth. From this time on, they used the clouds only for long journeys and when they wished to rise to the heavens.

To increase the number of the living upon the earth, God took two stones and struck them together. On the first stroke the Archangel Michael came forth and on the second the Archangel Gavril. Satanael envied God and wanted also to create servants. So he took two stones and began to strike them together. With every blow there came forth a devil. As he kept on striking a great throng of devils appeared. And God was angry that his companion knew no bounds in creating his kind, and forbade him the further creation of devils. Satanael stopped only when, after long labor, he found his stones no longer produced devils.

In Transcaucasia they say:

The archangel followed him and they came on a blue stone (or gold stone) which they raised up. But Satanael was under it and he sprang up, grabbed God by the throat, and nearly throttled him. God called on the archangels -for help, but they could not free him. There was nothing left but to beg Satanael. "Ask what you will of me, only let me free." And Satanael said, "I ask nothing except that we be brothers. And God promised this, whereupon Satanael let him go and went his way.

In a Greisinian variant (p. 32):

Michael and Gabriel wander through the earth, and the crust of the earth was so thin that they sank to the knees, although they wore snowshoes. Always a round stone rolled on before these angels, and God said, "We are tired of this stone." And in spite of the angels' warning, God shattered the stone with his foot, and lo, Satanael was in the stone.

In the Swanetic narrative:

God and his angels wandered through the world on their wonderful horses, and came on a great white stone. But the angels led God another way. Again they came on the stone and again the angels led God another way. "Some cheating is the cause," said God to the angels, "that we do not come upon this stone; otherwise we should have reached it already." The angels answered, "All right, we will bring you to the white stone, but we believe it will do you
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