OLELBIS

[Native American] As the creator-god of the Wintun Indians, Olelbis lived in Olelpanti, or heaven. Olelbis lived with two old women and built himself a huge sweathouse to make animals, plants and other things in. The first people who lived on earth fought endlessly with each other. They had wars and built huge bonfires which set fire to everything on the earth. Olelbis summoned the wind and the water to extinguish the fires. A few people had escaped to Olelpanti and Olelbis threw them back to earth with disabilities such as deafness and blindness. Olelbis later felt sorry for them and healed them. Olelbis had intended that man live forever, and when they were old, they could climb a ladder to Olelpanti where they could eat and live with him. He sent two buzzards to build the ladder, but a coyote came by and persuaded them to stop building. The buzzards stopped work, but they warned the coyote that one day he too would die, so he tried to reach Olelpanti by flying, but never succeeded.