Week 9 Storytelling: Tangy's Creation

Zebrasoma flavescens A.K.A Yellow Tang

In the beginning of time, there was one living being in the world. He was a yellow tang named Tangy. With nothing to do in the world, Tangy came up with a plan to make the world more lively.

Tangy began to burp out bubbles that created a breathable atmosphere above the large body of water that covered the world. Next, he grabbed the dirt from the bottom of the sea with his yellow fins and tossed them all around him to create terrestrial plains, mountains, forests, and deserts.

Tangy then blew out three bubbles. Each bubble had their own unique shape. There was a seagull-shaped bubble, a human-shaped bubble, and a grasshopper-shaped bubble. Tangy pushed all three bubbles to the surface of the sea and popped them one after the other.

“I have a task for all three of you,” said Tangy to the three newly created beings. “Each of you will create living creatures that belong in your specific area.”

The three creatures nodded and separated to complete their task. Tangy swam back down into the sea and created fish that belonged in the sea and other bodies of water. The seagull flew to the nearest beach and made many others just like him from his feathers before making all of the other different birds. From the clay of the Earth, the human molded many mammals and animals that traveled on land and also created animals that are amphibious. Lastly, the grasshopper hopped around the Earth millions of times creating a vast amount of insects and bugs with each hop.

Soon, the world began blooming with life from the sky to the depths of the ocean. The seagull, the human, and the grasshopper made their way back to Tangy and reverted back into bubbles. Tangy then inhaled each of the bubbles back inside of him.

Bubbles the yellow tang from Finding Nemo

Life was good on Earth, but Tangy saw that most of the animals could not see very much since there was no light. Knowing that this was a problem, Tangy blew a ginormous bubble and gave it all of his yellow color. He then pushed the giant yellow bubble out of the water and it became the sun. With Tangy's yellow color gone, he looked as white as a ghost.

White Tang with some yellow color

The sun allowed all of the life forms to see one another and frolic around. After days of sunlight, all the living creatures began to burn from the heat and become weary and tired. Seeing that this was another problem, Tangy had a very similar solution like when he created the sun.

Tangy once again blew up a big bubble, but this bubble was quite small compared to the sun. Since the only color that Tangy had left was his pale white color, he gave it to the big bubble and pushed it out of the water. This big bubble then became the moon that allowed animals that played in the day to rest at night and for the animals who played at night to come out. After giving the moon his white complexion, the only thing Tangy had left was the absence of color and his life.

Black Longnose Tang with a spec of white

Tangy knew that his job was completed and that the world will grow and develop on its own. He soon floated up and out of the ocean and became the dark night sky watching over all of life on Earth.

Author’s Note. The story about “Tangy’s Creation” was inspired by the Native American story “Spider’s Creation.” In the original story, the spider’s name is Sussistinnako and he had two parcels which he laid down and started to sing. Soon two women came out from the parcels followed by other animals and life forms. The two women were named Utset and Now-Utset. Utset was the mother of all Indians while Now-Utset was the mother of all other nations. Sussistinnako created nearly everything on Earth including natural elements such as lightning, thunder, and rainbows. After being inspired by Sussistinnako, both Utset and Now-Utset created both the sun and the moon for their people to see in the day and the night. Utset and Now-Utset also made Star People to shine brightly in the night sky.

My story is very different from the original story. The characters are very different since Tangy, the yellow tang, is a fish instead of a spider. Also, Tangy had three helpers to create life on Earth. Each helper had their own unique task of creating creatures that were similar to them. Tangy created all fish that belonged in small and large bodies of water. The seagull created all birds that could fly and those that were flightless. The human created all mammals, land animals and amphibians. The grasshopper created all bugs and insects around the entire world with every jump it made. The three helpers returned to Tangy and became one with him. Tangy then sacrificed his colors and himself to create the sun, the moon, and the night sky.

Bibliography. “Spider’s Creation” by Katharine Berry Judson (1912). Web Source: Sacred Texts Archive