At the beginning of the world there was nothing but water. It was dark in the world, and no one saw the water. Then the Old Man of The Crow People came into the world, he looked all around and said, “Is there nothing in this world but water?”
Off in the distance he saw two little, red-eyed, ducklings swimming. The old man called to them and they came paddling through the world of water.
The Old man asked them, “Is there nothing in this world but water?”
The oldest duck answered him, “We have never seen anything but water in this world. However, we feel in our hearts that there is something down under the water.”
The Old man said, “Dive down younger duck, and bring back what you find.” The younger duck dove down under the water, looking for the bottom.
Because he had been gone so long, the old man was afraid that the younger duck had drowned. The older duck soothed him, and assured him that they could hold their breath for a long time. As soon as he said this, the younger duck came up with something in his bill—a root. “If there is a root, then there is earth as well. Older duck, dive down to see if you can find some earth.” Said the old man crow.

The elder duck dove down and was gone a long time. When he came back up he had a ball of mud in his bill. Old man Crow took the mud in his hands and planted the root in it. He blew on it once, twice, and then a final time. The ball of earth in his hands began to grow and kept growing to make animals and all the plants.

The ducks that live in the water and fly through the sky brought up the earth. The old man crow made the world for the crow people.