THE THREE FIRST MEN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 43, 24 October 1891, Page 523

THE THREE FIRST MEN.

Thebe are few stories of a legendary nature that are not related in several different forms. This one appears in two or three. When the Great Spirit created the world, He first made three men, all of the same colour. Then he led them to a pool of water, and bade them jump in and bathe. One of them obeying at once, leaped in in advance of his fellows, and came out clean and white. The others hesitated, but one soon followed the first. When he went in the water had become somewhat stained, and he came out copper-coloured. Then the third man went in. By that time the water of the pool had become black, and he was consequently black when he had bathed. Thus it happens that there are white men, red men and black men in the world. Then the Great Spirit laid down three packages before the three men which contained their future fate. Out of pity for the black man, He permitted him to have his first ■ choice of the parcels. The black man, without hesitation, took the largest of the parcels ; the red man, whose turn was next, took the next largest parcel, and the white man got the remaining one, which was very small. Then the men opened their packages. That of the black man was found to contain shovels and other implements of labour ; the red man’s contained bows and arrows ; and the white man’s small parcel consisted of pens, ink, and tools for . fine, light work. From that time on, each man made use of the tools he had ■ chosen.