Romanian Creation Myth
The Romanian creation myth begins with God creating heaven. After creating heaven, he measured the space beneath with a ball of thread. He then asked the Devil to bring him up some clay from the large ocean over which they resided so that he could shape the Earth. The Devil tried to bring up the clay by invoking his own name but it was only when the Devil invoked God’s name that the clay rose and grew so that God could shape it into the Earth.
As God was weaving the string and the clay into the patterns of the Earth a little mole asked to help. He bid the mole to hold the thread as he wove and the Earth continued to grow. As the Earth grew, God rested and fell asleep, leaving the mole to slowly let out the thread. As God rested, the Devil decided to push God over the edge.
The mole kept pulling out the thread and didn’t realize that the Earth was growing too large. As the Devil tried to push God over the edge, the Earth grew, keeping God from falling. The Devil tried to push God in all four directions but each time the Earth grew. After pushing God in the fourth direction, the Devil became scared of the cross he had created in the dirt.
The mole knew nothing of God’s plight and instead feared that he had ruined Earth. He burrowed himself underground to hide. God awoke and sent a bee to find the mole so that they might find a way to fix their mistake. The mole refused to return, unwilling to believe that God would need advice from him. The bee refused to return without the mole’s advice and instead hid in a flower. As the bee hid he heard the mole talking to himself about squeezing the Earth in order to create mountains and valleys which would make the Earth smaller. The bee told God the mole’s plan and God thought it a good idea and thus finished the creation of the world by making mountains and valleys.