Ababinili is the
Chickasaw Indian's spirit of fire. A
tale tells of when Ababinili sent rain to the
Earth. When the water had
covered all of the Earth, some of the
Chickasaws made rafts in hopes of saving themselves from the
Great Flood. But many creatures like
beavers came and cut the rafts apart. Everyone was drowned except for one
family and a pair of each
animal on Earth. When the
rain had finally stopped and the water receded, a
raven was seen with an ear of
corn. Ababinili told the Chickasaw to
plant it and that he would eventually
destroy the Earth with fire. He also told them that the Earth would once again be
drenched in a rain of floods and
oil before it was
cleansed in fire.
Obviously this myth bears a great resemblance to many others, most notably Noah's Ark (All drowned except one family and a pair of each of all the animals). It is one the many myths that has turned out to be a sort of "archetype" in human culture.