This excerpt from an Acoma creation myth represents the worldview of the culture of the Pueblo, a community of Native American tribes, including the Acoma, whose presence in the present-day American Southwest dates to the thirteenth century. A group of Acoma Pueblo told this story at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., in 1928. The tale was recorded by Matthew W. Stirling, ethnologist and archaeologist, and published in 1942 by the Bureau of American Ethnology. The story begins with two sisters, Nautsiti and Iatiku, being created and living inside a tree. A spirit gives them guidance, nourishment, and gifts, including seeds and animal figures. The spirit teaches them to grow plants, to give life to animals, and to pray toward the cardinal points. The two women learn about the existence of evil, create different clans, and transmit their knowledge to humankind.