Olelbis is the creator deity

Creator deity

A creator deity is a deity responsible for the creation of the world . In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities...

 in Wintun

Wintun

Wintun is the name generally given to a group of related Native American tribes who live in Northern California, including the Wintu , Nomlaki , and Patwin tribes. Their range is from approximately present-day Lake Shasta to San Francisco Bay, along the western side of the Sacramento River to the...

 mythology. The antagonist of Olelbis is Sedit.

The myth

According to the mythology of the Wintum tribe, Olelbis desired that the members of the human race should live together as brothers and sisters; that there should be no birth and no death, that life should be agreeable and easy, and the purpose of life should be to rejoining Olelbis in heaven and live with him for all eternity. To satisfy the hunger of the human body, Olelbis created a species of nut which has no shell and falls off the tree when it is ripe (this species of nut or fruit is still a staple item of the Wintum’s diet). Olelbis ordered two brothers to build a paved road from earth to heaven to facilitate the tribe’s reunion with their Creator. But Sedit appeared on the scene and persuaded one of the brothers that it would be better to engage in sexual intercourse and procreate the human species. The one persuaded by Sedit argued the other into agreement, so both defected from Olelbis and joined together to destroy the road they were building to heaven. Sedit, horrified when he finds he has brought death to the human race and must die himself, tries to escape his fate. He makes himself a mechanism of boughs and leaves (a plane), by means of which he hopes to fly to heaven. But he crashes and is killed. Olelbis looks down from the heights of heaven and says, "See. The first death! From henceforth (all) men shall die."