Long ago, near the beginning of the world. Gray Eagle was the guardian of the sun and moon and stars, of fresh water and fire. Gray Eagle hated people so much that he kept things hidden. People lived in darkness, without fire and without fresh water.
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Gray Eagle had a beautiful daughter and Raven fell in love with her. At that time Raven was a handsome young man. He changed himself into a snow-white bird. And as a snow-white bird he pleased Gray Eagle's daughter. She invited him to her father's lodge.
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When Raven saw the sun and the moon and the stars and fresh water hanging on the sides of Eagle's lodge, he knew what he must do. He waited for his chance to seize them when no one was watching. He stole all of them and a brand of fire also. He flew out of the lodge through the smoke hole.
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As soon as Raven was outside, he hung the sun up in the sky. It made so much light that he was able to fly far out to an island in the middle of the ocean. When the sun set, he fastened the moon up in the sky and hung the stars around in different places. By this new light he kept on flying, carrying with him fresh water and the brand of fire he had stolen.
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He flew back over land. When he reached the right place, he dropped all the water he had stolen. It fell to the ground and there became the source of all fresh-water streams and lakes in the world.
~~~
Then Raven flew on, holding the fire brand in his bill. The smoke from the firebrand blew back over his white feathers and made them black. When his bill began to burn, he had to drop the firebrand. It struck the rocks and went into the rocks. That is why, if you strike two stones together, fire will drop out.
~~~
Raven's feather's never became white again after they were blackened by the smoke from the firebrand. That is why the Raven is now a black bird.

the end

[the story is from a tribe in the Puget Sound area, recorded in Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest]