 I'd like to share a story with you, entitled The Dog Who Walked with God, written by Michael J. Rosen, and illustrated by Stan Fellows. Water, they say, was everywhere, and the land was not. Mountains were not, and stones were not, and neither were their trees, or grass, or fish, or deer, or grizzlies, or wolves. People, too, had all been washed away, they say, along with the animals of every land. Only water lived anywhere. Owls and buzzards were lost to the earth. No heron flew across the water. No quail, or jay, or screech owl, no oriole, or meadowlark, or sparrowhawk, perched anywhere. Gone from the world, they say, were foxes, and wild cats, otters, and minks, jackrabbits, and elk. No squirrel, they say, not a gray, or a red, or a ground squirrel, lived anywhere among the water that was all. Even when was nowhere, they say, no snow, no frost, no rain, no thunder, or fog, or lightning, or clouds, or stars. It was dark, they say, all dark. The sun itself was nowhere when earth rose up at last, and stood its head above the water. The water snugged around its shoulders. In the shallow places where earth looked up, moss grew, they say, and earth grew taller, and on to its step the great traveler and the dog companion. Where horns of earth rose high, the great traveler mounted grayish clay. White reeds and blue grasses were placed there in trees, trees made to stand up. I am finishing, the great traveler said, they say, and soon a mountain became somewhere from everywhere. That was water, and the water broke against it. And bushes and underbrush were set upon the mountain and small stones, which would grow large. I am fixing it, the great traveler said, they say. I will go north and fix the earth and from above the dog and the companion set to fixing things. And when it was heard the thunder, they say, the old thunder of the rocks, the great traveler piled the tall rocks high in the south and in the west and in the north and in the east. Pillars of rocks, the traveler piled, they say, to fix the sky forever above the earth. For clouds, a great hole was made so that they could travel here and beyond. And for fog, a second hole so that it could wander here and beyond. And for thunder, the great traveler told it to live, they say, live high above in another world. And then from the ground, the great traveler made human beings. They will talk, the traveler said. A leg left and right, an arm left and right for a stomach. The grass was gathered, heart and liver, lungs and mouth, each part made, they say. And it was lovely. For them, the great traveler let the wind blow and let the sky rain and the fog come in. For what shall I make the sun, the great traveler asked and decided, for fire, for heat, for what shall I make the moon, they say. And the traveler decided, night, for cold. And it rained and rained and the great traveler wondered, what should swim in the water? And he set loose creatures there. Bull snake became black salmon, salamander became hookbill, and grass snake became steelhead. The traveler wondered then and took root in all of the water and made the seaweed, they say, and the abalone and the mussels and the big blue grasses. Salt, the traveler brought from the foam of the ocean and soon the first waves rose skyward. Sea lions crawled ashore, whales drove deeper into the sea and devil fish, which are ugly but good to eat, swam within reach. It will be good, they say. So many fishes will swim the sea. And along the shore he planted fir trees and red trees and chestnuts and tan oaks and they all grew large. Then scraping his foot across the land, the great traveler made a creek. Here the water will be good, they say. No salty like the ocean water and fresh water filled the great traveler's tracks so that the panther and the elk could drink. Here drink the water, the great traveler told the dog. And the dog, who from the beginning had walked beside the great traveler, drank. And grizzlies drank and people too drank. And into the sweet water the great traveler released the salamander and the turtle, the eel, the steelhead, the salmon. And onto the mountains they say the panther and the jackrabbit and the deer, many as well. And the traveler made blue flies and wasps and yellow jackets too. And although he did not like them and almost killed them all, and everywhere the dog walked with him. Along the streams and the creeks they walked and they climbed up the mountain. Manzanita and white horn the traveler placed into the valley. And the grizzlies will be many, they say, and the rattlesnakes and the owl and the ghost beak. Birds will be many, they say. Blue jays and grouse and quail and robins and buzzards and ravens and chicken hawk too. Now that it hail, let the clouds come now, they say. Let rain cause the streams to rise and mud to appear. My dog, come and look, they say. And everywhere they turned the new green spread into the bushes and trees. And fishes filled every brimming creek. And in the valleys the creatures leaped and flew and galloped and swam. And all the earth had become good. So the great traveler went back, they say, with the dog, what fast my dog, the mountains have grown taller and the lands have grown fertile. The water is flowing with trout and it is warm here and the earth is good. And the grizzlies and the rattlesnakes and the deer and all the animals that the great traveler had promised would be many, were many indeed. Walk fast, the great traveler, ask. The lands we made are good, my dog. Chestnuts ripen, hazelnuts fell from the trees, the berries of the mans and eat a whitened. In the north, in the south, the west and the east. From each of their footsteps grasshoppers spring. My dog, we have made it good, they say. This is everywhere something wonderful to eat. Drink the water again, my dog, they say. We are going back now. We are near. And the great traveler and the dog retraced their steps across the growing world they had created. We are almost there, my dog, the traveler said. And across the valleys and the mountains and the creeks they walked toward the north where the traveler and his dog first stepped into a world so empty. It could not have been imagined without the company of a dog. We made it good, my dog, the great traveler said, they say. And the two travelers walked back toward the horizon, leaving earth to us. Everywhere fixed, everything growing and growing still. Or so they say.