Compare two creation myths from two different cultures.

Creation Myth: Chinese vs. Mayan

"The Classic of Mountains and Seas," a collection of traditional Chinese stories compiled in the first century BCE, holds that the universe was first chaos within an egg-shaped cloud. Amid the chaos, a sleeping giant called Pan Gu grew for 18,000 years before waking and breaking open the egg. The lighter, purer elements rose to create the heavens, and the heavier, impurer elements sank to create the earth. To prevent a return to chaos, Pan Gu kept the heavens and earth separated for thousands of years until he was satisfied that they were stable. When he died, his body formed many of the earth's parts, such as the soil, rocks, mountains, rivers, etc. His eyes even became the sun and moon. Much later, a goddess named Nü Wa created humans in her likeness to keep from being lonely. She made them out of mud: first by hand, creating the upper-class, and then by flinging the mud from a vine, creating the commoners.

The "Popol Vuh," a collection of Mayan stories written down by 16th-century Spanish historians, claims that the universe was at first only still water, inhabited by various gods. Six gods helped Heart of Sky create the earth. They planted a tall tree to separate the earth and sky; the tree's roots penetrated down into the nine levels of the Underworld, and its branches reached up to the 13 levels of the Upperworld. They then created plants, and afterward, animals. The animals could not worship the gods, so the gods attempted to make humans. They first failed to make humans out of mud, and then failed again with wood. Later, the "Hero Twins," Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, avenged their slain father by beating the lords of the Underworld in a ball game. This brought their father back to life as the maize (corn) god. The Hero Twins then ascended to the heavens to become the sun and moon, which allowed corn to grow. The gods then tried a third time to make humans - this time out of white and yellow corn - and succeeded.