MOON WAS TIRED OF WALKING ON AIR

``In the time before this time...'' begins one of these 14 creation myths of the South American Indians. The title story tells why Moon made the earth; others explain how rivers were led into their courses by a running fox; how people came to earth from the sky through a hole dug by a giant armadillo; how Rain and Sky gave man food; how the seasons were made from songs of a reed flute; and why Rainbow is bent (his back was hurt in wrestling). Belting's language is spare, rhythmic, and resonant, while Hillenbrand's powerful dark-toned art conveys a sense of primeval mystery. A map locates the ten tribes where the myths originated, but there are no source notes. A handsome, evocative collection, for a somewhat older audience than Joanna Troughton's retellings (How the Birds Changed Their Feathers; How Night Came; both 1986); a good supplement to Hamilton's In the Beginning (1988), which includes no South American material. (Folklore/Picture book. 7+)