This story is based on the myths and legends of the early Maya people. The animal characters in the book represent the mythic figures in the Mayan story of creation. It is the story of The First Living Thing helping mankind come into being. The story of the mythic canoe crossing the river dates to the earliest Mayan history, as does the myth of Itzamna, represented by an iguana, pulling the first human beings from a cave. The drawings of the canoe used in the book are based on incision in a bone found beneath Temple I at Tikal, Guatemala. Examined for mythic and aesthetic rather than literal value, these forms represent heroic attributes, overcoming obstacles, and understanding the universe as the Maya saw it. As the oldest cosmology in the Americas, it is just now being fully uncovered and understood.