Mother Turtle Creates This Earth ...

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Mother Turtle

A Wyandot (Huron) Origin Story

 

Many years ago the world had two parts. Animals lived in the lower

part,

which was completely covered in water and had no land or soil. Above

was

the Sky World, where the sky people lived. The Sky World had lots of

soil,

with beautiful mountains and valleys. One day a girl from the Sky

World

went for a long walk and became very tired.

"I'm so tired, I need to rest," she said. She sat down under the

spreading

branches of an apple tree and quickly fell asleep. Suddenly, there

was a

rumbling sound like thunder and the ground began to crack. A big hole

opened up next to the apple tree.

"What's happening?" screamed the frightened girl. She tried to move

but

it was too late. She and the tree slid through the hole and tumbled

over

and over towards the watery world below.

"Help me! Help me!" screamed the girl. Luckily two swans were

swimming

below and saw the girl tumbling down from the sky. "Come on!" yelled

one

swan. "Let's catch her before she hits the water.Okay!" yelled the

other.

The swans spread their wings together and caught the girl on their

soft

feather backs. "Whew! That was lucky," said the girl. "But what do I

do now?

I can't get back up to the Sky World and I can't stay on your backs

forever."

"We'll take you to Mother Turtle," said the swans. "She knows

everything." After

hearing what happened, the Big Turtle called all the animals in the

water world

to a meeting. She told them an old story about soil being found deep

under the water. "If we can get some of that soil, we can build an

island on my back for

you to live on," said the Big Turtle.

"Sounds good to me," said the young girl.

The Otter, Beaver and Muskrat started arguing over whom would dive

for the

soil. "I'll go," said the sleek Otter, brushing his glossy fur. "No!

I'll go," said

Beaver, slapping the water with his big flat tail. "I'm the best

swimmer," said

Muskrat "I'll go."

"Aaaachooo!" sneezed the young girl." Please, please, would just one

of you go.

These swan feathers are getting up my nose and making me sneeze."

"Sorry" said the swans.

"That's alright," said the young Sky girl.

Then Toskwaye the little Toad popped up out of the water. "I'll go. I

can dive

very deep," she said. The other animals started laughing and pointing

at

Toskwaye.

 

"You! You're too small and ugly to help." Cried the others, laughing.

"Be quite!" said Old Turtle in a loud, stern voice. "Everyone is

equal and

everyone will have a chance to try". The sleek Otter smoothed his

glossy

fur, took a deep breath and slid into the water. Otter was gone for a

long

time before coming up gasping for air. "It was too deep," said Otter.

"I

couldn't dive that far."

"Now it's my turn," said Beaver, slapping the water with his tail as

she

disappeared. After a long time Beaver came to the surface again,

gasping, "It's

too far". "No one can dive that deep."

 

Then Muskrat tried next and failed.

"Aaaachoo!" sneezed the young girl. "This is not looking good."

"Now it's my turn," said little Toskwaye the Toad. She took a deep

breath and

jumped into the water. She was gone a very long time and everyone

thought

they wouldn't see her again.

Suddenly Otter pointed at the water, shouting, and "Look, look

bubbles!"

Toskwaye's small, ugly face appeared through the water. She spat a

few

grains of soil onto the Big Turtle's back, then fell back into the

water, dead.

Turtle ordered the others to rub the soil grains and spread them

around on

her shell. The grains grew and grew, until a large island was formed

- big

enough for the girl to live on. It grew into our world, Turtle

Island, as we

know it today. The descendants of the Sky girl became the Earth's

people.

Today, some people say the whole world still rests on Big Turtles

back. When

she gets tired and changes position, we have earthquakes.

Toad has not been forgotten either. American native Indians call her

"Mashutaha", which means 'Our Grandmother'.

 

The people always protect her from harm.

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