Earth on Turtle’s Back
The story Earth on Turtle’s Back is based on Native American’s myth on how earth was created. The earth was only composed of water and Skyland. The water was populated with birds and many other animals. The Skyland was occupied with the Ancient Chief, his wife, and a few other members. Skyland in itself was full of beautiful trees and fruit. The body of the clouds separated the Skyland and the body of water. The Native American myth expresses their belief on how the earth was created. The
Chief’s wife falls through a hole from the Skyland with seed in her hand. The hole was created from the Chief pulling out the tree. When the birds see her falling they helped her down to the water safely. They felt that she would not
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Every large animal tried to swim down to bring the earth up to her. They all failed. A small muskrat was able to bring up dirt from under the water. The muskrat placed the earth on the turtle’s back. In doing so, the piece of earth grew very quickly. The Chief’s wife dropped the seeds in the dirt and it flourished with beautiful trees. The wife told her husband about her dream of the tree being uprooted. He felt that he had to do everything in his power to make it come true. He proceeded to have others move the tree, but they failed. He was able to removed it on his own. The wife decided to hold onto a branch to get a closer look into the hole. She then loses her balance and falls through the hole with seeds in her hand. If the Chief did not follow through with her dream the hole would not have been created. The animals in the water saw a being falling from the sky. They quickly went to her rescue. They brought her down safely. The larger animal were not able to bring up the earth, but a small muskrat was able to. With the dirt on the turtle growing she was able to sustain life.
She placed seeds to grow and flourish. Without saving her the earth would not be as we know
it
to have her baby and went off into the trees to have her baby. Seeing how
She begins to tear strips of the wallpaper and continues to do so all night until morning yards of the paper are stripped off. Her sister-in-law Jennie offers to help, but at this point the narrator is territorially protective of the wallpaper. She locks herself in the room and is determined to strip the wall bare. As she is tearing the wallpaper apart she sees strangled heads in the pattern shrieking as the wallpaper is being torn off. At this point, she is furious and even contemplates jumping out the window, yet even in her euphoric state, she realizes this gesture could be misinterpreted.
When the Indians burned the town and made way to Rowlandson's house she turned to God for answers. Her house was set on fire forcing her and her kids to come out. When she came out she suffered a bullet to the arm and w...
Molecules were then washed ashore and exposed to heat and sunlight. Through a series of trial and error bases chemical reactions formed cells. The first ones were simple only with the new permeable membrane so it could absorb nutrients. After absorbing so many amino acids it was able to replicate itself. Bacteria now was growing off the undersea volcanoes vents living off of hydrogen sulfide. Some of these developed hard shells and others with soft membranes. Meanwhile tectonic plates during this time were shifting drastically and created mountain ranges which altered rain patterns and led to the falling of even more rain which created rivers. These rivers washed out new nutrients found in land out to the oceans. Minerals from land reacted with carbon dioxide which resulted in the production of oxygen. As temperatures cooled algae created glucose through photosynthesis and released gross amounts of oxygen into the ocean. The oxygen reacted with the metallic ions found in the ocean and cause oxidation which caused the sea to turn a rusty red.
The story I read is called The Earth on Turtle’s Back by Onondagu Northeast Woodland group, retold by Michael Caduto and Joseph Bruchac. The background of the Native Americans show they have great respect for the natural world. Because before the earth existed they say there was only water. In this essay, I will be talking about creation myths, how the Native Americans explain the world, and the characteristic of the muskrat.
In the Modoc creation story "When Grizzlies walked upright" the Chief of the Sky Spirits " made a big fire in the center of the mountain and a hole in the tops so smoke and sparks could fly out... sparks would fly out and the earth would tremble". The Modoc didn't understand what volcanoes were or how they work, so they incorporated it into their creation story to explain it. Similarly in the Onondaga creation myth, they used a story to explain how the earth was made and why the turtle has markings on its shell. In "The earth on Turtle's Back", the muskrat swim to the bottom of the ocean and pulled the earth up then placed it on the turtle's back. The use the story to explain this because they didn't have the technology to understand it. This is also shown in the Adam and Eve creation myth. God said, " it's not good for man to be alone; I'll make him a helper." God then put Adam into a deep sleep, and removed one of his ribs, and "replaced it with flesh" creating Eve, or "woman". During biblical times, and now, we don't understand why women have an extra rib so we included with our creation myths help us make sense of
In other words, animals and other parts of nature take part in the creation of each other, and this portrays them to be adaptive and smart. A quote from the “The Earth on Turtle’s Back” myth shows true bravery. A tiny muskrat said to the other animals, “I will bring up Earth or die trying.” She illustrates that no matter how small, the bravery can be large. And for it to be proven by a woman, holds a greater aspect to how highly the Onondaga people see the women of their tribe. Teamwork was a form of responsibility to the creation of Earth and to the first woman who was to live there. Along with the Onondaga, the Navajo believed that nature creates us. “The Navajo Origin Myth” told of using buckskin, corn ears, and eagle feathers to create the first man and woman. During the formation, the wind blew and became our breath. The myth tells the reader, “It was the wind that gave them life. It is the wind that comes out of our mouths now that gives us life. When this ceases to blow we die.” This shows that the Navajo exhibits their strong dependency and respect for the wind. The Modoc tribe spoke of a myth called, “When Grizzlies Walked Upright,” which conveyed wind as a crueler spirit. As the daughter of the sky spirit looked through the hole in the sky, the wind tugged on her hair and threw her down the mountain. This origin myth expresses nature in a more hard edge
land by adapting well with the elements around them. They were able to use the one living animal that
Comparing The Earth on Turtle's Back, When Grizzlies Walked Upright, And the Navajo Origin Legend
There are so many similarities in these stories that it’s crazy. For example both stories tell about a woman stealing roots from a mythical tree. In “The World on a Turtles Back” she picked the roots, and then fell through into an ocean. Birds saw the woman falling, so they caught her and took her to the shore. After she had reached the shore,
“The World on the Turtle’s Back,” is a myth that that has been repeatedly told by the Iroquois tribes for numerous generations. This story follows the creation of the Earth and contains various gods and mythical worlds, resulting in the story falling into the genre of mythology. The myth may be archaic, but by using various elements appropriately and efficiently, the author constructs a captivating experience of the creation of the Earth.
In Genesis, god created merely by speaking. It was god who created the heavens and earth also known as cosmos. Water was already pre-existent matter; everything else was created by god. It all began when god spoke in the darkness and said let there be light and there was light. God saw that the light was good. During the day there would be light, and the darkness would be at night. By the second and third day, god created a firmament (dome) which separated the waters from the waters. God called the firmament heaven and said that all the waters under heaven should be gathered as one allowing for dry land to appear. This created one place for the water and another place for dry land. It was the dry land that beca...
“On Broadway, in New York, there is a penny arcade which used to sell baby terrapins that were scrawled with bon mots in enamel paint, such as KISS ME BABY.”(Hoagland p.154) “They were as dry as a heap of old bones in the sun; nevertheless, they were creeping over one another gimpy, doing their best to escape.” (Hoagland p.154) “He drank thirstily but would not eat and had none of the hearty, accepting qualities of wood turtles.” (Hoagland p.155) “He was morose, paler in color, sleeker and more Oriental in the carved ridges and rings that formed his shell.” (Hoagland p.155) Take a gander at how a turtle begins its life. In the wake of deliver, generally to some degree close to the water, it gives off an impression of being adequately fundamental to twist over some sensible sand and start swimming off to begin a presence. Then again, young turtles are in convincing hazard from the most punctual beginning stage. In fact, even with a short detachment to cross and couple of impediments in the course, there are various predators and unforgiving parts to drive forward. A little rate of sea turtles makes it past most punctual stages. An obviously fundamental task has significantly more behind it. Strength isn't for the most part anticipated that would go into something. Every so often it is relied upon to persevere
predominantly about elucidating the natural and world phenomenon's; meanwhile the Coyote stories are primarily about teaching Native’s values and cultural traditions; however, they still contain many similarities. Furthermore, the creation stories elucidate why the world is shaped the way it is, and the reasoning behind the balance and order of the world. To illustrate, in the creation story “The World on the Turtle’s Back” the author's purpose is to explain the creation of the earth and the reasons why the world is balanced and orderly through the twins brother’s and their rivalry; in addition, it's an example of Native American oral tradition. In contrast, the
According to mythology, in the beginning the world was nothing but chaos, consisting of the freezing cold, strong winds, and scorching fire. The only thing that existed was the “yawning chasm” called Musoellheim. The only beings were the gods, and giants; one of the giants was Ymir. Ymir was born and used to make the world, and each part of his body made a different aspect of the world (Daly and Marian). The sacred text Grimnismol tells of how “Out of Ymir's flesh was fashioned the earth, and the ocean out of his blood… of his bones the hills, of his hair the trees, of his skull the heavens high, Mithgarth… from his eyebrows made, and set for the sons of men; And out of his brain the baleful clouds they made to move on high” (GRIMNISMOL). This was the beginning of the world.