world on the turtles back essay

The world on the turtles back

The world on the turtles back is a creation myth story that has been passed down from generation to generation in the Native American culture. The story gives explanations for how the world came to be. It also tells of how day & night and also agriculture was created. The Native Americans believed that there was a city in the sky. A woman lived there and became ill. She begged her husband to get things from a sacred tree. Upon refusal, she took it upon herself to retrieve the things herself. Through her greed she fell through a hole in the clouds. She landed on a giant world which actually a turtle. This is symbolism for how humans must live in harmony with animals. They are a key factor to our survival. The story goes on to tell that the woman had a daughter. The daughter became pregnant with twins. One right handed and the other, left handed. The right handed twin came out the traditional route but the left handed twin decides to take a more peculiar route. He chose to go out through the mother’s armpit, thus killing their mother. Out of the mother’s dead body sprouted many forms of agriculture, including: flowers, weeds and even tobacco. The mother is symbolism for Mother Nature and all she has given us. Then story leads on to tell of the twins. The right handed twin, who is a good person who always tells the truth, while the other twin was a more devious person who lies. The right handed twin was jealous of the left handed twin and eventually gets fed up. They decide to have battle to the death. The right handed twin lies just so he can defeat his brother. I believe this is supposed to be a reference to the balance in life. How all good people still have a little bad but they balance out. Well, the right handed twin kills his brother and sends him to the other side of the earth, thus creating night. The right handed twin was always