Iroquois - Earth Diver
The Indian Peoples of Eastern America: A Documentary History of the Sexes. Edited James Axtell, Oxford University Press, 1981.
The first people were the Sky People, they lived beyond
the sky because there was no earth beneath. One day the chief's daughter
became very ill and no one was able to provide a cure for her sickness.
A wise elder was consulted and he told them to dig up a tree and lay
the girl beside the hole that remained. The Sky People respected the
elder and began to dig up the tree. Suddenly the tree fell down through
the hole and dragged the chief's daughter with it. As the girl fell she
saw that below was only an ocean of water. Two swans were alarmed by the
girl falling and decided she was too beautiful to drown so they swam to
catch her. They landed her on the back of the Great Turtle, and all of
the animals of the earth gathered. The Great Turtle councils that the
Sky Woman is a symbol of good fortune. He orders the animals to find
where the Sky World tree had landed in the ocean and to bring it back
with its earth-covered roots. The swans lead the animals to the place
where the tree had fallen into the ocean. First otter, then muskrat, and
then beaver dove in search of the tree. Each animal came back to the
surface without the tree and died from exhaustion. Many other animals
tried but they also died. An elder woman toad volunteered. She dove and
remained below a long time. All of the animals thought she had been
lost, when at last she surfaced and before dying managed to spit a
mouthful of earth onto the back of the Great Turtle. This earth was
magical and contained the power of growth. The island grew and grew
until it was large enough for the Sky Woman to live on. The two swans
set the woman upon the island and circled it encouraging it to grow into
the world island it is today. Yet the world was dark. Again the Great
Turtle called for the animals to gather. They decided to put a great
light in the sky. A little turtle volunteered and climbed up to the sky
with the help of the other animals' magic. Little turtle climbed into a
black cloud and crawled around the sky collecting the lightning as she
went. She made a big bright ball from the lightening and threw it into
the sky. Then she collected more for a smaller ball which she also threw
into the sky. The first ball became the sun, the second ball became the
moon. Then the Great Turtle commanded the burrowing animals to make
holes in the corners of the sky so that the sun and moon could go down
through one and climb up again through the other as they circled. So
there was day and night. The Sky woman lived on the island on top of the
Great Turtle's back. She gave birth to twins, one good called
Tharonhiawagon, one evil called Tawiskaron. From the breast of Sky Woman
grows three sisters corn, beans, and squash.
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Blackfoot - Earth Diver
Origins Canadian History to Confederation. 3rd edition. R.D. Francis, R. Jones, D.B. Smith, Harcourt Brace & Co. Toronto, 1996.
Long ago there was a time when water covered the entire world. Napi the
creator wanted to know what happened below all of this water. He sent a
duck, an otter, then a badger, but all came up with nothing. Finally, a
muskrat dove beneath the water and was down a very long time. He
returned with a ball of mud in his paws. Napi took the lump and blew on
it until it dried and was transformed into the earth. He molded the
hills, valley, and mountains with his hands. He created groves in the
earth for rivers and lakes. The first people were molded from this earth
and Napi taught men and women how to hunt and to live. Once Napi felt
his work was complete, he climbed up to a mountain peak and disappeared.
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