Free
Generations of Native Americans have told stories and created poems for every occasion.
There are poems for healing and mourning. They have poems for hunting and harvesting. Some poems welcome friends. Myths explain how the world began. They explain where people came from, and how local landmarks, plants, and animals came to be. They also show people how to treat others. Here’s a myth about how the world came to be. The Iroquois people, who live in New York and Canada, tell it.
▲ Long ago, before the Earth existed, there were sky people. They lived on an island high in the air. There was no Sun, but there was a tree on the island, and its flowers gave off light.
One day, a woman heard voices under her heart. She realized that she was going to become a mother. Her husband was jealous. He got so mad, he tore out the light tree. That made a huge hole in the island. When the curious woman stepped up to the edge of the hole to look down, he pushed her in. Right away, he wished he hadn’t done that, but it was too late. The woman was falling through the sky to the water below. As the sky woman fell, some sky people changed into ducks. They all flew together to break her fall. Below, in the water, other sky people turned into water animals. A muskrat swam to the bottom of the water and brought up mud. He spread it on a turtle’s back. The sky woman landed on the turtle’s back and began to walk around. As she walked, the tiny Earth grew bigger. When she finished walking, the Earth was as big as it is today.
