The Iroquois Creation Myth: “The World on Turtle’s Back”
Which sentence from "The World on Turtle's Back" best illustrates why the story is considered a creation myth?
The woman placed the dirt on Turtle's back and performed a ritual to create the earth.
Read this quotation from "The World on Turtle's Back". The woman placed the dirt on Turtle's back and performed a ritual to create the earth. She walked around the dirt in the direction of the sun until the earth grew large enough. Then she planted the roots from the Great Tree and continued her ritual to keep the earth growing. Like the sun she kept moving around the earth, in the same direction the people still do in dance rituals today. The main purpose of this quotation is to
Describe the Iroquois belief of how the Earth was created.
Read this excerpt from "The World on Turtle's Back". The birds of the sea joined together to save the woman and they broke her fall. The great sea turtle floated in the ocean to receive the woman on his back without harm. The frightened woman looked around and all she could see was water and sky. She felt helpless, but the animals were determined to save her. She told them that if they could find some soil, she could plant the roots from the Great Tree that were still tangled in her hands. Based on the animals' behavior toward the woman, it is reasonable to conclude that the animals
Felt compassion for the woman because she was scared
Read this excerpt from "The world on Turtle's Back". One day, when the girl had become a woman, a man appeared. No one knows where this man came from. Perhaps he was sent from the Gods above. The girl was so filled with wonder to see the strange man, she lost her senses and fainted. The man yielded two very different arrows, and laid them across the body of the girl in opposite directions, then he disappeared. Which statement best describes the significance of the arrows?
They represent the twins that the woman will bear.
Read this excerpt from "The World on Turtle's Back". Without knowing it, the right and left handed twins built balance into the world. The plant-eating animals created by the right-handed twin balanced out the meat-eating animals created by the left-handed twin. And so the world thrived, and this was good. Which statement best describes the purpose of this excerpt?
To explain how balance came to exist in the natural world.
According to "The World on Turtle's Back", which best demonstrates the Iroquois view of woman?
Women were respected because they helped create and sustain the world.
