The Iroquois Creation Myth: "The World on Turtle's Back"
Based on "The World on Turtle's Back," which statement best describes the Iroquois attitude toward nature and the environment?
The Iroquois revered nature and valued the plants and animals that sustained them.
In the beginning of "The World on Turtle's Back," why did the husband become "terrified"?
He was terrified that he would be punished for marring a sacred tree.
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 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 this 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
They represent the twins that the woman will bear.
Read this excerpt from "The World on Turtle's Back."The conflict between the twins continued, and for some reason, the grandmother favored the left-handed twin. The right-handed twin became angry and resentful. He was the truthful twin who always did the right thing. The left-handed twin was deceitful and did everything backward. You could never trust him.The twins represented the two ways of the world which are in all people. The Indians did not call these good and evil. They called them the straight mind and the crooked mind, the righteous man and the devious man, the right and the left
clarify what the Iroquois considered the two different sides of human nature.
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.
describe the Iroquois belief of how the Earth was created.
"The World on Turtle's Back" is a creation myth because it
explains how the Iroquois believe that 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 and received 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
felt compassion for the woman because she was scared.
Read this excerpt from "The World on Turtle's Back."With the deer antler, the right-handed twin demolished his brother. The left-handed twin died, but he didn't die. He was hurled off the edge of the earth by his brother. In this dark world below the earth, the left-handed twin still lives and reigns.The right-handed twin lives in the Sky-World and he is content with the world he helped to create. The left-handed twin lives in the world below. He, too, is content with the world of men. He delights in the sounds of warfare and suffering. These two beings rule the world and look after the affairs of men. During the day people have rituals to honor the right-handed twin. At night they dance and sing for the left-handed twin.
neither twin could die because they were immortal gods.