The Creation of Turtle Island (North America)
Mohawk Story
Tharonhiawakon (He who holds up the sky) uprooted the tree of the Standing Light. Then he placed his pregnant wife, Aientsik,( Carrying life) at the edge of the hole and asked her to look down to see what was below. But she slipped and fell into the space below. Below her all the Universe was Water.
All the animals of the Water saw her falling, but because the Sky was blue, as well as the Water, they did not know if she was falling from the Sky, or coming up from the bottom of the Lake. All of the Water animals had an argument about it.
The Otter said: “she is coming up from the bottom of the lake”. The Beaver agreed with him, so did the Muskrat. But the Geese and the Ducks said “no she is not, she is falling from the Sky.” They flew up and stopped the fall of Aientsik by letting her rest on their backs and brought her gently down to the surface of the Water. But there was no place to put her.
Just then a Giant Turtle came up out of the Water and said: “she can rest on my back, but get her something soft to lay on. “So the Otter said: “I will go down to the bottom and get some mud, we can let it dry and then she can lay on that”.
Away he went, but the Water was so deep that he died down there, so did the Beaver. Then the little Muskrat went down and after a long time he appeared, with some mud in his paws. They smeared the mud on the back of the Turtle and let it dry. Then Aientsik lay down and fell asleep. When she woke up there was a Fire to cook on and a pot of Corn soup to eat. The back of the Turtle had grown in size. and it was growing all the time, with every passing minute. Aientsik stood up on the Earth and walked about on it, helping the process of its Creation. Every day she returned to her resting place and there was the Fire and a supply of Corn, Squash and Beans for her to eat.
The Corn, Beans and Squash have been known as the Three Sisters, and to this day they are the providers of food for the Mohawk people.
I work with Muskwa International Foundation Inc. which is an entity that was formed to assist the street children in the Philippines, mostly in Manila and Davao, the two largest cities in the Philippines. You can find out about their projects here Street Children and Natural Disasters.
The stories I tell here I learned from the Elders and Story tellers and I am passing them on with their blessings. These stories can be anything from 4,000 to 5,000 years old.
