The Earth on Turtle’s Back
(Onondaga Northeast Woodlands)

Before this earth existed, there was only water.

It stretched as far as one could see, and in that water there were birds and animals
swimming around. Far above, in the clouds, there was a Skyland. In that Skyland
there was a great and beautiful tree. It had four white roots which stretched to each
of the scared directions, and from its branches all kinds of fruits and flowers grew.

There was an ancient chief in the Skyland. His young wife was expecting a child,
and oone night she had a dreamed that she saw the Great Tree uprooted. The next
morning she told her husband the story.

He nodded as she finished telling her dream. “My wife,” he said “I am sad that you
had this dream. It is clearly a dream of great power and , as is our way, when one
has such a powerful dream we must do all that we can to make it true.
The Great Tree must be uprooted.”

Then the ancient Chief called the young men together and told them that they
must pull up the tree. But the roots of the tree were so deep, so strong, that they
could not budgw it. At last the ancient chief himself came to the tree.
He wrapped his arms around it, bent his knees and strained. At last, with one
great effort, he uprooted the tree and placed it on its side. Where the tree’s roots
had gone deep into the Skyland there was a big hole. The wife of the chief came
close and leaned over to look down, grasping the tip pf pne pf the Great Tree’s
branches to steady her. It seemed as if she saw something down there, far below,
glittering like water. She leaned out further to look and, as she leaned, she lost her
balance and fell into the hole. Her hand slipped off the tip of the branch, leaving
her with only a handful of seeds as she fell, down, down, down, down.

Far below, in the waters, some of the birds and animals looked up.

“Something is falling toward us from the sky,” said one of the birds.

“We must do something to help her,” said another. Then two swans flew up.
They caught the woman from the Skyland between their wings. Slowly,
they began to bring her down toward the water, where the birds and animals
were watching.

“She is not like us,” said one of the animals. “Look, she doesn’t have webbed feet.
I don’t think she can live in the water.

“What shall we do, then?” said another of the water animals.

“I know, “siad one of the water birds. “I have heard that there is earth far
below the waters. If we dive down and bring up earth, then she will have a
place to stand.”

So the birds and animals decided that someone would have to bring up earth.
One by one they tried.

The Duck dove down first, some say. He swam down and down, far beneath the
surface, but could not reach the bottom and floated back up. Then the Beaver tried.
He went even deeper, so deep that it was all dark,
but he could not reach the bottom either. The Loon tried, swimming
with his strong wings. He was gone a long, long time, but he too, failed to bring
up earth. Soon it seemed all had tried and failed. Then a small voice spoke.
“I will bring up earth or die trying.”

They looked to see who it was. It was the tiny Muskrat. She dove down and
swam and swam. She was not as strong or as swift as the others,
but she was determined.

She went deep that it was all dark, and still she swam deeper.
She went so deep that her lungs felt ready to burst, but she swam deeper still.
At last as she was becoming unconscious, she reached out one small paw and
grasped at the bottom, barely touching it before she floated up, almost dead.

When the other animals saw her break the surface they thought she had failed.
Then they saw her right paw was held tightly shut.

“She has the Earth,” they said. “Now where can we put it?”

“Place it on my back,” said a deep voice. It was the Great Turtle,
who had come up from the depths.

They brought the muskrat over to the Great Turtle,
who had come up from the depths.

They brought the muskrat over to the great turtle and placed her paw against
his back. To this day there are marks at the back of the Turtle’s shell which
were made by the muskrat’s paw. The tiny bit of earth fell on the back of the turtle.
Almost immediately, it began to grow larger and larger and larger until it
became the whole world.

Then the swans brought the Sky Woman down. She steeped onto the bare soil.
From those seeds the trees and the grass sprang up. Life on Earth had begun.