Welcome
to Realm of the White Wolf!!!!!
~Welcome To the Myths and Legends~
~The Earth on Turtle's Back-Legend~
The
tribe is Onondaga from the
Northeast Woodlands where
this legend comes from
Before this Earth existed,
there was only water.
It stretched as far as one
could see, and in that water
there 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 sacred 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 one night
she dreamed
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 budge 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
now a big hole.
The wife of the chief came
close and leaned over to
look down, grasping the
tip of one of 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 water,
some of the birds and animals
looked up.
"Someone 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 Sky between their wide
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," said 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 that
all had tried and all had
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 other,
but she was determined.
She went so 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,
just 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
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 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 two Swans brought
the Sky Woman down.
She
stepped onto the new Earth
and opened her hand, letting
the seeds fall onto the
bare soil.
From those seeds
the trees and grass sprang
up. Life on Earth had begun.
Please take the wolf and
send her on her way around
the world to continue
her walk
in the name of the plight
of the animals who cannot
speak
for themselves yet continue
to die at the hands of
humans.
A Lakota Prayer
Great Spirit, you are
everything
And yet above everything
You are first and always
have been
Through you our children
will have strong hearts
And they will walk the
straight path in a sacred
manner
Help me to walk the sacred
path of life
Without difficulty
With my mind and heart
continually fixed on you!
Amen
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