An Iroquoian story of creation

Continued from last week

As the woman began to dance, in today what we call counterclockwise direction, she was playing her drum and she was singing this song. And the way she was dancing was king of sideways, heel-toe-kind of dance. And so her feet never left contact with the back of the turtle. And she was dancing around kind of slowly, and they say the song that she was singing, even then, is something that is still used today, only by what they call prescription or prescription of a dream. If somebody has a dream, there is this song that is used, and it is still used every once in a while, they say. But it was the first song that was sung on this Mother Earth.

So she’s singing and she’s playing her drum and she’s dancing. And they say the animals are gathered around the turtle shell. And they’re still in the water and they’re watching this woman. As she’s dancing and singing, they see that this stuff on the back of the turtle is starting to grow out in all directions. And it’s getting thicker as well. And even the turtle, at the same time proportionately he’s growing as well, with this stuff on his back. And once this brown stuff gets big enough, the woman steps off of the shell and up onto the top of this. And she’s still dancing and going in a counterclockwise direction. And they say, as she’s dancing some of the seeds that had hooked into her dress are beginning to fall off as she dances about. And then the bringer of fresh water, he was coming by, and he put some water down for her. And it kind of filled up the dips and the hollows in this stuff.

They say she danced for-some people say – many days or months, or maybe even years. She continued to dance and would stop only for a quick bite of some of her food and some water and then continue on. And again, they say, when she had made all of everything that we know as the land here today. She stopped when she was sure that there was going to be enough land for all of the generations of people that would come after her. That’s when she finally stopped. And they say also that the term we have – I guess for North American People call it Turtle Island, it comes from this point in this story. That this land that she had created sits on the back of a turtle. So if you hear that term, Turtle Island, this is where (I guess) the origins of that saying come from. And also, again that song and dance that the woman did is something that the women do to this day, and is a very –I guess the rare times it is done-an extremely sacred ceremony dance that was done, the very first one, on this earth.

So the seeds that had fallen off of her dress, and the water, and this stuff that they had put down, was soil. And it had some growing properties in it, this soil. So the seeds that fell from her dress that came with her from the Sky World, did grow, they say. But it didn’t grow very tall or very high.

And so it was not long after that, they say, that she was getting ready to five birth to her child. And, they say, when this child was born, the first one, the first child was born on this earth was a female. It was a little girl, and she grew very quickly compared to what we can understand today. They say that when this little girl was growing, she never alone. She always had other children to play with. And who these other children were, they say, were these water beings who had special powers as well. They would change themselves into the shape that this little girl was, so that she always had someone to play with, so she was never alone.

And they say that as she grew to be a young woman, that one night her mother had a dream. In it she was told there would be a young man who would come from the west, seeking her to be his partner in life and that they would have children. And the mother told the young woman, if any of these beings, water beings that change into humans, if they should ever propose a marriage to you, do not accept. She said that there will be a young man who will come in the future and will be your partner. So the young woman agrees. She said she understood and she agreed with her mother.

Continued next week