Description
It is said that long ago there lived among the clouds another people, called sky people. Among them grew a sacred tree, which gave off a beautiful light. Sky Woman, who was with child, fell through a hole at the roots of the sacred tree. As she fell she tried to find something to hold on to, but what came away in her hands were the sacred plants of strawberry & tobacco and a bit of earth from the roots of the tree. She fell into our world where there was only darkness with water below. The water birds saw Sky Woman fall and caught her so she would not fall into the water. It was the Great Turtle who offered his back as a place for Sky Woman. One by one, the sea animals swam down below the water in search of the sacred earth that fell with Sky Woman. It was Muskrat, finally, who was able to bring up some of the earth and spread it on Turtle’s back. Sky Woman sang and walked in a circle and Turtle’s back grew and grew until it became the Earth, as we know it, Turtle Island. And Little Turtle climbed into the sky and gathered the lightning into a great ball that became the sun and a smaller ball that became the moon and so there was light in the world.
