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Summary Of The World On The Turtle's Back

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Imagine majestic trees, green fields, and clean water. Imagine teepees, snapping turtles, and animal skins. Now, imagine blood stains, betrayal, and transformation. Does this literature accurately reflect and/or influence the Native American experience? These are the beliefs and experiences of the Native Americans in the story “The World on the Turtle's Back.” The Native Americans believe in good and evil in the story “The World on the Turtle’s Back.” In said story the author wrote “ These two brothers, as they grew up, represented two ways of the world which are in all people. The Indians did not call these the right and the wrong. They called them the straight mind and the crooked mind, the upright man and the devious man, the right and …show more content…

In the story the animals that were helping the pregnant lady tried to get soil from the bottom of the ocean but failed. In the story the author wrote “The muskrat said he would try. He dived and disappeared - After a long time, his little body floated up to the surface of the ocean, a tiny crumb of earth clutched in his paw. He seemed to be dead, they pulled him on the turtle's back and they sang and prayed over him and breathed air into his mouth, and finally, he stirred.” The evidence states an account of the Native Americans beliefs and their stories. This literature reflects their experiences with the supernatural, like how they brought a dead animal back to life with singing and prayer. The author also wrote in the story “The World on the Turtle’s Back”, “The woman took the tiny clod of dirt and placed it in the middle of the great sea turtle’s back. Then the woman began to walk in a circle around it, moving in the direction that the sun goes. The earth began to grow,- to keep the earth growing, the woman walked as the sun goes, moving in the direction that the people still move in the dance rituals. - After a while, the woman’s time came, and she delivered a daughter. The woman and her daughter kept walking in a circle around the earth, so that the earth and plants would continue to grow.” This part of the story tells us how they got earth to grow without the use of modern tools. It shows us how spiritual they are and how intune they are with the earth. The Native Americans have these beliefs in spirits and the supernatural. They base most of their daily life on these beliefs, this story is one of their accounts on said beliefs. It tells us about what can go wrong with curiosity, how there is a balance, and that not everyone is as good as they seem to be. It also tells us about the animals and how the people came to be. This story is just one of

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