Native American Literature: Creation Myths

Native American Literature

Over the years Native American tribes have all had their own creation myths, a few of these tribes are the Iroquois, the Okanogan, and the Karankawa. The stories that these people created were used by parents to tell children the places they come from, or why they live their life the way that they do. These stories include “The World on the Turtle’s Back”, and the story of the “Coyote and the Buffalo”. These stories were told by the Iroquois and the Okanogan. The Iroquois told the story of “The World on the Turtles Back”, to tell their children where the world came from and how everything in the world is balanced and right. The Okanogan told the story of “Coyote and the Buffalo” to tell there people why they can not hunt the buffalo where they live and also to teach them the importance of keeping your word. Both these stories have to do with some form of magic. The ancient native americans believed in magic coming from the earth. In the story of “The World on the Turtles Back” there is a young pregnant woman who falls into a hole after she made her husband dig up roots for her. This was no ordinary tree, the people knew not to bother it. When she did fall in she was put onto a turtles back which was swimming around in a giant ocean. She lived on the turtles back until she wanted to have land then she sent animals to the depths of the ocean to get some. Once she had land she raised her daughter who was impregnated with twins, A right-handed twin and a left-handed twin. The right was good and the left was evil. The left handed twin killed their mother during birth and the mother was buried, and from her grave plants grew. From her head grew the corn, the squash, and the beans “our supporters, the three sisters.”(pg. 37). They created the earth around them, balancing good with evil and bringing balance to the world. In the story “Coyote and the Buffalo”. There was a coyote who helped a buffalo gain back his trust and his tribe. As a reward for these actions the Buffalo gave Coyote a cow. Coyote was only supposed to slice off fat and then eat the fat and he would never go hungry again. The coyote got greedy and decided he wanted to eat more than fat “Buffalo Bull will never know”(pg. 48) said the coyote, so he took the cow and killed it. after a while a women came along and stole all the meat and bones when coyote wasn't looking. so coyote went up to buffalo and asked for another buffalo but would not give him one. The other story is called “La Relación”. It is about spanish conquistadors who are coming to invade and take over the Native Americans land. But in turn got stranded on an island and was put at the mercy of the Native americans. The stories “Coyote and the Buffalo”, and “The World on the Turtles Back” both share a similar trait that they are both just stories, there is no written history that any of these events ever took place. Unlike in the story of “La Relación” where it is a documented event. The man who documented it was Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. He was a conquistador for Spain coming to explore the new world. The fictional stories are stories passed down from generation to generation and told to little kids over and over again to teach them a lesson, the lesson in œ“Coyote and the Buffalo” was to always be grateful for what you are given and never to be greedy. The lesson in “The World on the Turtles Back” is when you told not to do something like all the people were told not to mess with the tree, you follow that rule or you may end up like the women who fell through the earth. There is no lesson in “La Relación” however. It is just the accounts of the explorers encounters with the natives. The only lesson that it may have is to keep pushing through it because you may be saved if you keep going.