Iroquois Creation Myth

Before the world was fully formed, there were two worlds: that of the sky, and the lower, darker world. The lower world had only water, and water creatures. A woman fell from the cloud world, and she was pregnant with twins; one good and one bad. Two swans saw her falling and decided to break her fall. She was too heavy for them, however, and so the Great Turtle offered to hold her. The water creatures wanted to save her from the waters, and so decided to get some earth from the bottom of the sea for her. First the Beaver dived down for some earth, but the sea was too deep, and when he came back up, he died from trying. The otter then tried, and died the same way. Finally, the frog tried, and when he came back up, he also died. However, he had managed to get some earth, and the Great Turtle put it on his back, where it grew to form the Earth we know today.

The woman was in the final stages of pregnancy, and the bad twin wanted to be born through his mother's side, or her arm. The good twin tried to stop him, but didn't succeed. Both twins were born, and their mother died in the process. Some stories say their grandmother came down from the cloud land to raise them; others say the twins didn't need to be raised by anyone.

The good twin* didn't like living in the dark, and so decided to make some light for the world. He took his mother's head, and made it into the sun, and made the rest of her body into the moon. Then he made more light, called the stars. He also created rivers and animals, and eventually, created people out of the dust. He called these people Ea-gwe-howe, or "real people". He caused rain to fall to make the land fertile, and able to support the people.

Meanwhile, the bad twin didn't like what his brother was doing, since he liked the world better the way it was. As his brother was creating the world, he went around the island making high cliffs, waterfalls,and poisonous reptiles. Once, the good twin made all the rivers run downstream so everyone could always paddle with the current, but the bad twin made half of them run backward. The bad twin tried to lock up all the animals, but the good twin freed the animals from the cave they were in.

Not surprisingly, eventually the two twins came at odds with one another. The bad twin challenged his brother to a fight, and the winner would get to rule the universe. The good twin told his brother that he could be killed by being beaten with rushes and reeds. The bad twin claimed he could be killed by being beaten by deer horns. The fight lasted for two days, with trees and mountains being uprooted. Eventually, the good twin won, and as his brother died, the bad twin said that he would have equal rulership over the afterlife. The good twin repaired the Earth from their fight, and went to live with the people he had created.

*Several names are given for the twins:
For the good twin: Tsenta; Tharonhiawagon (Tuscarora); Enigorio (Mohawk).
For the bad twin: Taweskare; Tawiscaron (Tuscarora); Onondaga (Seneca).

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