How do we make SENSE of our world?

How do we make SENSE of our world?

In the beginning there was no world, no creatures as we know them now, and no people. But there was a vast ocean with a great mass of air above it. In the air were the birds of the sea, and in the ocean, the fish and other creatures. Above this was a Sky-World where gods lived gods who were like Iroquois. In the Sky-World lived a man and his wife, who was expecting a child. The woman was hungry for all kinds of strange food and kept her husband busy finding things to eat. In the middle of the Sky-World was a Great Tree. It had grown there forever. Its enormous roots spread out from the floor of the Sky-World. The tree had many different kinds of leaves, fruits, and flowers, and it was not to be harmed by anyone. It was sacred and stood at the center of the universe. The woman wanted bark from the roots of the Great Tree. She insisted her husband bring her some, and he gave in. So he dug a hole among the roots. But he broke through the floor of the Sky-World. He was terrified, for he didn t expect to find empty space beneath the world. His wife was filled with curiosity. He wouldn t get the roots, so she set out to do it herself. She stuck her head through the hole and looked around. No one knows what happened next. Some say she slipped. Some say her husband pushed her.

So she fell through the hole. As she fell, she grabbed at its edges, but her hands slipped. However, captured between her fingers were bits of things growing on the floor of the Sky-World and the root tips of the Great Tree. The birds saw the woman falling. They flew together to form a feathery raft in the sky and broke her fall. But they couldn t carry her for long. Other birds called to the ocean creatures to see if they could help. The great sea turtle agreed to receive her on his back. So the birds placed her on the turtle s shell. The woman thought she would die. But the birds and creatures offered to help her. She told them to find some soil so she could plant the roots that she held in her hand and they would grow. The animals thought there might be dirt at the bottom of the ocean, but no one had ever been down there. The bottom of the ocean was far below. But the animals agreed to get some dirt. The diving birds and animals tried and failed. Finally, the muskrat dived and disappeared. After a long time, his body floated up, a tiny clump of earth in his paw. He seemed to be dead. They pulled him onto the turtle s back, sang and prayed over him, and breathed air into his mouth. Finally, he stirred. Thus it was the muskrat, the Earth-Diver, who brought up the soil from which the earth grew. The woman placed the dirt on the turtle s back. Then she began to walk in a circle around the dirt, moving in the direction that the sun goes. The earth began to grow. When the earth was big enough, she planted the roots she had clutched between her fingers, and plants grew on the earth. 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 gave birth to a daughter, and she and her daughter kept circling the earth. They lived on

the plants and roots they gathered. The girl grew up knowing only the animals of the sea, seeing no other beings. One day, when the girl was grown, a man appeared. No one knows for sure who he was. Perhaps he was the West Wind. Upon seeing him, the girl fainted. From his quiver, the man took two arrows one sharp and one blunt. He laid them across the girl s body and quietly went away. The girl and her mother continued walking around the earth. After a while, they knew that the girl was to bear twins. In the girl s body, the twins began to argue. The right-handed twin wanted to be born as all children are born. But the lefthanded twin said he saw light in another direction, and he would be born that way. The right-handed twin begged him not to because that would kill their mother. But the left-handed twin ignored him. He could not be born through her mouth or nose. He was born through her left armpit, and killed her. Meanwhile, the right-handed twin was born in the normal way. The twins met in the world outside, and the right-handed twin accused his brother of murdering their mother. But the grandmother made them stop fighting. They buried their mother, and from her grave grew corn, beans, and squash our supporters, the three sisters. 1 And from her heart grew the sacred tobacco, which the people still use in the ceremonies. The women call her our mother, and they dance and sing in the rituals so that corn, beans, and squash grow. But the twins conflict did not end. And, strangely enough, the grandmother favored the left-handed twin. The right-handed twin was angry because his brother had killed their mother. The right-handed twin did everything just as he should. He said what he meant and meant what he said. He always told the truth, and he always strove to do what was

right and reasonable. The left-handed twin never said what he meant or meant what he said. He always lied, and he always did things backward. He was the devious one. The brothers represented two ways of the world. The Indians called them the straight mind and the crooked mind, the upright man and the devious man, the right and the left. The twins modeled clay into animals and gave them life. In this they also competed with one another. The right-handed twin made deer, and the left-handed twin made mountain lions which kill the deer. But there would always be more deer than mountain lions. The right-handed twin made ground squirrels. The left-handed twin made weasels. And although the weasels kill ground squirrels, there are lots of ground squirrels. The right-handed twin made berries and fruits. The left-handed twin made briars, poisonous plants, and medicines both for good and for evil. And finally, the right-handed twin made man. No one knows just how much the left-handed twin had to do with this. Man was made of clay, like pottery, and baked in the fire.... The world the twins made was balanced and orderly. The plant-eating animals would eat up all the vegetation if their number was not kept down by the meat-eating animals. But if these meat-eaters ate too many animals, they would starve. As the twins grew up, they still contested with one another. They saw that the conflict was becoming sharper, and that one twin would have to defeat the other. First, they gambled, as the people still do in the New Year s rites. 2 At the end of the game, neither had won.

Next, they battled at lacrosse. 3 Then, they fought with clubs. But in all the contests, neither won. Each one knew that there was something, somewhere, that would defeat the other. But what was it? Where to find it? Each knew his own weakness. They talked about this as they fought, and somehow they entered each other s thoughts. The right-handed twin lied to his brother in his thoughts, and the left-handed twin told the truth. Finally, they knew how the right-handed twin was to kill his brother. Each chose his weapon. The left-handed twin chose a useless stick. But the right-handed twin killed his brother with a deer antler. The left-handed twin died, but he didn t die. The right-handed twin threw the body off the earth. Below the world, the left-handed twin still lives and rules. When the sun rises and travels along the sky dome, the people are in the right-handed twin s realm. But at night, the people are in the left-handed twin s world. Then the right-handed twin returned to his grandmother, who was angry because he had murdered his brother. He grew angry himself and cut her head off. He threw her body into the ocean, and her head into the sky. There, Our Grandmother, the Moon keeps watch over the realm of her favorite grandson. The right-handed twin is called He Holds Up the Skies, Master of Life, and Great Creator. The left-handed twin is called the devious one and Old Warty. He is thought of as being dark in color. These two rule the world. The right-handed twin, the Master of Life, lives in the Sky-World. In the world below lives the lefthanded twin. In the daytime, the people have rituals honoring the righthanded twin. At night, the people dance and sing for the lefthanded twin.

How do we make SENSE of our world?