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Comparing The World On The Turtle's Back And The Wakaranga

699 Words3 Pages

Creation myths can give lots of information on the values of societies. Qualities of the Iroquois and the Wakaranga are shown in their myths. In “The World on the Turtle's Back” and “Life from the Moon and the Stars”, the Iroquois and the Wakaranga value human life above an animal’s life, however, the Wakaranga give moral divisions of right and wrong, but the Iroquois do not. The differences in their myths allow for readers to identify different characteristics in their societies, like the Iroquois’ justification of supposedly immoral actions, and the treatment of animals in both societies. A lack of value for animal life is evident in both the Iroquois and Wakaranga myths, “The World on the Turtle's Back” and “Life from the Moon and the …show more content…

In the Wakaranga myth, the creator of earth, Moon, defies god and is unfaithful to his wife, which allows for the society to show what is wrong, and give consequences for wrongdoings. When Moon was about to lie with Morningstar for a second time, God tells Moon not to do it. Moon then defied God causing the birth of “lions, and leopards, and snakes, and the scorpions that plague on humankind” (Wakaranga). This detail in the story not only explains why God would allow dangerous animals to exist to the Wakaranga, but also explained what the punishment could be for defying God. Another example of morals in the Wakaranga story is the incident of Moon’s infidelity to Eveningstar. When Moon cheats on his wife Eveningstar, she gets jealous and “she sent a snake to bite her unfaithful husband” causing him to fall ill (Wakaranga). This suggests that infidelity is a crime punishable by death to the Wakaranga people. However, the Iroquois do not believe that anything is completely right or wrong and instead believe that there are “two ways of the world that are which are in all people” (Wakaranga). Despite the fact that some actions may be detrimental to other humans, the Iroquois don’t believe that any action is either morally wrong or right, and they believe that both crooked actions and straight

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