The World On The Turtle's Back Summary

One similarity between the two Native American stories is both the Iroquois and the Okanogan value tobacco in their societies. In both of the stories they mention how tobacco is considered sacred, or that it allowed them to be able to “die more content” after smoking it. In “The World on the Turtle’s Back”, the tobacco grows out of the woman’s heart, which can be a symbol of the crop being the “heart” of their tribe. Another common value between the two is animals. They both speak of animals as sacred beings. As said in “The World on the Turtle’s Back”, “they took clay and molded it into animals”. This shows that animals were symbolic to them because they made molds to admire them. Also, they turned to the animals for assistance. The animals were called on to help the woman when she fell in the hole in “The World on the Turtle's

In “Coyote and The Buffalo”, the main characters are both animals. It is clear in the story that buffalo are important, especially buffalo meat. They also believe that coyotes were made to help humans survive on earth. This is shown when the coyote helps the buffalo by making him a new pair of horns. Lastly, the Iroquois and the Okanogan tribes both value sharing and generosity. At the beginning of the creation myth, “The World on a Turtle’s Back”, it is shown that generosity and being helpful are important aspects when “The birds of the sea saw the woman falling, and they immediately consulted with each other as to what they could do to help her.” This shows that sharing and generosity are important to the Iroquois: all the animals worked together to help the woman. In “Coyote and the Buffalo”, it is said that "Coyote had to return to his own country without a Buffalo. That is why there never have been any buffalo along the Swah-Netk'-qhu." This shows that generosity is important by saying Coyote's foolishness was the ultimate reason why there are no buffalo in the area that