The Bible vs. The World on a Turtle’s Back

The coming of man has always been ambiguous. Religion, ethnicity, and culture all participate in the coming of man. How mankind came into existence has many different versions, many of which lie in the Torah, Koran, and Bible. “The World on a Turtle’s Back” is the Iroquois belief of creation, divergent to “The Creation Story” from the Bible. Though these versions are about the same topic, they both differ on several accounts.

“And God said, let there be light: and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3). Christian’s believe in one God as their only creator. This is known as monotheism. According to Genesis, the first chapter of the Bible, God had created light and separated it from darkness, thus creating day and night. “The Creation Story” from the Bible later reveals that the earth was created in six days and rested on the seventh (Genesis 1). Opposing the Bible, “The World on a Turtle’s Back” begins with a pregnant women infatuated with strange delicacies. The women had demanded that her husband gather bark from the roots of a sacred tree.

The disobedient husband did not accept the mission so the pregnant wife had become very impatient and bent over to collect the bark from the roots herself. Meanwhile, the women fell. As the women fell downward, she frantically tried to grip anything she could find hanging on the edge of the Sky-World to catch her fall. The story continues by explaining how the birds of the sea gently caught the women and calmly placed her on the back of a turtle. The creatures of the sea tended to the women by getting all necessary materials she needed. The muskrat had gathered her soul from the bottom of the sea. While on the turtle’s back, the women planted the roots she had gathered on the descending trip.

From there, the women began to walk in a circle the direction in which the sun goes and the earth began to grow (WOTB 36). Right from the beginning, these two stories are different in several ways. “The Creation Story” from the Bible explains how there was one God who created day and night and separated sea from land (Genesis 1). Contrary to the Bible, “World on a Turtle’s Back” explains how there is more than one creator. This is known as polytheism, meaning that the Iroquois believed in more than one God. Also, “World on a Turtle’s Back” tells why the earth was created while the Bible tells how it was created.

The creation of the earth was accidental in “World on a Turtle’s Back” while in “The Creation Story” from the Bible, earth was intentionally created. Recalling how the Iroquois practice polytheism, this indicates that not one figure received all praise. The people thought they were being watched and protected by many Gods. In the Bible, God is the only almighty figure watching over and protecting His people. One can easily see the opposing elements from these two pieces of literature.

Even though there are many differences between these two pieces of literature, there are also several similarities. Both stories contain a balance within them. In “World on a Turtle’s Back” the women was pregnant with two twin boys. While in the womb, the boys bickered. Soon the mother had died because of the birth of the Left-Handed twin through her mouth and only the twins survived. The Right-Handed twin became very anger with the Left-Handed twin due to the death of their mother.

The twins created a balance on earth by constantly competing with one another. This continued until the Right-Handed twin defeated the Left-Handed twin and cast his body off the edge of the earth. The Left-Handed twin is believed to still reign somewhere below earth (WOTB 40). This can be compared to the concept of heaven and hell. The Left-Handed twin and Right-Handed twin can be compared to the “The Creation Story” in the bible because the women Eve bared two quarreling boys, Abel and Cain.

The arguing between Cain and Abel became so severe that eventually Cain killed Abel. The Bible and “World on a Turtle’s Back” both contain a forbidden tree within them. In both pieces of literature the trees provide evidence of evil coming into existence in earth. A final similarity is the fact that both stories explain that animals are created, the sun is used for warmth and light, and the moon is used for light in the dark. Both stories produce good, evil, and religious belief.

No two sources are going to be consistent with each other. These two stories have the same concept and idea but the details will not be exact. All sources will have the same basic concept, but there will be different and similar details. Religion, culture, and different factors of the earth can affect the theories that people will believe of how mankind came into existence. Different people have different views of the world. Also, some important details in the stories could have been lost over time. How we see things and what we choose to believe is the choice of man.

Citation Page
Allen, Janet, Arthur N. Applebee, Jim Burke, Douglas Carnine, Yvette Jackson, Robert J. Jiménez, Judith A. Langer, Robert J. Marzano, Mary Lou. McCloskey, Donna M. Ogle, Carol Booth. Olson, Lydia Stack, and Carol Ann. Tomlinson. McDougal Littell Literature: American Literature. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2008. Print. The Bible