Illustration by John Kahionhes Fadden (Mohawk)
I wrote this as a poem for children, to tell a simple version of the Creation Story, as told to me by Oneida Elder Grafton Antone.
creation story
that woman she fell from the sky
some say she was pushed
others say she jumped
or tripped
she fell from the sky
and the birds they flew
the turtle she knew
that that woman needed her.
that woman who fell from the sky,
she landed soft
cuz of those birds.
she landed soft
cuz of those animals, all the ones who tried
to get her some earth they died
she landed soft cuz of muskrat
he died too for that woman who fell from the sky
the turtle she became the ground for that woman
the turtle became an island
the island she grew
the people did too
all because of the birds that flew
and the animals who died
the muskrat too
and the woman who fell from the sky
some say she was pushed
others say she jumped
or tripped
she fell from the sky
and the birds flew
the turtle knew
that that woman needed her
Painting: Ernest Smith, Sky Woman, 1936, oil on canvas
