BIG TURTLE

Many years ago the world had two parts. Animals lived in the lower part, which was was completely covered in water and had no land or soil. Above was the Sky World, where the sky people lived. The Sky World had lots of soil, with beautiful mountains and valleys. One day a girl from the Sky World went for a long walk and became very tired. "I'm so tired, I need to rest" she said. She sat down under the spreading branches of an apple tree and quickly fell asleep. Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound like thunder and the ground began to crack. A big hole opened up next to the apple tree. "What's happening?" screamed the frightened girl. She tried to move but it was too late. She and the tree slid through the hole and tumbled over and over towards the watery world below. "Help me! Help me!" screamed the girl. Luckily two swans were swimming below and saw the girl tumbling down from the sky. "Come on!" yelled one swan. "Let's catch her before she hits the water" "Okay!" yelled the other. The swans spread their wings together and caught the girl on their soft feather backs. "Whew! That was lucky" said the girl. "But what do I do now? I can't get back up to the Sky World and I can't stay on your backs forever." "We'll take you to Big turtle" said the swans. "He knows everything." After hearing what happened, the Big Turtle called all the animals in the water world to a meeting. He told them an old story about soil being found deep under the water. "If we can get some of that soil, we can build an island on my back for you to live on" said the Big Turtle. "Sounds good to me" said the young girl. The Otter, Beaver and Muskrat started arguing over who would dive for the soil. "I'll go" said the sleek Otter, brushing his glossy fur. "No! I'll go" said Beaver, slapping the water with his big flat tail. "I'm the best swimmer" said Muskrat "I'll go." "Aaaachooo!" sneezed the young girl. "Guys, guys, would just one of you go. These swan feathers are getting up my nose and making me sneeze." "Sorry" said the swans. "That's alright" said the young Sky girl. Then Toskwaye the little Toad, popped up out of the water. "I'll go. I can dive very deep" she said. The other animals started laughing and pointing at Toskwaye. "You! You're too small and ugly to help." cried the others, laughing. "Be quiet!" said Big Turtle in a loud, stern voice. "Everyone is equal and everyone will have a chance to try. The sleek Otter smoothed his glossy fur, took a deep breath and slid into the water. He was gone for a long time before he came up gasping for air. "It was too deep" he said. "I couldn't dive that far.

"Now it's my turn" said Beaver. He slapped the water with his tail as he disappeared. After a long time he came to the surface again. "It's too far" he gasped. "No one can dive that deep." Muskrat tried next and failed. "Aaaachoo!" sneezed the young girl. "This is not looking good" "Now it's my turn" said little Toskwaye the Toad. She took a deep breath and jumped into the water. She was gone a very long time and everyone thought they wouldn't see her again. Suddenly Otter pointed at the water, shouting "Look, look! Bubbles!" Toskwaye's small, ugly face appeared through the water. She spat a few grains of soil onto the Big Turtle's back, then fell back into the water dead.The Turtle ordered the others to rub the soil grains and spread them around on his shell. The grains grew and grew, until a large island was formed - big enough for the girl to live on. It grew into our world as we know it today. And the descendants of the Sky girl became the Earth's people. Today, some people say the whole world still rests on Big Turtles back. When he gets tired and changes his position, we have earthquakes. Toad has not been forgotten either. American native Indians call her "Mashutaha", which means 'Our Grandmother'. No one is allowed to harm her.

THE LION AND THE MOUSE

of them became scared. They began to fight and push each other. Once, as a lion lay sleeping in his den, a naughty little mouse ran up his tail, and onto his back and up his mane and danced and jumped on his head ... ...so that the lion woke up. The lion grabbed the mouse and, holding him in his large claws, roared in anger. 'How dare you wake me up! Don't you know that I am King of the Beasts? Anyone who disturbs my rest deserves to die! I shall kill you and eat you!' The terrified mouse, shaking and trembling, begged the lion to let him go. 'Please don't eat me Your Majesty! I did not mean to wake you, it was a mistake. I was only playing. Please let me go - and I promise I will be your friend forever. Who knows but one day I could save your life?' The lion looked at the tiny mouse and laughed. 'You save my life? What an absurd idea!' he said scornfully. 'But you have made me laugh, and put me into a good mood again, so I shall let you go.' And the lion opened his claws and let the mouse go free. 'Oh thank you, your majesty,' squeaked the mouse, and scurried away as fast as he could A few days later the lion was caught in a hunter's snare. Struggle as he might, he couldn't break free and became even more entangled in the net of ropes. He let out a roar of anger that shook the forest. Every animal heard it, including the tiny mouse.

'My friend the lion is in trouble,' cried the mouse. He ran as fast as he could in the direction of the lion's roar, and soon found the lion trapped in the hunter's snare. 'Hold still, Your Majesty,' squeaked the mouse. 'I'll have you out of there in a jiffy!' And without further delay, the mouse began nibbling through the ropes with his sharp little teeth. Very soon the lion was free. 'I did not believe that you could be of use to me, little mouse, but today you saved my life,' said the lion humbly. 'It was my turn to help you, Sire,' answered the mouse. Even the weak and small may be of help to those much mightier than themselves.

THE RED DRAGON

A long long time ago most of the animals on earth looked very different from how they look now. Some were thinner, some were taller and some had more legs than they have today. The Rhinoceros and the Hippopotamus were very vain and always boring the other animals, asking them to admire their good looks. "Haven't I got the most handsome face you've ever seen?" the Rhinoceros would ask, as he turned his head from side to side. "Don't you think my left side is as handsome as my right?". "Look at my slim body" the Hippopotamus would answer. "Isn't this the most beautiful body you've ever seen?" "Huuh!" the Elephant would trumpet. "Look at my beautiful ivory teeth. They're the most perfect teeth in the world". And he would smile, showing two rows of gleaming ivory teeth. Every thing was peaceful and boring until one day a red dragon flew down from the sky shouting "The world is going to end! The world is going to end!" "We've heard that one before" said the lion, with a bored sigh. "The chicken said the sky was falling, but nothing happened". "It's for real this time. The world is coming to an end!" yelled the red dragon. "How do you know" the others asked. "A wizard told me" he replied. "Then it must be true" they all said. "What shall we do?" "You can all climb onto my back and I'll fly you to another world" said the red dragon. They all rushed to get on the dragon's back except the lion. "I'm king around here and I'm not frightened of anything" he roared. "I'm going to stay here on earth". "I'm going to stay too" said the tiger, getting down. "Tigers are just as brave as lions". When the other animals were ready, the dragon flapped his wings, jumped into the air and came down again. With such a heavy load on his back he had to try it several times before he took off.

As the red dragon flew higher it was uncomfortable for the animals squeezed onto his back and some "Get your tail out of my eye" yelled one. "Watch where you're putting that paw" yelled another. "Oh, we're going very high" squeaked a mouse. "Give me a break and sit still" cried the red dragon. "All you're fighting and shoving is making it very hard for me to fly". The animals ignored him and finally the red dragon became so tired he couldn't flap his wings any more and started to fall out of the sky.

The animals slid off his back and fell towards the ground screaming in panic. No one was killed but they all landed with a mighty thud. The snakes legs fell off and he slithered away in the grass. The Rhinoceros landed on his face, making a large bump on his nose that turned into a horn. The Hippopotamus kept rolling and bumping over the hillside, getting bigger and fatter until he finally splashed into a waterhole. He was so embarrassed at how round and fat he was, he wouldn't come out. The elephant broke all his teeth except for two that stuck into the ground. When he tried to pull them out of the ground they stretched into the two long tusks he has today. The giraffe caught his head in a high tree and his neck stretched and stretched until his body reached the ground. In fact all the animals changed into how they look today. The lion and tiger roared with laughter at how funny the other animals looked now. "I don't see what's so funny" snapped the crocodile, whose face had been flattened by a gorilla landing on it. The Rhinoceros was very angry about losing his good looks. That's why you have to be very careful near them, even today.

How Butterflies Came To Be

In Papago creation stories, Earth-Maker created the world and Elder Brother created people. Elder Brother is Iitoi, spirit of goodness. He watches over the Papago from his home on top of a cloud-covered mountain. A long time ago, Elder Brother was out walking. The summer rains had finished and everywhere he saw the colours of autumn, brightly coloured flowers and trees and the blue sky. He heard birds singing. He came to a village where young women were grinding corn and children were playing. They ran around, noisy and happy, and he felt happy too. The world is beautiful, he thought, and he sat down to enjoy it. Suddenly he was sad. It will be winter soon. The leaves will shrivel and fall and the flowers will fade. The beautiful colours will be gone and it will be cold. As he watched the children playing, he decided the summer colours should be kept somehow so that he and everyone else could enjoy them longer. He would make something to hold them. Elder Brother always had a special bag with him, his creation bag. It was big enough to hold whatever he needed to carry. He opened it up, looked around and began to collect colours from things: gold from a ray of sunlight, blue from the sky, shiny black from a womans hair, white from the cornmeal, green from pine needles, yellow from leaves, and purple, red and orange from flowers. All the colours went into the bag. He thought he was finished, but then he heard the birds singing again and he added their songs to the colours in the bag. Then Elder Brother called to the children. Come here. I have something for you. Several of the children ran over and he held out his large bag to them. Take this and open it, he said. Theres a surprise in there for you all. The children took the bag and opened it. Hundreds of coloured butterflies fluttered out. They flew up around the childrens heads, landing on their hair and arms. The children laughed with joy. The women stopped grinding corn and came over and men joined their families from the fields. Everyone watched the butterflies and stretched out their hands for them to land on. They had never seen such beautiful colours. And then the butterflies began to sing as they flew around. The people were very happy, but the birds were not. One bird perched on Elder Brothers shoulder and tapped him with its beak. Youve given our songs to these new creatures and we dont think thats fair. When we were made, we were given a song each our own song. Now youve given all our songs away. And to creatures that already have more beautiful colours than we do. Youre right, said Elder Brother. "The songs belonged to you and I shouldnt have given them away. Im sorry. He reached out to the butterflies, took away the songs gently and gave them back to the birds. This made the birds happy again. This is how butterflies came to be, and why they are silent. Their colours are a gift of beauty for everyone to share, whenever they appear. Just as Elder Brother wanted.