The Woman Who Fell from the Sky
In the Sky World above the earth, a pregnant woman named Atsi'tsaká:ion (Mature Flower) fell through a hole created when the Great Tree of Life was uprooted. As she descended, she grasped seeds from the tree. Water birds saw her falling and caught her, placing her on the back of the Great Turtle. The muskrat dove to the ocean floor and brought up mud, which she spread on the turtle's back. She danced in a circle, and the mud grew into the land known as Turtle Island. She planted the seeds from the Sky World, and the first plants grew. This is the Haudenosaunee account of how the earth was form