Turtle Island: The Lenape Earth Diver
In the Lenape creation account, before land existed, all the animals lived in deep water. They grew weary of swimming and wanted dry land. One by one the animals dove to retrieve earth from the bottom — the otter, the beaver — but each failed, gasping for air. Finally the humble muskrat took his turn. He was under the water so long the others thought he had drowned. At last he surfaced, near death, with a tiny clump of mud in his paw. He Who Creates Us By Thought summoned Turtle to the surface and placed the mud on Turtle's back. The Creator caused the mud to grow and spread across Turtle's sh