Read this excerpt from "the world on turtle's back." with the deer antler, the right-handed twin demolished his brother. the lef
t-handed twin died, but he didn't die. he was hurled off the edge of the earth by his brother. in this dark world below the earth, the left-handed twin still lives and reigns. the right-handed twin lives in the sky-world and he is content with the world he helped to create. the left-handed twin lives in the world below. he, too, is content with the world of men. he delights in the sounds of warfare and suffering. these two beings rule the world and look after the affairs of men. during the day people have rituals to honor the right-handed twin. at night they dance and sing for the left-handed twin. based on this excerpt, it is reasonable to conclude that
"The World on the Turtle's Back" is an Iroquois myth that explains how the Earth was created. It is like the Christian myth where God creates the world in 7 days because both are based on people's beliefs and try to explain how everything was made. As in many other myths, the Iroquois one has many examples of balance and complementary opposites. For example, in this excerpt you can see: day-night, left-right, light-dark, etc. So, it's necessary that both twins exist at the same time, they cannot die because they are immortals and are always present.
