B. Two gods were competing to see who could create the most powerful and cunning animal, and one of them made man.
According to “The World on the Turtle’s Back,” the twins were always in competition. The left-handed twin always made an animal that would kill/eat the animal the right-handed twin would create in response to the left-handed twin’s creation. For instance, when the left-handed twin created a mountain lion that would kill the deer the right-handed twin created, the right handed twin created a ground squirrel that could dig holes to where the mountain lion could not get to them. In response to the squirrel’s hole-digging ability, the left-handed twin created the weasel that could go into the hole and kill the ground squirrel. In response to that, the right-handed twin created the porcupine, which the weasel could not kill because of the defense of the porcupine’s quills. In response to that, the left-handed twin created the bear that would tear out the porcupine’s belly. Finally, the right-handed twin created man, and the left-handed twin may have helped, but that was uncertain as evidenced by the line, “The people do not know just how much the left-handed twin had to do with making man.” But, indeed, according to the story, man was created as the twins were competing to make the best animal.
