Earth Diver

Sky Woman descending from the sky as animals help form the earth on a turtle’s back.

Sky Woman and the Turtle’s Back

by Elizabeth Fabowale

January 22, 2026

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

High above the waters of the first world existed Sky World, a place of light, order, and careful balance. It was not a distant heaven but a living place where beings walked, gathered food, and followed sacred rules. At its center grew a great tree whose roots held the strength of the world together. Around this tree, life followed patterns

Wenabozho placing earth on a turtle’s back after the muskrat retrieves soil from deep waters.

American Myths·Native American Creation Myths

Ojibwe Earth‑Diver and Wenabozho

Before there were forests whispering along the shores of the Great Lakes, before canoes cut across shining waters, before villages sent smoke curling into the sky, the world was covered entirely by water. There was no solid earth where feet could stand. No hills rose against the horizon. No trees

Parchment-style artwork of the Sun and Moon facing each other in the sky, Cherokee folktale scene.

The Sun and the Moon Are Man and Wife: Cherokee Folktale (United States)

In the ancient days, before the world found its rhythm of day and night, the Sun and the Moon lived together on

Parchment-style illustration of Rip Van Winkle waking on a Catskill Mountains slope, American folktale.

Rip Van Winkle, The Man Who Slept for Twenty Years: American Folktale of Time and Change

At the foot of the misty Catskill Mountains in colonial New York, there once lived a good-natured man named Rip Van Winkle.

Parchment-style illustration of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox in snowy woods, American folktale.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox: An American Folktale that Teaches Lessons on Strength, Teamwork, and the Power of Legend

Long ago, in the rugged northern forests of America, where towering pines whispered to the wind and the snow stretched farther than

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