The turtle or tortoise is everywhere in Algonkin pictography the symbol of the earth.[226] From the earth, from the soil, all organic life, the whole realm of animate existence—ever sharply defined in Algonkin grammar and thought from inanimate existence—proceeds, directly as vegetable life, or indirectly as animal life. The earth is the All-Mother, ever-producing, inexhaustible.
As for Kikeron, the eternally active, hidden spirit of the universe, I have but to refer the reader to the list of ideas associated around this root kik, which I have given on a previous page ([p. 102]) to reveal the significance of this word. We may, with equal correctness, translate it Life, Light, Action or Energy. It is the abstract conception back of all these.
The distinction was the same as that established by the scholastic philosophers between the mundus and the anima mundi; between the essentia and the existentia; between natura naturans and natura naturata. But who expected to find it among the Lenape?
This creation myth of the Delawares is also given in brief by Zeisberger. It dated back to that marvelous overflow which is heard of in many mythologies. The whole earth was submerged, and but a few persons survived. They had taken refuge on the back of a turtle, who had reached so great an age that his shell was mossy, like the bank of a rivulet. In this forlorn condition a loon flew that way, which they asked to dive and bring up land. He complied, but found no bottom. Then he flew far away, and returned with a small quantity of earth in his bill. Guided by him, the turtle swam to the place, where a spot of dry land was found. There the survivors settled and repeopled the land.[227]
This is more a tale of reconstruction than a creation myth. It is that which has generally been supposed to refer to the Deluge. But, as I have explained in my "Myths of the New World," all these so-called Deluge Myths are but developments of crude cosmogonical theories.
To understand the significance of this myth we must examine the Indian notion of the earth. This is the more germane to my theme, as the meaning of the original text which is printed in this volume can only be grasped by one acquainted with this notion.
The Indians almost universally believed the dry land they knew to be a part of a great island, everywhere surrounded by wide waters whose limits were unknown.[228] Many tribes had vague myths of a journey from beyond this sea; many placed beyond it the home of the Sun and of Light, and the happy hunting grounds of the departed souls. The Delawares believed that the whole was supported by a fabled turtle, whose movements caused earthquakes and who had been their first preserver.[229] As above mentioned, the turtle in its amphibious character and rounded back represented the earth or the land itself, as distinguished from water. Like the turtle, the land lies at times under the water and at times above it. The spirit of the earth was the practical and visible developmental energy of nature.
The medicine men, or conjurers, who professed to be in personal relations with this power, made their "medicine rattle" of a turtle shell (Loskiel), and when they died, such a shell was suspended from their tomb posts (Zeisberger).
The Delawares also shared the belief, common to so many nations the world over, that the pristine age was one of unalloyed prosperity, peace and happiness, an Age of Gold, a Saturnian Reign. Their legends asseverated that at that time "the killing of a man was unknown, neither had there been instances of their dying before they had attained to that age which causes the hair to become white, the eyes dim, and the teeth to be worn away."
This happy time was brought to a close by the advent of certain evil beings who taught men how to kill each other by sorcery.[230]