The Coyote and The Monster

The story I read was The Coyote and The Monster, which told the story of a Coyote who was left alone after a terrible monster ate all of his friends. Tired of hiding from the monster, the Coyote challenged the monster and won over the monter, and they became friends. The Coyote then convinced the monster to let him into his stomach so he could visit his devoured friends. The monster agreed and the Coyote killed the monster by cutting out his heart and setting fire to his insides. The Coyote then freed his friends and created four different tribes from his insides. This story was probably used to explain how some of the tribes came to be, and why they are geographically located where they are. The story also said that the Coyote created a new animal with the tribes, which could also explain why the tribes could be represented by their particular animal. I chose this story as it seemed interesting to me, and it seemed to have some legitimate Navajo origins to it. http://members.cox.net/academia/coyote.html

Expectations for this class

I think I am going to enjoy this english class this semester. English has always been one of my strongsuits (not just because it's the language I speak) as I usually like the work that I am doing for the class. This class in particular I think I will like as from my understanding we are mainly focusing on American literature, like Huck Fin and other classic American stories. I'm also concerned at the same time about this, as I have never been that big on reading long, full stories. I think that is why I enjoyed sophmore writin workshop, as it was more focused on just the writing aspects of English. This I will see in time though I guess, as I will not know until I get more into the semester. I think although it will be quite a bit of reading, I will enjoy the class. One thing I do greatly enjoy is the usage of this blog. I have never done this in previous classes, and I think I will have a great deal of fun toying with it.

The World on The Turtle's Back

I was kind of skeptical when I first looked at this story. I thought that it was going to be kind of confusing, and honestly a little boring. As I read the World On The Turtle's Back, I did find the story to be very interesting. I enjoyed how the authors described the creation of the Earth, with it all starting as a large ocean. Then the woman fell from the sky world and was placed on the turtle's back by the birds. It was interesting how the woman began to grow plants and create life from this one small clump of dirt that the muskrat retrieved from the ocean's floor. The twins I found to be rather interesting. The idea of the left and right twin to me reminds me of the Chinese idea of Ying and Yang, with one being good and the other being somewhat evil. This is also different though, as the twins were used as the reasoning for different plants and animals. Overall i did really enjoy this story.
Questions
1. Where does the muskrat come from? The muskrat I thought was a land mammal.
2. What happens to the turtle after all this land mass began to grow on his back?
3. How large was the turtle, being he was holding 4 people on his back?