The Oneida tribe started out in upstate New York and you can guess how well that worked out for them. They ended up getting routed into Wisconsin where they were promised some land until we wanted that back also. They are credited with complicated art and culture and amongst their many legends is the tale of turtle challenging beaver to a race.
See, the turtle was enjoying her little mucky pond and the beaver moved in one winter and when she woke up it was a HUGE pond with felled trees and a big dam. She was outraged and demanded the beaver leave at once. When he refused she challenged him to a contest, winner-take-pond.
“Who are you?” asked Turtle angrily. “What did you do to my pond?”
The stranger said, “I am Beaver. And this is my pond, not yours! I worked hard to block the stream and make the waters wide and deep! Now leave!”
Turtle was not about to leave. “Let’s have a contest,” he said. “We will fight to see who will stay and who will go!”
“Great!” said Beaver. “I’ve got just the teeth for fighting.”
Turtle did not like this answer. “I changed my mind. Let’s see who can hold their breath the longest.”
“Great!” said Beaver. “I can stay underwater one whole day!”
Turtle did not like this answer, either. “I changed my mind. Let’s see who can swim fastest from this side of the pond to the other side.”
“Great!” said Beaver. “I am the fastest swimmer of all. Let’s begin our race!”
In the legend the turtle wins, so the beaver is forced to leave the pond. Now the well-known tale is retold by a new animated movie that is currently making the film festival circuit. In the movie they compromise and share the land.
Oneida Indian Nation Modernizes Story About Living in Harmony
It’s a story about friendship, respecting Mother Earth, and learning to live in harmony. My Home was produced by Four Directions, a production company owned by Oneida Indian Nation, which owns Oneida Nation Enterprises, parent company of Indian Country Today Media Network. My Home has won numerous awards from film festivals across the country and got a warm reception at the Karl May Festival in Germany.
During the race Beaver cheats to beat her, and not wanting to lose, Turtle ends up cheating too. Turtle does arrive at the agreed upon end point first but doesn’t touch it until Beaver does, ending the race in a tie.
She suggests that the two of them should find a way to live together. And they do. Beaver lets the water back into the lake.
Beaver champion that I am I was deeply affronted by the idea that beaver moved into a pond and RUINED it for turtles. Since when does a keystone species and ecosystem engineer ruin conditions for turtles? Would she prefer no pond? Is she a tortoise in disguise? Look at our creek! Which was so full of pond turtles the other day when I checked in at lunch time I counted 11!
Aren’t Native Americans supposed to know something about NATURE?
And then I remembered this.
Did you get that? Beaver brought the fur-seeking Dutch, and the white man who used their furs as currency, who in turn drove out the Oneida from New York and ‘ruined their pond’. The beaver ‘progress’ in this story is symbolically representing the changes we made and insisted were for the better while we were cashing in on the fur trade and pretty much eliminating everything in our path. The slow pace of the turtle, who has everything she needs on her back, represents the Oneida who were content on their land until we came. The point of the story isn’t that beavers ruin ponds. It’s that we do.
Well, okay then.
Anyway the movie is getting great reviews and will be available on DVD. Which reminds me that our own beaver-friendly animator sent copies of his Beaver Creek series yesterday for the silent auction along with a little present for me.
In case you don’t recognize it it’s the instant cocoon that collapses the beaver lodge in the very first episode of Beaver Creek. An artifact for some future animators museum! Some where Nick Park is smiling. Thanks Ian.
