![]() When I shared this story with my ten-year-old son, Arden, he astutely observed, “ if Muskrat didn’t make his sacrifice, we would not be here”. When the waiting creatures had given up, the muskrat floated to the surface more dead than alive, but he clutched in his paws a small morsel of soil.” Basil Johnston The small hope that each had nurtured for the success of the muskrat turned into despair. ![]() “They waited for the muskrat to emerge as empty handed as they had done. So he dives down while the animals and sky-woman wait. Though ridiculed, Muskrat, the most humble of the water creatures, is determined to help. ![]() Finally, Muskrat volunteers, much to the scorn of the others. The water animals (the beaver, the marten, the loon) all try to help her and fail. She asks the water creatures to bring her soil from the bottom of the waters so that she may use it to make new land. Sky-Woman survives and comes to rest on the back of a great turtle. In the version re-told by Anishnabe storyteller Basil Johnston in his work Ojibway Heritage, there has been a great flood and most life on Earth has perished, with the exception of birds and water creatures. Although there are perhaps as many variations of the story as there are storytellers sharing it, the Muskrat as a central figure remains the same. The Muskrat (Wa-zhushk) of the Anishinabe Re-Creation story is an easily relatable character. Professor Deborah McGregor challenges us to reconsider an unsung hero
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