The Turtle Story

Tremor Tales - The Turtle Story

This is a story the Gabrielino Indians used to tell. These Indians once lived in San Gabriel Valley in Southern California where earthquakes are common. They told this story to explain the cause of earthquakes and how California was made.

Long, long ago, before there were people, there was hardly anything in the world but water. One day, Great Spirit looked down from heaven. He decided to make a beautiful land. But where could he begin? All he saw was water. Then he spotted a giant turtle. The turtle was as big as an island. Great Spirit decided to make the beautiful land on the turtle's back.

One turtle was not big enough. The land Great Spirit wanted to make was very large. So he called out, "Turtle, hurry and find your six brothers."
Turtle swam to find them. It took him a whole day to find the first. It took another day to find the next. After six days, turtle had found his six brothers. "Come", he said. "Great Spirit wants us." Great Spirit called down. "Turtles! Form a line, head to tail, north to south. Umm, you three to the south, please move a little to the east. Hmmm. There, that's just right. What a beautiful land you will make!"

Then Great Spirit reminded them, "It is a great honor to carry this land on your backs. So you must not move!"

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