English
The woman created a home for herself on this new Earth, and soon her daughter was born. The woman and her daughter lived off the plants and roots and continued to walk the path of the Sun to keep the Earth growing. The girl grew up on this Earth, never knowing about the Sky-World above and never seeing another being like herself.One day, when the girl had become a woman, a man appeared. No one knows where this man came from. Perhaps he was sent from the gods above. The girl was so filled with wonder to see this strange man that she lost her senses and fainted. The man yielded two very different arrows and laid them in opposite directions across the body of the girl. Then he disappeared.When the girl awoke, she knew that she would bear twins. Even before they were born, there was contention between the twins. There was no peace between these two brothers. When it was time for them to be born, the right-handed twin wanted to be born in the normal way. The left-handed twin saw light in the other direction and was determined to be born through his mothers mouth or nose. In his attempt to be born in the opposite direction, he killed his mother.The right-handed twin accused his brother of murdering their mother, and their quarrels continued until it was time to bury their mother. With the help of their grandmother, they made her a grave. From her head grew the three sister plants: corn, beans, and squash. From her heart grew tobacco, which people still use to give thanks in ceremony. She is called our mother and the people dance and sing to her to make the plants grow.The conflict between the twins continued, and for some reason their grandmother favored the left-handed twin. The right-handed twin became angry and resentful. He was the truthful twin who always did the right thing. The left-handed twin was deceitful and did everything backward. You could never trust him.The twins represent the two ways of the world which are in all people. The Indians do not call these good and evil. They call them the straight mind and the crooked mind, the righteous man and the devious man, the right and the left.How are the twins different from each other?The right-handed twin is tricky; the left-handed twin is clever.The right-handed twin does right; the left-handed twin does wrong.The right-handed twin is wicked; the left-handed twin is trustworthy.The right-handed twin is like his mother; the left-handed twin is like his father.
Read the excerpt from "Miguel and the Lyrebird." Luna is a lyrebird with a very nice life in a forest near Sydney, Australia. She can mimic almost any sound she hears, copying animal, nature, and even human-made noises. She is hunting for her next meal when she sees a frog who runs behind a tree, saying, "ribbit, ribbit," so Luna says, "ribbit, ribbit," as she chases the frog. How do the details about the setting in this excerpt contribute to the plot?
