338 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. V. 



are the lower end, the earth." They separated, the snake going under- 

 ground, and he on his way with the bow. He came back to his camp 

 and looked for the old woman's tent. He saw it, and first went behind 

 it, to the west, and hung his bow on a tree. Then he went in to the 

 old woman. "I am surprised ! You have been away long. What 

 did you do?" she said to him. Little-star said: "I was nearly killed 

 by a snake. I lay on the ground for many months. Now I think it 

 is best for me to go away from you men, for I know I shall always 

 perform something and thus do injury to some one.''' Then the old 

 woman said to him : "You ought to have asked your grandparents 

 before you decided what to do to the snake. Now go to your grand- 

 father and grandmother and father. Do not go in any other direction ; 

 go directly to them. You thought a wise thing when you thought of 

 going to them." "It is well," said Little-star. He went out of the 

 tent, and started to go to his bow. It was dark. He met a young 

 man. He said to him : "Come with me ! I will show what I possess." 

 The young man followed him, and they came to where he had left 

 the bow. Then he unwrapped it, and let the young man see all that was 

 tied to it, and explained the ©leaning of everything. Then he said : 

 "This I shall leave with^ you, for you and for all men. . It will guide 

 you. It contains the gift of the father, of the earth, the animals, man- 

 kind, rivers, woods, of what is on and under ground, of breath (life). 

 There will be a change (wars) in the future. This will be your weapon. 

 All weapons will be made from this one. Now I will show you that 

 it is true. Thus I shall go up, by this bow." Then he motioned with the 

 bow in his right hand ; then took it in his left and made the same 

 motion ; again he took it in his right, and again in his left hand. Then 

 the fifth time he swung it in the middle, while all the feathers on it 

 moved.* Then he gave it to the young man, and he himself rose to the 

 sky and became a star." — K. 



• The bow was also called lance (kaaxayenan) by the narrator. It forms a Constellation of 

 several stars in a long row. Near it are a group of stars called baetcet, hand. 



'An argument between sun and moon is found in J. O. Dorsey, Contr. N. A. Ethn., VI, 328 

 (Dhegiha), and in Journ. Am. Folk Lore, XIII, 164 (Cheyenne). The incident of the ascent of a wo- 

 man to the sky by means of a tree and porcupine is only known to occur among Arapaho, Gros 

 Ventre, and Kiowa (cf. illustration in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn., XVII, Mooney, Calendar History of 

 the Kiowa, 238). The more common myth of the women who wished for stars, and found them- 

 selves in the sky is found among the Gros Ventre. Micmac, Dakota, Chilcotin, Quinault. Lkungen, 

 and other tribes, thus possessing a very wide range. The descent from the sky by means of a 

 rope occurs among the Kathlamet fBull. Bur. Ethn., No. 26, p. 17), Quinault (Farrand, Mem. 

 Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., IV, 109), Chilcotin (ibid., 29). The myth of the ascent to the sky has many 

 other forms in North America, The sky is made to tilt, a chain of arrows is shot into it, the 

 spider draws people up, ropes are shot up, or persons tiy to the sky after putting on bird skins. 



