Moo.NEY] THE MOON AND THK THUNDERS 257 



comino' to see her. He was so much ashsiiiied to have her know it. 

 that he kept as far awa}' as he eould at the other end of the sky all the 

 night. Ever since he tries to keep a long way behind the Sun. and 

 when he does sometimes have to come near her in the west he makes 

 himself as thin as a ribbon so that he can hardly be seen. 



Some old people say that the moon is a ball which was flirown up 

 against the sky in a game a long time ago. Thej' say that two towns 

 were playing against each other, but one of them had the best runners 

 and had almost won the game, when the leader of the other side })icked 

 up the ball with his hand — a thing that is not allowed in the game — 

 and tried to throw it to the goal, ])ut it struck against the solid sky 

 vault and was fastened there, to remind players never to cheat. When 

 the moon looks small and pale it is because .some one has handled the 

 ball unfairly, and for this reason they formerly played only at the 

 time of a full moon. 



When the sun or moon is eclipsed it is because a great frog u}) in 

 the sky is trying to swallow it. Everybody knows this, even the 

 Creeks and the other tribes, and in the olden times, eighty or a hun- 

 dred j'ears ago, before the great medicine men were all dead, when- 

 ever they saw the sun grow dark the people would come together and 

 tire guns and beat the drum, and in a little while this would fi-ighten 

 ofl' the great frog and the sun would be all right again. 



The common people call both Suti and Moon Jt^uncM, one being 

 "Nundii that dwells in the day" and the other '•Niiiida that dwells in 

 the night," but the priests call the Sun Sii'talidihi', "Six-killer." and 

 the Moon (tc'' i/aciii'ya. though nobody knows now what this word means, 

 or whv they use these names. Sometimes people ask the Moon not to 

 let it rain or snow. 



The great Thunder and his sons, the two Thunder boys, live far in 

 the west above the sky vault. The lightning and the rainbow are 

 their beautiful dress. The priests pra}^ to the Thunder and call him 

 the Red Man. Viecause that is the brightest color of his dress. There, 

 are other Thunders that live lower down, in the clifi's and mountains, 

 and under waterfalls, and travel on invisible bridges fi'om one high 

 jieak to another where they have their town houses. The great Thun- 

 ders above the sky are kind and helpful when we pray to them, l)ut 

 the.se others are always plotting mischief. One must not point at the 

 rainbow, or one's tingei- will swell at the lower joint. 



9, WHAT THE STARS ARE LIKE 



There are different opinions about the stars. Sonu^ say they are 

 balls of light, others say they are human, but most people say they 

 are living creatures covered with luminous fur or feathers. 



One night a hunting party camping in the mountains noticed two 

 lights like large stars moving along the top of a distant ridge. They 



l'.» KTH— 01 17 



