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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



O-JE-A-NEH-DOH, THE SKY ELK 



So-son-do-wah, the Hunter. Ga-ji-son-da, the Star Woman 



He was a mighty hunter, the So-son-do-wah ! 1 The sun glanced 

 at the forest as it beamed upon the earth with its morning light, the 

 forest where O-je-a-neh-doh, 2 the Sky Elk, stood silent as a shadow 

 as his broad antlers brushed back the branches of an oak. Ne-o-ga 

 was bewildered, the dazzling sunbeams confused him. He had 

 wandered far in the earth forest all the night. O-je-a-neh-doh 

 knew not the sun, the sun does not shine on the elk fields of the 

 sky, so far above it, whence O-je-a-neh-doh had lingered too long 

 to return. 



So-son-do-wah, who knew every deer track in the forest and 

 had watched through the night with the pride of a hunter, looked 

 upon O-je-a-neh-doh with awe. In all the forests he had never 

 seen such an elk, but in the honor of his hunter heart and by the 

 law of his religion, he must give all game a chance for its life. 

 His bent bow was waiting, his aim was sure, and his unerring 

 .arrow ready for flight when, as a warning, So-son-do-wah shook a 

 small sapling and it whirred like a partridge taking its flight. » 



Alert, O-je-a-neh-doh lifted his head as he snuffed the air and, 

 with a bound, sped through the tangled ways of the hazy shades 

 as So-son-do-wah sent his swift arrows after him. 



Up the rise and down the low places, across streams, now speed- 

 ing in circles, then bounding over the hollows, O-je-a-neh-doh 

 raced and So-son-do-wah followed, near enough to see his arrows 

 strike only to fall blunt to the ground. 



Hour after hour the O-je-a-neh-doh ran on, hour after hour 

 So-son-do-wah followed. 



The noon sent its sun rays straight down to the bushlands; in 

 his mocking flight O-je-a-neh-doh sped on and So-son-do-wah 

 followed. Sunset shaded the forest; yet, like a wild winged thing 

 O-je-a-neh-doh silently fled as So-son-do-wah followed. Night 



the hunters. Do they slay him? Yes, for he turns over. Now, why do leaves turn red 

 and yellow when he turns over? Because his blood and oil spill down. Then how does 

 he come to life again? Ah, his spirit hides in the cave, enters a new body and starts 

 out again in the spring. So this is the reason for that group of lights. I have discovered 

 what they are. 



A very slight suggestion may start and give direction to a train of thought that results 

 the same in independent minds. Thus undoubtedly the bear constellation myth had its 

 origin. The reader who is interested in the bear myth is directed to Salisbury Hagar's 

 masterful essay in the Journal of American Folk Lore, volume 13, page 92. 



1 So-son'-do-wah means Great Night. 



1 The name is usually written Jo-na£n-da\ 



