THE GIRL WHO MARRIED A STAR. 45 
14. THE GIRL WHO MARRIED A STAR.* 
In olden times, when the people lived upon the Missouri River, 
there was a village. In this village there were two girls who, in the 
night, slept outside of their lodge on an arbor. As they lay upon the 
arbor one night they were talking about the different young men in the 
tribe whom they liked. One of them spoke of liking a certain young 
man, while the other girl said she did not like any one of the young 
men in the tribe. She looked into the sky. She saw a bright, red star 
in the heavens towards the east. She said, “There stands the star I 
like, and if that star were here upon the earth I would marry him.” 
The girls then went to sleep. 
In the morning they arose and went after water. As they were 
coming back, they saw a porcupine. The girls ran after it and tried to 
kill it. One of them said she wanted to get the porcupine, for she did 
not have enough quills to do some of her work. The porcupine got 
to a cottonwood tree that was near the river. The girl climbed up after 
it. ‘The other girl wanted to go home and get an axe, so that they 
might chop the tree down, but this particular girl who had said she 
liked the star, said, “No, I can climb.” She climbed the tree. 
As the girl climbed up the tree the tree grew higher. The girl 
disappeared, so the girl on the ground went home and told what had 
happened. The girl kept on climbing for the porcupine until she 
reached another world. When the girl came into the other world she 
recognized that she was in a strange country, and she began to cry. 
The porcupine ‘had turned into a man. The man spoke to the girl, 
and said: “Why do you cry? I am the Star that you saw and that 
you said you liked. I went down after you. I turned myself into a 
porcupine and you came after me, and now you are here in my home.” 
The girl saw that the mar was not young, but middle-aged, though he 
was very handsome. She stayed with him and liked him, but the man 
kept going away every night. She cried every night, for she wanted to 
return to her people. 
Many years afterward she gave birth to a male child. When the 
child was born his mother found the picture of a star upon his fore- 
head. This woman told her husband one time that her son wanted 
some wild turnips and that she wanted to go and dig some. The man 
told her that it was very well for her to go and dig these turnips, but 
that she must not go to the valleys to dig them, but she must go to 
high places. While she was out digging these turnips she thought 

*Told by Yellow-Bear, 
