BRINGS-DOWN-THE-SUN TELLS ABOUT THE BIRDS AND THE STARS
We were seated by our camp-fire with the old chief and his family. My
Indian sister, Strikes-on-Both-Sides, and Long Hair delighted the
children, making whistles from cottonwood bark and toy lodges from
leaves of the balsam poplar, winding them around their fingers into the
shape of little tepees and fastening them together with twigs. They set
them up like real lodges and made them into a big camp in the form of a
circle.
Then we gave Brings-Down-the-Sun the collection of roots and herbs we
gathered especially for him; and a rare medicinal root called “sharp
vine” by the Indians, one of his favorite remedies for breaks and
sprains. He was so glad to get it that he chanted and prayed over it.
After putting our present carefully in an old medicine sack, he seated
himself apart from the others, and with dignity waited for the women
and children to become quiet.
From his manner I knew he was ready for his Indian stories and hastened
to prepare notebooks and writing equipment. The old chief was watching,
for he said with a smile:
“My white son there reminds me of a squirrel; he runs in one direction
as if to steal something, then darts quickly in another; he never sits
still a moment; he is always on the move.”
At that moment a woodpecker with red-crested head called from a tree
top. Brings-Down-the-Sun pointed to the bird and said: “He calls to the
worms and bugs to stick out their heads; he is hungry and wants to eat
them.”
I asked the chief to tell about other birds and their songs. He
replied:
“We called the yellow-breast (Western meadow-lark) ‘big-rump-bird,’
because he is so broad across the back. He is one of the first birds to
come in the spring. We are always glad to see him; when he comes we
know that summer is near. He has different songs: ‘Good whistler (his
wife) is a selfish woman’; also, ‘Your sister has a black skin.’
“The black breast (horned lark) sings in the air: ‘Spread out your
blanket and I will light upon it.’
“Summer bringers (white-throats) sing: ‘The leaves are budding and
summer is coming.’
“We call the bird that chatters among the bushes, when women are
gathering berries, ‘stingy-with-their-berries’ (kingbird). A bird with
long legs and black breast (spotted sandpiper) we call
‘shadow-in-the-water,’ because it stands in shallow water and looks at
its own shadow.
“My father taught me how to read the future, by watching the flights of
birds and the habits of wild animals. Of all the birds, we look upon
the raven as the wisest. When I see one soaring over our camp, I know a
messenger is coming from a distance. If two ravens sit near a trail
with their heads close together, it is a sign an enemy is near. On a
hunt, if I see a flock of ravens playing together, I go in that
direction and am sure to find game.
“My father told me how to read the signs in the sky—if the sun paints
his face (sun dogs), a big storm is coming; when the ‘fires of the
northmen’ (aurora) show in the sky, a heavy wind is coming; a ‘feeding
star’ (comet), is a sign of famine and sickness; and if the sun hides
his face (eclipse), a great chief is about to die. The rainbow is the
‘lariat’; it is the Thunder roping the rain; and the storm will slow
up.”
CALENDAR OF MOONS
“The first moon of winter (November) is the ‘wind-moon,’ or ‘time
of the first big snow.’
“Last of December and early January, ‘moon of the first warm wind’
(chinook).
“January, ‘moon when the jack rabbit whistles at night.’
“February, ‘moon of heavy snows,’ or ‘when buffalo calves are
black.’
“March, ‘moon of sore eyes,’ or ‘moon when the geese fly north.’
“April, ‘moon when ice breaks up in the rivers.’
“The spring moon has different names—‘time when the trees are
budding,’ ‘when buffalo calves are yellow,’ ‘when the buffalo plant
is in flower,’ ‘when the grass begins to grow.’
“May, ‘moon when the leaves come out.’
“June, ‘moon of high water.’
“Late June and July, ‘moon of flowers,’ ‘when strawberries get
ripe.’
“We call August, ‘home days.’
“September, ‘moon when the leaves turn yellow.’
“October, ‘moon when the leaves fall.’
“Last of October and early November, ‘moon when the geese fly
south.’
“My father used to sit by the lodge-fire on long winter evenings
and tell us stories and the wonderful things that happened in his
life. He told about the Stars and the Sun and the Moon, saying:
THE BUNCHED STARS
“There is a family of small stars in the sky; we call them Bunched
Stars. They are some children that got lost from an Indian camp on
the plains long ago.
“This happened in the spring, the moon when the buffalo calves are
yellow. Some hunters were driving buffalo over a cliff. When they
went back to camp, they gave the little yellow skins of the buffalo
calves to their children, who wore them in playing.
“There was a poor family in the camp, whose children did not get
any of the calfskins; and the others made fun of them.
“Then the poor children were ashamed, because they were not dressed
like the others. They ran away from the camp and got lost on the
plains. They had no place to go, so they went up to the sky. We
know they are the Bunched Stars (Pleiades), because they never show
themselves in the spring—the time buffalo calves are yellow. But,
in the fall, when the calves are brown, you can see the Bunched
Stars in the sky every night.”
THE SEVEN STARS (Ursa Major)
“There is a constellation in the north sky we call the Seven Stars.
They belonged to a family of nine children, two girls and seven
boys. The oldest girl had many suitors, but she would not marry.
She went every day into the forest to gather wood.
“One day her little sister followed; and when they were in the
forest together, the older girl left her and went off alone. She
stayed a long while and came back with her clothes covered with
earth and leaves. The younger girl said to herself: ‘There is
something my sister does when she goes alone; and now I shall find
out.’ Next day she followed secretly; she saw her sister having a
good time with a big grizzly bear; and came home and told her
father.
“Then the father was angry. He said to his oldest daughter: ‘Now I
know why you do not marry any of our young men; you have a grizzly
bear for your lover.’
“He went through the camp and called to the people: ‘I have a
grizzly bear for a son-in-law; he waits near by in the forest; let
us all go forth and kill him.’ So they went out and killed him.
“Then the girl stood by the body of her bear lover and mourned. His
spirit came to her in a dream and bestowed his supernatural power
upon her. After that she wore a piece of his skin for a charm and
could do wonderful things.
“One day she suddenly changed herself into a big grizzly bear. She
went through the camp and killed all the people; she spared only
her little brother and sister. And the three of them lived
together. But all this time the six older brothers were away on the
warpath.
“One day the little sister went to the river with her water pails
and met the brothers coming home from war. She told them about
Bear-Skin-Woman—how she had killed all the people and would surely
kill them too.
“Then the brothers planned to save their little brother and sister.
They gathered prickly pears and scattered them in the dark, leaving
only a narrow path from the tepee. That night the two children ran
away in the dark and joined their waiting brothers by the river.
“As soon as Bear-Skin-Woman knew they had gone, she turned herself
into a grizzly bear and followed them. But the prickly pears got
into her feet and she had to stop to pull them out.
“It turned out that the little brother, whose name was Body Chief,
was a medicine man with great power. He carried a bow with magical
arrows and wore an eagle feather in his hair. When he heard their
bear sister coming, he took his feather and made a lake between
them and the bear; again he made a thicket to hold her back; and
another time they all climbed into a tree.
“When the bear came to the tree, she said: ‘Now where can you go? I
am going to kill all of you.’
“She climbed into the tree and knocked six of the brothers down;
only Body Chief and his little sister were left. Then a little bird
lighted in the tree near Body Chief and sang:
“‘Shoot her in the top-knot.
Shoot her in the top-knot.
You must shoot the top of her head.’
“By this time the bear was near Body Chief, so he took one of his
magical arrows and shot her. She fell dead, and Body Chief came
down from the tree.
“Now six of the brothers were dead. But Body Chief shot six of his
arrows into the air. Each time he brought a brother back to life,
until they were all alive again.
“Then Body Chief said: ‘Now what shall we do? Our relatives and
friends are all dead and we have no place to go.’
“The oldest brother said: ‘Let us go to the sky and become seven
stars in the north. Then people will always know that the morning
comes from us.’
“So Body Chief took one of his eagle feathers. He waved it over his
head, and the brothers went up to the sky one after the other. They
took the same places they had in the tree, with the four oldest at
the bottom. Body Chief, the medicine man, is the end star in the
constellation, and their little sister the small star at one side.
Every night you can see the brothers move around the sky, until
their heads are up in the morning. And that is how the Seven Stars
(Ursa Major) came to be.”
Then Brings-Down-the-Sun arose and pointing to the bright constellation
in the north, said: “Behold! The last brother is pointing down towards
the prairie and the light of day will soon come.”