I obtained the following legend from the lips of an Indian trader,
whom I met at the island of La Pointe, in Lake Superior. He said it
was related to him by a hunter of the Chippewyan nation, and that he
had heard a similar story among the Chippeways.
There was once a quarrel among the stars, when one of them was driven
away from its home in the heavens and descended to the earth. It
wandered from one tribe of Indians to another, and had been seen
hovering over the camp-fires of a thousand Indians, when they were
preparing themselves to sleep. It always attracted attention and
inspired wonder and admiration. It often lighted upon the heads of
little children, as if for the purpose of playing with them, but they
were invariably frightened and drove it away by their loud crying. Among
all the people in the world, only one could be found who was not afraid
of this beautiful star; and this was a little girl, the daughter of a
Chippewyan warrior. She was not afraid of the star, but rather than
this, she loved it with her whole heart, and was very happy in her love.
That she was loved by the star in return there could be no doubt, for
wherever she traveled with her father through the wilderness there, as
the night came on did the star follow, but it was never seen in the day
time. When the girl awoke at night, the star floated just above her
head; and, when she was asleep, it was so constant in its watchfulness,
that she never opened her eyes, even at midnight, without beholding its
brilliant light. People wondered at this strange condition of things,
but how much more did they wonder, when they found that the father of
the girl never returned from the hunt without an abundance of game. They
therefore concluded that the star must be the son of the Good Spirit,
and they ever after spoke of it with veneration.
Time passed on, and it was midsummer. The Indian girl had gone into the
woods for the purpose of gathering berries. Those of the wintergreen
were nearly all eaten up by the pigeons and the deer, and, as the
cranberries were beginning to ripen, she wandered into a large marsh
with a view of filling her willow basket with them. She did so, and in
the tangled thickets of the swamp she lost her way. She became
frightened and cried aloud for her father to come to her assistance. The
only creatures that answered her cries were the frogs and the lonely
bittern. The night was rapidly coming, and the farther she wandered the
more intricate became her path. At one time she was compelled to wade
into the water even to her knees, and then again would she fall into a
deep hole and almost become drowned among the poisonous slime and weeds.
Night came, and the poor girl looked up at the sky, hoping that she
might see the star that she loved. A storm had arisen, and the rain fell
so rapidly that a star could not live in it, and therefore was there
none to be seen. The storm continued, the waters of the country rose,
and in rushing into the deeper lakes, they destroyed the Indian girl,
and washed her body away so that it never could be found.
Many seasons passed away and the star continued to be seen above the
watch-fires of the Chippewyans; but it would never remain long in one
place, and its light appeared to have become dimmed. It ever seemed to
be looking for something that it could not find, and people knew that it
was unhappy on account of the untimely death of the girl it had loved.
Additional years passed on, and with the leaves of autumn, it finally
disappeared. A cold and long winter soon followed, and then the hottest
summer that had ever been known. During this season it so happened that
a hunter chanced at night to follow a bear into one of the largest
swamps of the land, when to his astonishment he discovered a small light
hanging over the water. It was so beautiful that he followed it for a
long distance, but it led into such dangerous places that he gave up the
pursuit, and returned to tell his people what he had seen. And then it
was that the oldest men of the tribe told him that the light he had seen
was the star that had been driven from heaven, and that it was now
wandering over the earth for the purpose of finding the beautiful girl
it had loved. And that same star is still upon the earth, and is often
seen by the hunters as they journey at night through the wilderness.