_Dakota_
A people had this camp. And there were two women sleeping out of doors
and looking up at the stars.
One of them said, "I wish that that large and bright shining star were
my husband."
The other said, "I wish the star that shines less brightly were my
husband."
And immediately both were immediately carried upward, they say. They
found themselves in a beautiful country which was full of beautiful
twin flowers. And they found that the star which had shone most
brightly was a large man; the other star was only a young man. So the
two stars married the two women and they lived in that beautiful Star
Country.
Now in that country was a plant, the Teepsinna, with large, attractive
stalks. The wife of the large star wanted to dig them. Her husband
said, "No; no one does so here."
Then the camp moved. When the woman had pitched her tepee, and came
inside to lay the mats, she saw there a beautiful teepsinna. She said
to herself, "I will dig this; no one will see me." So she took her
digging stick and dug the teepsinna; but when she pulled it out of the
earth, the foundation of the Star Country broke and she fell through
with her baby. So the woman died; but the baby was not injured. It lay
there stretched out.
An old man came that way. When he saw that the baby was alive, he took
it in his blanket and took it to his own lodge. He said to his wife,
"Old woman, I saw something today that made my heart feel badly."
"What was it?" she asked.
"A woman lay dead; and a little baby boy lay beside her kicking."
"Why did you not bring it home, old man?" she asked.
"Here it is," he said. Then he took it out of his blanket.