Sacred Texts  Native American  Northwest  Index  Previous  Next 


A boy ridicules a Star and is taken up by it to the sky where he is tied to the smoke-hole of the Star's house. The boy's father is told by a woman how to recover his boy. He shoots arrows up to the sky, making a chain, which he climbs. He sees a man, to whom he gives tobacco, red paint, and sling-stones in return for advice. The father then carves figures in the shape of his son, of different kinds of wood, finally of yellow cedar. He ties this figure on the roof in the place of his son. The figure cries when sparks fall on it. The father escapes with his son. Finally the figure stops crying, and the escape of the boy is discovered. The Stars pursue the fugitives, who throwaway the tobacco, paint, and sling-stones. The Stars stop and paint their faces. Therefore the Stars are red and blue. The man who had given advice swells on receiving more paint and tobacco and obstructs the way of the Stars. The father and his son safely descend the chain of arrows.

Next: Rotten-feathers