ORIGIN OF THE SEVEN STARS

Seven young boys were playing and dancing together in the shade of a tree. After a while they became hungry. One of them went to the house and asked for some bread to eat; but the old woman would not give him anything. She said, "Be off, and go on playing!" So he could not do anything else but go back again. Another one went to the house and asked for some bread. The old woman was not willing [to give him any]. Once more she replied, "Now be off, and go on playing!" He went back to the tree, and they resumed playing. One of them soon made a drum, and they began to dance around the tree.

No sooner had they started the dance than they began to be lifted upwards, their feet leaving the ground while they were going around the tree. They went on dancing, and still higher in the air they ascended. Looking around, the old woman saw them dancing high up above the tree, while their leader was beating the drum. The matron looked again. As they were getting still higher, she ran to the tree with something for them to eat. Too late! they did not listen to her. Now, indeed, she was willing to give them food. So she cried out and asked them to come and eat. But they would not even notice her, and continued their dancing while moving upwards. In the end, the old woman gave up in despair and wept.

The seven stars which nowadays we see in a cluster high above are, in truth, the very same boys who were thus dancing together [long ago]. They were not given anything to eat: that is why. They became the Hutiwatsija, 'the Cluster,' which we now see [in the sky].

Two other brief versions of the same myth were recorded. The first was from Mary Kelley, of Wyandotte reservation, Okla., recorded in November, 1911. It is as follows: "I heard many old Wyandots say that once small boys danced for several days and nights without being given anything to eat. They were hungry and wanted food, but nobody would give them any. They kept dancing until, in the end, they went up into the sky. The people then brought them some food; but it was too late. The leader of the boys asked his friends not to look back. One of them looked back, fell from the sky and became a cedar tree."

The following is Mary McKee's version, recorded in June, 1911, at Amherstburg, Essex Co., Ont.: "A long time ago, so I was told, seven brothers went away, and they appeared in the sky as the seven stars. The seven brothers were thereafter known as the seven stars."