"And I," declared her sister, "choose for my husband that little twinkling Star!"
By and by the sisters slept; and when they awoke, they found themselves in the sky! The husband of the elder sister who had chosen the bright star was an old warrior with a shining name, but the husband of the younger girl was a fine-looking young man, who had as yet no great reputation.
The Star men were kind to their wives, who lived very happily in their new home. One day they went out to dig wild turnips, and the old warrior said to his wife:
"When you are digging, you must not hit the ground too hard!"
The younger man also warned his wife, saying:
"Do not hit the ground too hard!"
However, the Earth forgot, and in her haste she struck the ground so hard with the sharp-pointed stick with which she dug turnips, that the floor of the sky was broken and she fell through.
Two very old people found the poor girl lying in the meadow.
They kindly made for her a little wigwam of pine boughs, and brought ferns for her bed. The old woman nursed her as well as she could, but she did nothing but wail and cry.
"Let me go to him!" she begged. "I cannot live without my husband!"