Traditions of the Arikara

by George A. Dorsey

[15] Told by Yellow-Bear.

15. THE GIRL WHO MARRIED A STAR.[16]

One night two pretty young maidens were sleeping on top of a summer arbor. They were ill with monthly sickness. One said, “Kario, I love that little bright star, and I wish it was my husband.” That same night, while sleeping, the girl was taken away up in the heavens, to live with her husband, he giving her instructions what to do and what not to do. He could not always stay at home, as he was in the chase. One of the instructions was that the woman should never dig up an Indian turnip at slough-like places. While her husband was away, the woman determined she would discover the mystery connected with her husband’s injunction. When she had dug the turnip she saw what the mystery was. She saw the people living on this earth looking like crawling insects.

When she saw this she cried and cried and cried. She went to an old woman for comfort. The old woman saw that the woman had been crying; so she questioned her and found out her trouble. The woman answered that she could easily be relieved of her trouble. So she advised her to collect all the sinew she could find from the meat her husband brought.

The girl told her husband she wanted all the sinew there was in all the game he killed, even the very smallest piece. Her husband did as she asked, not knowing her intention. When a very large number had been made the woman took the sinew and went to the old woman, who began to make what she had promised to make for her. “Come back in a few days,” she said, “and I will have the thread ready for you. Remember to come when your husband goes on a long chase.”

The husband started on a chase, and the girl went to the old Woman’s lodge and told her that her man had gone. The old woman got her sinew rope and fixed it around the woman’s waist and began to let her down—down—down. She went with her first child on her back. The place she started down was where she had dug up the forbidden root. The twine was lacking about twenty or more feet. The old woman was an old spider, it was found. Old Spider-Woman did not have enough cobweb and sinew, so the woman hung on the rope, not able to touch the earth.

When her husband returned he found his wife missing. He began to look for her. He thought at once of his order, and so went out where she usually dug. He found a stick in the grass. He discovered the rope tied around the stick, and his wife and child hanging away down near the earth. He picked up a stone and talked to the stone, saying, “Do not harm the boy, but kill the mother.” Down—down—went the stone, and struck the young mother on the head; it cut the rope and her body fell; but the boy was safe. The boy stayed by his mother’s body and fed himself at her breast for a time. Her body began to decay.

The boy went off and got into a cornfield, not knowing that it was corn. When lonesome he returned to his mother. The owner of the field was an old woman. She saw the footprints in her field. She wondered what it could be. She made a little ball and a crooked stick, also a little bow and arrows. She thought if it was a girl she would take the ball and crooked stick, but if it was a boy he would take the bow and arrows. When the old woman looked she found the little fellow had taken the bow and arrows.

The old woman was very joyful. The little fellow had done much damage to her squash vines with his bow and arrows. She went out and hid in the field, waiting for the little fellow. The boy came as usual with his weapons and the old woman sprang out and caught him, saying, “Oh, atine, atine; you are to come home with me.”