I would Like to thank CreeGirl for all her time on sending me these wonderful stories and prayers. My Deer Friend, I dedicate this page to you. Thanks again for the help. Aho, Wolf Spirit Dancer
One time there were 5 Wolves, all brothers, who traveled together. Whatever meat they got when they were hunting they would share it with Coyote.
One evening Coyote saw the Wolves looking up at the sky. "What are you looking at my Brothers?" asked Coyote "Oh, nothing," said the oldest Wolf.
The next evening Coyote saw that they were all looking up in the sky at something. He asked the next oldest Wolf what they were looking at, but he wouldn't say.
It went on like this for three or four nights. No one wanted to tell Coyote what they were looking at because they thought he would want to interfere.
One night Coyote asked the youngest Wolf Brother to tell him, and the youngest Wolf said to the Wolves, "Let's tell Coyote what we see up there. He won't do anything."
So they told him. "We see two animals up there. Way up there, where we can't get to them." "Let's go up and see them," said Coyote. "Well how can we do that?" said the Wolves. "Oh, that's easy. I can show you how to get up there without any trouble." Replied the Coyote.
Coyote gathered a great number of arrows and then began shooting them into the sky. The first arrow stuck in the sky, and the second arrow stuck in the first. Each arrow stuck in the end of the arrow before it, until there was a ladder reaching down to Earth.
"We can climb up now" he told the Wolf Brothers. The oldest Brother took his dog with him, and the other four Wolf Brothers with him, and then the Coyote. For many days and nights they climbed, until they finally reached the sky.
They stood in the sky and looked over at the two animals the Wolves had seen from down below. They were two Grizzly Bears.
"Don't go near them, they'll tear you apart," cried the Coyote. But the two youngest Wolves were all ready on their way over there. And the next two youngest followed them. Only the oldest Wolf held back. When the Wolves got near the Grizzlies, nothing happened. The Wolves sat down and looked at the Bears, and the Bears sat down and stared at the Wolves.
The oldest Wolf, when he saw that it was safe, came over with his dog and sat down with them.
Coyote wouldn't come over. He didn't trust the Bears. "That makes a nice enough picture though. I think I will leave it that way for everyone to see. Then when people look at them in the sky they will say, 'There's a story about that picture,' and they will tell a story about me."
So Coyote left it that way. He took the arrows as he desended so there was no way for anyone to get back. From down on Earth Coyote admired the arrangement he had left up there.
Today they still look the same. They call those stars the "Big Dipper" now. If you look up there you'll see the three Wolves that make up the handle, and the oldest Wolf is in the middle, and still has his dog with him. The two youngest Wolves make up the part of the bowl under the handle, and the two Grizzlies make up the other side, the one that points to the north star.
When Coyote saw how they looked, he wanted to put up a lot of stars. He arranged stars all over the sky in Pictures, and then made the Big Road across the sky with the stars he had left over.
When he was done he called Meadowlark over. "My Brother, When I am gone, tell everyone that when they look up into the sky and see the stars arranged this way, I was the one who did it." Now Meadowlark tells the story of Coyote.
One day a warrior was moving things around in his home, getting ready to go on a raiding party. But as he was putting together his arrows, he looked up and saw a spider building a web above his bed.
The young man desided to put the spider outside, and as he was moving to the door, the spider spoke to him. "Please let me stay in your home, and I will give you a great gift."
The warrior asked what a spider would have that he wanted. "I know that the spirits of the night have been to visit you, and that they play pranks on you and won't let you sleep at night. They can be a very bad thing for a warrior. I know how to get rid of these pesky spirits," said the spider.
The warrior gratefully agreed to help, and went about his business to go on the raiding party.
When he got home later that evening, the spider had built her home above his bed. She told him that all would now be well with the spirits. He went to sleep that night wondering if the spider was really there to help him, but was willing to accept her for the time being.
That night, when the spirits came to play their tricks on him, they got caught in the little spider's web.
In the morning, when he opened the flap to his home, the morning sun burned the spirits away. The warrior thanked the spider for her help and told her that she could stay with him as long as she wanted.
She explained to him that sometimes good spirits would be by to visit him, and they would go through the hole in the center of her web and would not be caught.
Since that day, the spider is the Keeper of the Dreams.
The Sun lived on the other side of the sky vault, but her Daughter lived in the middle of the Sky, directly above the Earth.
Everyday as the Sun was climbing along the Skyarch to the West, she used to stop at her Daughter's house for dinner.
Now the Sun hated the People of this Earth, because they never looked straight at her without squinting. She said to her Brother, the Moon,
"My Grandchildren are ugly, they screw up their faces whenever they see me."
But the Moon Said, "I, like my younger brothers, think they are handsome." This was because they always smiled pleasantly at his mild glow in the night-time Sky.
The Sun was jealious of the Moon's popularity and decided to kill the people.
Everyday when she got near her Daughter's house, she sent down such sultry heat, that fever broke out, and the people died by the hundreds.
When everyone had lost some friends, and it seemed as if no one would be spared, the humans went for help to the Little Men. These men, who were friendly Spirits, said that the only way the people could save themselves was to kill the Sun.
The Little Men made medicine to change two humans - The Spreading Adder, and the Copperhead- Who could hide near the Daughter's door and bite the Old Sun. The snakes went up to the Sky and lay and wait until the Sun arrived for dinner. But when the Adder was about to spring, her bright light blinded him and he could only spit out yellow slime, as he does to this day when he tries to bite.
The Sun called him a nasty thing, and went into the house,and the Copperhead was so discouraged that he crawled off without trying anything.
The people still dying from the terrible heat, went a second time to the Little Men for help. Again, the Little Men made medicine, and changed one man into the great Uktena, the Water Monster, and another into a Rattlesnake. As before, the serpents had instructions to kill the Old Sun.
When she stopped at her Daughter's house, Uktena was large and fierce, with horns on his head, and everyone thought he would be sure to succeed.
But the Rattlesnake was so eager that he raced ahead and coiled up just outside the house. When the Sun's Daughter opened the door to look for her mother, he struck and she fell dead in the doorway.
Forgetting to wait for the Old Sun, he went back to the people. The Uktena was so angry at the Rattlesnake's stupidity that he went back too.
Since then we pray to the Rattlesnake and don't kill him, because he wishes the people well, and never tries to bite if we don't disturb him.
But Uktena grew angerier and more dangerous all the time. He became so venomous that if he even looked at a man, the man's whole family would die.
Eventually the people held a council and decided that he was just to dangerous, so they sent him to Galun'lati, The End of the World, where he still is.
When the Sun found her Daughter dead, she shut herself up in the house and grieved. Now the people were no longer dying from the heat, but they lived in Darkness. Once more they sought the help from the Little Men, who said;
"In order to coax the Sun out, they must bring back her Daughter from Tsusgina'i." This is the Ghost Country, which lies in Usunhi'yi, the Darkening Land of the West.
The people chose seven men to make the journey. The Little Men told the seven to take a box, and told each man to carry a Sourwood Rod a handbreadth long.
When they got to Tsusgina'i, the Little Men explained that they would find all the ghosts at a dance, they should stand outside the circle, and when the Sun's Daughter danced past them, they must strike her with the rods and she would fall to the ground. Then they could put her into the box and bring her to her mother. BUT, they must not open the box, even a crack until they arrived home.
The seven men took the rods and the box and traveled West for seven days until they came to the Darkening Land.
There they found a great crowd of ghosts having a dance, just as if they were alive.
The Sun's Daughter was in the outside circle. As she danced past them, one of the seven men struck her with his rod. As she swung around the second time, another touched her with his rod. And then another, and another, until at the seventh round she fell out of the ring. The men put her into the box and closed the lid. The other ghosts never seemed to notice what had happened.
The seven men took up the box and started home towards the East.
In a while the girl came to life and begged to be let out, but the party went on without answering. Soon she called again and said that she was hungry, but they did not reply. When at last the group was very near to home, the Daughter of the Sun cried that she was smothering, and begged to let them raise the lid just a little. Now they were afraid that she was rwally dying, so they barely cracked the lid to give her some air.
There was a fluttering sound, and something flew past them into the bushes. Then they heard a redbird cry, "Kwish! Kwish! Kwish!" Shutting the lid, they went on again. But when they arrived at the settlements and opened the box, it was empty.
So we know that the redbird is the Daughter of the Sun. And if the party had kept the box closed, as the Little Men told them to, they could have brought her home safely, and today we would be able to recover our friends from the Ghost Country. Because the seven men opened the box however, we can never bring back people who die.
The Sun had been hopeful when the party had started off for the Darkening Land, but when they came back without her Daughter, She wept until her tears caused a great flood.
Fearing that the world would drown, the people held another council and decided to send the handsomest young men and women to amuse the Sun, and stop her from crying. This group danced before her and sung their best songs, but for a long time she kept her face bowed and paid no attention.
At last, when the Drummer suddenly changed the song, she looked up and was so pleased at the sight of the beautiful, young people, she forgot her grief, and smiled :)
In the days long past, when the Earth and the people on it were still young, all the Ravens were white as snow. In those ancient times the people had nither horses, firearms, or weopons of iron. Yet they depended upon the Buffalo hunt to give them enough food to survive. Hunting the big buffalo on foot with stone-tipped weopons was hard, uncertain and dangerous.
The Ravens made things even more difficult for the hunters, because they were friends with the buffalo. Soaring high above the Prairie, they could see everything that was going on. Whenever they spied the hunters approaching a herd of buffalo, they flew up to their friends and pearching between their horns and warned them "Caw, caw, caw cousins, the hunters are coming. They are creeping through that gully over there, they are coming up behind the hills, watch out! Watch out! Caw, caw, caw!" Hearing this, the buffalo would stampede and the people would starve.
The people held a council to decide what to do. Now, among the Ravens was a large white one, twice the size of the others, and he was there leader. One wise old Chief got up and made this suggestion, "We must capture this big white raven and teach him a lesson, it is either that or go hungry." He brought out a large buffalo skin, with the head and horns still attached. He put it on the back of a young Brave and said, "Nephew, sneak among the buffalo. They will think you are one of them, and then you can capture the big white raven."
Disguised as a buffalo, the young man creapt among the herd as if he were grazing. The big shaggy beasts paid him no attention. The hunters marched out from their camp after him, their bows at the ready. As they approached the herd, the ravens came flying in, as usual, warning the herd. "Caw, caw, caw cousins, the hunters are coming to kill you. Watch out! Watch out! Caw, caw, caw!" And as usual, the buffalo stampeded away, all that is, except the young hunter in disguise under the shaggy skin, who pretended to go on grazing as before.
Then the big white raven came down and pearched on his horns and said to the 'buffalo', "Caw, caw, caw brother, are you deaf? The hunters are close by, just over the hill! Save yourself!" But the young brave reached out from under the buffalo skin and grabbed the raven by the legs. With a rawhide string, he tied the big birds feet and fastened the other end to a stone. No matter how the raven struggled, he could not escape.
Again the people held a council. "What shall we do with this bird, who has made us go hungry time and again?" Was the question on everyones lips.
"I'll burn him up!" answered one angry hunter, and before anyone could stop him, he yanked the raven from the hands of his captors and thrust it into the fire, string, stone and all. "This will teach you!" he cried to the bird.
Of course, the string that held the stone burned through almost immediately, and the big raven managed to fly out of the fire. But he was badly singed, and some of his feathers were charred. Though he was still big, he was no longer white. "Caw, caw, caw!" he cried, flying away as quickly as he could. "I'll never do it again; I'll stop warning the buffalo, and so will all the Raven Nation. I promise! Caw, caw, caw."
Thus the raven escaped. But ever since, all ravens have been black.
THE BIG DIPPER
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE DREAM CATCHER
THE SUN & HER DAUGHTER
HOW THE RAVENS BECAME BLACK
TAKE ME HOME