Miohpokoiksi (The Lost Children, a.k.a. Pleiades) As Recorded By David Duvall

The Bunched Stars

In a camp of our people there was a family of six boys. Their parents were very poor. Every spring the people went out to hunt for buffalo. At this time of the year, the buffalo-calves are red, and their skins are much desired for children's robes. Now as the parents of these children were very poor, and not able to do much hunting, these boys had to wear brown robes or those made of old buffalo-skins. As the children grew up, they were constantly reminded of the fact that they had no red robes. The other children of the camp sometimes made fun of them because of this. So one day one of the boys said to his brothers, "Why is it that we never get any red robes? If we do not get any next spring, let us leave the camp and go up into the sky." Then the boys went out to a lonely place to talk the matter over. Finally they agreed that, if they did not get red robes in the following spring, they would go up to the sky country. The spring hunting-season passed, but no red robes came to the boys. Then the oldest brother said, "Now I shall take you all up to the sky." The fourth brother said, "Let us also take all the water away from the people, because they have been bad to us."

Then the oldest brother took some weasel-hair and placed a little on the backs of his brothers. Then he took another bunch of hair, put it first into his mouth, then rubbed it on his palm. "Now shut your eyes," he said. Then he blew the weasel-hair up, and, when the brothers opened their eyes, they found themselves in the house of the Sun and Moon. The Sun, who was an old man, and the Moon, who was his wife, said, "Why have you come?" "We left the earth," said the oldest brother, "because the people never gave us red robes. All the other children had red robes to wear, but we had only brown ones. So we have come to you for help." "Well," said the Sun, "what do you want?" The fourth brother said, "We should like to have all of the water taken away from the people for seven days." Now the Sun made no answer to this; but the Moon took pity on the poor boys and said, "I will help you; but you must stay in the sky." The Moon pitied the boys so much that she cried. She asked the Sun to aid her in taking away the water from the people; but the Sun made no answer. She asked him seven times. At last he promised to aid her.

Now the next day on the earth was very hot. The water in the streams and lakes boiled, and in a short time it all evaporated. The next night was very warm and the moonlight strong. When the water was gone, the people in the camp said, "Let us take two dogs with us out to the river-bed." When they came to the bank of the river, the two dogs began to dig a hole in the side of the bank. When they had dug a long time, water came out of the hole like a spring. This is the way springs were made. Even to this day, all the people have great respect for their dogs because of this. The days were so hot that the people were forced to dig holes into the hills and crawl into them. They would have died, if they had remained on top of the ground. When the water in the springs gave out, the dogs made other springs. Now the leader of the dogs was a medicine-dog. He was old and white. On the seventh day, the dogs began to howl and look at the sky. The leader of the dogs was praying to the Sun and the Moon. He explained to the Sun and Moon why it was that the boys got no red robes. He asked them to take pity on the dogs below. (This is why dogs sometimes howl at the moon.) On the eighth day the Sun and Moon gave the people rain. It was a great rain, and it rained for a long time.

The six boys remained in the sky, where they may be seen every night. They are the Bunched Stars [Pleiades].