The Girl Who Married A Star

The following data is extracted from Traditions of the Caddo.

    One time a maiden slept in an arbor, and as she lay under the blue sky she watched the stars. One star especially she watched, and she wished that it would become a man and marry her, for she did not care for any of the young men of the village. She went to sleep wishing that the star would marry her. When she awoke she saw no stars, but an old man sitting by the fireside. "Where am I?" she asked. "Your wish is granted; you are the Star's wife. I am the Star." She began to cry, for the man was old and homely and she was young and beautiful, and so she had dreamed that her husband would be. The Star's sister was preparing something to eat, and she told the girl to stop crying and come and eat. After a while the two women went out to dig potatoes. They saw one big potato, and the girl asked the Star's sister what the big potato was for. She answered that it was the door of heaven, and that it covered the entrance to the world beneath. Then the girl cried again and begged the woman to let her go back to her people. She told her how unhappy she was and what a mistake she had made in wishing to marry the Star. The woman told the Star all that his wife had said, and so the Star agreed to let her return to her people in six days. The two women went out to gather bark from young elm trees to make a rope for the girl to climb down to earth on. After they had gathered the bark they began to make the rope and the Star helped them. After six days the rope was only half long enough, and so the old man said she would have to wait six more days until they could complete the rope. On the eleventh day the rope was finished, and the Star's sister cooked some corn meal for the girl to eat on the way and filled a squash vessel with water for her. The Star told her to start early the next morning, for it would take her ten winters and summers to get to the earth. They fastened her to the end of the rope and then removed the potato and let her through the hole and gradually let the rope slip out. At first she could see nothing but darkness; then after a long time she could see the earth. After she had traveled through many waves of warm and cold air, she knew she had been on her way many summers and winters. Her food was almost gone and still she was a long way from the earth. Suddenly the rope ceased to slip and she hung swinging back and forth. She had come to the end of the rope. It was not long enough. She hung there for a long time and was about to die from hunger and weariness when she saw Buzzard circling around below her. She called to Buzzard to come and help her. He came, and after she had told him her story he told her to get on his back; that he would take her down to earth. Buzzard flew for a long time and the girl was heavy, so that he nearly gave out. He saw Hawk flying below him, and he called Hawk and asked him to help him take the girl home. Hawk flew with the girl until they could see the mountains and the rivers; then he gave out. Buzzard took the girl on his back again, and thanking Hawk for his help, told him to go his way; that he could take the girl on to her home. Buzzard flew on and on until they could see the trees, and soon they were even with the tops of the highest trees. Then Buzzard told the girl to go into her lodge when she went home and not to let any one but her father and mother see her. She was so thin that she was little more than skin and bones. Buzzard flew to the ground and lighted very gently just outside the girl's village. He pointed out her parents' lodge to her and then said good-bye and flew away.
    The girl rested for a while and then began to walk very slowly to the lodge, for she was weak and exhausted. On the way she saw a woman coming toward her. She hid behind a bush, but the woman saw her and screamed, for the girl was so thin that she frightened her. The girl told the woman not to be afraid and told her who she was. Then the woman recognized the lost maiden and helped her to her lodge. Her mother did not know her at first, but when she found that the girl was her daughter she threw her arms about her and wept. The news of the girl's return spread throughout the village, but her parents obeyed her wish and refused to let any one see her until after the tenth day. Then they came to her tipi and she told them her story and especially about the kindness shown her by Buzzard.
    After that the people always left one buffalo for the buzzards after a big killing.

Source: Traditions of the Caddo

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