| Category: | Native American Legends |
|---|---|
| Notes: | Various Tribes |
Once there was a curious coyote who lived with his friends, the five wolf brothers. Every day the wolf brothers and their dog would go hunting. When they came home, they shared their meat with coyote. They also talked around the campfire about something strange and frightening they had seen in the sky. But they would never tell coyote what it was.
Every night coyote would ask the wolf brothers what they had seen in the sky. His curiosity grew and grew. Finally one of the wolf brothers said, "Let's tell coyote what we have seen." They agreed to tell him that very night.
The wolf brothers told coyote about two strange animals they had seen high in the sky. They were very brave hunters, but there was no way they could get near the creatures. Soon coyote had a plan!
Coyote gathered many arrows together and began shooting the arrows into the sky. The first arrow stuck. The second arrow stuck to the first, and the third arrow stuck to the second. After a while, there was a trail of arrows leading up into the sky.
The next morning coyote, the five wolf brothers, and their dog climbed the arrow trail. They climbed for many days and nights, and finally reached the sky. The two animals in the sky were fierce grizzly bears, and coyote was afraid. But the two youngest wolf brothers were not afraid. They approached the grizzly bears and nothing happened, so the next two wolf brothers followed. Finally, the oldest wolf brother and his dog joined the group.
Coyote admired the beautiful picture they made in the sky. He began to back down the trail of arrows, breakng off the arrows as he went. To this day, the wolf brothers and their dog face the two grizzly bears in the sky. We call this sky picture the Big Dipper. When Meadowlark sings at night, he is telling everyone to come and look at coyote's picture in the sky.
The grizzly bears are the stars in the Big Dipper's bowl that point to the North star. The youngest wolf brothers are the stars that face the bears acorss the bowl of the dipper. The middle wolf brothers are the fist and last stars in the handle of the dipper. The oldest wolf brother and his dog are Mizar and Alcor, the two stars which appear as the middle star of the handle.