B27B. Transformation into Stars. .45.-.47.50.59.61.63.65.68.

The characters ponder what they would best become and decide to become a star object.

Delaware [seven stars - Pleiades], Blackfoot [seven stars - Ursa Major], Assiniboine [seven stars - probably Pleiades], Crow [seven stars - Ursa Major], Comanche [seven stars], Natchez [seven stars - Pleiades], Walapai [Pleiades], (Mojave [meteor]), Taulipan [various constellations], Calinha [Orion], Cofan [Pleiades], Mundurucu [Milky Way], Central Andes (mountains of southern Peru?) [Pleiades], Nambiquara [Magellanic Clouds].

Northeast. Delaware : Bierhorst 1995, #80 [seven boys can rise into the air and fall into the ground; the eighth cannot; his grandfather takes him to an island, abandons him there; the Horned Serpent takes him across when he promises to watch for thunderclouds; the boy does not keep his promise, the Thunders strike the Serpent the moment the boy jumps onto the shore; he becomes the Thunders' friend; the other seven boys turn into red pebbles; some man thoughtlessly dirtys them; they turn into pine trees; too many people come to rest in their shade; then the boys rise to the sky, turn into the Pleiades], 102 [seven "pure" youths turn first into pebbles, then into pines and cedars, then into the Pleiades], 134 [ditto; seven turn into stones, into cedars, into the Pleiades]: 47, 53, 62; Hitakonanu'laxk 1994 [the seven wise men are tired of the attention to their persons; they decided to become stones, but people still come to them; pines – the same; they became the seven stars (the Bunched Up Stars), the Pleiades]: 86-87 (=Miller 1997: 55).

Plains. Seven brothers ponder what to become; various objects rejected as flimsy; become the seven stars of the Big Dipper. Blackfoot : Josselin de Jong 1914 (Piegan) [a woman returns late while gathering firewood; her husband watches, sees her knocking on a tree, a snake comes out, they copulate; he calls the snake by the same signal, cuts its throat; next day the wife returns crying; her husband cuts her throat; her seven younger brothers see that only her head remains; the eldest turns into a beetle, sees her painting on a chamois, tells her where her brothers' scalps will be; her brothers send her out to get meat, run away; throw her her porcupine quills, scraper, paint; she rushes to pick them up; the brothers ponder what to become; reject transformation into stones (women will break them to make scrapers), wood (people will burn them), water (they will drink them), deer (they will kill them), birds (children will shoot them), grass (they will set them on fire); they rise into the sky, blowing on a feather, they turn into seven stars]: 43-37; Knox 1923 [each time, collecting brushwood, the wife returns late; the husband watches her, sees her knocking on a tree, a rattlesnake comes out of it, turns into a handsome man, copulates; he calls the snake with the same signal, cuts off its head; the wife finds the corpse, cries; the husband cuts off her head; her seven brothers find an empty dugout; they hear their sister's voice outside; she says that she is dead, does not allow them to look at her; the youngest peeks, sees the head flying over the skin, which it scrapes; brothers hunt, send the youngest in the form of a beetle to watch their sister; he sees how she tries on the skin the places where she will attach the scalps of her brothers; they send the sister for meat, run, taking her paint, scraper, porcupine quills, awl; they throw them away, she wastes time picking them up; they think what to turn into; water - people will drink; trees - they will cut down; grass - they will burn; stones - they will heat up for a steam room, the women will make scrapers; animals - they will kill and eat; birds - the same; the youngest offers to become stars; they blow on a feather, rise to the sky as the Big Dipper]: 401-403; Assiniboine [seven youths ponder what to turn into; earth (is dug), rocks (collapse), trees (are overthrown by storm), water (dries up), night (changes to day), light (changes to night) are rejected by the wise red-haired brother; only the sky and the stars are immortal; the brothers rise on the web to the sky, turn into seven stars (Monroe, Williamson 1987: 76-78: probably into the Pleiades); the web is given to the Spider forever]: Lowie 1909a, no. 21: 177; Crow: Lowie 1918: 126 [seven brothers debate what to become; mountains (sometimes burning), rocks (crackling), water (ice? - melting) rejected; they become Seven Stars; boy a single star nearby], 205-211 [in play, youngest sister asks eldest to become a bear; she says she will be real, youngest insists; eldest transforms, devours people; tells youngest to get rabbit; her six brothers give it to her; show how to convince Bear she killed it herself; Bear chases youngest sister; she sticks awls everywhere, they stick into Bear, she wastes time pulling them out; brothers tell sister to throw porcupine quills behind, Bear wastes time picking them up; given buffalo manifolds {buffalo dung?}, then a piece of bison stomach; sister throws it behind her, manifolds turn into flat rocks, stomach into pits; eldest sister climbs over rocks, gets stuck in last pit; brothers ask what they should all turn into; sister suggests what the smoking pipe points to, the Big Dipper; they are now the seven stars of the Big Dipper, sister accompanied by a little dog]: 211 [the seven brothers ponder what to turn into; earth (settles, caves in), trees (are chopped down), rocks (split), mountains (also settle), stars (fall) are rejected; they turn into the Big Dipper; sister had a little dog {apparently Alcor}]; McCleary 1997: 65-69 [Yellow Greaves climbed into a pit to bait eagles; a stone rolled down and blocked the exit; JN asked the mouse to help, she led him through the hole to another world; there the old man White Owl gave him the only arrow and ordered him to kill a monstrous elk; JN did not eat the soup that was served - there was a human hand in it; the bullfinch advised to turn to the moles; the mole dug an underground passage under the elk - to where his heart was; JN pierced the elk with an arrow and ran; the elk plowed the ground with his horn, rushed after him, but fell dead; JN brought the tip of the horn to the old man; he asked to bring the head of the Red-haired one; the bullfinch advises to turn to the ant-woman; JN swapped bodies with her, she gave her a louse with her; the Red-haired ones live with their mother on an island; the ant gave corn pemmican for the dog, she transported it to the island; while the dog was swimming, JN put pemmican in her mouth; Redhead's mother suspects deception, but her son slept with a false ant-woman at night; she avoided copulation, and when Redhead fell asleep, cut off his head and put a louse in its place; she answered Redhead's mother, and when her voice weakened, the mother entered, saw her dead son, and rushed in pursuit; JN managed to swim across to the ant-woman; the pursuer came, on her forehead she had a point like a spear, she began to hammer the tipi-rock, inside which the ant with JN was, but the ant immediately repaired the damage with her saliva; they opened the door a crack, the pursuer stuck her head in, they slammed the door, cutting off the head; they swapped bodies back, but not armpits, therefore women's armpits are more muscular,than men; the ant advises to ask the old man for his strength for the head she brought; JN received the strength of an owl and a fawn; on the way back JN meets three women who turn into an otter, a deer and an elk and run away; the fourth remained a woman – JN’s wife; she has seven brothers; JN and his wife came to the youngest; when the others arrived, they began to tease their son-in-law by throwing their limbs at each other; JN summoned an owl, which began to torment the fawn, the brothers felt pain and left JN alone; the younger brother gave his son-in-law his bear, and since then the wife’s relatives have been giving her husband gifts; everyone began to think about what to turn into; - Trees? - They die. - Rocks? - They crumble with time. - Water? - It dries up. Into the stars {of the Big Dipper}! The younger brother took his tame puma, it is a star near the handle of the ladle {Alcor}], 69-71 [seven brothers and a younger sister live together; the older brothers disappear one after another; the younger comes to the young man, who reports that his brothers are being kept by an old woman, her strength is in her digging stick; the owner of the next house gives the young man yellow, black, blue, red arrows; the young man shoots them, rushes after them; the kind old woman gives pemmican, explains what to do; at the river the young man feeds the pemmican to the dog, who carries him to the other bank; he takes the brothers, they feed the dog again, cross, and arrive home with the last arrow; the old woman-pursuer places the digging stick across the river; when it reaches the middle, the brothers turn it over, it falls into the water; the brothers ponder what to turn into so that the old woman does not overtake them; each time the sister says that this object is used by her mother; trees (for firewood), water (to soak skins), stones (to make scrapers for skins); they decide to become what the ends of the tubes point to; -with the last arrow they arrive home; the old woman-pursuer places a digging stick across the river; when it reaches the middle, the brothers turn it over, it falls into the water; the brothers ponder what to turn into so that the old woman does not catch them; each time the sister says that this object is used by her mother; trees (for firewood), water (to soak skins), stones (to make scrapers for skins); they decide to become what the ends of the tubes point to; -with the last arrow they arrive home; the old woman-pursuer places a digging stick across the river; when it reaches the middle, the brothers turn it over, it falls into the water; the brothers ponder what to turn into so that the old woman does not catch them; each time the sister says that this object is used by her mother; trees (for firewood), water (to soak skins), stones (to make scrapers for skins); they decide to become what the ends of the tubes point to; -But the stars are falling! – We will join hands and not fall ; they turn into the Big Dipper; the star by the handle of the ladle is the sister with her puppy]; Comanche [the father wants to drive away four sons and a daughter; the eldest thinks what to turn into; they turn into seven stars]: Saint Clair 1909b, no. 18: 282.

Southeastern United States. Natchez [seven men fast, decide to transform; reject transformation into pine trees, into stones (white men would cut them down and break them); transform into a constellation (probably the Pleiades)]: Swanton 1929, no. 14: 242.

Great Southwest. Walapai [Coyote rapes his eldest daughter; his wife and six daughters decide to transform themselves; do not want to be house posts, rocks, birds, or animals (hunters kill animals, posts may be broken, stones used for hearths); become Pleiades]: Kroeber 1935: 264-266.

Guiana. Taulipan [people ponder what they will become after the flood; transformations into various animals and birds are rejected, since they serve as food; they turn into stars: Chameleon, Dolphin, Turtle, Crab]: Koch-Grünberg 1923: 279; Calinha : Magaña 1983, no. 5 [a man tells his wife that he would like to sleep in the rain; this is a joke, but his wife's brothers tie him to a tree for the night; he takes his wife into the forest, asks her to help him weave a basket for meat, roasts his wife alive in the basket, gives the meat to her mother; she finds her daughter's jewelry under the meat; the brothers pursue the husband, cut off his leg and leave him in the boat; he ponders what to turn into; he does not want to be a tree (they will cut him down), a fish (they will catch him), an animal (they will kill and eat him), etc.; decides to become the constellation Epiietembo ], 6 [as in (5); rejects transformation into water (will be drunk), wild boar (will be killed and eaten), tree (will be cut down and burned); becomes the constellation E.]: 26-28, 28-29; Penar in Magaña, Jara 1982 [man to wife: It is raining, I will sleep well ; wife tells brothers that he wants to sleep in the rain; they tie him up in a hammock, leave him in the hammock overnight; while hunting, he tied his wife up in a basket, roasted her alive on a grill; fed her flesh to his mother-in-law; brothers catch up with him, cut off his leg; he rejects possibilities of transformation into various constellations, becomes Orion]: 119.

Western Amazonia. Cofan : Borman, Criollo 1990, no. 8 [a woman has two boys, their younger sister, and a baby boy; her husband is an underground trickster; while the mother is in the garden, the children begin to drum on a calabash and a mate cup in the house by a hole in the ground; something green appears from there – the trickster’s penis; the children do not recognize their father, take him for a snake, cut off the penis; they say: let this be a sign that people are mortal; the severed part crawls into the forest; the mother hears her husband’s groans, runs home, begins to drum, no one crawls out; she beats the children, drives them away, does not let them into the house; they begin to think about what to turn into; stones – people will make stands for the hearth; sand – they will dig holes for the supports of the house; earth – they will start walking on us; trees – they will cut down to build houses; rivers - will float along us in boats; cedars - will make dugouts out of us; in the evening they came to the pebbles on the river, raised their heads, saw the stars, decided to become stars; told their sister to spin a rope from cotton, broke off some reeds, tied the rope to the reeds, began to throw into the sky, but did not throw far enough; in the morning the younger brother asked the elder to give him some; he gave only a crooked reed; it stuck into the sky, the rope went down, became a ladder; the children climbed into the sky, they liked it there; they went back down to get a tame parrot; mother said that she would climb with them; they agreed, but told the parrot to cut the rope when mother climbed high; mother climbed, taking with her a stove bench, firewood, stones for the hearth, ashes; the parrot cut the rope, the children told their mother to become a laughing falcon (gavilan, Herpetotheres cachinnans); the mother burst into tears when she saw the children; the falcon's feathers turned white from the spilled ashes; the children became the Pleiades (when they are not visible, the rivers are in flood)]: 107-123; Calífano, González 1995, no. 38 [a woman has three small children; her husband is an underground worm; she beats her drum, sits on the ground, a penis rises from there; her daughter does the same, tells her brothers; the youngest cuts off the penis; it screams that the children have killed him; the children reject turning into stone (they will put it in the hearth), earth (they will trample it), wood (they will cut it down and burn it), sand; they decide to become stars; the youngest manages to throw a crooked stick into the sky; a ladder falls from there; they rise to the upper world, they like it, they return to take their parrot; the mother climbs after them, taking with her the ash-stained stones for the hearth; the children tell the parrot to cut the rope; the mother falls, turns into a nightjar (?; apparently, into a laughing falcon, see Borman, Criollo 1990), and cries piteously to this day]: 87-89.

Central Amazonia. Munduruku [ Nung-nung is offered by his friends to become a star, he refuses; agrees to become a stripe in the sky; lies down in a hammock, rises to the sky, becomes the Milky Way; when he is visible in the sky, fleas and lice are especially biting]: Murphy 1958, no. 19: 88.

Central Andes. Mountains (of southern Peru?) [during a drought, parents have nothing to feed their children; they give them pieces of their flesh cut from their arms and legs to eat; they leave the children in a cave; the children come out, find the mutilated bodies of their parents; they ponder what to become; they do not want to become a pile of stones (a hunter will scatter them, using them for a sling), water in a river (people will drink them and use them for irrigation), dust on a path (travelers will scatter them); they decide to rise to the sky, to become the Pleiades]: Benvenutto Murrieta 1935: 360-262 in Angeles Caballero 1990: 97-99.

Southern Amazon. Nambikwara [a young man's mother goes to another village to get cassava; he sleeps outside, wishes for two stars to be his wife; they come down to the village, lift him up to the sky; the stars' brothers invite him to play ball; they kill him by hitting him in the knee or head with the ball, and eat him; they always did this with their sons-in-law; the sisters turn the fruits into wild pigs; the brothers go hunting them, disappear; the sisters tell the other women to get ready to cook the meat; each one dies accidentally (chops herself with an axe, falls into the fire, into the water, is bitten by a dog, etc.); their children kill each other while playing; the Milky Way is a sign (trace?) of the dead children and women; the sisters ponder the best way to commit suicide; they decide not to drown themselves, not to jump into a deep hole, not to be bitten by a snake; they jump into the fire from a tree; the smoke from their burnt bodies turns into 1) the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds; 2) the younger sister into the Small Cloud; the older one into the Large (the part of her body that was burned more) and into the Coalsack (the part that was burned less)]: Pereira 1983, no. 90: 116-117.