Brings-Down-the-Sun tells the story of Morning Star and Star Boy:
There are two bright stars in the sky that sometimes rise together, just before the sun comes up: Morning Star and Young Morning Star or Star Boy.
This story was related to me by my father, having been handed down to him through many generations: The Legend of Star Boy or Scar Face.
We know not when the Sun Dance had its origin. It was long ago, when the Blackfoot used dogs for the beasts of burden instead of horses; when they stretched the legs and the backs of the dogs on sticks to make them large, and when they used stones instead of pegs for the lodges. In those days, during the moon of the flowers (early summer), our people were camped near the mountains. It was a cloudless night. Every summer the people came to camp together in a big circle camp. There were lots of things that the people came to camp together to do so they would have a good time together. This night the sky was cloudless and a warm fragrant breeze blew over the camp. Two young girls were sleeping outside in the long grass, outside the lodge. Before the dawn broke the eldest of the two sisters, So-at-sa-ki (Feather Women), awoke.
The Morning Star was just rising from the prairie. He was beautiful, shining through the clear night air of the early morning. She lay gazing at the wonderful star, until he seemed very close to her, and then she imagined he was her lover. Finally, she awoke, her sister exclaiming, "Look at the Morning Star! He is beautiful, and must be wise. Many of the young men have wanted to me to marry me, but I love only Morning Star."
When the leaves were turning yellow (autumn) So-at-sa-ki became very unhappy, finding herself with child. She was a pure maiden, although not knowing the father of her child. When the people discovered her secret, they taunted her and ridiculed her, until she wanted to die.
One day while the geese were flying southward , So-at-sa-ki, went alone to the river for water. As she was returning home, she beheld a young man standing before her on the trail. She modestly turned aside to pass, but he put forth his hand, as if to detain her, and she said angrily, "Stand aside! None of the young men have ever before dared to stop me."
He replied, "I am Morning Star. One night, during the moon of the flowers, I beheld you sleeping in the open and loved you. I have now come to ask you to return to the sky, to the lodge of my father, the Sun, where we will live together and you will have no more trouble."
Then So-at-sa-ki remembered the night in the spring, when she slept outside the lodge, and now realized that Morning Star was her husband. She saw in his hair a yellow plume, and in his hand a juniper branch with a spider web hanging from one end. He was tall and straight and his hair was long and shining. His beautiful clothes were of soft tanned skins, and from them came a fragrance of pine and sweet grass. So-at-sa-ki replied hesitatingly, "I must say farewell to my father and mother." But Morning Star allowed her to speak to no one. Fastening the feather in her hair and giving her the juniper branch to hold, he directed her to shut her eyes. She held the upper strand of the spider web in her hand and placed her feet upon the lower one. When he told her to open her eyes, she was in the sky world. They were standing together before a large lodge. Morning Star said, "This is the home of my father and mother, the Sun and the Moon," and bade her to enter.
It was daytime and the sun was away on his long journey, but the Moon was at home. Morning Star addressed his mother saying, "One night I beheld this girl sleeping on the prairie. I loved her and she is now my wife." The Moon welcomed So-at-sa-ki to their home. In the evening, when the Sun Chief came home he also gladly received her. The Moon clothed So-at-sa-ki in a soft tanned buckskin, trimmed with elk-teeth. She also presented her with the sacred paint, saying, "I give you these because you have married our son." So-at-sa-ki lived happily in the sky with Morning Star and learned many wonderful things.
When her child was born, they called him Star Boy. The Moon then gave So-at-sa-ki a root digger, saying, "This should only be used by pure women. You can dig all kinds of roots with it, but I warn you not to dig up the large turnip growing near the home of Spider Man. You have now a child and it would bring unhappiness to us all."
Everywhere So-at-sa-ki went, she carried her baby and the root digger. She often saw the large turnip but was afraid to touch it. One day, while passing the wonderful turnip she thought of the mysterious warning of the Moon, and she became curious to see what might be underneath. Laying her baby on the ground, she dug until her root digger struck fast. Two large cranes came flying from the east. So-at-sa-ki besought them to help her. Thrice she called to them in vain, but upon the forth call, they circled and lighted beside her. The chief crane sat upon the side of the turnip and his wife on the other side. He took hold of the turnip and his wife on the other. He took hold of the turnip with his sharp bill, and moved it backwards and forwards, singing the medicine song. He repeated this song to the North, to the South, to the east and then to the west. After the forth song he pulled up the turnip. So-at-sa-ki looked through the hole, through which Morning Star had brought her into the sky. Looking down, she saw the camp of the Blackfoot people, where she lived. She sat for a long time gazing at the familiar scene. The young men were playing games. The women were tanning hides and making lodges, gathering berries on the hills, and crossing the meadows to the river for water.
When she turned to go home, she was crying, for she felt lonely, and longed to be back with her people.
When So-at-sa-ki arrived at the lodge, Morning Star and his mother were waiting. As soon as Morning Star looked at his wife he exclaimed, "You have dug up the big turnip!" When she did not reply, the Moon said, "I warned you not to dig up the big turnip because I love Star Boy and do not want to part with him." Nothing more was said because it was day-time and the great Sun Chief was still away on his long journey.
In the evening when he entered the lodge, he exclaimed, "What is the matter with my daughter? She looks sad and must be in trouble."
So-at-sa-ki replied, "Yes, I am homesick, because I have to-day looked down upon my people."
Then the Chief Sun was angry and said to the Morning Star, "If she has disobeyed, you must send her home." The Moon interceded for So-at-sa-ki but the Sun answered, "She can no longer be happy with us. It is better for her to return to her own people." Morning Star led So-at-sa-ki to the home of the Spider Man, whose web had drawn her up to the sky. He placed on her head the sacred Medicine Bonnet, which is worn only by pure women. He laid Star Boy on her breast, and wrapping them both in the elk-skin robe, bade her farewell, saying, "We will let you down into the centre of the Indian camp and the people will behold you as you come from the sky." The Spider Man then carefully let them down through the hole in the earth.
It was an evening in midsummer, during the moon when the berries are ripe, when So-at-sa-ki was let down from the sky. Many of the people were outside their lodges, when suddenly they beheld a bright light in the northern sky. They saw it pass the heavens and watched until it sank to the ground. When the Indians reached the place where the star had fallen, they saw a strange looking bundle. When the elk-skin cover was opened, they found a woman and her child.
So-at-sa-ki was recognized by her parents. She returned to their lodge and lived with them but was never happy. She used to go with Star Boy to the summit of a high mountain, where she mourned for her husband. One night she remained alone on the ridge. Before day-break, when Morning Star arose from the plains, she begged him to take her back. Then he spoke to her, "You disobeyed and therefore cannot return to the sky. Your sin is the cause of your sorrow and has brought trouble to you and your people."
Before So-at-sa-ki died, she told all these things to her father and mother, just as now I tell them to you. Star Boy's grandparents also died. Although born in the home of the Sun, he was very poor. He had no clothes, not even moccasins to wear. He was so timid and shy that he never played with the other children. When the Blackfeet moved camp, he always followed barefoot far behind the tribe. He feared to travel with other people, because the other boys stoned him and abused him. On his face was a mysterious scar, which became more marked as he grew older. He was ridiculed by everyone and in derision was called Poia (Scarface).
When Poia became a young man, he loved a maiden of his own tribe. She was very beautiful and the daughter of a leading chief. Many of the young men wanted to marry her, but she refused them all. Poia sent this maiden a present, with the message that he wanted to marry her, but she was proud and disdained his love. She scornfully told him, she would not accept him as her lover until he would remove that scar from his face. Scarface was deeply grieved by the reply. He consulted with an old medicine woman, his only friend. She revealed to him that the scar had been placed on his face by the Sun God, and that only the Sun himself could remove it. Poia resolved to go to the home of the Sun God. The medicine woman made moccasins for him and gave him a supply of pemmican for the journey.
Poia journeyed alone across the plains and through the mountains, enduring many hardships and great dangers. Finally he came to the Big Water (Pacific Ocean). For three days and three nights he lay upon the shore, fasting and praying to the Sun God. On the evening of the forth day, he beheld a bright trail leading across the water. He traveled this path until he drew near the home of the Sun, when he hid himself and waited. In the morning the great Sun Chief came from his lodge, ready for his daily journey. He did not recognize Poia. Angered at beholding a creature from the earth, he said to the Moon, his wife, "I will kill him, for he comes from the good-for-nothing-race." But she interceded and saved his life. Morning Star, their only son, a young man with a handsome face and beautifully dressed, came forth from the lodge. He brought with him dried sweet grass, which he burned as incense. He first placed Poia in the sacred smoke, and then led him into the presence of his father and mother, the Sun and the Moon. Poia related his story of his long journey, because of his rejection by the girl he loved. Morning Star then saw how sad and worn he looked. He felt sorry for him and promised to help him.
Poia lived in the lodge with the Sun and the Moon with Morning Star. Once, when they were hunting together, Poia killed seven enormous birds, which had threatened the life of Morning Star. He presented four of the dead birds to the Sun and three to the Moon. The Sun rejoiced, when he knew that the dangerous birds were killed and the Moon felt so grateful that she besought her husband to repay him. On the intercession of Morning Star, the Sun God consented to remove the scar. He also appointed Poia as his messenger to the Blackfeet promising, if they would give a festival (Sun Dance) in his honor once every year, he would restore their sick to health. He taught Poia the secrets of the Sun Dance, and instructed him in the prayers and songs to be used. He gave him two raven feathers to wear as a sign that he came from the Sun, and a robe of soft tanned elk-skin, with the warning that it must be worn only by a virtuous woman. She can then give the Sun Dance and the sick will recover. Morning Star gave him a magic flute and a wonderful song, with which he would be able to charm the heart of the girl he loved.
Poia returned to the earth and the Blackfoot people by the Wolf Trail (Milky Way), the short path to the earth. When he had fully instructed the people, concerning the Sun Dance, the Sun God took him back to the sky with the girl he loved. When Poia returned to the home of the Sun, the Sun God made him bright and beautiful like his father, Morning Star. In those days Morning Star and his son could be seen together in the east. Because Poia appears first in the sky, the Blackfoot often mistake him for his father, and he is therefore sometimes called Poks-o-piks-o-aks – Mistaken Morning Star.
I remember, continued Brings-Down-the-Sun, when I was a young man, seeing these two bright stars rising, one after the other, before the Sun. Then, if we were going to war, or on hunting expeditions, my father would awake me saying, "My son, I see Morning Star and Young Morning Star in the sky above the prairie. Day will soon break and it is time we are started."
McClintock, W. (1968) The Old North Trail, as told by Brings-Down-the-Sun (1896).