Indian Myths

The Sun and his wife, the Moon, had many children. These children are the stars. Among these were seven little girls. They were of the same age. Everyone loved them, for they were beautiful, gentle, and kind. They were the sweetest singers and the loveliest dancers in all the sky. They were called the Singing Maidens.

These little girls often looked down to the Lower World. They were sad when the hunter could find no food for his wife and children. And they were filled with sorrow when the corn would not grow.

One day they said to their father, the Sun, “Let us go down to visit the people in the Lower World. They are good. We love them. We wish to sing and dance in their village.”

The Sun said, “You must not go. Stay in your own country. Be happy here.”

When the Sun had gone away, the Singing Maidens went to walk in a grassy field where many trees grew. They looked down to the Lower World. They saw the children playing on the yellow sand by the lake. They saw children swimming and splashing in the blue waters. Little children were running along paths down the green banks to the shining lake.

The Singing Maidens were filled with delight. “Look!” they cried. “See the glorious shores! See them beautiful children! That is a lovely land. We should like to go down and sing and dance with the happy children on the banks of the bright lake.”

Then the Singing Maidens came down to the Lower World. They sang for the Indian children. They danced upon the waters of the lake. The children clapped their hands. They danced along the lake shore.

The people in the village heard the Singing Maiden. They said, “What music is this? We never heard so beautiful a song. Let us see who visit our children.”

They ran down to the lake. As they reached the shore a cloud cast a shadow over the Lower World. It was the cloud of the Little Turtle. The voice of Heno rolled in thunder over the lake and about the mountains. It was the Keeper of the Heavens sent to bring back the truant Maidens.

The Sun was angry with the Singing Maidens. He said, “I will give you a place so far away that you can never again visit the Lower World.”

Then he sent them to a place so far off in the skyland that we can scarcely see the faces of these little stars. But they still look down with love upon the lake, the woods, and all the children of the world!

And the Indian mother says yet to her children in the twilight, “Be quiet. Sit here at my feet. Soon you may hear the Singing Maidens as they dance among the leaves of the trees.”

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