The Circle of Stars: An American Indian Folktale

Seven children (traditionally told with boys) are playing a rock game in the space where the dances are held in the village. The mothers call for the children to gather some corn so they can make corn soup. The kids just keep playing. The mothers keep asking. They keep playing. The mothers get mad and put rocks in the soup. When the children come up to eat, they find rocks in their soup. They get mad and run down to the dance space and begin dancing in a circle. They begin to rise in the sky. The mothers decide to come down and tell the children to come and have a real lunch, but the circle of children is going higher and higher. One mother grabs a stick that has a curved hook on the end and reaches up. She is able to hook her child’s foot. She pulls. He comes down and goes down into the earth. The mother cries, and her tears water the spot. The circle of dancers continues to rise into the darkening sky. They turn into a circle of stars (Pleiades). From the spot in the ground, a tall pine grows that points toward the middle of the circle of stars. The Cherokee say the tree and the stars share the same spirit.