# Journal of American Folk-Lore/Volume 13/Issue 51/Onondaga Tales of the Pleiades

ONONDAGA TALE OF THE PLEIADES.
The Huron-Iroquois seem to have taken little note of the stars, though the sun and moon had a prominent place in their mythology and customs. The north star could not well escape their attention, and they called it the star which always stands still. The Great Bear was not entirely overlooked, but the Pleiades formed their favorite constellation.
Indeed, the Indians along the Atlantic coast displayed much the same judgment. Roger Williams says they called the Great Bear by its familiar name, and they had another for the belt of Orion. Some called the Pleiades the Seven Stars, and others the Brooding Hen, or literally, "They sit apart from others," or are grouped together. Wassenaer said of the Indians of New York, "The women there are the most experienced star-gazers; there is scarcely one of them but can name all the stars; their rising and setting; the position of the Arctos, that is the wagon, is as well known to them as to us, and they name them by other names."
Among the Onondagas a single star is O-chis-tan-oo-kwa, adding i-nune in the plural, "Spotting the sky." I have been promised other star stories, but so far have but one from original sources, not greatly differing from one told by Mrs. E. A. Smith. It is of the Pleiades, or Oot-kwa-tah, "There they dwell in peace."
A long time ago a party of Indians went through the woods toward a good hunting-ground, which they had long known. They travelled several days through a very wild country, going on leisurely and camping by the way. At last they reached Kan-ya-ti-yo, "the beautiful lake," where the gray rocks were crowned with great forest trees. Fish swarmed in the waters, and at every jutting point the deer came down from the hills around to bathe or drink of the lake. On the hills and in the valleys were huge beech and chestnut trees, where squirrels chattered, and bears came to take their morning and evening meals.
The chief of the band was Hah-yah-no, "Tracks in the water," and he halted his party on the lake shore that he might return thanks to the Great Spirit for their safe arrival at this good hunting-ground. "Here will we build our lodges for the winter, and may the Great Spirit, who has prospered us on our way, send us plenty of game, and health and peace." The Indian is always thankful.
The pleasant autumn days passed on. The lodges had been built, and hunting had prospered, when the children took a fancy to dance for their own amusement. They were getting lonesome, having little to do, and so they met daily in a quiet spot by the lake to have ​what they called their jolly dance. They had done this a long time, when one day a very old man came to them. They had seen no one like him before. He was dressed in white feathers, and his white hair shone like silver. If his appearance was strange, his words were unpleasant as well. He told them they must stop their dancing, or evil would happen to them. Little did the children heed, for they were intent on their sport, and again and again the old man appeared, repeating his warning.
The mere dances did not afford all the enjoyment the children wished, and a little boy, who liked a good dinner, suggested a feast the next time they met. The food must come from their parents, and all these were asked when they returned home. "You will waste and spoil good victuals," said one. "You can eat at home as you should," said another, and so they got nothing at all. Sorry as they were for this, they met and danced as before. A little to eat after each dance would have made them happy indeed. Empty stomachs cause no joy.
One day, as they danced, they found themselves rising little by little into the air, their heads being light through hunger. How this happened they did not know, but one said, "Do not look back, for something strange is taking place." A woman, too, saw them rise, and called them back, but with no effect, for they still rose slowly above the earth. She ran to the camp, and all rushed out with food of every kind, but the children would not return, though their parents called piteously after them. But one would even look back, and he became a falling star. The others reached the sky, and are now what we call the Pleiades, and the Onondagas Oot-kwa-tah. Every falling or shooting star recalls the story, but the seven stars shine on continuously, a pretty band of dancing children.
In Mrs. Smith's story one of the seven children sings as he rises in the air, and becomes the faintest star of the group. She gives some other very brief tales, the most notable being that of the Great Bear. While I had hoped to add others, it seemed best to delay no longer the pretty tale of the lost children, brief as it is. Moral: feed children well.
W. M. Beauchamp.