Title: Little Brother Snares the Sun
Tribe: Winnebago
Region: Michigan
Object: Sun
In the old days people were not the chiefs and did not hunt animals. Animals were the chiefs and hunted people. They killed all the people except one girl and her little brother. They hid in a cave. The boy learned to kill snowbirds with a bow and arrow and made a robe from the feathers. They made soup from the bodies of the birds and that was the first time people ate meat. The bright sun ruined the robe one day and the little brother swore revenge. His sister helped him fashion a snare. He traveled to the hole in the ground where the Sun rises every morning. As the Sun rose he snared it and tied it up so that there was no light or warmth that day. The animals were afraid and amazed by the boy. They sent the biggest and most fearsome animal to try and free the sun. This was the doormouse which in those days was as big as a mountain. The mouse chewed through the snare freeing the sun but meanwhile the intense heat shrunk him down to his present size. Since that time the people have been the chiefs and the hunters.
Background was created by Brad Snowder of the
Western Washington University Planetarium .
Legend from
Starlore of Native America, assembled by Brad Snowder.
Used with permission.
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