The Dipper

THE DIPPER

Once long, long ago, there was a man and a woman with seven kids. Once while her husband was away hunting in the forest she had sexual intercourse with a snake. The husband finds out, and after killing the snake he decides to kill his wife. Telling his children to run he hides inside his tent, when his wife puts her head in he chops it off. The head then decides to chase the children. When the head catches them it makes the children live in a tee-pee with it.
One day the head decides to go out and scrape a hide, telling the seven children to stay inside and not look out, the head goes out and begins to scrape. Soon the children become bored, and as children will they began daring each other to peek outside. Eventually one of the older boys peeks out of the tee-pee. The head knows this and decides that all her children are bad, and that it is going to kill them.
Knowing this the seven children run as fast as they can from the head. One of the younger girls gives an older brother and awl. The awl grows into many awls and traps the head for three days. When the head gets free it is madder than it was before and more determined to catch them than ever, when the little sister sees that the head is catching up again she hands one of her older brothers a piece of flint which turns into a raging fire. When the head finally makes it through the flames, all of its hair is gone. The head resumes its chase. This scenario is played out three more times, first with a rock that turns into a mountain, second they come across a rageing river and cajole a pair of cranes to let them across on their nears and lastly, the big shindig, the seven children play ball at top of a hill, as they play they raise up until they are to far up for the head to jump and reach them. They became the constellation the dipper.

"The Dipper.” The Seven Stars. Indian Mythology Publishing, 2006. 6 November 2008.
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