The sun lived on the other side of the sky vault, but her daughter lived in
the middle of the sky,
directly above the earth. Every day as the sun was climbing along the sky
arch to the west, she used to stop at her daughter's house for dinner.

Now the sun hated the people of this earth because they never looked
straight at her without
squinting. She said to her brother, the moon, "My grandchildren are ugly;
they screw up their
faces whenever they see me".

But the moon said, "I like my younger brothers; I think they're handsome".
This was because
they always smiled pleasantly at his mild glow in the night sky.

The sun was jealous of the moon's popularity and decided to kill the people.
Every day when
she got near her daughter's house, she sent down such sultry heat that fever
broke out and people died by the hundreds. When everyone had lost some
friend and it seemed as if no-one would be spared, the humans went for help
to the Little Men. These men, who were friendly spirits, said that the only
way the people could save themselves was to kill the sun.

The Little Men made medicine to change two humans into snakes - the
spreading adder and the copperhead - who could hide near the daughter's door
and bite the old sun. The snakes went up to the sky and lay in wait until
the sun arrived for dinner. But when the spreading adder was about to
spring, her bright light blinded him and he could only spit out yellow
slime, as he does to this day when he tries to bite. The sun called him a
nasty thing and went into the house, and the copperhead was so discouraged
that he crawled off without trying to do anything.

The people, still dying from the terrible heat, went a second time to the
Little Men for help. Again
the Little Men made medicine and changed one man into the great Uktena, the
water monster, and another into a rattlesnake. As before, the serpents had
instructions to kill the old sun when she stopped at her daughter's house.

Uktena was large and fierce, with horns on his head, and everyone thought he
would be sure to succeed. But the rattlesnake was so eager that he raced
ahead and coiled up just outside the house. When the sun's daughter opened
the door to look for her mother, he struck and she fell dead in the doorway.
Forgetting to wait for the old sun, he went back to the people, and Uktena
was so angry at the rattlesnake's stupidity that he went back too.

Since then we pray to the rattlesnake and don't kill him, because he wishes
people well and never tries to bite if we don't disturb him. But Uktena grew
angrier and more dangerous all the time. He became so venomous that if he
even looked at a man, the man's whole family would die. Eventually the
people held a council and decided that he was just too dangerous, so they
sent him to Galun'lati, the end of the world, where he still is.

When the sun found her daughter dead, she shut herself up in the house and
grieved. Now the
people were no longer dying from the heat, but they lived in total darkness.
Once more they sought help from the Little Men, who said that in order to
coax the sun out, they must bring her daughter back from Tsusgina'i. This is
the ghost country, which lies in Usunhi'yi, the Darkening Land in the West.

The people chose seven men to make the journey. The Little Men told the
seven to take a box, and
told each man to carry a sourwood rod a handbreadth long. When they got to
Tsusgina'i, the Little Men explained, they would find all of the ghosts at a
dance. They should stand outside the circle, and when the sun's daughter
danced past them, they must strike her with the rods and she would fall to
the ground. Then they could put her in the box and bring her back to her
mother. But they must not open the box, even a crack, until they arrived
home.

The seven men took the rods and the box and traveled west for seven days
until they came to the Darkening Land. There they found a great crowd of
ghosts having a dance, just as if they were alive. The sun's daughter was in
the outside circle. As she danced past them, one of the seven men struck her
with his rod, and then another and another, until at the seventh round she
fell out of the ring. The men put her into the box and closed the lid, and
the other ghosts never seemed to notice what had happened.

The seven took up the box and started home toward the east. In a while the
girl came to life again and begged to be let out, but the party went on
without answering. Soon she called again, and said she was hungry, but they
did not reply. When at last the group was very near home, the daughter of
the sun cried that she was smothering and begged them to raise the lid just
a little. Now they were afraid that she was really dying, so they barely
cracked the lid to give her air. There was a fluttering sound, and something
flew past them into the bushes. Then they heard a redbird cry, "Kwish!
Kwish! Kwish!" Shutting the lid, they went on again. But when they arrived
at the settlements and opened the box, it was empty.

So we know that the redbird is the daughter of the sun. And if the party had
kept the box closed, as the Little Men told them to, they could have brought
her home safely, and today we would be able to recover our friends from the
Ghost Country. Because the seven opened the box, however, we can never bring
back people who die.

The sun had been hopeful when the party had started off for the Darkening
Land, but when they
came back without her daughter, she wept until her tears caused a great
flood. Fearing that the world would be drowned, the people held another
council and decided to send their handsomest young men and women to amuse
the sun and stop her crying. This group danced before her and sang their
best songs, but for a long time she kept her face bowed and paid no
attention. At last when the drummer suddenly changed the song, she looked up
and was so pleased at the sight of the beautiful young people that she
forgot her grief and smiled.


From LtlAnt's website, at
http://members.aol.com/LtLANT/DaughterOfTheSun.html