Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/446

98 sky at least into true constellations. Though the Bear was known to so many and so widely separated tribes, the Seven Hunters, so far as I have been able to ascertain, are peculiar to the Micmacs and the Iroquois. Elsewhere the group seems to be limited to the stars of our Dipper. The Den has been correctly pointed out to me by an Onondaga on the reservation near Syracuse, and Mr. John R. Swanton informs me that it is known to other tribes of the Iroquois. He adds that they sometimes call the star Alcor a dog instead of a pot. Such was its name amongst the Basques, the two front stars of the Micmac legend being two oxen which two robbers are driving off. These robbers are, in turn, pursued by the son and daughter of the owner with their dog. The Cherokees of North Carolina assert that there is a den somewhere in the sky, but none of them could point it out to me. The Iroquois Bear legend describes how a party of hunters pursue the bear, but a stone giant kills all save three of them. These three and the bear are carried up to the sky by invisible spirits and become stars. The first hunter pursues, with a bow, the second with a kettle, while the third is farther behind gathering sticks for the fire. In fall their arrows pierce the bear, whose blood tinges the foliage. She then becomes invisible, but reappears the following spring. When we add to this account the knowledge of the den, we see plainly that this legend is practically identical with the Micmac. The common origin of the legend seems beyond doubt in the case of these tribes, which have been in frequent contact with each other within historic times. The Housatonic Indians related the same story of the pursuit from spring to autumn and the blood-dyed foliage. In fact it is evident that the legend was known to all the intervening tribes between Nova Scotia and New York, probably much more widely. The Cherokees also knew the three hunters who pursue the bear. After killing him in fall they lose the trail and circle helplessly around till spring. The honey dew which is noticeable in fall comes from the bear's fat which they are trying out over a fire. It is worthy of remark that they know nothing of the hunters who are always hunting. In their latitude all these stars and even part of the Bear dip below the horizon. The use of such a phrase among them would be strong evidence of a migration or transmission of the legend from more northerly