Native American Legends
The Pleiades
A Tachi Yokut Legend
The Pleiades were five girls and a flea, baakil. The girls sang
and played all night in the sky. The flea constantly went with them.
They did not like the other men that came to them; they liked only
him. They did not like the other men that came to them ran away,
but the flea went with them. And they let him marry them. He married
all five.
Now he turned into a flea, and in summer became sick with the itch.
The girls did not like him any longer. They said: "Let us run
away. Where shall we go?" Then they agreed to go east together.
"When shall we go?" they said. "As soon as he sleeps."
Now the flea slept and the five got up and went off. After they
were far away the flea woke up and thought: "Where are my wives?"
He found that they had gone away.
He thought: "Where shall I go?" He went east. At last
he came in sight of them, just before he reached the ocean. He said:
"I will catch you."
They said: "He is coming. Let us go on." They ran on
again. Then one asked: "Do you see him again!" Another
said: "Yes, he is near." Then they said: "Let us
go up into the air. Then he cannot come with us." Then they
went up. But the man rose, too. That is why there are five stars
close together now in the Pleiades and one at the side. That one
is he, the flea.
Note : The Yaudanchi have a myth about the Pleiades. They say that
they were girls who rose to the sky. One was pregnant and could
not rise. She turned to a rock. One or more stars near them are
young men who followed them.
Native American Legends
Back to Top
Other Native American Legends
|
Native American Legends A-B