"
That is the reason the scarabaeus has no eyes, so the old ones say.
But the little fellow had saved a few of the stars by grasping the sack
and holding it fast. Utset placed these in the heavens. In one group she
placed seven - the great bear. In another, three. In another group she
placed the Pleiades, and threw the others far off into the sky.
The Flood and the Theft of Fire
Tolowa (Del Norte Co., Cal.)
Along time ago there came a great rain. It lasted a long time and the
water kept rising till all the valleys were submerged, and the Indian
tribes fled to the high lands. But the water rose, and though the
Indians fled to the highest point, all were swept away and drowned-all
but one man and one woman. They reached the very highest peak and were
saved. These two Indians ate the fish from the waters around them.
Then the waters subsided. All the game was gone, and all the animals.
But the children of these two Indians, when they died, became the
spirits of deer and bear and insects, and so the animals and insects
came back to the earth again.
The Indians had no fire. The flood had put out all the fires in the
world. They looked at the moon and wished they could secure fire from
it. Then the Spider Indians and the Snake Indians formed a plan to steal
fire. The Spiders wove a very light balloon, and fastened it by a long
rope to the earth. Then they climbed into the balloon and started for
the moon.
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