Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic - John Matthews - Страница 338

In world astronomy, the patterns that the constellations make in the heavens have most commonly been those of animals. In Sumerian mythology, the three-headed dragon, Mushussu, was the constellation of Hydra. Greek mythology provided the horse Pegasus while the Egyptians described Sirius the dog star. Half-animal and half-human fusions are represented by the centaur Cheiron who is the archer of Sagittarius.

In the southern hemisphere, the Southern Cross forms the toes of a great ostrich in South American star-lore, while in Brazil it is seen as a huge ray fish. The Milky Way is the Ostrich Way for the Australian Aborigines while for the Hopi of North America it is the stream of stars that Coyote let out of the pot. The Polynesians see it as the Long-Blue-Cloud-Eating shark. Legends of the Pleiades are very vivid. The Ibos of Africa, like the Dyaks of Polynesia, see them as the hen with chickens, while to the Greeks they were a roost of doves. An Onandaga Indian story from North America tells us how dancing children became animals who formed the Pleiades.

While their elders set up camp around Bear Lake, the children amused themselves by making up dances that imitated animals, especially the birds like Hawk, Eagle and Falcon. One day, an old silver-haired man attired in white feathers came to warn them to stop, but they ignored him. The next day the children begged their parents for food while they were out dancing, but their elders told them they must come home to eat like everyone else. After several days of going without their dinners, the children grew light-headed from lack of food. As they danced, so their dancing feet began to leave the ground. They felt strange, as if something was happening to them, but they realized that they must not look down if they were to keep dancing.

An old woman gathering firewood saw the children rising like smoke and called after them to come back, but they kept circling into the sky. She rushed to their parents who piteously begged the children to return. Only one of the children looked down and fell through the sky like a falling star. The rest of the children reached the stars and became the constellation we call the Pleiades, though the Onandaga call it the Ootk-watah.