Manataka American Indian Council
Algon and the Sky Girl
An Algonquin Story
Algon
was a great hunter who found a strange circle cut in the prairie grass. Hiding
in the bushes nearby, he watched to see what might have caused it.
Finally, a great willow basket descended from the sky bearing twelve beautiful
maidens. The maidens got out of the basket and began singing celestial songs and
doing circle dances. All of the girls were beautiful, but the most beautiful of
all was the youngest, with whom Algon was immediately smitten.
He ran toward the circle in the hope of stealing her away, but just as he
arrived, the girls were alarmed and left in the basket, which flew high into the
sky. This happened again three more times, but Algon's resolve only grew. Then
he devised a strategy. He placed a hollow tree trunk near the circle. Inside the
tree trunk lived a family of mice. He took some charms out of his medicine bag
and transformed himself into a mouse. When the girls in the basket next arrived,
he and the other mice ran among the girls. The girls stomped on the mice killing
all of them but Algon, who then resumed his human form and carried off his
beloved.
He took her to his village and in time she fell in love with him. They had a son
and the three lived very happily for a time. But as the years passed, the
sky-girl grew very homesick. She spent the
entire day gazing up at the sky, thinking of her sisters and parents. This
homesickness continued until she could no longer bear it. So she built a magic
willow basket, placed her son and some gifts for her people in it, climbed in,
and headed for the sky. She remained there for years.
In her absence, Algon pined for his wife and son. Every day he went to sit in
the magic circle, in the hope that they would return. He was now growing old.
Meanwhile, in the far-off sky-country, his son was growing into manhood. The lad
asked questions about his father, which made the sky-girl miss Algon. She and
her son spoke to her father, the chief of the sky-people. He told them to go
back to the earth, but ordered them to return with Algon and the identifying
feature of each of the earth animals.
Then the sky-girl and the son returned to earth. Algon was overjoyed to see them
and was eager to gather the gifts the sky-chief wanted. From the bear, he took a
claw; from the eagle, hawk, and falcon, a feather; from the raccoon, its teeth;
and from the deer, its horns and hide. He placed all of these gifts in a special
medicine bag, and ascended with his wife and son to the sky-country in their
willow basket.
His father-in-law divided the tokens among his people, offering tokens to Algon
and the sky-girl; and they chose the falcon feather. The chief said that they
should always be free to travel between the sky-country and the earth, and so
Algon and his wife became falcons. Their descendants still fly high and swoop
down over the forests and prairies.
Our thanks to Blue Panther, Keeper of Stories
blue_panther@mindspring.com