a Quileute legend about the stars of Cassiopeia
Once upon a time six brothers lived with each other in a village. One day, they went out hunting elk. However, one of them, Tuscobuk, could not go as he was not feeling well. He stayed home, while the rest of them canoed up the river to a clearing. The five brothers went into the clearing with their bows and arrows. As they did so, they noticed a strange man in the distance coming towards them. When they met, the man said, "What are you doing here?"
"We are hunting elk.", said one of the brothers.
"There are plenty of elk here.", said the man. He said "I will go into the woods and scare up some elk for you to shoot at. But I notice something here. May I see your arrows?"
"Sure, but why?", said another brother.
"I want to be sure you have the best arrows there are, since these elk are big. Hmmm… These arrows are not the greatest. Here is a better arrow."
With that, the man got out an arrow from his quiver and showed it to the brothers, knowing fully well that they were made out of a soft weed, salal, and would bend and bounce off whenever it hit a target. The arrows did look nicer, however.
The brothers decided that they wanted the man's arrows. So they traded. "Good", said the man. "I will now scare up some elk for you." With that, he crossed the meadow and vanished into the woods.
Moments later, a huge elk came out of the woods. The brothers shot at the elk, but the arrows bounced off, not harming the beast. The brothers continued to shoot arrows at the elk, but they continued to bounce off. The elk charged at the brothers and killed all five of them.
After a week, Tuscobuk became concerned about his brothers, as they had not returned from their trip. So he went canoeing up the stream, and came to a meadow where there were five empty canoes. He got out and went into the meadow and saw a strange man approaching.
When they met, the man asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I am hunting elk.", said Tuscobuk; he was going to hold back the better reason for now.
"There are plenty of elk here.", said the man. He said, "I will go into the woods and scare up some elk for you to shoot at. But I notice something here. May I see your arrows?"
Now Tuscobuk was a medicine man and had a great deal of knowledge about the world. Right away he knew something wasn't right. "Sure, but why?", he said.
"I want to be sure you have the best arrows ther are, since these elk are big. Hmmm… These arrows are not the greatest. Herre is a better arrow. Want to trade?"
Tuscobuk paused, then he said, "No, I prefer the arrows I have. I know what they can do and I trust them. Thank you anyway."
Tuscobuk said, "But these arrows are pointier and shiner. …" He kept insisting that they trade arrows. Tuscobuk continually refused.
Frustrated, the man said, "OK, have it your way. Use your arrows. But I will scare up some elk for you." He crossed the meadow and vanished into the woods.
Moments later, a huge elk came out of the woods. Tuscobuk shot at the elk. He hit the elk in the foot, causing a serious bleeding injury. He shot another arrow, and it caused another wound. He kept on shooting until the elk had five bloody wounds on him. He then charged at Tuscobuk, but he was not the strongest due to the injuries.
A fight occurred and eventually Tuscobuk got on top of the elk and choked it to death. He then skinned the elk so he could have a cloak for himself, but the skin proved to be much too huge for him. He thought the proper place for this skin was in the sky, and so he threw it up into the sky, where it became the stars in what we call Cassiopeia.
Source: The Stars of the First People, by Dorcas S. Miller