The tale of Star Boy is a familiar legend among the Blackfoot and expresses Blackfoot beliefs regarding cosmology and the nature of sickness and health. Natosi Nepe-e (Brings-Down-the-Sun) narrated a version of the tale to Walter McClintock who wrote it down and published it in The Old North Trail: Or, Life, Legends, and Religion of the Blackfeet Indians (1910). The main character, Star Boy, is the son of Soatsaki (Feather Woman) and the immortal Morning Star, and he is credited with bringing the Sun Dance to the Blackfoot nation. After bravely traveling to the Sky-Country, Star Boy returns to the Blackfoot with specific instructions from his grandfather, Sun, on how to enact the Sun Dance. By enacting the Sun Dance once a year, the sick can be healed, and death is kept at bay.
One day, a beautiful Blackfoot woman named Soatsaki (Feather Woman) is asleep under the sun. She awakens and watches the immortal Morning Star and instantly falls in love with him. Feather Woman tells her sisters that she has fallen in love with a god, but they laugh at her. The rest of the Blackfoot community does not believe that Feather Woman has had the privilege of seeing a god, and embarrassed, Feather Woman does not mention her love again. Morning Star, aware of Feather Woman’s love, returns to Earth and tells her that he would like to marry her and take her to the Sky-Country. Unable to say goodbye to her family, Feather Woman agrees and goes with Morning Star. Morning Star introduces Feather Woman to his mother, Moon, and his father, Sun. The Sun and the Moon take a liking to Feather Woman and agree to the marriage. After the couple is married, Feather Woman feels homesick and regrets not saying goodbye to her family.
Feather Woman soon becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son, Star Boy. As Feather Woman tends to her home and takes long walks within the Sky-Country, she sees a large turnip in the ground. Feather Woman is told to stay away from the large turnip and not to disturb the dirt, but she becomes curious and starts digging up the turnip. This reveals a large hole that leads back down to the Blackfoot community on Earth. Dismayed that Feather Woman has opened the pathway back to Earth, thus releasing sickness and death upon the world, Morning Star tells Feather Woman that she must leave Sky-Country. Feather Woman crawls back to Earth from a spider web with Star Boy and returns to her parents’ home. Morning Star ignores Feather Woman’s pleas, but after years of her calling out, he tells her that she can never be forgiven for her curiosity, which has brought great sickness to her people. Feather Woman feels guilty and heartbroken and eventually dies of shame and guilt.
Star Boy is orphaned but lives with his grandparents. Although it is unclear how it appeared, Star Boy has a noticeable scar on his face. Other children in the community ridicule and make fun of Star Boy, and he questions his place in the world. Because of his scar, Star Boy is also called Poia, which translates to Scar-Face. When he comes of age, Star Boy asks the chief’s daughter to marry him. She rejects Star Boy, and, devastated, he goes to speak with a medicine woman. The medicine woman says that no one on the plains can help him with his scar, but he can go and visit his grandfather, the Sun, to have his scar removed. Once the scar is removed, Star Boy hopes that the girl he loves will agree to a marriage.
After walking for many days, Star Boy reaches an entrance to Sky-Country and enters the realm of the gods. Sun finds his grandson and agrees to heal his scar. Upon healing the scar, Star Boy is given the name of Mistaken-for-Morning-Star because he now looks almost identical to his father. Sun teaches Star Boy different forms of magic, gives him knowledge, and then explains that the reason for the sickness and death on Earth is Feather Woman’s disobedience. Star Boy asks if there is anything that can be done, and Sun describes a dance called the Sun Dance. Sun tells Star Boy that he must practice the dance and then take it back to his people. If the Sun Dance is practiced once a year, the sick can be healed. Star Boy practices the dance until Sun tells him that it is time to leave, so Star Boy returns home and shares the Sun Dance with the Blackfoot.
Now a hero, Star Boy is able to marry the chief’s daughter. After the marriage, Star Boy and his new wife return to the Sky-Country. Star Boy appears as a star in the sky next to his father, Morning Sky.
Michelle Nicole Boyer
See also Algon and the Sky Girl; Culture Heroes of the Native Americans; Star Husband Tale; White Buffalo Woman
Further Reading
Clark, Ella E. 1988. Indian Legends from the Northern Rockies. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Kehoe, Alice Beck. 2008. Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians. Lincoln, NE: Bison Books.
McClintock, Walter. 2009. The Old North Trail: Or, Life, Legends, and Religion of the Blackfeet Indians. Reprint of 1910 edition. Santa Cruz, CA: Evinity.
Wissler, Clark, and D. C. Duvall. 2008. Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.