Question

What two natural phenomena are explained by the Kiowa legend about the seven sisters and their brother in The Way to Rainy Mountain?

Accepted Answer

The two natural phenomena explained by the Kiowa legend about the seven sisters and their brother in The Way to Rainy Mountain are a rock formation called Devil's Tower and the star constellation known as the Big Dipper.

Answer

As part of their culture, the Kiowa have numerous legends that illustrate their powerful connection with the natural environment. One such legend is that of the seven sisters and their brother. According to the story, seven sisters and their brother were playing together when all of a sudden, the little boy started turning into a bear, complete with very sharp and powerful claws.
As one can imagine, the boy's sisters were absolutely petrified to see their brother transform into such a fearsome creature. Frightened for their lives, they made a run for it, only for the bear to come after them. After a short while, they came to the stump of a tree, which immediately began to speak to the girls, telling them to climb on top. They duly did so, and began rising further and further up into the air.
In the meantime, the bear descended upon the tree stump, angrily scratching his claws against it while the seven sisters rose into the sky, where they became part of the constellation colloquially known as the Big Dipper. The tree stump scratched by the bear was eventually transformed into the Devil's Tower, a rock formation that has great cultural significance for the Kiowa.

Answer

This wonderful legend is used by the Kiowa people to explain the existence of the “Devil’s Tower,” a famous rock formation in Wyoming whose jagged appearance they assumed was a result of the bear-child’s claws. Realizing that his sisters were eluding him, the bear is said to have clawed the rock on which the seven sisters had found refuge. In addition, Kiowa people believe that the Big Dipper, which is made from a group of seven stars, are the seven sisters themselves. Once the rock had risen so high that the sisters could touch the Heavens, Kiowa legend has it that they were then transformed into stars, and can still be seen to this day.

Answer

In Navarre Scott Momaday's third book, The Way to Rainy Mountain, Kiowa myths are blended with personal memoir and history to create a unique poetic narrative, showing the importance of story-telling and myth-making in Kiowa culture. The two natural phenomena explained in the story of the seven sisters and their brother are the rock formation known as Devil's Tower and the constellation called the Big Dipper.
The legend says that the seven sisters were playing with their brother when the boy transformed into a bear. Terrified, they ran away and stumbled on the stump of a great tree which spoke to them and told them to climb onto it. As the bear drew near, the tree grew out of its reach and the bear could do nothing but furiously scratch at the trunk. The mangled tree-trunk became the Devil's Tower and the seven sisters became the stars known as the Big Dipper. The Kiowa, therefore, have family in the sky—whom they can trust to guide them through the night.

Answer

There are variations on the legend because it was passed down orally by the Kiowa—plains Indians who moved from Montana to Colorado in the seventeenth- and eighteenth centuries.
In one version of the legend, the Kiowa were traveling across the plains when they camped one night by the Bear People. The Bear People caught their scent and, being hungry, went to hunt the Kiowa.
Seven Kiowa girls out gathering berries fled to a rock as the Bear People chased them. They prayed to the rock, asking it to save them. The rock had never been honored with prayer before, so it responded to their pleas and began to grow taller and taller.
When it reached the heavens, the girls sang prayers to the stars, who then reached out to them and made them the Pleiades star cluster.
Meanwhile, from clawing the big rock to try to get to the girls, the giant Bear People carved out the Devil's Tower.
The story illustrates the divinity of nature in the Native American tradition, which is responsive to human beings respecting its power and praying to it.

Answer

This legend is revealed in Momaday’s Introduction to the book. Eight Kiowa siblings – seven girls and one boy -- were playing in the area of present-day northeastern Wyoming. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the boy was transformed into a bear. He quickly developed thick fur and sharp claws. In order to escape their brother-turned-bear, the seven sisters climbed to the top of a magic tree that helped them out by rising even higher into the air. The bear scraped all of the bark around the tree with his big claws, trying to reach them, without success. The girls were borne farther up into the sky. They eventually became the seven stars that form the constellation of the Big Dipper. The trunk of the bear-scraped tree is now known as the unique rock formation called Devil’s Tower.

The Way to Rainy Mountain

What two natural phenomena are explained by the Kiowa legend about the seven sisters and their brother in The Way to Rainy Mountain?

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