The Wolf and the Milky Way

*From My friend White Wolf~

This story was told to me by an old man. His Cherokee name was
Gansdi-Stick. Some people say it was a dog that made the Milky Way but
he was told it was the wolf. He said only the wolf could be so crafty
as to make the stars…

There were people in the southern part of the world that made corn
meal. The women would pound the dried corn in a pounder with a large
stick till it was a fine powder. They would work all day to make the
powder and then store it in large kettles in a storehouse for the
winter. After a few days of pounding the corn they began to notice
that some of the kettles were not as full as they were supposed to be.
It was being taken. They examined the ground around the storehouse and
noticed tracks. They decided to hide and watch the next night to see
who was stealing the corn meal.

Seven women decided to hide inside the storehouse. They crouched
behind the large pottery kettles and waited. Well after midnight all
the women had gone to sleep except one. She watched and waited in the
darkness. Suddenly she heard a noise outside and then noticed a bluish
glow like a bright moonlight. The light came closer to the storehouse.
The woman crouched even further behind the kettles, afraid of what was
coming toward her. She picked up a stick laying beside her. The door
to the storehouse opened.

In walked a wolf with a strange glow around it. The wolf walked over
to one of the kettles that was brimming with freshly made corn meal
and began to eat. Suddenly the woman began to scream, waking the other
women. They opened their eyes and noticed the wolf inside. They all
jumped up and ran towards it. The woman with the stick began hitting
it till it ran out of the storehouse. The wolf became so frightened
that he jumped into the air and began flying in a wide circle back
toward the north. As he flew drops of corn meal fell from his mouth.
They glowed as the wolf did and so he left a trail today we call the
Milky Way.