Here is the myth of Endymion and Diana, as told on the shores of
Saginaw Bay, in Michigan, by Indians who never heard of Greeks. Cloud
Catcher, a handsome youth of the Ojibways, offended his family by refusing to
fast during the ceremony of his coming of age, and was put out of the
paternal wigwam. It was so fine a night that the sky served him as well
as a roof, and he had a boy's confidence in his ability to make a
living, and something of fame and fortune, maybe. He dropped upon a tuft of
moss to plan for his future, and drowsily noted the rising of the moon
in which he seemed to see a face. On awakening he found that it was not
day, yet the darkness was half dispelled by light that rayed from a
figure near him--the form of a lovely woman. "Cloud Catcher, I have come
for you," she said. And as she turned away he felt impelled to rise and
follow. But, instead of walking, she began to move into the air with
the flight of an eagle, and, endowed with a new power, he too ascended
beside her. The earth was dim and vast below, stars blazed as they drew
near them, yet the radiance of the woman seemed to dull their glory.
Presently they passed through a gate of clouds and stood on a beautiful
plain, with crystal ponds and brooks watering noble trees and leagues of
flowery meadow; birds of brightest colors darted here and there,
singing like flutes; the very stones were agate, jasper and chalcedony. An
immense lodge stood on the plain, and within were embroideries and
ornaments, couches of rich furs, pipes and arms cut from jasper and tipped
with silver. While the young man was gazing around him with delight, the
brother of his guide appeared and reproved her, advising her to send
the young man back to earth at once, but, she flatly refused to do so, he
gave a pipe and bow and arrows to Cloud Catcher, as a token of his
consent to their marriage, and wished them happiness, which, in fact, they
had. This brother, who was commanding, tall, and so dazzling in his
gold and silver ornaments that one could hardly look upon him, was abroad
all day, while his sister was absent for a part of the night. He
permitted Cloud Catcher to go with him on one of his daily walks, and as they
crossed the lovely Sky Land they glanced down through open valley
bottoms on the green earth below. The rapid pace they struck gave to Cloud
Catcher an appetite and he asked if there were no game. "Patience,"
counseled his companion. On arriving at a spot where a large hole had been
broken through the sky they reclined on mats, and the tall man loosing
one of his silver ornaments flung it into a group of children playing
before a lodge. On of the little ones fell and was carried within, amid
lamentations. Then the villagers left their sports and labors and
looked up at the sky. The tall man cried, in a voice of thunder, "Offer a
sacrifice and the child shall be well again." A white dog was killed,
roasted, and in a twinkling it shot up the feet of Cloud Catcher, who,
being empty, attacked it voraciously. Many such walks and feasts came
after, and the sights of earth and taste of meat filled the mortal with
longing to see his people again. He told his wife that he wanted to go
back. She consented, after a time, saying, "Since you are better pleased
with the cares, the ills, the labor, and the poverty of the world than
with the comfort and abundance of Sky Land, you may return; but remember
you are still my husband, and beware how you venture to take an earthly
maiden for a wife. "She arose lightly, clasped Cloud Catcher by the
wrist, and began to move with him through the air. The motion lulled him
and he fell asleep, waking at the door of his father's lodge. His
relatives gathered and gave him welcome, and he learned that he had been in
the sky for a year. He took the privations of a hunter's and warrior's
life less kindly than he though to, and after a time he enlivened its
monotony by taking to wife a bright-eyed girl of his tribe. In four days
she was dead. The lesson was unheeded and he married again. Shortly
after, he stepped from his lodge one evening and never came back. The
woods were filled with a strange radiance on that night, and it is asserted
that Cloud Catcher was taken back to the lodge of the Sun and Moon, and
is now content to live in heaven.