From Wichita Folklore
One night a long time ago, after the stars in the heavens were created, some bright and some dim, just as we see them now, there was a certain woman looking up in the sky watching the stars. She noticed that some of the stars were bright and some very dim. Those that were bright she thought to have once existed as fine-looking men. The dim ones she thought must have been old people. As she was looking at the stars she pointed out one bright star, and said: “That star twinkles so bright, it must have been a fine-looking young man. I wish I could have him for my husband.” After saying this she watched the rest of the stars. On the same night, after she had gone to bed and to sleep, it seems that in her dreams she was with this man whom she had pointed out and desired for her husband. When she awoke she found herself in a strange place, and sitting there by the fire was an old man. There she sat, not knowing what to do. Finally the old man woke up and spoke to her, saying: “My woman, I am the star that twinkled so bright at night when you were looking at the stars int he sky, and whom you selected as a fine looking man. All the brightest stars are old people, and the dim ones are young people. You made a mistake when you desired me. Hereafter you shall be my wife.”
The woman had to stay there and live with the star, and was his wife. Some time afterwards the woman noticed a large rock lying on the ground, and this she was told never to move. One time she decided to remove the rock, and when she looked down she could see the earth, but she was far away from the earth. Then she moved the rock back into its place. She began to study what to do in order to get down. In some way she found bunches of soapweed, which she cut and braided so that it was strong enough to hold her whenever she wanted to do down. Of course, it took lots of soapweed, though they were very stout. It took her a long time to make the rope. When she thought that it was long enough to reach to the ground she tied it to the stone, knowing that the stone could not go down. Then she let herself down on the rope. It is not known how long it took her to climb down to the end of it, but when she reached the ground she found that she could barely reach the tops of the highest trees. She could only hang there.
In time a Buzzard flew close to her and asked her if she was still alive. She told the Buzzard that she was still alive. The Buzzard told her that he was going to let her down and that she must be ready to get hold of his neck whenever he should come down. The Buzzard commenced to fly higher and higher, then he sailed down slowly. When he was ready he told the woman to be ready. Then he came down to her and she got on his back and went down to the ground, though the Buzzard first flew a long way with her. When he had let her down he asked her if she knew the way to her home. She told him that she did. He then told her that on the way she would find a dead buffalo to eat, to give her strength to reach home; that she must never repeat her talk about the stars; that had it not been for him she would have starved. Some other powers she got from the Buzzard after he had saved her life. She then left the Buzzard, but it would still fly around to see if she got home safe. She came to where the dead buffalo was lying and took what she needed and went toward her home.
Arrived home, her parents asked her where she had been. She told them that through her foolishness she had been up in the sky and had been married to a star. She was asked how she got up there. She replied that in the fore part of the night when she had disappeared she had looked at the stars while lying in bed and point out a star, saying: “I wish that star were my husband;” and that she had thought that perhaps the brightest stars we see had once been fine-looking young men in this world. She continued: “I went to sleep, and when I awoke I found myself up in the heavens. There I saw an old man who told me that he was the bright star that I have seen and had wished for my husband. The star forbade me to move a rock that I had seen, but once I thought I would see what it was, so I moved the rock. I felt the wind and saw this earthly world of ours. I made a rope from soapweed by which to descend. When I had made the rope I tied one end to the rock, knowing that the rock could not come down on me. This I made my escape. I had thought the rope long enough, but when I came to its end I found myself above the tallest trees. It happened that a Buzzard flew around me and asked me if I was still alive. I told it that I was still alive, so he took me down and showed me my way here. He told me where there was a dead buffalo that I could eat, and he also guided me on my way home.”
Every since this time the people have feared to talk as the girl had talked about the stars, for fear that they might die, for the woman by her foolish talk and desire for the bright star for her husband was taken to the sky. Nor to this day do the people count the stars. They do not express desires about them, lest the thing desired happen.
Source:
The Mythology of the Wichita, George A. Dorsey, 1904
For the Wabanaki version of this story, see here:
Kotharian Lightning 