2. choose one folktale or legend and retell it to classmates.

3. complete the "Fact/Fiction Sheet" on the folktale chosen for retelling.

4. understand that Indian folktales and legends explain a fact of nature or sometimes provide the background for an historical event.

5. write and illustrate an original legend with a partner and present it to the class.

2. The librarian should introduce students to a variety of Indian legends, folktales, and myths, and should show students where this genre is located in the library. It will not be necessary to focus on Iroquois stories for this part of the lesson. There is a multitude of beautifully illustrated Indian folktales today, and students will find great enjoyment reading stories from other tribes. This will also enable students to recognize that the common theme of "living in harmony with nature" can be found in all Indian stories.

3. After reading one or more legends or folktales independently, have students choose one folktale or legend to retell. Students will reread their choice several times until they feel comfortable with all the facts of the story. At this time, have them complete the accompanying "Fact/Fiction Evaluation Sheet" on their story. Then, in the Indian tradition of telling stories orally, have students retell their story to classmates without using the printed text. After the story has been told, students will question their audience about what was fact, and what was fiction in the story.

4. As a culminating activity, students collaborate with a partner in writing and illustrating a legend. This may be an opportunity to match pupils seeking enrichment work with pupils needing remediation. Reinforce the fact that many legends explain a fact of nature, or sometimes provide background for an historical event. They might, for example, write a legend on why skunks have stripes on their backs or why planet Jupiter now has some very large craters on its surface.

Be certain to make clear to students the differences between the students' fictional stories, and the Indian legends which relate cultural and religious beliefs.

One evening, as the sun began to set, the sisters heard in the distance a glorious song. The song seemed to be calling to them, and in a moment they forgot about their suppers, and they forgot about their home. They stood still and listened, and then, without speaking a word, they danced off toward the source of the song.

They danced through the woods and into the forest. On they danced as the sun dipped toward the horizon. The stars began to gleam and the sky grew darker, but still the sisters danced toward the sound. Then, suddenly, their feet seemed lighter, and when they looked down, they saw that everything they had ever known was far below them, and they knew they were dancing up into the sky.

They danced on, higher and higher, moving toward the beautiful sound, and the song grew louder and louder and more and more beautiful and more and more mysterious. Below them, the longhouses and the trees and their friends and families seemed to grow smaller and smaller. And then the song became a sweet, gentle voice.

"I came to the sky . . .
"For a hunter pursued me.
"And now I am lost in the sky."
On the sisters danced, higher and higher.
"Come my sisters,
"Come here to me in the sky,
"And I will watch over you."

Then the sisters saw who was singing the song. It was a great black bear. Her tail glistened, for it was strewn with stars, and around her neck she wore a shimmering necklace of stars. Her nose and her toes twinkled with stars, and around her belly hung a belt of shining stars.

The sisters danced closer and closer, and the bear went on singing. On and on she sang, and the sisters went on dancing. They danced for hours, and the great black bear sang, and her toes and nose and tail and neck and belly glistened.

After many hours, the sisters looked up and saw how very dark it was and how far away they had traveled, and they could not remember the way home.

The moon smiled and winked and watched as the sisters went on dancing. "My children," she said, "this is your home now. The stars and I love the way you dance, and we wish you to live here with us."

The sisters leaped and twirled and whirled and swayed and twisted and tapped and toed. To their amazement, they did not grow tired. They twirled faster, they whirled faster, and each time they twirled, another star twinkled and grew, and the great black bear's song grew sweeter still.

Then suddenly the smallest sister heard a voice. She heard another voice. She heard it over the sound of the song and over the tapping of her sisters' feet. and she knew it was her mother's voice. Her mother was calling to her.

The smallest sister began to run toward her mother's voice. "Come back, sister," called the dancing sisters once again, and they watched as their youngest sister ran with a bright star trailing her.

Together, the youngest sister and the star descended from the sky. Down, down, down they sped, past clouds and past the eagle's next and past the tallest branches of the trees. On they raced, down, down, down.

At last, the smallest sister saw her mother and she raced faster still. And finally, she landed on the ground. But when she landed, she vanished, and there, in her place, was simply a hole. Her mother looked down at the hole, and she began to weep. And then she looked into the sky and she saw her other daughters dancing still.

"Stay in the sky," she called to warn them. "Stay there and dance with the great black bear or you will crash to Earth."

The sisters heard their mother's pleading voice over the sound of the great black bear's song, and they nodded their heads and waved and smiled, and the stars behind them twinkled more brightly. "Yes, mother," they called, "we will stay in the sky."

Down below the mother sat and wept, and soon she saw a small green shoot spring up from the hole. Quickly it grew, higher and higher. This was the youngest sister reaching up for her sisters. Higher the shoot grew until at last it reached the six sisters, and they cried, "Welcome back, sister."

Stars in the sky

Five nights after the new moon in January, the constellation Pleiades reaches its highest point in the night sky. Pleiades is a group of seven stars sometimes called the Seven Sisters, part of a larger constellation known as Taurus or the Bull. On a clear winter's night, look south and you may see Pleiades.

One evening, while the sun was setting and they were returning to their long houses from the forest, they heard the distant sound of someone singing.

The song was unlike any song they had ever heard. It was so enchanting and mysterious that the brothers soon forgot about going back to their long houses and the great forest spread out far below. They were dancing right up into the sky!

As the song grew louder, the seven boys danced higher. Higher and higher they danced, and all the while the song grew louder and sweeter.

"I am here," sang the sweet voice, "for a hunter pursued me, and now I am forever lost in the sky. But lie down and sleep in your warm cave, little ones. I am here to watch over you in the sky."

Then the brothers saw a large black bear. Her tail was long, and it was made of stars. She wore a necklace and belt made of pure white clamshells. Stars twinkled around her nose and toes. Even the clamshells sparkled like bright stars. It was she who was singing the sweet songs the boys had heard. They danced higher, until they were closer to her.

The huge bear's lullaby was so enchanting that the seven brothers danced to it for a long time. But at last they wanted to go home for it was late, and their parents would be worried. However, they did not remember the way. One of the brothers turned to the moon and asked, "Will you please show us how to get back to our long houses?"

The moon smiled and said, "My children, you are home now. I and the stars welcome you, for your dancing pleases us."

And the boys continued to dance, and with all the dancing, they found that they did not grow tired. As the brothers danced faster and faster, a star grew out from behind each, and the moon smiled upon them.

Then the youngest boy heard a voice calling from some distance. Someone was sobbing and calling his name over and over. Over the sounds of his brothers' dancing feet and the bear's sweet singing he listened, and he heard the voice calling once again. Then he recognized the voice. It was his mother's!

The youngest boy began to run as fast as he could; the bright star he was wearing made a shining trail behind him.

"Do not run away! Come back!" cried his brothers and the moon, but the youngest brother continued to race downward toward his mother's voice.

Down he ran, ever faster, past the clouds, past the eagle's nest, and nearer to the earth. Soon the sound of his mother's voice grew louder and louder. There she was! She was just below him. He could almost touch her hand. Then the youngest boy landed on earth. But when the youngest boy's mother looked at the place where her son had landed, she didn't see him. There was only a hole--the kind of hole a star makes when it falls to earth. The boy's mother cried when she saw the fallen star. Then she turned and saw her other sons dancing in the sky.

She called loudly to them, "Stay there! Do not come down!" She didn't want them to fall, too.

Her sons heard her, as they danced even higher into the evening sky. They waved to show that they heard and would do as she asked.

The mother went to where the star had fallen and cried all night! A little green shoot sprang up where her warm tears fell.

With each passing day, the green shoot grew higher and higher. It was the youngest brother reaching out to touch the sky, so he could be with his brothers again. The green shoot became a pine tree, and it grew higher and higher. At last it reached the place in the sky where the brothers danced and the great bear sang its sweet song.

"Welcome back, dear brother!" cried the dancing star-boys to the huge pine tree.

The pine tree is still there; it's the tallest tree in the forest. And if you look up into the nighttime sky, you will see the brothers still dancing, while the great bear sings her little bears to sleep.