THE LEGEND OF THE DEVILS TOWER

VERSION 1:

The Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming has long been associated by the Lakota with a bear-like creature called Mató. According to Kiowa legend, a spirit appeared to a young girl in the form of a great bear and transformed her into his likeness.

After discovering her new powers, the giant bear girl began chasing after her seven siblings, threatening to devour them. The siblings quickly jumped atop a low rock and began to pray to the Great Spirit. At once the rock began to grow upward lifting them beyond their sister's reach. Enraged, the bear girl jumped and clawed at the sides of the rock, but her siblings rose high into the heavens, where they became the seven stars of Pleiades.

Today, you can still see the bear girl's thwarted fury and her long claw marks engraved deep into the stone.

VERSION 2:

"Eight children were there at play, seven sisters and their brother. Suddenly the boy was struck dumb; he trembled and began to run upon his hands and feet. His fingers became claws, and his body was covered with fur. Directly there was a bear where the boy had been. The sisters were terrified.; they ran and the bear after them. They came to the stump of a great tree, and the tree spoke to them. It bade them climb upon it, and as they did so it began to rise into the air. The bear came to kill them, but they were just beyond its reach. It reared against the tree and scored the bark all around with its claws. The seven sisters were borne into the sky, and they became the stars of the Big Dipper."