After he got his strength back, he decided to seek another vision. But again, no animal spirit could help him.
As he was walking home, he met a group of geese flying towards the south, place of the Great Water. One goose advised him to dig a hole in the sand, and to get inside at sunset. It was going to be very hot in that hole, but if he could stand the heat, when he climbed out of that hole he would see a little boy on the beach, and through the little boy he would be able to talk to the Creator.
Man with the scar followed the advice and when he climbed out of the hole, he saw the child.
He played with the child that day, and the day after as well. The boy invited him to come to his house, under the water.
« But I can’t breathe under the water » said Man with the scar. But the boy took his hand and took him under the water and he could breathe. The child led him to a teepee, where his mother the moon was waiting.
She asked the boy : « Morningstar, why did you bring a human here ? They smell bad and they make mistakes ! » Morningstar replied that he liked his company, as he was feeling lonely since his brother’s death.
The moon told the man that he could stay but he had to purify himself with smoke first .
Then the child’s father the sun came home and asked what that human was doing there.
The child said : « If you ask him to leave, I’ll go with him, because I am feeling lonely without my brother ». His brother had been killed by birds. The sun agreed that the man could stay but he had to purify himself again.
The next day, Morningstar and the man went to the beach again. The child saw birds in the distance. The sun had forbidden him to go near the birds, but Morningstar decided he wanted to avenge his brother’s death.
« Your father forbade you to go near the birds » said Man with the scar.
But the boy ran away and Man with the scar followed him. When Morningstar saw how big those birds were, he was scared and he fell. But the man saw that they were only cranes. He killed them and he made a feather headdress for the sun.
Morningstar was a naive child and very often Man with the scar had to help him out of trouble.
One day, the sun asked Man with the scar what was the reason of his presence there.
Man with the scar explained that he could get married if his scar went away.
The sun told him then that the beautiful woman was his daughter and that the scar was no problem at all! He asked Morningstar and Man with the scar to build four sweatlodges.
When the first sweatlodge was finished, they went inside. There was a big mound of earth left where the man has sat. When we die, we return to the earth. When they walked out of the lodge, the sun asked the moon to take her son in her arms. She didn’t hesitate and embraced Morningstar.
In the second sweatlodge, the mound of earth where the man sat was smaller, and his scar had faded a little. The sun asked again the moon to choose who was her son, and again, she embraced Morningstar.
After the third sweatlodge, the mound grew even smaller and the scar was barely visible. But the moon still recognized Morningstar as her son.
When the fourth sweatlodge was done, there was nothing left of the mound where Man with the scar had sat and the scar was gone. When the sun asked the moon who was her son, she took Man with the scar in her arms !
On this day, Man with the scar received his new name : False Morningstar.
The sun then told False Morningstar that he loved his people who lived on the Earth, because they spoke to him. He made him the gift of
- A pipe
- Red paint
- The sweatlodge
- The grass
This gift belongs to all Indians, no matter the tribe.
False Morningstar was the only man who was allowed to keep his body after he died.
When you look at the sky in the morning, you can see one very bright star. That’s false Morningstar. The second bright star you see is Morningstar.
This legend is where our ceremonies come from. But it is a much longer story. Usually it is told during the sundance ceremonies.