B46B. Seven star sisters.
(.17.26.27.29.30.32.34.44.46.48.)
Each of the seven main stars of Ursa Major is a separate female character. {Included in the online database, but not in the correlation table in *sav)}.
Syrian Bedouins, Central Arabian Bedouins, Chuan Miao, Greeks (Rhodes, Cyprus), Armenians, Kafirs, Kazan Tatars, Chuvash, Bashkirs, Tofalars, Winnebago, Kiowa, Yuki.
Western Asia. Syrian Bedouins [seven daughters of Naha (Nach) found their father's corpse, accused of killing Goat (North Star); the real killer is Canopus; two stars of Ursa Minor (farthest from Polyarnaya) are trying to resolve the conflict, but the sisters don't listen, continue to pursue the North Star]: Vernier 1938:200 in Henninger 1954:91; the Bedouins of central Arabia [seven stars Ursa Major - seven sisters; Goat (North Star) stole one of them, killed their father, took refuge with el-Howeigisen (stars β and γ Ursa Minor); the sisters put their father's body on a stretcher, buried them, went carrying stretcher, take revenge on Goat; he said the killer was Suheil (Canopus); the sisters went to Canopus, but he said that the killer was Goat; they returned to him, but El-Howeigisen did not allow them to see him get closer]: Hess in Henninger 1954:92.
China - Korea. Chuan miao [a poor orphan lives with his uncle, looks at the sky at night, asks the Lord of Heaven to help him; a (woman) star descended from heaven for one night; so three nights in a row {it is possible that every two stars descended at night - a star fell down, then another}; then the youngest, seventh, sister came down; he hides her in a pigsty; his aunt finds her, offers to kick her nephew out; the star leads him up the mountain into the forest; on the way she cooks rice, putting one grain; at her request, her brothers went down and built a house; the Star orders to invite the landowner to visit; he offers to swap wives, the Star advises to agree, an orphan gets seven wives in exchange for one; a star flies to heaven, destroying a house, the landowner wakes up on bare ground, becomes poor; a star gives birth to a son in heaven, brings seven childless wives to earth orphans take him up; the boy studies, goes to look for his mother, gives the shepherds the god Ntzï a bracelet, who send him to the mountain, where six sisters lead him to bathe horses, his mother is the last, her horse as tall as a pig; Stars believe the young man that he is the youngest son, they do not kill; the father of the Stars puts the youngest with his son in m with the pig; The stars believe the young man that he is the son of the youngest, they do not kill; ace (woman) is a star; a box, throws from the sky into the river, the son takes a book and prevents them from drowning; they come home; later the Star returned to heaven; because she gave birth to an earthly son, its light is weaker than that of the other six stars of the Ursa Major ]: Graham 1954:250-252.
The Balkans. Greeks (Rhodes, Cyprus) ["seven girls round dance" (reconstruction, now letters. "seven planets")]: Mladenova 2006:86.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Armenians [each of the seven gumushki thought that the others would feed their common godfather; he starved; God turned the gumushki into seven stars of the Ursa Major (Seven Kumushki)]: Ganalanyan 1979, No. 326: 123 (briefly in Harutyunyan 1980:105).
Iran - Central Asia. Kafira [the seven stars of Ursa Major are the daughters of the goddess Kymrai; she is sometimes referred to as the wife of Imra, who is equated to the sun]: Litvinsky 2004:123.
Volga - Perm. Tatars: Vorobyov, Khisamutdinov 1967 [near the moon - Zukhra maiden, near dawn - Chulpan the girl, seven maidens on the Bear]: 315; Davletshin 1979 [Big Dipper - 7 maidens]: 48; Bashkirs [seven female sisters ran up the mountain from the Deva king, jumped into the sky, became Yetegan Yondoz, Seven Stars; West 1960]: Barag 1987, No. 6:34 (=Nadrshina 1985, No. 4:11; 2001, No. 7:182); Chuvash [riddle: "My father and mother have seven daughters and all seven are pretty and pretty" (Big Dipper)]: Ashmarin, Chuvash Dictionary, vol. 1:129 in Sirotkin, Ivanov 1970:129.
Southern Siberia - Mongolia. The Tofalars [seven girls decide to go to heaven; Burhan tells them to become the stars of the Ursa Major]: Rassadin 1996, No. 1:7-8.
The Midwest. Winnebago [seven virgins collect sacred herbs; seven warriors guard them; an evil shaman quietly approached virgins disguised as a young man; they report this to the healer; the next once they run; Ma-on (the Creator) takes them to heaven, turns them into the Big Dipper; strikes the pursuer with lightning, makes them the North Star; the healer also throws warriors into the sky, they become Ursa Minor]: Smith 1997:28-30.
Plains. Kiowa [Kiowa also knew the story of seven fleeing from a bear and turning them into seven Ursa Major stars, but seven sisters and one brother are active]: Brown 1930:7-8 in Gibbon 1964:237.
California. Yuki [a group of girls (Ursa Major) went west to the ocean shore; the Coyote throws stones at them, forcing them to return; so the Big Dipper goes west not far and then returns] : Foster 1944:233.