Marshall Space Flight Center
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College and Above
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Elementary School
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"This is the home star," the Great Spirit explained, "it does not move, use it to find your way home when you are lost" What star do you think that the Great Spirit is talking about? (Click for answer) Then the Great Spirit told the animals to go collect up piles of these shiny stones and carry them up into the sky and make pictures of themselves. The animals began this task, but soon the little animals grew tired. What do you think the animals were trying to make? (Click here for answer.) After awhile longer, the bigger animals also grew tired. When they went back to the Great Spirit and asked for more help, the Great Spirit told them to seek help from the Coyote and said, "Go to Coyote, tell him to help you." And so they did.
Now Coyote believed that he was the wisest and most clever of all the animals, and so he really did not want to waste his time helping the other animals. Still, he did not want to offend Great Spirit. So Coyote told the animals to leave their stones with him, and he would finish the job for them. But, after the animals left, Coyote began thinking what a grand picture of himself he would create in the sky.
"It will be better than all the others," Coyote thought. "My picture will have the most stones and will be the brightest of all!"
Suddenly though, Coyote was reminded that he must finish the work that the other animals had started, but Coyote he did not want to waste a lot of time finishing their pictures. So, he hurriedly snatched up the bag of stones and flung them up into the air. The stones went here, there, and all over. None of the stones really helped finish the pictures of the other animals.
And that is why not all of the constellations appear finished, and why some do not look like the animals for which they are named. Coyote however, was punished for his treachery; for in his haste, he forgot to save some stones for his own picture!
Coyote was furious and he howled in rage. And that is why Coyote howls at night now, because he cannot see a picture of himself in the night sky! Have you ever heard a coyote howl?
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