GENDENWITHA

[Native American] The morning star (means "she who brings the day"). Her story tells of the time when the great hunter Sosondowah was stalking a supernatural elk. The hunt brought him to the heavens, where the goddess Dawn trapped him as her doorkeeper. But he did not remain faithful to his duties; down on earth he saw Gendenwitha (a mortal woman) and daily left his duties to court her. While Dawn was busy coloring the sky, the hunter was singing to his beloved: in spring as a bluebird; in summer, as a blackbird; in autumn, as a hawk. And it was as a hawk that he tried to carry Gendenwitha to heaven with him. But the jealous Dawn turned the woman into a star and set Gendenwitha just above Dawn's door, where she shines today as the morning star