A young man’s wife had died. He allowed his hair to grow long and slept in the bushes behind his mother’s house. As he was lying there, he noticed a pretty little star above. He thought to himself how nice it would be if this star came down to him. But when he looked up again after a while the star had disappeared. Then a frog came hopping to his bed and jumped on his body. He threw it aside, but it returned and leaped at him. He hurled it far away into the bush; then he fell asleep. When the frog noticed this, it assumed the form of a girl and lay down beside him. The man awoke and asked, “Where have you come from?” “From there,” answered the girl; “what has been the matter with you?” “A frog twice jumped on my body.” “That was I! Did you not see the star directly above you?” “Yes, but now it is gone.” “That was I, too. I am Kandyekwei.” [Kandye means ‘star;’ kwei means ‘female.’] They remained together all night, and before daybreak she returned to the sky.
The following night she came again, bringing a bowl full of sweet-potatoes (Batatas edulis) and yams (Dioscorea sp.), which she ate together with her mate, to whom these plants were as yet unknown, for the Indians then had no cultivation, but ate rotten wood with their meat.
At daybreak the man hid Star-woman in a big lidded gourd, which he carefully tied up. When his comrades later called him to a log-race, he first opened the vessel again and looked in, and Star-woman smiled at him. He fastened the cover on carefully and joined the others. His younger brother, however, observed him. In his absence he opened the lid and saw the girl, who lowered her head for shame when she saw that it was not her mate. The brother hurriedly closed the cover. When the man returned from the race, he at once opened the lid of the bottle, but Star-woman kept her head down and would not look at him. So he took her out and now publicly lived with her. She was very beautiful and light-skinned.
Star-woman went bathing with her mother-in-law. When they got to the water she transformed herself into a little opossum and jumped on the old woman’s shoulder, but was thrown aside. She jumped a second time and was again pushed away by the old woman. Then she jumped up a third time, saying she wanted to tell the old woman something. She called her attention to a thick tree on the bank of the creek, which bore all manner of maize cobs, and explained that the Indians were to eat this maize instead of rotten wood. As an opossum she climbed up and threw down quantities of cobs. Then she reassumed human shape, packed the cobs together, and carried them into the village. There she showed her mother-in-law how to make maize cakes. They ate of the new dish, also giving some to a boy. When he came eating across the plaza, where the men sat in assembly, they called him to ask what he was eating. The boy gave them some of his cake, and all liked it extremely well.
Then the men resolved to chop down the maize tree. They went to work with a stone axe and had got the tree near the point of falling when they got tired and sat down to rest. But when about to go to work again they discovered in alarm that the notch they had cut had closed again.
They sent two boys to the village for a better axe. On the way the two discovered a steppe opossum, which they killed and immediately roasted and consumed, though this animal is taboo to boys. Hardly had they finished their meal when they turned into senile, stooping old men. Thus another messenger found them who had been sent after them in search of the stone axe. He led the two into the village, where an old magician-doctor undertook their rejuvenation. He washed them and poured water over them till they were all but suffocated. Then they turned back into the boys they had been.
When the men had finally felled the tree with great difficulty, Star-woman advised them to make a clearing and plant maize. The Indians did so, and since then they have had their cultivated plots. Later however, after her husband’s death, Star-woman returned to the sky.