Week 10 Reading Notes: The Maiden Who Loved a Star, Part B

Purple sage in Texas
Link to story.

Title: The Maiden Who Loved a Star

Publication: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends, 1936

Author: Florence Stratton

Illustrator: Berniece Burrough

Notes: Florence Stratton (1883—January 28, 1938) was an American journalist and writer Having returned to Texas for her career in journalism, she published the Tejas Indian folklore anthology “When the Storm God Rides” in 1936.

Characters:
Young girl
Sky dweller
Old woman
Great Spirit
Places:
Texas

Events:
A young girl forages for prickly pear fruit in the desert
The girl catches a glimpse of a winking star
The girl dreams about the sky dweller living in the stars
The girl goes out to the desert to see the star for a week
She continues to dream of the sky dweller, but they can’t be together
The girl asks the old woman how to die to join the star
The old woman suggests another option in order to live
The girl drinks the old woman’s potion and turns into a desert shrub
The sky dweller falls from the star and turns into purple blossoms on the shrub
The girl and the sky dweller are finally joined
The plant became what we know today as purple sage

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