She Wolf's blog: "What Else Is New?"

It is told in the creation legend of the Pawnee that a great council was held to which all the animal Stars were invited, but for a reason no one remembers the brightest Star in the southern sky, the “Wolf Star” was not invited.  Wolf Star watched and seethed from a distance, still, silent and angry, while everyone else decided how to make the earth.  In the time after the great council the Wolf Star directed his resentment over this bad treatment at “The Storm that Comes Out of the West”, who had been charged by the others with going around the earth seeing to it that things went well.  Storm carried a whirlwind bag with him as he travelled, inside of which were the first people.  When he stopped to rest in the evening he would let the people out and they would set up camp and hunt buffalo. 

One time, Wolf Star sent a Gray wolf down to follow Storm around, and when Storm fell asleep he stole his whirlwind bag thinking there might be something good to eat inside.  Having stolen the bag Gray wolf ran far away with it, but when he opened it all the people came out.  Setting up camp, the people looked around and saw there was no buffalo to hunt.  When they realized it was a Gray Wolf and not Storm that had let them out of the bag, they became very angry and ran the Gray wolf down killing him. 

Later when Storm located the first people again and saw what they had done, he was very sad.  He told them that by killing the Gray wolf they had brought death into the world.  That had not been the plan, but now it would continue to be this way.  Storm told them to skin the wolf and make a sacred bundle with the pelt, enclosing in it things that would always bring back memory of what had happened.  Thereafter he told them they would forever be known as the Wolf people, the Skidi Pawnee.  

Wolf Star watched all this while still shining bright from the southern sky, but now the Pawnee call this star “Fools the Wolves”, because it rises just before the Morning star and tricks the wolves into howling before first light.  In this way the Wolf Star continues to remind people how when it came time to build the earth, he was ignored and forgotten.