Our story starts in the middle of the night, when Wolf Hair stole into Arrow’s Wind’s family teepee. He wanted to get the girl out because he believed that Arrow’s Wind had wronged him and now he wanted revenge. The family was asleep. Wolf Hair smiled wickedly and went to the tiny crib. The little girl was sound asleep. She had been named Bird’s Daughter, but it was a name that would be lost to time. Wolf Hair hated the whole family, brother, mother, and father.

He took the wrapped baby out of her resting place and went out of the teepee. Bird’s Daughter sleepily opened one eye and then closed it again. She knew Wolf Hair and trusted him. This broke her trust with all humans. He mounted his horse and rode to a stream miles away from camp. He laid her there and she started crying. He rode away.

A day later, a woman walked by. The woman looked down and gasped. She bent down and said in Sahaptian, then Nez Perce’s language, “What are you doing here?”

She picked up the child and hurried off to her tribe. After consulting with her husband, she took the child to Tree Woman, a woman who had given birth only days before. Bird’s Daughter became Bright Star, because her hair swirled into a star shape.

About a year later, Bright Star was walking and talking and running. Her sister, Bright Sun, was no fun and Bright Star longed to romp with the boys but had to stand by her chores and duties.

“Bright Star,” Moon Man, her father, said seriously one day, “this is not your real tribe.”

“What do you mean?” Bright Star asked, furrowing her brow. “I’ve been here all my life!”

“You haven’t,” Tree Woman shook her head. “We aren’t your real family. Cock’s Crow found you at the river one day. I had just had Bright Sun so I could take you in and feed you.”

“So I was just expected to make life easier?!” Bright Star demanded. “I’m not sure I can trust you.”

“You can trust us,” Moon Man insisted, “we just thought you ought to know.”

Bright Star glared in anger and shock.

“Bright Star, you’ll always belong here,” Tree Woman said gently but firmly. “We love having you.”

Bright Star went scowling about her tasks that day. She planned to leave that night!

She waited till everyone was asleep, then she packed a small bag and left. Her dog, Yucca, followed her. Bright Star took one final look at her tribe before leaving for good.

Bright Star traveled all over the U.S. Unfortunately, Yucca died after 4 years. When Yucca died, Bright Star started stealing from tribes. She got so used to stealing, it became a habit. She stole a bow and arrows, another dog and a travois, and supplies to make a small teepee as well as stealing provisions.

Her name, by the age of 7, was infamous among all the tribes of the U.S. Her original tribe started blaming her for “stealing and killing Bird’s Daughter.” Anyone who caught her would make a quick end of her.

Bright Star was silent and could slink stealthily into a tribe without a watcher knowing and could run faster then most grown men. She learned the difference between a wolf’s cry and a human’s very close imitation. She stole an Appaloosa filly and named her Black Night. That night, when she was 10, they (meaning her and her animals) moved camp.

When it was daylight, Bright Star saw signs of a recent encampment. She picked up a stray book and opened it. “English, looks like,” she said, “although I won’t read it right now.” She closed it and ran her hand over the cover. “I have never encountered these words before. The Holly Bible?”

She furrowed her brow and put the book in the travois. She checked her provisions and started into the camp to steal. She was walking around the outskirts of the camp when she heard two men arguing about something called “Christian.” She scoffed and moved on. But she was pondering over the word “Christian” when she bumped into a burly man.

“What have we here?” he asked menacingly.

Bright Star gasped and stood stock still for a moment, then she was off in a mad dash away from the man. She leapt over a fallen log and then ducked behind it to dodge a bullet.

“Edward!” a man shouted. “What are you doing?”

“There was a girl, Captain William,” Edward insisted. “She ducked behind that log.”

Bright Star tried to keep her breathing under control as footsteps approached.

Me and my stupid ideas! she chided herself.

Captain William stepped over the log and started speaking in halting Sahaptian. Bright Star did what she could understand, standing up in contempt and begrudgingly handing over her quiver of arrows, which she was never to see again. They started talking amongst themselves, the four men present, and she silently and indiscreetly listened to every English word they said.

“Can she understand what we’re saying?” a third man suddenly asked. “It looks like she does.”

“Nonsense!” Captain William scoffed. “She probably can’t even speak French.”

“You’re right, I can’t,” Bright Star said. It was the only language in North America that she couldn’t speak.  The fourth man’s eyes sparkled.

“Captain William, may I take her?” he asked.

After a moment’s argument with Captain William and the man named Reverend Paulson about “that rogue,” Bright Star was being adopted by Reverend Paulson. He took her to his tent and started talking about random things. The only thing that Bright Star would reveal was her name (that by a sharp glance) and that she had his Bible (that by a question). Finally, Captain William came in.

“The translator is dead,” he said solemnly.

“How?” Reverend Paulson demanded. “You meet with the savages in 2 hours!”

“He got the smallpox. We need the girl,” Captain William explained.

Bright Star looked at him sharply. Adopted was bad enough, slave was even worse! Then she realized they were asking her to choose.

“I don’t belong to the Nez Perce anymore,” she said flatly.

Both men paused as if in thought. Finally, Captain William grabbed her roughly by the arm and said:

“She will come.”