Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Mountain Sheep in the Sky is a referent phrase used by older Numic people to refer to the stars of the constellation Orion. Fragments of the tale of a hunt in which these stars are featured were recorded in the Great Basin from before 1900 to the 1940s in different variants. An attempt is made to relate these fragments to demonstrate what may have been a widespread tale type. Its demise may be related to the general demise of star tales—perhaps due to shifts in native educational priorities.