American Folk-Lore Society monograph, published 1897 (Navajo oral tradition of much greater antiquity) · Washington Matthews, Navaho Legends (Houghton, Mifflin and Company for the American Folk-Lore Society, 1897) · Public domain (US; published 1897) · uncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan
Legend 1
136. At Tb'bi/^aski^/i (in the middle of the first world), white
arose in the east, and they 1T regarded it as day there, they say ; blue
rose in the south, and still it was day to them, and they moved
around ; yellow rose in the west and showed that evening had come ;
then dark arose in the north, and they lay down and slept.18
137. At Tb'bi/7/askiVi water flowed out (from a central source)
in different directions ; one stream flowed to the east, another to the
south, and another to the west. There were dwelling-places on the
border of the stream that flowed to the east, on that which flowed to
the south, and on that which flowed to the west also.
138. To the east there was a place called Tan (Corn), to the
south a place called Nahodfoola, and to the west a place called
Zokatsosaka^ (Standing Reed). Again, to the east there was a
place called Essa/ai (One Pot), to the south a place called ToV/ad^M/
(They Come Often for Water), and to the west a place called
Dsi//it.ribe^o<£-a.n (House Made of the Red Mountain). Then, again,
to the east there was a place called Ze'ya^o^-an (Under-ground House),
to the south a place called T^iltriW/za (Among Aromatic Sumac),
and to the west a place called Tse'/itsibe^ogan (House Made of Red
Rock).
139. Holatjf Di/yi7e (dark ants) lived there. HolatJi Litsi (red
ants) lived there. Tanilai (dragon flies) lived there. T^alUa (yel-
low beetles) lived there. Womtli'zi (hard beetles) lived there.
Tse'yoa/i (stone-carrier beetles) lived there. Km/i'.sin (black beetles)
lived there. MaiUan (coyote-dung beetles) lived there. T^apani
(bats) lived there. Tbtso' (white-faced beetles) lived there.
WomstnWi (locusts) lived there. WonistnWikai (white locusts) lived
there. These twelve people started in life there.19
140. To the east extended an ocean, to the south an ocean, to
the west an ocean, and to the north an ocean. In the ocean to
the east lay Tieholtsodi ; he was chief of the people there. In
the ocean to the south lived 77zaltla//ale (Blue Heron), who was
chief of the people there. In the ocean to the west lay
(Frog), who was chief of the people there. In the ocean to the
north was I<r/nifdsi/kai (White Mountain Thunder), and he was chief
of the people there.20
141. The people quarrelled among themselves, and this is the
way it happened. They committed adultery, one people with,
another. Many of the women were guilty. They tried to stop it,
but they could not. Tieholtsodi, the chief in the east, said : " What
shall we do with them? They like not the land they dwell in."
In the south Blue Heron spoke to them, and in the west Frog
said : " No longer shall you dwell here, I say. I am chief here."
To the north White Mountain Lightning said : " Go elsewhere at
once. Depart from here ! "
142. When again they sinned and again they quarrelled, Tiehol-
tsodi, in the east, would not speak to them ; Blue Heron, in the
south, would not speak to them ; Frog, in the west, would say
nothing ; and White Mountain Thunder, in the north, would not
speak to them.
143. Again, at the end of four nights, the same thing happened.
Those who dwelt at the south again committed crime, and again
they had contentions. One woman and one man sought to enter
in the east (to complain to the chief), but they were driven out.
In the south they sought to go in where Blue Heron lay, but
again they were driven out. In the west, where Frog was the
chief, again they tried to enter ; but again they were driven out.
To the north again they were driven out. (The chief) said : " None
of you (shall enter here). Go elsewhere and keep on going." That
night at Naho</oola they held a council, but they arrived at no
decision. At dawn Tieholtsodi began to talk. " You pay no atten-
tion to my words. Everywhere you disobey me ; you must go to
some other place. Not upon this earth shall you remain." Thus
he spoke to them.
144. Among the women, for four nights they talked about it.
At the end of the fourth night, in the morning, as they were rising,
something white appeared in the east. It appeared also in the
south, the west, and the north. It looked like a chain of moun-
tains, without a break, stretching around them. It was water that
surrounded them. Water impassable, water insurmountable, flowed
all around. All at once they started.
145. They went in circles upward till they reached the sky. It
was smooth. They looked down ; but there the water had risen,
and there was nothing else but water there. While they were
flying around, one having a blue head thrust out his head from
the sky and called to them, saying : " In here, to the eastward,
there is a hole." They entered the hole and went through it up
to the surface (of the second world).
146. The blue one belonged to the //ajtmsidme', or Swallow
People.21 The Swallow People lived there. A great many of their
houses, rough and lumpy, lay scattered all around. Each tapered
toward the top, and at that part there was a hole for entrance. A
great many people approached and gathered around 275 the strangers,
but they said nothing.
147. The first world was red in color ; the second world, into
which the people had now entered, was blue.22 They sent out two
couriers, a Locust and a White Locust, to the east, to explore the
land and see if there were in it any people like themselves. At
the end of two days the couriers returned, and said that in one day's
travel they had reached the edge of the world — the top of a great
cliff that arose from an abyss whose bottom they could not see ; but
that they found in all their journey no people, no animals of any
kind, no trees, no grass, no sage-brush, no mountains, nothing but
bare, level ground. The same couriers were then dispatched in
turn to the south, to the west, and to the north. They were
gone on each journey two days, and when they returned related,
as before, that they had reached the edge of the world, and
discovered nothing but an uninhabited waste. Here, then, the
strangers found themselves in the centre of a vast barren plain,
where there was neither food nor a kindred people. When the
couriers had returned from the north, the Swallows visited the camp
of the newly arrived people, and asked them why they had sent out
the couriers to the east. " We sent them out," was the reply, " to
see what was in the land, and to see if there were any people like
ourselves here." " And what did your couriers tell you ?" asked
the Swallows. " They told us that they came to the edge of the
world, yet found no plant and no living thing in all the land." (The
same questions were asked and the same answers given for the other
points of the compass.) " They spoke the truth," said the Swallow
People. " Had you asked us in the beginning what the land con-
tained, we- would have told you and saved you all your trouble.
Until you came, no one has ever dwelt in all this land but our-
selves." The people then said to the Swallows : "You understand
our language and are much like us. You have legs, feet, bodies,
heads, and wings, as we have : why cannot your people and our people
become friends ? " " Let it be as you wish," said the Swallows, and
both parties began at once to treat each other as members of one
tribe ; they mingled one among the other, and addressed one another
by the terms of relationship, as, my brother, my sister, my father,
my son, etc.23
148. They all lived together pleasantly and happily for twenty-
three days ; but on the twenty-fourth night one of the strangers
made too free with the wife of the Swallow chief, and next morning,
when the latter found out what had happened, he said to the
strangers : " We have treated you as friends, and thus you return our
kindness. We doubt not that for such crimes you were driven from
the lower world, and now you must leave this. This is our land and
we will have you here no longer. Besides, this is a bad land. Peo-
ple are dying here every day, and, even if we spare you, you cannot
live here long." The Locusts took the lead on hearing this ; they
soared upwards ; the others followed, and all soared and circled till
they reached the sky.
149. When they reached the sky they found it, like the sky of the
first world, smooth and hard with no opening ; but while they were
circling round under it, they saw a white face peering out at them,
— it was the face of Ni'lUi, the Wind. He called to them and told
them if they would fly to the south they would find a hole through
which they could pass ; so off they flew, as bidden, and soon they
discovered a slit in the sky which slanted upwards toward the south ;
through this slit they flew, and soon entered the third world in the
south.
150. The color of the third world was yellow.22 Here they found
nothing but the Grasshopper People. The latter gathered around
the wanderers in great numbers, but said nothing. They lived in
holes in the ground along the banks of a great river which flowed
through their land to the east. The wanderers sent out the same
Locust messengers that they had sent out in the second world to
explore the land to the east, to the south, to the west, to the north,
to find out what the land contained, and to see if there were any
kindred people in it ; but the messengers returned from each jour-
ney after an absence of two days, saying they had reached the end
of the world, and that they had found a barren land with no people
in it save the Grasshoppers.24
151. When the couriers returned from their fourth journey, the
two great chiefs of the Grasshoppers visited the strangers and asked
them why they had sent out the explorers, and the strangers an-
swered that they had sent them out to see what grew in the land,
and to find if there were any people like themselves in it. "And
what did your couriers find ? " said the Grasshopper chiefs. " They
found nothing save the bare land and the river, and no people but
yourselves." "There is nothing else in the land," said the chiefs.
" Long we have lived here, but we have seen no other people but
ourselves until you came."
152. The strangers then spoke to the Grasshoppers, as they had
spoken to the Swallows in the second world, and begged that they
might join them and become one people with them. The Grasshop-
pers consented, and the two peoples at once mingled among one
another and embraced one another, and called one another by the
endearing terms of relationship, as if they were all of the same tribe.
153. As before, all went well for twenty-three days; but on the
twenty-fourth one of the strangers served a chief of the Grass-
hoppers as the chief of the Swallows had been served in the loWer
world. In the morning, when the wrong was discovered, the chief
reviled the strangers and bade them depart. " For such crimes," he
said, " I suppose you were chased from the world below : you shall
drink no more of our water, you shall breathe no more of our air.
Begone ! "
154. Up they all flew again, and circled round and round until they
came to the sky above them, and they found it smooth and hard as
before. When they had circled round for some time, looking in vain
for an entrance, they saw a red head stuck out of the sky, and they
heard a voice which told them to fly to the west. It was the head
of Red Wind which they saw, and it was his voice that spoke to
them. The passage which they found in the west was twisted round
like the tendril of a vine; it had thus been made by the wind. They
flew up in circles through it and came out in the fourth world. Four
of the Grasshoppers came with them ; one was white, one blue, one
yellow, and one black. We have grasshoppers of these four colors
with us to this day.25
155. The surface of the fourth world was mixed black and white.
The colors in the sky were the same as in the lower worlds, but
they differed in their duration. In the first world, the white, the
blue, the yellow, and the black all lasted about an equal length of
time every day. In the second world the blue and the black lasted
a little longer than the other two colors. In the third world they
lasted still longer. In the fourth world there was but little of the
white and yellow ; the blue and the black lasted most of the time.
As yet there was neither sun, moon, nor star.
156. When they arrived on the surface of the fourth world they
saw no living thing ; but they observed four great snow-covered
peaks sticking up at the horizon, — one at the east, one at the south,
one at the west, and one at the north.
157. They sent two couriers to the east. These returned at the
end of two clays. They related that they had not been able to reach
the eastern mountain, and that, though they had travelled far, they
had seen no track or trail or sign of life. Two couriers were then
sent to the south. When they returned, at the end of two days,
they related that they had reached a low range of mountains this
side of the great peak ; that they had seen no living creature, but
had seen two different kinds of tracks, such as they had never seen
before, and they described such as the deer and the turkey make
now. Two couriers were next sent to the west. In two days these
returned, having failed to reach the great peak in the west, and hav-
ing seen no living thing and no sign of life. At last two couriers
were sent to the north. When these got back to their kindred they
said they had found a race of strange men, who cut their hair square
in front, who lived in houses in the ground and cultivated fields.
These people, who were engaged in gathering their harvest, the
couriers said, treated them very kindly and gave them food to eat.
It was now evident to the wanderers that the fourth world was
larger than any of the worlds below.
158. The day following the return of the couriers who went to the
north, two of the newly discovered race — Kisani (Pueblos) they were
called — entered the camp of the exiles and guided the latter to a
stream of water. The water was red, and the Kisani told the wan-
derers they must not walk through the stream, for if they did the
water would injure their feet. The Kisani showed them a square
raft made of four logs, — a white pine, a blue spruce, and yellow pine,
and a black spruce, — on which they might cross ; so they went over
the stream and visited the homes of the Kisani.
1 59. The Kisani gave the wanderers corn and pumpkins to eat,
and the latter lived for some time on the food given to them daily
by their new friends. They held a council among themselves, in
which they resolved to mend their manners for the future and do
nothing to make the Kisani angry. The land of the Kisani had
neither rain nor snow ; the crops were raised by irrigation.
1 60. Late in the autumn they heard in the east the distant sound
of a great voice calling. They listened and waited, and soon heard
the voice nearer and louder. They listened still and heard the voice
a third time, nearer and louder than before. Once more they listened,
and soon they heard the voice louder still, and clear like the voice of
one near at hand. A moment later four mysterious beings appeared
to them.26 These were : Bitsi's Zakai, or White Body, a being like
the god of this world whom the Navahoes call //astreyal/i ; Bitsi's
Dvtli'z, or Blue Body, who was like the present Navaho god
T'o'nenili, or Water Sprinkler ; Bitsi's ZTtsoi, or Yellow Body ; and
Bitsi's Zizi'n, or Black Body, who was the same as the present
Navaho god of fire, ffastsezmi.
161. These beings, without speaking, made many signs to the
people, as if instructing them ; but the latter did not understand
them. When the gods had gone, the people long discussed the
mysterious visit, and tried to make out what the gods meant by the
signs they had made. Thus the gods visited four days in succession.
On the fourth day, when the other three had departed, Black Body
remained behind and spoke to the people in their own language.
He said : " You do not seem to understand the signs that these
gods make you, so I must tell you what they mean. They want to
make more people, but in form like themselves. You have bodies
like theirs ; but you have, the teeth, the feet, and the claws of beasts
and insects. The new creatures are to have hands and feet like
ours. But you are uncleanly, you smell badly. Have yourselves
well cleansed when we return ; we will come back in twelve days."
162. On the morning of the twelfth day the people washed them-
selves well. The women dried themselves with yellow corn-meal ;
the men with white corn-meal.27 Soon after the ablutions were
completed they heard the distant call of the approaching gods. It
was shouted, as before, four times, — nearer and louder at each repe-
tition, — and, after the fourth call, the gods appeared. Blue Body
and Black Body each carried a sacred buckskin. White Body car-
ried two ears of corn, one yellow, one white, each covered at the
end completely with grains.28
163. The gods laid one buckskin on the ground with the head
to the west ; on this they placed the two ears of corn, with their
tips to the east, and over the corn they spread the other buckskin
with its head to the east ; under the white ear they put the feather
of a white eagle, under the yellow ear the feather of a yellow
eagle. Then they told the people to stand at a distance and allow
the wind to enter. The white wind blew from the east, and the
yellow wind blew from the west, between the skins. While the
wind was blowing, eight of the Mirage People came and walked
around the objects on the ground four times, and as they walked
the eagle feathers, whose tips protruded from between the buck-
skins, were seen to move. When the Mirage People had finished
their walk the upper buckskin was lifted, — the ears of corn had
disappeared ; a man and a woman lay there in their stead.
164. The white ear of corn had been changed into a man, the
yellow ear into a woman. It was the wind that gave them life.
It is the wind that comes out of our mouths now that gives us
life. When this ceases to blow we die. In the skin at the tips
of our fingers we see the trail of the wind ; it shows us where the
wind blew when our ancestors were created.
165. The pair thus created were First Man and First Woman
(Atse //astiw and Atse Estsan). The gods directed the people to
build an inclosure of brushwood for the pair. When the in closure
was finished, First Man and First Woman entered it, and the gods
said to them : " Live together now as husband and wife." At the
end of four days hermaphrodite 29 twins were born, and at the end
of four days more a boy and a girl were born, who in four days grew
to maturity and lived with one another as husband and wife. The
primal pair had in all five pairs of twins, the first of which only was
barren, being hermaphrodites.
1 66. In four days after the last pair of twins was born, the gods
came again and took First Man and First Woman away to the east-
ern mountain where the gods dwelt, and kept them there for four
days. When they returned all their children were taken to the east-
ern mountain and kept there for four days. Soon after they all
returned it was observed that they occasionally wore masks, such as
//astreyal/i and //asUe/^an wear now, and that when they wore
these masks they prayed for all good things, — for abundant rain
and abundant crops. It is thought, too, that during their visit to
the eastern mountain they learned the awful secrets of witchcraft,
for the antihi (witches, wizards) always keep such masks with them
and marry those too nearly related to them.
167. When they returned from the eastern mountain the brothers
and sisters separated ; and, keeping the fact of their former unlaw-
ful marriages secret, the brothers married women of the Mirage
People and the sisters married men of the Mirage People. They
kept secret, too, all the mysteries they had learned in the eastern
mountain. The women thus married bore children every four days,
and the children grew to maturity in four days, were married, and
in their turn had children every four days. This numerous offspring
married among the Kisani, and among those who had come from the
lower world, and soon there was a multitude of people in the land.
168. These descendants of First Man and First Woman made a
great farm. They built a dam and dug a wide irrigating ditch. But
they feared the Kisani might injure their dam or their crops ; so
they put one of the hermaphrodites to watch the dam and the other
to watch the lower end of the field. The hermaphrodite who
watched at the dam invented pottery. He made first a plate, a
bowl, and a dipper, which were greatly admired by the people. The
hermaphrodite who lived at the lower end of the farm invented the
wicker water-bottle.30 Others made, from thin split boards of cotton-
wood, implements which they shoved before them to clear the weeds
out of the land. They made also hoes from shoulder-blades of deer
and axes of stone. They got their seeds from the Kisani.
169. Once they killed a little deer, and some one among them
thought that perhaps they might make, from the skin of the head, a
mask, by means of which they could approach other deer and kill
them. They tried to make such a mask but failed ; they could not
make it fit. They debated over the invention and considered it for
four days, but did not succeed. On the morning of the fifth day
they heard the gods shouting in the distance. As on a previous
occasion, they shouted four times, and after the fourth call they
made their appearance. They brought with them heads of deer and
of antelope. They showed the people how the masks were made
and fitted, how the eye-holes were cut, how the motions of the deer
were to be imitated, and explained to them all the other mysteries
of the deer-hunt.31 Next day hunters went out and several deer
were killed ; from these more masks were made, and with these
masks more men went out to hunt ; after that time the camp had
abundance of meat. The people dressed the deerskins and made
garments out of them.
170. The people from the third world had been in the fourth world
eight years when the following incident occurred : One day they
saw the sky stooping down and the earth rising up to meet it. For
a moment they came in contact, and then there sprang out of the
earth, at the point of contact, the Coyote and the Badger. We think
now that the Coyote and the Badger are children of the sky. The
Coyote rose first, and for this reason we think he is the elder
brother of the Badger. At once the Coyote came over to the camp
and skulked round among the people, while the Badger went down
into the hole that led to the lower world.
171. First Man told the people the names of the four mountains
which rose in the distance. They were named the same as the four
mountains that now bound the Navaho land. There was Tsisnad^i'ni
in the east, Tsotsi/ in the south, ZtokosliV in the west, and Ztepe'ntsa
in the north, and he told them that a different race of people lived in
each mountain.
172. First Man was the chief of all these people in the fourth
world, except the Kisani. He was a great hunter, and his wife, First
Woman, was very corpulent. One day he brought home from the
hunt a fine fat deer. The woman boiled some of it and they had a
hearty meal. When they were done the woman wiped her greasy
hands on her dress, and made a remark which greatly enraged her
husband ; they had a quarrel about this, which First Man ended by
jumping across the fire and remaining by himself in silence for the
rest of the night.32
173. Next morning First Man went out early and called aloud to
the people : " Come hither, all ye men," he said ; " I wish to speak
to you, but let all the women stay behind ; I do not wish to see
them." Soon all the males gathered, and he told them what his wife
had said the night before. " They believe," he said, " that they can
live without us. Let us see if they can hunt game and till the fields
without our help. Let us see what sort of a living they can make
by themselves. Let us leave them and persuade the Kisani to come
with us. We will cross the stream, and when we are gone over we
will keep the raft on the other side." He sent for the hermaphro-
dites. They came, covered with meal, for they had been grinding
corn. " What have you that you have made yourselves ? " he asked.
" We have each two mealing-stones, and we have cups and bowls and
baskets and many other things," they answered. "Then take these
all along with you," he ordered, "and join us to cross the stream."
Then all the men and the hermaphrodites assembled at the river
and crossed to the north side on the raft, and they took over with
them their stone axes and farm implements and everything they
had made. When they had all crossed they sent the raft, down to
the Kisani for them to cross. The latter came over, — six gentes of
them, — but they took their women with them. While some of the
young men were crossing the stream they cried at parting with their
wives ; still they went at the bidding of their chief. The men left
the women everything the latter had helped to make or raise.
174. As soon as they had crossed the river some of the men went
out hunting, for the young boys needed food, and some set to work
to chop down willows and build huts. They had themselves all
sheltered in four days.
175. That winter the women had abundance of food, and they
feasted, sang, and had a merry time. They often carne down to the
bank of the river and called across to the men and taunted and
reviled them. Next year the men prepared a few small fields and
raised a little corn ; but they did not have much corn to eat, arid
lived a good deal by hunting. The women planted all of the old
farm, but they did not work it very well ; so in the winter they had a
small crop, and they did not sing and make merry as in the previous
winter. In the second spring the women planted less, while the
men planted more, cleared more land, and increased the size of their
farm. Each year the fields and crops of the men increased, while
those of the women diminished and they began to surfer for want of
food. Some went out and gathered the seeds of wild plants to eat.
In the autumn of the third year of separation many women jumped
into the river and tried to swim over ; but they were carried under
the surface of the water and were never seen again. In the fourth
year the men had more food than they could eat ; corn and pump-
kins lay untouched in the fields, while the women were starving.
176. First Man at length began to think what the effect of his
course might be. He saw that if he continued to keep the men and
the women apart the race might die out, so he called the men and
spoke his thoughts to them. Some said, " Surely our race will per-
ish," and others said, "What good is our abundance to us? We
think so much of our poor women starving in our sight that we can-
not eat." Then he sent a man to the shore to call across the stream
to find if First Woman were still there, and to bid her come down to
the bank if she were. She came to the bank, and First Man called
to her and asked if she still thought she could live alone. " No,"
she replied, "we cannot live without our husbands." The men and
the women were then told to assemble at the shores of the stream ;
the raft was sent over and the women were ferried across. They
were made to batke-ffreir bodies "afrd-rfTy" them with meal. They
were put in a corral and kept there until night, when they were let
out to join the men in their feasts.33
177. When they were let out of the corral it was found that three
were missing. After dark, voices were heard calling from the other
side of the river; they were the voices of the missing ones, — a
mother and her two daughters. They begged to be ferried over, but
the men told them it was too dark, that they must wait until morn-
ing. Hearing this, they jumped into the stream and tried to swim
over. The mother succeeded in reaching the opposite bank and
finding her husband. The daughters were seized by Tieholtsodi,
the water monster, and dragged down under the water.
178. For three nights and three days the people heard nothing
about the young women and supposed them lost forever. On the
morning of the fourth day the call of the gods was heard, — four
times as usual, — and after the fourth call White Body made his
appearance, holding up two fingers and pointing to the river. The
people supposed that these signs had reference to the lost girls.
Some of the men crossed the stream on the raft and looked for the
tracks of the lost ones ; they traced the tracks to the edge of
the water, but no farther. White Body went away, but soon re-
turned, accompanied by Blue Body. White Body carried a large
bowl of white shell, and Blue Body a large bowl of blue shell.
They asked for a man and a woman to accompany them, and they
went down to the river. They put both the bowls on the surface of
the water and caused them to spin around. Beneath the spinning
bowls the water opened, for it was hollow, and gave entrance to a
large house of four rooms. The room in the east was made of the
dark waters, the room in the south of the blue waters, the room in
the west of the yellow waters, and the room in the north of waters
of all colors.36
179. The man and the woman descended and Coyote followed
them. They went first into the east room*, but there they found
nothing ; then they went into the south room, but there they found
nothing ; next they went into the west room, where again they found
nothing ; at last they went into the north room, and there they
beheld the water monster Tieholtsodi, with the two girls he had
stolen and two children of his own. The man and the woman
demanded the children, and as he said nothing in reply they took
them and walked away. But as they went out Coyote, unperceived
by all, took the two children of Tieholtsodi and carried them off
under his robe. Coyote always wore his robe folded close around
him and always slept with it thus folded, so no one was surprised to
see that he still wore his robe in this way when he came up from
the waters, and no one suspected that he had stolen the children of
Tieholtsodi.
1 80. Next day the people were surprised to see deer, turkey, and
antelope running past from east to west, and to see animals of six
different kinds (two kinds of Hawks, two kinds of Squirrels, the
Hummingbird, and the Bat) come into their camp as if for refuge.
The game animals ran past in increasing numbers during the three
days following. On the morning of the fourth day, when the white
light rose, the people observed in the east a strange white gleam
along the horizon, and they sent out the Locust couriers to see what
caused this unusual appearance. The Locusts returned before sun-
set, and told the people that a vast flood of waters was fast ap-
proaching from the east. On hearing this the people all assembled
together, the Kisani with the others, in a great multitude, and they
wailed and wept over the approaching catastrophe. They wept and
moaned all night and could not sleep.
1 8 1. When the white light arose in the east, next morning, the
waters were seen high as mountains encircling the whole horizon,
except in the west, and rolling on rapidly. The people packed up
all their goods as fast as they could, and ran up on a high hill near
by, for temporary safety. Here they held a council. Some one
suggested that perhaps the two Squirrels (//azaitso and //azaistozi)
might help them. " We will try what we can do," said the Squir-
rels. One planted a pinon seed, the other a juniper seed, and they
grew so very fast that the people hoped that they would soon grow
so tall that the flood could not reach their tops, and that all might
find shelter there. But after the trees grew a little way they began
to branch out and grew no higher. Then the frightened people
called on the Weasels (Glo'dst/kai and Glo'dsi/fei'ni). One of these
planted a spruce seed and one a pine seed. The trees sprouted at
once and grew fast, and again the people began to hope ; but soon
the trees commenced to branch, and they dwindled to slender points
at the top and ceased to* grow higher. Now they were in the depths
of despair, for the waters were coming nearer every moment, when
they saw two men approaching the hill on which they were gathered.
182. One of the approaching men was old and grayhaired ; the
other, who was young, walked in advance. They ascended the hill
and passed through the crowd, speaking to no one. The young man
sat down on the summit, the old man sat down behind him, and the
Locust sat down behind the old man, — all facing the east. The
elder took out seven bags from under his robe and opened them.
Each contained a small quantity of earth. He told the people that
in these bags he had earth from the seven sacred mountains. There
were in the fourth world seven sacred mountains, named and placed
like the sacred mountains of the present Navaho land. " Ah ! Per-
haps our father can do something for us," said the people. " I can-
not, but my son may be able to help you," said the old man. Then
they bade the son to help them, and he said he would if they all
moved away from where he stood, faced to the west, and looked not
around until he called them ; for no one should see him at his work.
They did as he desired, and in a few moments he called them to
come to him. When they came, they saw that he had spread the
sacred earth on the ground and planted in it thirty-two reeds, each
of which had thirty-two joints. As they gazed they beheld the roots
of the reeds striking out into the soil and growing rapidly downward.
A moment later all the reeds joined together and became one reed
of great size, with a hole in its eastern side. He bade them enter
the hollow of the reed through this hole. When they were all safely
inside, the opening closed, and none too soon, for scarcely had it
closed when they heard the loud noise of the surging waters outside,
saying, "Yi#, yiw, yi;z."37
183. The waters rose fast, but the reed grew faster, and soon it
grew so high that it began to sway, and the people inside were in
great fear lest, with their weight, it might break and topple over
into the water. White Body, Blue Body, and Black Body were
along. Black Body blew a great breath out through a hole in the
top of the reed ; a heavy dark cloud formed around the reed and
kept it steady. But the reed grew higher and higher; again it
began to sway, and again the people within were in great fear,
whereat he blew and made another cloud to steady the reed. By
sunset it had grown up close to the sky, but it swayed and waved
so much that they could not secure it to the sky until Black Body,
who was uppermost, took the plume out of his head-band and stuck
it out through the top of the cane against the sky, and this is why
the reed (Phragmites communis) always carries a plume on its head
now.38
184. Seeing no hole in the sky, they sent up the Great Hawk,
Gim'tso, to see what he could do. He flew up and began to scratch
in the sky with his claws, and he scratched and scratched till he
was lost to sight. After a while he came back, and said that he
scratched to where he could see light, but that he did not get
through the sky. Next they sent up a Locust.39 He was gone a
long time, and when he came back he had this story to tell : He
had gotten through to the upper world, and came out on a little
island in the centre of a lake. When he got out he saw approach-
ing him from the east a black Grebe, and from the west a yellow
Grebe.40 One of them said to him : "Who are you and whence come
you ? " But he made no reply. The other then said : " We own
half of this world, — I in the east, my brother in the west. We
give you a challenge. If you can do as we do, we shall give you
one half of the world ; if you cannot, you must die." Each had an
arrow made of the black wind. He passed the arrow from side
to side through his heart and flung it down to WonistnVi, the
Locust.41 The latter picked up one of the arrows, ran it from side
to side through his heart, as he had seen the Grebes do, and threw
it down.42 The Grebes swam away, one to the east and one to the
west, and troubled him no more. When they had gone, two more
Grebes appeared, a blue one from the south and a shining one from
the north. They spoke to him as the other Grebes had spoken, and
gave him the same challenge. Again he passed the arrow through
his heart and the Grebes departed, leaving the land to the locust.
To this day we see in every locust's sides the holes made by the
arrows. But the hole the Locust made in ascending was too small
for many of the people, so they sent Badger up to make it larger.
When Badger came back his legs were stained black with the mud,
and the legs of all badgers have been black ever since. Then First
Man and First Woman led the way and all the others followed
them, and they climbed up through the hole to the surface of this
— the fifth — world.
Legend 2
185. The lake43 was bounded by high cliffs, from the top of which
stretched a great plain. There are mountains around it now, but
these have been created since the time of the emergence. Finding
no way to get out of the lake, they called on Blue Body to help
them. He had brought with him from the lower world four stones ;
he threw one of these towards each of the four cardinal points
against the cliffs, breaking holes, through which the waters flowed
away in four different directions.44 The lake did not altogether
drain out by this means ; but the bottom became bare in one place,
connecting the island with the mainland. But the mud was so deep
in this place that they still hesitated to cross, and they prayed to
Ni'ltri ZUlkohi, Smooth Wind, to come to their aid.45 Nl'ltei Z>ilkohi
blew a strong wind, and in one day dried up the mud so that the peo-
ple could easily walk over. While they were waiting for the ground
to dry, the Kisani camped on the east side of the island and built a
stone wall (which stands to this day), to lean against and to shelter
them from the wind.46 The other people set up a shelter of brush-
wood. The women erected four poles, on which they stretched a
deerskin, and under the shelter of this they played the game of
three-sticks,47 tsin^i', one of the four games which they brought
with them from the lower world.
1 86. When they reached the mainland they sought to divine
their fate. To do this some one threw a hide-scraper into the water,
saying: "If it sinks we perish, if it floats we live." It floated, and
all rejoiced. But Coyote said : " Let me divine your fate." He
picked up a stone, and saying, " If it sinks we perish ; if it floats
we live," he threw it into the water. It sank, of course, and all
were angry with him and reviled him ; but he answered them say-
ing : " If we all live, and continue to increase as we have done, the
earth will soon be too small to hold us, and there will be no room
for the cornfields. It is better that each of us should live but a
time on this earth and then leave and make room for our children."
They saw the wisdom of his words and were silent. The day they
arrived at the shore they had two visitors, — : Puma and Wolf. " We
have heard," said these, " that some new people had come up out of
the ground, and we have come over to see them." Puma took a
bride from among the new people.
187. On the fourth day of the emergence some one went to look
at the hole through which they had come out, and he noticed water
welling up there ; already it was nearly on a level with the top of the
hole,' and every moment it rose higher. In haste he ran back to his
people and told them what he had seen. A council was called at
once to consider the new danger that threatened them. First Man,
who rose to speak, said, pointing to Coyote : " Yonder is a rascal, and
there is something wrong about him. He never takes off his robe,
even when he lies down. I have watched him for a long time, and
have suspected that he carries some stolen property under his robe.
Let us search him." 48 They tore the robe from Coyote's shoulders,
and two strange little objects dropped out that looked something
like buffalo calves, but were spotted all over in various colors ; they
were the young of Tieholtsodi. At once the people threw them into
the hole through which the waters were pouring ; in an instant the
waters subsided, and rushed away with a deafening noise to the
lower world.49
1 88. On the fifth night one of the twin hermaphrodites ceased to
breathe. They left her alone all that night, and, when morning
came, Coyote proposed to lay her at rest among the rocks. This
they did ; but they all wondered what had become of her breath.
They went in various directions to seek for its trail, but could find
it nowhere. While they were hunting, two men went near the
hole through which they had come from the lower world. It oc-
curred to one of them to look down into the hole. He did so, and
he saw the dead one seated by the side of the river, in the fourth
world, combing her hair. He called to his companion and the lat-
ter came and looked down, too. They returned to their people and
related what they had seen ; but in four days both these men died,
and ever since the Navahoes have feared to look upon the dead, or
to behold a ghost, lest they die themselves.50
189. After this it was told around that the Kisani, who were in
camp at a little distance from the others, had brought with them
from the lower world an ear of corn for seed. Some of the unruly
ones proposed to go to the camp of the Kisani and take the corn away
from them ; but others, of better counsel, said that this would be
wrong, that the Kisani had had as much trouble as the rest, and if
they had more foresight they had a right to profit by it. In spite of
these words, some of the young men went and demanded the corn of
the Kisani. The latter said, after some angry talk on both sides,
" We will break the ear in two and give you whichever half you
choose." The young men agreed to this bargain, and the woman
who owned the ear broke it in the middle and laid the pieces down
for the others to choose. The young men looked at the pieces, and
were considering which they would take, when Coyote, getting impa-
tient, picked up the tip end of the ear and made off with it. The
Kisani kept the butt, and this is the reason the Pueblo Indians have
to-day better crops of corn than the Navahoes. But the Pueblos
had become alarmed at the threats and angry language of their
neighbors and moved away from them, and this is why the Navahoes
and Pueblos now live apart from one another.
190. After the Kisani moved away, First Man and First Woman,
Black Body and Blue Body, set out to build the seven sacred moun-
tains of the present Navaho land. They made them all of earth
which they had brought from similar mountains in the fourth world.
The mountains they made were Tsisnad^T'ni in the east, TsotsT/
(Taylor, San Mateo) in the south, Z>okosliV (San Francisco) in the
west, /?epe'ntsa (San Juan) in the north, with DsT/naoH/, Tjolihi,
and Akk/anas/ani (Hosta Butte) in the middle of the land.61
191. Through Tsisnad^fni,52 in the east, they ran a bolt of light-
ning to fasten it to the earth. They decorated it with white shells,
white lightning, white corn, dark clouds, and he-rain. They set a
big dish or bowl of shell on its summit, and in it they put two eggs
of the Pigeon to make feathers • for the mountain. The eggs they
covered with a sacred buckskin to make them hatch (there are
many wild pigeons in this mountain now). All these things they
covered with a sheet of daylight, and they put the Rock Crystal
Boy and the Rock Crystal Girl 53 into the mountain to dwell.
192. Tsotsi/,54 the mountain of the south, they fastened to the
earth with a great stone knife, thrust through from top to bottom.
They adorned it with turquoise, with dark mist, she-rain, and all dif-
ferent kinds of wild animals. On its summit they placed a dish of
turquoise ; in this they put two eggs of the Bluebird, which they
covered with sacred buckskin (there are many bluebirds in Tsotsi/
now), and over all they spread a covering of blue sky. The Boy who
Carries One Turquoise and the Girl who Carries One Grain of
Corn M were put into the mountain to dwell.
193. ZtokoshW,56 the mountain of the west, they fastened to the
earth with a sunbeam. They adorned it with haliotis shell, with
black clouds, he-rain, yellow corn, and all sorts of wild animals.
They placed a dish of haliotis shell on the top, and laid in this two
eggs of the Yellow Warbler, covering them with sacred buckskins.
There are many yellow warblers now in ZtokoshV. Over all they
spread a yellow cloud, and they sent White Corn Boy and Yellow
Corn Girl 57 to dwell there.
194. Ztepe'ntsa, the mountain in the north, they fastened with a
rainbow. They adorned it with black beads (passim), with the dark
mist, with different kinds of plants, and many kinds of wild animals.
On its top they put a dish of pas^mi ; in this they placed two eggs
of the Blackbird, over which they laid a sacred buckskin. Over all
they spread a covering of darkness. Lastly they put the Pollen Boy
and Grasshopper Girl 59 in the mountain, to dwell there.
195. Dsi/nao/T/,60 was fastened with a sunbeam. They decorated
it with goods of all kinds, with the dark cloud, and the male rain.
They put nothing on top of it ; they left its summit free, in order
that warriors might fight there ; but they put Boy Who Produces
Goods and Girl Who Produces Goods61 there to live.
196. The mountain of T^olihi62 they fastened to the earth with
m'ltsatlo/ (the streak or cord of rain). They decorated it with pol-
len, the dark mist, and the female rain. They placed on top of it a
live bird named Tms-ga/i,63 — such birds abound there now, — and
they put in the mountain to dwell Boy Who Produces Jewels and
Girl Who Produces Jewels.64 •
197. The mountain of Aki^/anas^ani 65 they fastened to the earth
with a sacred^ stone called tse'//a^a/^onige, or mirage-stone. They
decorated it with black clouds, the he-rain, and all sorts of plants.
They placed a live Grasshopper on its summit, and they put the
Mirage-stone Boy and the Carnelian Girl there to dwell.66
8o Navaho Legends.
198. They still had the three lights and the darkness, as in the
lower worlds. But First Man and First Woman thought they might
form some lights which would make the world brighter. After
much study and debate they planned to make the sun and moon.
For. the sun they made a round flat object, like a dish, out of a clear
stone called tse'tsagi. They set turquoises around the edge, and
outside of these they put rays of red rain, lightning, and snakes of
many kinds. At first they thought of putting four points on it, as
they afterwards did on the stars, but they changed their minds and
made it round. They made the moon of tse'tson (star-rock, a kind
of crystal) ; they bordered it with white shells and they put on its
face kadilki's (sheet lightning), and AS'/anasUi (all kinds of water).67
199. Then they counseled as to what they should do with the sun ;
where they should make it rise first. The Wind of the East begged
that it might^be brought to his land, so they dragged it off to the
edge of the world where he dwelt ; there they gave it to the man
who planted the great cane in the lower world, and appointed him to
carry it. To an old gray-haired man, who had joined them in the
lower world, the moon was given to carry. These men had no
names before, but now the former received the name of Trohanoai,
or T^hanoai, and the latter 'the name of Klehanoai. When they
were about to depart, in order to begin their labors, the people
were sorry, for they were beloved by all. But First Man said
to the sorrowing peopk : " Mourn not for them, for you will see
them in the heavens, and all that die will be theirs in return for
their labors.68 (See notes 69 and 70 for additions to the legend.)
200. Then the people (/?me', Navahoes) began to travel. They
journeyed towards the east, and after one day's march they reached
Ni/2a//okai (White Spot on the Earth) and camped for the night.
Here a woman brought forth, but her offspring was not like a
child ; it was round, misshapen, and had no head. The people coun-
selled, and determined that it should .be thrown into a gully, So
they threw it away ; but it lived and grew up and became the
monster Teelge/,131 who afterwards destroyed so many of the people.
201. Next day they wandered farther to the east, and camped at
night at TseVaiska (Rock Bending Back). Here was born another
misshapen creature, which had something like feathers on both its
shoulders. It looked like nothing that was ever seen before, so
the people concluded to throw this away also. They took it to an
alkali bed close by and cast it away there. But it lived and grew
and became the terrible Tse'na'hale,135 of whom I shall have much
to tell later.
202. The next night, travelling still to the east, they camped at
Tse'bina^otyel, a broad high cliff like a wall, and here a woman
bore another strange creature. It had no head, but had a long
pointed end where the head ought to be. This object was depos-
ited in the cliff, in a hole which was afterwards sealed up with a
stone. They left it there to die, but it grew up and became the
destroyer TseVa/zotnl/a'/i,142 of whom we shall tell hereafter. Be-
cause he was closed into the rock, his hair grew into it and he
could not fall.
203. The next night, when they stopped at Tse'a/*aLsi'ni (Rock
with Black Hole), twins were born. They were both roundish with
one end tapering to a point. There were no signs of limbs or
head, but there were depressions which had somewhat the appear-
ance of eyes. The people laid them on the ground, and next day,
when they moved camp, abandoned them. Tse'a/^aLs'i'ni is shaped
like a Navaho hut, with a door in the east. It is supposed that,
when they were abandoned to die, the twin monsters went into
this natural hut to dwell. They grew up, however, and became
the Bmaye A/^ani, who slew with their eyes, and of whom we shall
have more to tell.
204. All these monsters were the fruit of the transgressions of
the women in the fourth world, when they were separated from
the men. Other monsters were born on the march, and others,
again, sprang from the blood which had been shed during the birth
of the first monsters,71 and all these grew up to become enemies
and destroyers of the people.
205. When they left Tse'a/^aLd'ni they turned toward the west,
and journeyed until they came to a place called Tb'mtsosoko (Water
in a Narrow Gully), and here they remained for thirteen years, mak-
ing farms and planting corn, beans, and pumpkins every spring.
206. In those days the four-footed beasts, the birds, and the
snakes were people also, like ourselves, and built houses and lived
near our people close to Ztepe'ntsa. They increased and became
the cliff-dwellers. It must have been the flying creatures who
built the dwellings high on the cliffs, for if they had not wings
how could 'they reach their houses ?
207. From Tb'mtsosoko they moved to TseVakaiia (Standing
White Rock), and here they sojourned again for thirteen years.
From the latter place they moved to Tse'pa/zalkai (White on Face of
Cliff), and here, once more, they remained for a period of thirteen
years. During this time the monsters began to devour the people.
208. From Tse'pa/^alkai they moved to the neighborhood of
Kintyel72 (Broad House), in the Chaco Canyon, where the ruins
of the great pueblo still stand. When the wanderers arrived the
pueblo was in process of building, but was not finished. The way
it came to be built you shall now hear : —
82 Navako Legends.
209. Some time before, there had descended among the Pueblos,
from the heavens, a divine gambler, or gambling - god, named
No/^oilpi, or He Who Wins Men (at play) ; his talisman was a great
piece of turquoise. When he came he challenged the people to all
sorts of games and contests, and in all of these he was successful.
He won from them, first, their property, then their women and chil-
dren, and finally some of the men themselves. Then he told them
he would give them part of their property back in payment if they
would build a great house ; so when the Navahoes came, the Pueblos
were busy building in order that they might release their enthralled
relatives and their property. They were also busy making a race-
track, and preparing for all kinds of games of chance and skill.
210. When all was ready, and four days' notice had been .given,
twelve men came from the neighboring pueblo of Kl'nafo/lfe, Blue
House, to compete with the great gambler. They bet their own
persons, and after a brief contest they lost themselves to No/zoilpi.
Again a notice of four days was given, and again twelve men of
Kfn^o/lfe — relatives of the former twelve — came to play, and these
also lost themselves. For the third time an announcement, four
days in advance of a game, was given ; this time some women were
among the twelve contestants, and they, too, lost themselves. All
were put to work on the building of Kintyel as soon as they forfeited
their liberty. At the end of another four days the children of these
men and women came to try to win back their parents, but they
succeeded only in adding themselves to the number of the gambler's
slaves. On a fifth trial, after four days' warning, twelve leading
men of Blue House were lost, among them the chief of the pueblo.
On a sixth duly announced gambling day, twelve more men, all
important persons, staked their liberty and lost it. Up to this time
the Navahoes had kept count of the winnings of No//oilpi, but after-
wards people from other pueblos came in such numbers to play and
lose that they could keep count no longer. In addition to their own
persons the later victims brought in beads, shells, turquoise, and all
sorts of valuables, and gambled them away. With the labor of all
these slaves it was not long until the great Kintyel was finished.
211. But all this time the Navahoes had been merely spectators,
and had taken no part in the games. One day the voice of the
beneficent god, //astreyal/i,73 was heard faintly in the distance cry-
ing his usual call, " Wu'hu'hu'hu." His voice was heard, as it is
always heard, four times, each time nearer and nearer, and imme-
diately after the last call, which was loud and clear, //astjeyal/i
appeared at the door of a hut where dwelt a young couple who had
no children, and with them he communicated by means of signs.
He told them that the people of Kl'ndo/lfe had lost at game with
No/zoflpi two great shells, the greatest treasures of the pueblo ; that
the Sun had coveted these shells and had begged them from the
gambler ; that the latter had refused the request of the Sun and the
Sun was angry. In consequence of all this, as //asUeyal/i related,
in twelve days from his visit certain divine personages would meet
in the mountains, in a place which he designated, to hold a great
ceremony. He invited the young man to be present at the cere-
mony and disappeared.
212. The Navaho kept count of the passing days ; on the twelfth
day he repaired to the appointed place, and there he found a great
assemblage of the gods. There were //astyeyal/i, //astse/zo^an 7*
and his son, Ni'ltsi75 (Wind), T^a/ye/ (Darkness), Tapani (Bat),
Listso (Great Snake), Tsilka/i (a little bird), Nasi'zi (Gopher), and
many others. Besides these there were present a number of pets
or domesticated animals belonging to the gambler, who were dis-
satisfied with their lot, were anxious to be free, and would gladly
obtain their share of the spoils in case their master was ruined.
Nl'ltji (Wind) had spoken to them, and they had come to enter into
the plot against No/zoilpi. All night the gods danced and sang and
performed their mystic rites for the purpose of giving to the son
of //astre/zo^-an powers, as a gambler, equal to those of No^oilpi.
When the morning came they washed the young neophyte all over,
dried him with meal, dressed him in clothes exactly like those the
gambler wore, and in every way made him look as much like the
gambler as possible, and then they counselled as to what other
means they should take to outwit No//oilpi.
213. In the first place, they desired to find out how he felt about
having refused to his father, the Sun, the two great shells. " I will
do this," said Ni'ltri (Wind), "for I can penetrate everywhere, and
no one can see me;" but the others said: "No; you can go every-
where, but you cannot travel without making a noise and disturbing
people. Let T^a/yeV (Darkness) go on this errand, for he also goes
wherever he wills, yet he makes no noise." So T^a/ye/ went to the
gambler's house, entered his room, went all through .his body while
he slept, and searched well his mind, and he came back saying,
" No/zoilpi is sorry for what he has done." Ni'ltri, however, did not
believe this ; so, although his services had been before refused, he
repaired to the chamber where the gambler slept, and went all
through his body and searched well his mind ; but he, too, came
back saying No/zoilpi was sorry that he had refused to give the great
shells to his father.
214. One of the games they proposed to play is called /aka-/had-
sata, or the thirteen chips. (It is played with thirteen thin flat pieces
of wood, which are colored red on one side and left white or uncolored
on the other side. Success depends on the number of chips which,
being thrown upwards, fall with their white sides up.) " Leave the
game to me," said the Bat ; " I have made thirteen chips that are
white on both sides. I will hide myself in the ceiling, and when
our champion throws up his chips I will grasp them and throw down
my chips instead."
215. Another game they were to play is called nanms'.76 (It is
played with two long sticks or poles, of peculiar shape and construc-
tion, one marked with red and the other with black, and a single
hoop. A long, many-tailed string, called the " turkey-claw," is
secured to the end of each pole.) " Leave nanscxs to me," said Great
Snake ; " I will hide myself in the hoop and make it fall where I
please."
216. Another game was one called tsi'nbetsi/, or push-on-the-wood.
(In this the contestants push against a tree until it is torn from its
roots and falls.) " I will see that this game is won," said Nasi'zi,
the Gopher ; " I will gnaw the roots of the tree, so that he who
shoves it may easily make it fall."
217. In the game tool, or ball, the object was to hit the ball so
that it would fall beyond a certain line. " I will win this game for
you," said the little bird Tsilka/i, "for I will hide within the ball,
and fly with it wherever I want to go. Do not hit the ball hard ;
give it only a light tap, and depend on me to carry it."
218. The pets of the gambler begged the Wind to blow hard, so
that they might have an excuse to give their master for not keeping
due watch when he was in danger, and in the morning the Wind
blew for them a strong gale. At dawn the whole party of conspira-
tors left the mountain, and came down to the brow of the canyon to
watch until sunrise.
219. No//oflpi had two wives, who were the prettiest women in
the whole land. Wherever she went, each carried in her hand a
stick with something tied on the end of it, as a sign that she was the
wife of the great gambler.
220. It was their custom for one of them to go every morning at
sunrise to a neighboring spring to get water. So at sunrise the
watchers on the brow of the cliff saw one of the wives coming out
of the gambler's house with a water-jar on her head, whereupon the
son of //astye/fo^an descended into the canyon and followed her to
the spring. She was not aware of his presence until she had filled
her water-jar; then she supposed it to be her own husband, whom
the youth was dressed and adorned to represent, and she allowed
him to approach her. She soon discovered her error, however, but,
deeming it prudent to say nothing, she suffered him to follow her
into the house. As he entered, he observed that many of the slaves
had already assembled ; perhaps they were aware that some trouble
was in store for their master. The latter looked up with an angry
face ; he felt jealous when he saw the stranger entering immediately
after his wife. He said nothing of this, however, but asked at once
the important question, "Have you come to gamble with me?"
This he repeated four times, and each time the young //asUe/zo^-an
said " No." Thinking the stranger feared to play with him, No//oilpi
went on challenging him recklessly. " I '11 bet myself against your-
self ;" "I'll bet my feet against your feet;" "I'll bet my legs
against your legs ; " and so on he offered to bet every and any part
of his body against the same part of his adversary, ending by men-
tioning his hair.
221. In the mean time the party of divine ones, who had been
watching from above, came down, and people from the neighboring
pueblos came in, and among these were two boys, who were dressed
in costumes similar to those worn by the wives of the gambler.
The young //ast^e/fo^-an pointed to these and said, " I will bet my
wives against your wives." The great gambler accepted the wager,
and the four persons, two women and two mock-women, were placed
sitting in a row near the wall. First they played the game of thir-
teen chips. The Bat assisted, as he had promised the son of //astre-
/zo^-an, and the latter soon won the game, and with it the wives of
No^oilpi.
222. This was the only game played inside the house ; then all
went out of doors, and games of various kinds were played. First
they tried nan-ms1. The track already prepared lay east and west,
but, prompted by the Wind God, the stranger insisted on having a
track made from north to south, and again, at the bidding of Wind,
he chose the red stick. The son of //astre/zo^an threw the wheel ;
at first it seemed about to fall on the gambler's pole, in the " turkey-
claw " of which it was entangled ; but to the great surprise of the
gambler it extricated itself, rolled farther on, and fell on the pole of
his opponent. The latter ran to pick up the ring, lest No^oilpi in
doing so might hurt the snake inside ; but the gambler was so angry
that he threw his stick away and gave up the game, hoping to do
better in the next contest, which was that of pushing down trees.
223. For this the great gambler pointed out two small trees, but his
opponent insisted that larger trees must be found. After some
search they agreed upon two of good size, which grew close together,
and of these the Wind told the youth which one he must select.
The gambler strained with all his might at his tree, but could not
move it, while his opponent, when his turn came, shoved the other
tree prostrate with little effort, for its roots had all been severed
by Gopher.
224. Then followed a variety of games, on which No/^oilpi staked
his wealth in shells and precious stones, his houses, and many of his
slaves, and lost all.
225. The last game was that of the ball. On the line over which
the ball was to be knocked all the people were assembled ; on one
side were those who still remained slaves ; on the other side were
the freedmen and those who had come to wager themselves, hoping
to rescue their kinsmen. No//oilpi bet on this game the last of his
slaves and his own person. The gambler struck his ball a heavy
blow, but it did not reach the line ; the stranger gave his but a light
tap, and the bird within it flew with it far beyond the line, whereat
the released captives jumped over the line and joined their people.
226. The victor ordered all the shells, beads, and precious stones,
and the great shells, to be brought forth. He gave the beads and
shells to //asUeyal/i, that they might be distributed among the gods ;
the two great shells were given to the Sun.77
227. In the mean time No/zoilpi sat to one side saying bitter things,
bemoaning his fate, and cursing and threatening his enemies. " I
will kill you all with the lightning. I will send war and disease
among you. May the cold freeze you ! May the fire burn you !
May the waters drown you ! " he cried. " He has cursed enough,"
whispered Ni'ltri to the son of £festi££o/an. " Put an end to his
angry words." So the young victor called No/zoilpi to him and said :
" You have bet yourself and have lost ; you are now my slave and
must do my bidding. You are not a god, for my power has prevailed
against yours." The victor had a bow of magic power named E/i'n
Dilyl'l, or the Bow of Darkness ; he bent this upwards, and placing
the string on the ground he bade his slave stand on the string ;
then he shot No/zoflpi up into the sky as if he had been an arrow.
Up and up he went, growing smaller and smaller to the sight till
he faded to a mere speck and finally disappeared altogether. As he
flew upwards he was heard to mutter in the angry tones of abuse
and imprecation, until he was too far away to be heard ; but no one
could distinguish anything he said as he ascended.
228. He flew up in the sky until he came to the home of Beko-
tjfafi,78 the god who carries the moon, and who is supposed by the
Navahoes to be identical with the God of the Americans. He is
very old, and dwells in a long row of stone houses. When No/zoflpi
arrived at the house of Bekotnu/i he related to the latter all -his mis-
adventures in the lower world and said, " Now I am poor, and this is
why I have come to see you." " You need be poor no longer," said
Bekot s\d\ ; "I will provide for you." So he made for the gambler
pets or domestic animals of new kinds, different to those which he
had in the Chaco valley ; he made for him sheep, asses, horses,
swine, goats, and fowls. He also gave him bayeta™ and other cloths
of bright colors, more beautiful than those woven by his slaves at
Kintyel. He made, too, a new people, the Mexicans, for the gam-
bler to rule over, and then he sent him back to this world again, but
he descended far to the south of his former abode, and reached the
earth in old Mexico.
229. No/^oilpi's people increased greatly in Mexico, and after a
while they began to move towards the north, and build towns along
the Rio Grande. No/^oilpi came with them until they arrived at a
place north of Santa Fe. There they ceased building, and he re-
turned to old Mexico, where he still lives, and where he is now the
Nakai Z>igmi, or God of the Mexicans.
230. The Navaho who went at the bidding of the Sun to the tryst
of the gods stayed with them till the gambler was shot into the sky.
Then he returned to his people and told all he had seen. The young
stranger went back to Tse'gihi, the home of the yei.
231. The wanderers were not long at Kintyel, but while they were
they met some of the Daylight People. From Kintyel they moved
to TbTn^otsos, and here Mai,80 the Coyote, married a Navaho woman.
He remained in the Navaho camp nine days, and then he went to
visit Z>asani, the Porcupine. The latter took a piece of bark,
scratched his nose with it till the blood flowed freely out over it,
put it on the fire, and there roasted it slowly until it turned into a
piece of fine meat. Porcupine then spread some clean herbs on the
ground, laid the roasted meat on these, and invited his visitor to
partake. Coyote was delighted ; he had never had a nicer meal,
and when he was leaving he invited his host to return the visit in
two days. At the appointed time Porcupine presented himself at
the hut of Coyote. The latter greeted his guest, bade him be
seated, and rushed out of the house. In a few minutes he returned
with a piece of bark. With this he scratched his nose, as he had
seen Porcupine doing, and allowed the blood to flow. He placed
the bloody bark over the fire, where in a moment it burst into flames
and was soon reduced to ashes. Coyote hung his head in shame
and Porcupine went home hungry.
232. Soon after this Coyote visited Maitso,80 the Wolf. The lat-
ter took down, from among the rafters of his hut, two of the old-
fashioned reed arrows with wooden heads, such as the Navahoes
used in the ancient days ; he pulled out the wooden points, rolled
them on his thigh, moistened them in his mouth, and buried them
in the hot ashes beside the fire. After waiting a little while and
talking to his guest, he raked out from the ashes, where he had
buried the arrow points, two fine cooked puddings of minced meat ;
these he laid on a mat of fresh herbs and told Coyote to help him-
self. Coyote again enjoyed his meal greatly, and soon after, when
he rose to leave, he invited Wolf to pay him a visit in two days.
Wolf went in due time to the house of Coyote, and when he had
seated himself the host took two arrow-heads, as Wolf had done,
rolled them on his thigh, put them in his mouth, and buried them in
the hot ashes. After waiting a while, he raked the ashes and found
nothing but two pieces of charred wood where he had placed the
arrow-heads. This time he gave no evidence of his disappointment,
but sat and talked with his guest just as if nothing had happened,
until Wolf, seeing no sign of dinner and becoming very hungry, got
up and went home.
233. In those days the Chicken-hawks and the Hummingbirds
were known as great hunters. They were friendly to one another
and dwelt together in one camp.
234. Coyote went to pay them a visit, and when he arrived at the
camp he entered one of the huts of the Hummingbirds. He found
therein two beautiful Hummingbird maidens, gayly dressed, with
rows of deer-hoof pendants on their skirts and shoulders. He lay
down in the lodge and said to the maidens : " Where is everybody
to-day ? I heard there were many people camped here, but the
camp seems deserted." The maidens replied: " There are many
people camped here, but to-day the men are all out hunting."
235. Now, Coyote was a dandy ; he was always beautifully dressed ;
he had a nice otter-skin quiver and his face was painted in spots.
The maidens, when they had looked well at him, bent their heads
together and whispered to one another, " He is a handsome young
man. He is beautifully dressed. He must be a person of some
importance." He spent the day gossipping with the maidens and
telling them wonderful tales about himself. "Would you know who
I am ? " he said. " I am the God of Tsisnad^i'ni Mountain. I have
no need to hunt. All I have to do is to will the death of an animal
and it dies. Your people have no need to wear themselves out
hunting for game. I can kill all they want without labor."
236. At nightfall, when the hunters returned, the maidens left the
lodge, went to where their friends were assembled, and told them all
about the visitor. When the maidens had finished their story, the
chief directed one of the young men to go over to the hut, peep in
over the curtain in the doorway, and see what the stranger looked
like. The young man did as he was bidden, making no noise, and
looked into the lodge unobserved by Coyote. When he returned to
the chief he said : "The stranger is a fine-looking man and is beau-
tifully dressed. Perhaps he is indeed a god." The chief then said :
" It may be that all is true which he has told the maidens. We have
to travel far in all sorts of weather and to work hard to secure food.
He may know some way to save us from labor, so let us be kind to
him. Go, one of you maidens, back to the lodge to serve him."
Hearing these words, the younger of the two young women returned
to the lodge. Her clothing was ornamented with many pendants of
bone and hoof that rattled with every movement she made, and for
this reason Coyote named her Trike Nazi'li, or Young Woman Who
Rattles.
237. In the morning she went to the lodge where her people were,
and where a good breakfast was already prepared, and she brought a
large dishful of the food for Coyote to eat. As she was about to
depart with the food her people charged her to tell Coyote nothing
of certain bad neighbors of theirs, lest he might visit them and work
wonders for their benefit. But their injunctions came too late.
Already Trike Nazi'li had told him all about these bad neighbors,
and he had made up his mind to visit them.
238. When breakfast was over she said : " Now the hunters are
going out." He replied : "I will go with them." So he joined the
party, and they travelled together till they got to the brow of a high
hill which overlooked an extensive country. Here Coyote told his com-
panions to remain concealed while he went into the plain and drove
the game toward them. When he got out of sight, he tied to his
tail a long fagot of shredded cedar-bark, which he set on fire, and
then he ran over the country in a wide circle as fast as he could go.
Everywhere the fagot touched it set fire to the grass, and raised a
long line of flame and smoke which drove the antelope up to where
the hunters were concealed. A great quantity of game was killed ;
the hunters returned laden with meat, and their faith in Coyote was
unbounded.
239. Next morning they all went out once more to hunt. Again
the hunters concealed themselves on the brow of a hill, and again
Coyote tied the blazing fagot to his tail and ran. The people on the
hilltop watched the line of fire advancing over the plain ; but when
it turned around as if to come back to the place from which it
started, it suddenly ceased. Much game was driven toward the
party in ambush ; but Coyote did not return, and the hunters went
to work cutting up the meat and cooking food for themselves.
240. Coyote, in the mean time, had gone to seek the bad neigh-
bors. He untied his brand at the place where the hunters had seen
the line of fire cease, and wandered off in a different direction.
After a while he came to two great trees, a spruce and a pine, grow-
ing close together, and filled with chattering birds of two kinds.
The spruce-tree was filled with birds called Tsi'di Be.se, and the pine-
tree with birds called Tsi'di Sari. They were all busily engaged in
playing a game which Coyote had never seen before. They would
pull out their eyes, toss these up to the top of the tree, cry " Drop
back, my eyes ! Drop back ! " and catch the eyes as they descended
in their proper sockets. Coyote watched their play for a long time,
and at length, becoming fascinated with the game, he cried out to
the Tsi'di Sasi in the pine-tree, " Pull out my eyes for me. I want
to play, too." " No," they replied, "we will have nothing to do with
you." Again and again he begged to be allowed to join in the
sport, and again and again they refused him. But when he had
pleaded for the fourth time, they flew down to where Coyote sat, and,
taking sharp sticks, they gouged his eyes out. The eyes were
thrown up to the top of the pine-tree, and when they fell down
Coyote caught them in his orbits and could see again as well as
ever. Coyote was delighted with the result of his first venture, and
he begged them to pull his eyes out again, but they said angrily :
" We do not want to play with you. We have done enough for you
now. Go and leave us." But he continued to whine and beg until
again they pulled out his eyes and tossed them up with the same
happy result as before. Thus four times were his eyes pulled out,
thrown upward, and caught back again in the head. But when he
begged them to pull out his eyes for the fifth time, they went to a
distance and held a council among themselves. When they returned
they pulled his eyes out once more ; but this time they took pains
to pull out the strings of the eyes (optic nerves) at the same time ;
these they tied together, and, when the eyes were again flung up in
the tree, they caught on one of the branches and there they stayed.
Now Coyote was in mortal distress. " Drop back, my eyes ! Drop
back ! " he cried. But back they never came, and he sat there with
his nose pointed up toward the top of the tree, and he howled and
prayed and wept. At last the birds took pity on him and said :
" Let us make other eyes for him." So they took a couple of partly
dried pieces of pine gum and rolled them into two balls ; these were
stuck into the empty sockets, and, although they were not good eyes,
they gave him sight enough to see his way home. The gum was
yellow, and for this reason coyotes have had yellow eyes ever since.
241. He crept back, as best he could, to the place where he had
left the hunters, and where he found them cutting and cooking meat.
He sat down facing the fire, but he soon found that his gum eyes
were getting soft with the heat, so he turned his side to the fire.
The hunters gave him a piece of raw liver, supposing he would cook
it himself. Not daring to turn towards the fire, lest his eyes should
melt altogether, he threw the liver on the coals without looking, and
when he tried afterwards to take1 it up he thrust his hand at random
into the fire and caught nothing but hot coals that burned him.
Fearing that his strange action was observed, he tried to pass it off
as a joke, and every time he picked up a hot coal he cried : " Don't
burn me, liver ! Don't burn me, liver ! " After a while the hunters
seated around the fire began to notice his singular motions and
words, and one said to another : " He does not act as usual. Go and
see what is the matter with him." The hunter who was thus bidden
went over in front of Coyote, looked at him closely, and saw melted
gum pouring out from between his eyelids.
242. It happened that during the day, while Coyote was absent,
a messenger had come to the camp of the hunters from another
camp to tell them that an individual named Mai, or Coyote, had left
his home, and had been seen going toward the camp of the Hum-
mingbirds, and to warn them against him. " He is an idler and a
trickster, — beware of him," said the messenger. So when they
found out the condition of their visitor they said : "This must be
Coyote of whom we have heard. He has been playing with the
Tsi'di .Sa^i and has lost his eyes."
243. When they had arrived at this conclusion they started for
camp and led the blind Coyote along. In the mean time they devised
a plan for getting rid of him. When they got home they took the
rattling dress of Trike ^azi'li and gave her an ordinary garment to
wear. Then a Chicken-hawk took the dress in his beak, and, flying
a little distance above the ground, shook the dress in front of Coyote.
The latter, thinking the maiden was there, approached the sound,
and as he did so the Chicken-hawk flew farther away, still shaking
the dress. Coyote followed the rattling sound, and was thus led on
to the brink of a deep canyon. Here the hawk shook the dress
beyond the edge of the precipice. Coyote jumped toward where he
heard the sound, fell to the bottom of the canyon, and was dashed
to pieces.
244. But for all this he did not die. He did not, like other beings,
keep his vital principle in his chest, where it might easily be de-
stroyed ; he kept it in the tip of his nose and in the end of his tail,
where no one would expect to find it ; so after a while he came to
life again, went back to the camp of the birds, and asked for Tnke
Nazi'li. They told him she was gone away, and ordered him an-
grily to leave, telling him they knew who he was, and that he was a
worthless fellow.
245. Coyote left the camp of the birds, and wandered around till he
came to the house of one of the anaye, or alien gods, named Ye/apahi,71
or Brown Giant. He was half as tall as the tallest pine-tree, and
he was evil and cruel. Coyote said to the Brown Giant, " Ye/apahi,.
I want to be your servant ; I can be of great help to you. The
reason that you often fail to catch your enemies is that you cannot
run fast enough. I can run fast and jump far ; I can jump over
four bushes at one bound. I can run after your enemies and help
you to catch them." "My cousin," responded Brown Giant, "you
can do me service if you will." Coyote then directed the giant to
build a sweat-house for himself, and, while the latter was building it,
Coyote set out on another errand.
246. In those days there was a maiden of renowned beauty in the
land. She was the only sister of eleven divine brothers.81 She had
been sought in marriage by the Sun and by many potent gods, but
she had refused them all because they could not comply with certain
conditions which she imposed on all suitors. It was to visit her
that Coyote went when he left Ye/apahi at work on the sweat-house.
247. " Why have you refused so many beautiful gods who want
you for a wife ?" said Coyote to the maiden after he had greeted her.
"It would profit you nothing to know," she replied, "for you could
not comply with any one of my demands." Four times he asked
her this question, and three times he got the same reply. When he
asked her the fourth time she answered : " In the first place, I will
not marry any one who has not killed one of the anaye." When he
heard this Coyote arose and returned to the place where he had left
Y6/apahi.
248. On his way back he looked carefully for the bone of some
big animal which Great Wolf had slain and eaten. At length he
found a long thigh-bone which suited his purpose. He took this
home with him, concealing it under his shirt. When Coyote got
back, Ye/apahi had finished the sweat-house.82 Together they built
the fire, heated the stones, and spread the carpet of leaves. Coyote
hung over the doorway four blankets of sky, — one white, one blue,
one yellow, and one black, and put the hot stones into the lodge.
Then they hung their arms and clothes on a neighboring tree,
entered the sudatory, and sat down.83
249. " Now," said Coyote, "if you want to become a fast runner,
I will show you what to do. You must cut the flesh of your thigh
down to the bone and then break the bone. It will heal again in a
moment, and when it heals you will be stronger and swifter than
ever. I often do this myself, and every time I do it I am fleeter of
foot than I was before. I will do it now, so that you may observe
how it is done." Coyote then produced a great stone knife and pre-
tended to cut his own thigh, wailing and crying in the mean time,
and acting as if he suffered great pain. After a while of this pre-
tence he put the old femur on top of his thigh, held it by both ends,
and said to the giant: "I have now reached the bone. Feel it."
When the giant had put forth his hand, in the absolute darkness of
the sweat-house, and felt the bare bone, Coyote shoved the hand
away and struck the bone hard with the edge of his knife several
times until he broke the bone, and he made the giant feel the frac-
tured ends. Then he threw away the old bone, rubbed spittle on
his thigh, prayed and sang, and in a little while presented his sound
thigh to the giant for his examination, saying: "See! my limb is
healed again. It is as well as ever." When he had thus spoken
Coyote handed his knife to Ye/apahi, and the latter with many tears
and loud howls slowly amputated his own thigh. When the work
was done he put the two severed ends together, spat upon them,
sang and prayed, as Coyote had done. " Tone ! Tohe ! Tohe ! " M he
cried, " Heal together ! Grow together ! " he commanded ; but the
severed ends would not unite. " Cousin," he called to Coyote,
"help me to heal this leg." Coyote thought it was now time to
finish his work. He ran from the sweat-house, seized his bow, and
discharged his arrows into the helpless Ye/apahi, who soon expired
with many wounds.
250. Coyote scalped his victim, and tied the scalp to the top of a
branch which he broke from a cedar-tree; as further evidence of his
victory, he took the quiver and weapons of the slain and set out for
the lodge of the maiden. He knew she could not mistake the scalp,
for the yei, in those days, had yellow hair,85 such as no other people
had. When he reached the lodge he said to the maiden : " Here is
the scalp and here are the weapons of one of the anaye. Now you
must marry me." " No," said the maiden, " not yet ; I have not
told you all that one must do in order to win me. He must be killed
four times and come to life again four times." "Do you speak the
truth ? Have you told me all ? " said Coyote. " Yes ; I speak only
the truth," she replied. Four times he asked this question, and
four times he received the same answer. When she had spoken for
the fourth time Coyote said : " Here I am. Do with me as you will."
The maiden took him a little distance from the lodge, laid him on
the ground, beat him with a great club until she thought she had
smashed every bone in his body, and left him for dead. But the
point of his nose and the end of his tail she did not smash. She
hurried back to her hut, for she had much work to do. She was the
only woman in a family of twelve. She cooked the food and tanned
the skins, and besides she made baskets. At this particular time
she was engaged in making four baskets. When she returned to
the lodge she sat down and went on with her basket-work ; but she
had not worked long before she became aware that some one was
standing in the doorway, and, looking up, she beheld Coyote. " Here
I am," he said ; " I have won one game ; there are only three more
to win."
251. She made no reply, but took him off farther than she had
taken him before, and pounded him to pieces with a club. She threw
the pieces away in different directions and returned to her work
again ; but she had not taken many stitches in her basket when
again the resurrected Coyote appeared in the doorway, saying : "I
have won two games ; there are only two more to win."
252. Again she led trim forth, but took him still farther away
from the lodge than she had taken him before, and with a heavy
club pounded him into a shapeless mass, until she thought he must
certainly be dead. She stood a long time gazing at the pounded
flesh, and studying what she would do with it to make her work
sure. She carried the mass to a great rock, and there she beat it
into still finer pieces. These she scattered farther than she had
scattered the pieces before, and went back to the house. But she
had still failed to injure the two vital spots. It took the Coyote a
longer time on this occasion than on the previous occasions to pull
himself together ; still she had not wrought much on her basket
when he again presented himself and said : " I have won three
games ; there is but one more game to win."
253. The fourth time she led him farther away than ever. She
not only mashed him to pieces, but she mixed the pieces with earth,
ground the mixture, like corn, between two stones, until it was
ground to a fine powder, and scattered this powder far and wide.
But again she neglected to crush the point of the nose and the tip
of the tail. She went back to the lodge and worked a long time
undisturbed. She had just begun to entertain hopes that she had
seen the last of her unwelcome suitor when again he entered the
door. Now, at last, she could not refuse him. He had fulfilled all
her conditions, and she consented to become his wife. He remained
all the afternoon. At sunset they heard the sound of approaching
footsteps, and she said : " My brothers are coming. Some of them
are evil of mind and may do you harm. You must hide yourself."
She hid him behind a pile of skins, and told him to be quiet.
254. When the brothers entered the lodge they said to their sis-
ter : " Here is some fat young venison which we bring you. Put it
down to boil and put some of the fat into the pot, for our faces are
burned by the wind and we want to grease them." The woman slept
on the north side of the lodge and kept there her household utensils.
She had about half of the lodge to herself. The men slept on the
south side, the eldest next to the door.
255. The pot was put on and the fire replenished, and when it
began to burn well an odor denoting the presence of some beast
filled the lodge. One of the brothers said : " It smells as if some
animal had been in the wood-pile. Let us throw out this wood and
get fresh sticks from the bottom of the pile." They did as he
desired ; but the unpleasant odors continued to annoy them, and
again the wood was taken from the fire and thrown away. Thinking
the whole pile of wood was tainted with the smell, they went out,
broke fresh branches from trees, and built the fire up again ; but
this did not abate the rank odor in the least. Then one said : " Per-
haps the smell is in the water. Tell us, little sister, where did you
get the water in the pot ? " " I got it at the spring where I always
get it," she replied. But they got her to throw out the water and
fill the pot with snow, and to put the meat down to boil again. In
spite of all their pains the stench was as bad as ever. At length
one of the brothers turned to his sister and said : " What is the
cause of this odor ? It is not in the wood. It is not in the water.
Whence comes it?" She was silent. He repeated the question
three times, yet she made no answer. But when the question had
been asked for the fourth time, Coyote jumped out of his hiding-
place into the middle of the lodge and cried : " It is I, my brothers-
in-law ! " "Run out there ! " the brothers commanded, and turning
to their sister they said : " Run out you with him ! "
256. They both departed from the lodge. As Coyote went out
he took a brand from the fire, and with this he lighted a new fire.
Then he broke boughs from the neighboring trees and built a shel-
ter for himself and his wife to live in. WThen this was completed
she went back to the lodge of her brothers, took out her pots, skins,
four awls, baskets, and all her property, and carried them to her new
home.
257. One of the elder brothers said to the youngest : " Go out
to-night and watch the couple, and see what sort of a man this is
that we have for a brother-in-law. Do not enter the shelter, but lie
hidden outside and observe them." So the youngest brother went
forth and hid himself near the shelter, where he could peep in and
see by the light of the fire what took place and hear what was said.
The pair sat side by side near the fire. Presently the woman laid
her hand in a friendly manner on Coyote's knee, but Coyote threw
it away. These motions were repeated four times, and when he had
thrown her hand away for the fourth time he said : " I have sworn
never to take a woman for a wife until I have killed her four times."
For a while the woman remained silent and gazed at the fire. At
length she said : " Here I am. Do with me as you will." (The
myth then relates four deaths and resurrections of the woman, simi-
lar to those of the Coyote, but it does not state how or where she pre-
served her vital principle.) When she returned for the fourth time
she lay down, and Coyote soon followed her to her couch. From
time to time during the night they held long, low conversations, of
which the listener could hear but little. At dawn the watcher went
home. In reply to the questions of his brothers he said : "I cannot
g6 Navaho Legends.
tell you all that I saw and heard, and they said much that I could
not hear ; but all that I did hear and behold was Umdaj-" (devilish,
evil).
258. Next morning the brothers proposed to go out hunting.
While they were getting ready Coyote came and asked leave to join
them, but they said to him tauntingly : " No ; stay at home with your
wife ; she may be lonely and may need some one to talk to her," and
they chased him out of the lodge. Just as they were about to leave
he came back again and begged them to take him with them.
"No," they replied, "the woman will want you to carry wood ; you
must stay at home with her/' They bade him begone and set out
on their journey. They had not gone far on their way when he
overtook them, and for the third time asked to be allowed to join
the party ; but again they drove him back with scornful words.
They travelled on till they came to the edge of a deep canyon bor-
dered with very steep cliffs, and here Coyote was seen again, skulk-
ing behind them. For the fourth time he pleaded with them ; but
now the youngest brother took his part, and suggested that Coyote
might assist in driving game towards them. So, after some delib-
eration, they consented to take Coyote along. At the edge of the
canyon they made a bridge of rainbow,86 on which they proceeded to
cross the chasm. Before the brothers reached the opposite bluff
Coyote jumped on it from the bridge, with a great bound, and began
to frolic around, saying : "This is a nice place to play."
259. They travelled farther on, and after a while came to a mesa,
or table-land, which projected into a lower plain, and was connected
with the plateau on which they stood by a narrow neck of level land.
It was a mesa much like that on which the three eastern towns of
thevMokis stand, with high, precipitous sides and a narrow entrance.
On the neck of land they observed the tracks of four Rocky Moun-
tain sheep, which had gone in on the mesa but had not returned.
They had reason, therefore, to believe that the sheep were still on
the mesa. At the neck they built a fire, sat down near it, and sent
Coyote in on the mesa to drive the sheep out. Their plans were
successful ; soon the four sheep came running out over the neck,
within easy range of the hunters' weapons, and were all killed.
Presently Coyote returned and lay down on the sand.
260. In those days the horns of the Rocky Mountain sheep were
flat and fleshy and could be eaten. The eldest brother said : " I will
take the horns for my share." "No," said Coyote, "the horns shall
be mine : give them to me." Three times each repeated the same
declaration. When both had spoken for the fourth time, the eldest
brother, to end the controversy, drew out his knife and began to
cut one of the horns ; as he did so Coyote cried out, "Tsinantlehi !
Tsinantlehi! Tsinantlehi! Tsinantlehi ! " (Turn to bone! Turn to
bone ! Turn to bone ! Turn to bone !) Each time he cried, the horn
grew harder and harder, and the knife slipped as it cut, hacking but
not severing the horn. This is why the horns of the Rocky Moun-
tain sheep are now hard, not fleshy, and to this, day they bear the
marks of the hunter's knife. "Tji'ndi! Tsmdas bi/naal/i ! " (You
devil ! You evil companion in travel !) said the hunter to Coyote.
261. The hunters gathered all the meat into one pile, and by
means of the mystic power which they possessed they reduced it to
a very small compass. They tied it in a small bundle which one
person might easily carry, and they gave it to Coyote to take home,
saying to him, " Travel round by the head of the canyon over which
we crossed and go not through it, for they are evil people who dwell
there, and open not your bundle until you get home."
262. The bundle was lifted to his back and he started for home,
promising to heed all that had been told him. But as soon as he was
well out of sight of his companions he slipped his bundle to the
ground and opened it. At once the meat expanded and became
again a heap of formidable size, such that he could not bind it up
again or carry it ; so he hung some of it up on the trees and bushes ;
he stuck part of it into crevices in the rocks ; a portion he left scat-
tered on the ground ; he tied up as much as he could carry in a new
bundle, and with this he continued on his journey.
263. When he came to the edge of the forbidden canyon he
looked down and saw some birds playing a game he had never wit-
nessed before. They rolled great stones down the slope, which
extended from the foot of the cliff to the bottom of the valley, and
stood on the stones while they were rolling ; yet the birds were not
upset or crushed or hurt in the least by this diversion. The sight
so pleased Coyote that he descended into the canyon and begged to
be allowed to join in the sport. The birds rolled a stone gently for
him ; he got on it and handled himself so nimbly that he reached
the bottom of the slope without injury. Again and again he begged
them to give him a trial until he thus three times descended without
hurting himself. When he asked the birds for the fourth time to
roll a stone for him they became angry and hurled it with such force
that Coyote lost his footing, and he and the stone rolled over one
another to the bottom of the slope, and he screamed and yelped all
the way down.
264. After this experience he left the birds and travelled on until
he observed some Otters at play by the stream at the bottom of the
canyon. They were playing the Navaho game of nanzoz. They
bet their skins against one another on the results of the game. But
when one lost his skin at play he jumped into the water and came
out with a new skin. Coyote approached the Otters and asked to be
allowed to take part in the game, but the Otters had heard about
him and knew what a rascal he was. They refused him and told
him to begone; but still he remained and pleaded. After a while
they went apart and talked among themselves, and when they re-
turned they invited Coyote to join them in their game. Coyote bet
his skin and lost it. The moment he lost, the Otters all rushed at
him, and, notwitstanding his piteous cries, they tore the hide from
his back, beginning at the root of his tail and tearing forward.
When they came to the vital spot at the end of his nose his wails
were terrible. When he found himself denuded of his skin he
jumped into the water, as he had seen the Otters doing; but, alas !
his skin did not come back to him. He jumped again and again
into the water ; but came out every time as bare as he went in. At
length he became thoroughly exhausted, and lay down in the water
until the Otters took pity on him and pulled him out. They dragged
him to a badger hole, threw him in there, and covered him up witji
earth. Previous to this adventure Coyote had a beautiful, smooth
fur like that of the otter. When he dug his way out of the badger
hole he was again covered with hair, but it was no longer the glossy
fur which he once wore ; it was coarse and rough, much like that of
the badger, and such a pelt the coyotes have worn ever since.
265. But this sad experience did not make him mend his ways.
He again went round challenging the Otters to further play, and
betting his new skin on the game. " Your skin is of no value ; no
one would play for it. Begone ! " they said. Being often refused
and insolently treated, he at length became angry, retired to a safe
distance, and began to revile the Otters shamefully. " You are brag-
garts," he cried; "you pretend to be brave, but you are cowards.
Your women are like yourselves : their heads are flat ; their eyes
are little ; their teeth stick out ; they are ugly ; while I have a bride
as beautiful as the sun." He shook his foot at them as if to say,
" I am fleeter than you." He would approach them, and when they
made motion as if to pursue him, he would take a big jump and
soon place himself beyond their reach. When they quieted down,
he would approach them again and continue to taunt and revile
them. After a while he went to the cliff, to a place of safety, and
shouted from there his words of derision. The Otters talked to-
gether, and said they could suffer his abuse no longer, that something
must be done, and they sent word to the chiefs of the Spiders, who
lived farther down the stream, telling them what had occurred, and
asking for their aid.
266. The Spiders crept up the bluff, went round behind where
Coyote sat cursing and scolding, and wove strong webs in the trees
and bushes. When their work was finished they told the Otters what
they had done, and the latter started to climb the bluff and attack
Coyote. Conscious of his superior swiftness, he acted as if indiffer-
ent to them, and allowed them to come quite close before he turned
to run ; but he did not run far until he was caught in the webs of
the Spiders. Then the Otters seized him and dragged him, howling,
to the foot of the hill. He clung so hard to the grasses and shrubs
as he passed that they were torn out by the roots. When the Otters
got him to the bottom of the hill they killed him, or seemed to kill
him. The Cliff Swallows (//ajtmri) 21 flew down from the walls of
the canyon and tore him in pieces; they carried off the fragments to
their nests, leaving only a few drops of blood on the ground ; they
tore his skin into strips and made of these bands which they put
around their heads, and this accounts for the band which the cliff
swallow wears upon his brow to-day.
267. It was nightfall when the brothers came home. They saw
that Coyote had not yet returned, and they marvelled what had
become of him. When they entered the lodge and sat down, the
sister came and peeped in over the portiere, scanned the inside of
the lodge, and looked inquiringly at them. They did not speak to
her until she had done this four times, then the eldest brother said :
" Go back and sleep, and don't worry about that worthless man of
yours. He is not with us, and we know not what has become of
him. We suppose he has gone into the canyon, where we warned
him not to go, and has been killed." She only said, "What have
you done with him ?" and went away in anger.
268. Before they lay down to sleep they sent the youngest brother
out to hide where he had hidden the night before to watch their
sister, and this is what he saw : At first she pretended to go to
sleep. After a while she rose and sat facing the east Then she
faced in turn the south, the west, and the north, moving sunwise.
When this was done she pulled out her right eye-tooth, broke a
large piece from one of her four bone awls and inserted it in the
place of the tooth, making a great tusk where the little tooth had
once been. As she did this she said aloud : " He who shall here-
after dream of losing a right eye-tooth shall lose a brother." After
this she opened her mouth to the four points of the compass in the
order in which she had faced them before, tore out her left eye-tooth
and inserted in its place the pointed end of another awl. As she
made this tusk she said : " He who dreams of losing his left eye-
tooth shall lose a sister."
269. The watcher then returned to his brothers and told them
what he had seen and heard. " Go back," said they, " and watch
her again, for you have not seen all her deeds." When he went
ioo Navaho Legends.
back he saw her make, as she had done before, two tusks in her
lower jaw. When she had made that on the right she said : "He who
dreams of losing this tooth (right lower canine) shall lose a child ; "
and when she made that on the, left she said : " He who dreams of
losing this tooth (left lower canine) shall lose a parent."
270. When she first began to pull out her teeth, hair began to
grow on her hands ; as she went on with her mystic work the hair
spread up her arms and her legs, leaving only her breasts bare.
The young man now crept back to the lodge where his brethren
waited and told them what he had seen. "Go back," they said,
"and hide again. There is more for you to see."
271. When he got back to his hiding-place the hair had grown
over her breasts, and she was covered with a coat of shaggy hair
like that of a bear. She continued to move around in the direction
of the sun's apparent course, pausing and opening her mouth at the
east, the south, the west, and the north as she went. After a while
her ears began to wag, her snout grew long, her teeth were heard to
gnash, her nails turned into claws. He watched her until dawn,
when, fearing he might be discovered, he returned to his lodge and
told his brothers all that had happened. They said : " These must
be the mysteries that Coyote explained to her the first night."
272. In a moment after the young man had told his story they
heard the whistling of a bear, and soon a she-bear rushed past the
door of the lodge, cracking the branches as she went. She followed
the trail which Coyote had taken the day before and disappeared in
the woods.
273. At night she came back groaning. She had been in the
fatal canyon all day, fighting the slayers of Coyote, and she had been
wounded in many places. Her brothers saw a light in her hut, and
from time to time one of their number would go and peep in through
an aperture to observe what was happening within. All night she
walked around the fire. At intervals she would, by means of her
magic, draw arrow-heads out of her body and heal the wounds.
274. Next morning the bear-woman again rushed past the lodge
of her brethren, and again went off toward the fatal canyon. At
night she returned, as before, groaning and bleeding, and again
spent the long night in drawing forth missiles and healing her
wounds by means of her magic rites.
275. Thus she continued to do for four days and four nights ;
but at the end of the fourth day she had conquered all her enemies ;
she had slain many, and those she had not killed she had dispersed.
The swallows flew up into the high cliffs to escape her vengeance ;
the otters hid themselves in the water ; the spiders retreated into
holes in the ground,87 and in such places these creatures have been
obliged to dwell ever since.
276. During these four days, the brothers remained in their
camp ; but at the end of that time, feeling that trouble was in store
for them, they decided to go away. They left the youngest brother
at home, and the remaining ten divided themselves into four different
parties ; one of which travelled to the east, another to the south,
another to the west, and another to the north.
277. When they were gone, the Whirlwind, Ni'yol, and the Knife
Boy, Pe^a^ike, came to the lodge to help the younger brother who
had remained behind. They dug for him a hole under the centre of
the /zo^-an ; and from this they dug four branching tunnels, running
east, south, west, and north, and over the end of each tunnel they
put a window of gypsum to let in light from above. They gave him
four weapons, — atsmikli^ka, the chain-lightning arrow ; ^atsoiUalka
(an old-fashioned stone knife as big as the open hand) ; natsiliVka,
the rainbow arrow ; and /iztsilki'ska, the sheet-lightning arrow. They
roofed his hiding-place with four flat stones, one white, one blue,
one yellow, and one black. They put earth over all these, smooth-
ing the earth and tramping it down so that it should look like the
natural floor of the lodge. They gave him two monitors, Ni'ltn,
the Wind, at his right ear, to warn him by day of the approach of
danger ; and T^a/ye/, darkness, at his left ear, to warn him by night.
278. When morning came and the bear-woman went forth she dis-
covered that her brothers had departed. She poured water on the
ground (h&\\'z) to see which way they had gone. The water flowed
to the east ; she rushed on in that direction and soon overtook three
of the fugitives, whom she succeeded in killing. Then she went
back to her hut to see what had become of her other brothers.
Again she poured water on the level ground and it flowed off to the
south ; she followed in that direction and soon overtook three others,
whom she likewise slew. Returning to the lodge she again per-
formed her divination by means of water. This time she was
directed to the west, and, going that way, she overtook and killed
three more of the men. Again she sought the old camp and poured
on the ground water, which flowed to the north ; going on in this
direction she encountered but one man, and him she slew. Once
more she went back to discover what had become of her last brother.
She poured water for the fifth time on the level ground ; it sank
directly into the. earth.
279. The brothers had always been very successful hunters and
their home was always well supplied with meat. In consequence of
this they had had many visitors who built in their neighborhood
temporary shelters, such as the Navahoes build now when they come
to remain only a short time at a place, and the remains of these
shelters surrounded the deserted hut. She scratched in all these
iO2 Navaho Legends.
places to find traces of the fugitive, without success, and in doing so
she gradually approached the deserted hut. She scratched all around
outside the hut and then went inside. She scratched around the
edge of the hut and then worked toward the centre, until at length
she came to the fireplace. Here she found the earth was soft as if
recently disturbed, and she dug rapidly downward with her paws.
She soon came to the stones, and, removing these, saw her last
remaining brother hidden beneath them. " I greet you, my younger
brother ! Come up, I want to see you," she said in a coaxing voice.
Then she held out one finger to him and said : " Grasp my finger
and I will help you up." mit Wind told him not to grasp her finger;
that if he did she would throw him upwards, that he would fall half
dead at her feet and be at her mercy. "Get up without her help,"
whispered Nfttfi
280. He climbed out of the hole on the east side and walked
toward the east. She ran toward him in a threatening manner, but
he looked at her calmly and said : " It is I, your younger brother."
Then she approached him in a coaxing way, as a dog approaches one
with whom he wishes to make friends, and she led him back toward
the deserted //o^-an. But as he approached it the Wind whispered :
" We have had sorrow there, let us not enter," so he would not go
in, and this is the origin of the custom now among the Navahoes
never to enter a house in which death had occurred.91
281. " Come," she then said, " and sit with your face to the west,
and let me comb your hair." (It was now late in the afternoon.)
" Heed her not," whispered Wind ; " sit facing the north, that you
watch her shadow and see what she does. It is thus that she has
killed your brothers." They both sat down, she behind him, and
she untied his queue and proceeded to arrange his hair, while he
watched her out of the corner of his eye. Soon he observed her
snout growing longer and approaching his head, and he noticed that
her ears were wagging. " What does it mean that your snout grows
longer and that your ears move so ? " he asked. She did not reply,
but drew her snout in and kept her ears still. When these occur-
rences had taken place for the fourth time, Wind whispered in his
ear : " Let not this happen again. If she puts out her snout the
fifth time she will bite your head off. Yonder, where you see that
chattering squirrel, are her vital parts. He guards them for her.
Now run and destroy them." He rose and ran toward the vital
parts and she ran after him. Suddenly, between them a large
yucca s8 sprang up to retard her steps, and then a cane cactus,89 and
then another yucca, and then another cactus of a different kind. She
ran faster than he, but was so delayed in running around the plants
that he reached the vitals before her, and heard the lungs breathing
The Navaho Origin Legend. - 103
under the weeds that covered them. He drew forth his chain-light-
ning arrow, shot it into the weeds, and saw a bright stream of blood
spurting up. At the same instant the bear-woman fell with the
blood streaming from her side.
282. "See!" whispered Ni'ltri, the Wind, "the stream of blood
from her body and the stream from her vitals flow fast and approach
one another. If they meet she will revive, and then your danger will
be greater than ever. Draw, with your stone knife, a rriark on the
ground between the approaching streams." The young man did as
he was bidden, when instantly the blood coagulated and ceased to
flow.
283. Then the young man said : " You shall live again, but no
longer as the mischievous Tnke S&s Na/lehi.90 You shall live in
other forms, where you may be of service to your kind and not a
thing of evil." He cut off the head and said to it : " Let us see if in
another life you will do better. When you come to life again, act
well, or again I will slay you." He threw the head at the foot of a
pinon-tree and it changed into a bear, which started at once to walk
off. But presently it stopped, shaded its eyes with one paw, and
looked back at the man, saying : " You have bidden me to act well ;
but what shall I do if others attack me ? " "Then you may defend
yourself," said the young man ; "but begin no quarrel, and be ever
a friend to your people, the Z)ine'. Go yonder to Black Mountain
(Dsi//Mn) and dwell there." There are now in Black Mountain
many bears which are descended from this bear.
284. The hero cut off the nipples and said to them : " Had you
belonged to a good woman and not to a foolish witch, it might have
been your luck to suckle men. You were of no use to your kind ;
but now I shall make you of use in another form." He threw the
nipples up into a pinon-tree, heretofore fruitless, and they became
edible pine nuts.
285. Next he sought the homes of his friends, the holy ones,
Niyol and Pejarike. They led him to the east, to the south, to the
west, and to the north, where the corpses of his brothers lay, and
these they restored to life for him. They went back to the place
where the brothers had dwelt before and built a new house ; but
they did not return to the old home, for that was now a trf'ndi
and accursed.91
286. The holy ones then gave to the young hero the name of
Ze"yaneyani, or Reared Under the Ground, because they had hid-
den him in the earth when his brethren fled from the wrath of his
sister. They bade him go and dwell at a place called A^ahyitsoi
(Big Point on the Edge), which is in the shape of a 7/o^in, or Navaho
hut, and here we think he still dwells.
IO4 Navaho Legends.
Legend 3
287. The Dm& now removed to Tse'/akaiia (White Standing
Rock), where, a few days after they arrived, they found on the
ground a small turquoise image of a woman ; this they preserved. Of
late the monsters (anaye, alien gods) had been actively pursuing and
devouring the people, and at the time this image was found there
were only four persons remaining alive ; 92 these were an old man
and woman and their two children, a young man and a young woman.
Two days after the finding of the image, early in the morning, before
they rose, they heard the voice of //ast.reyal/i, the Talking God,
crying his call of " Wu'hu'hu'hu " so faint and far that they could
scarcely hear it. After a while the call was repeated a second time,
nearer and louder than at first. Again, after a brief silence, the call
was heard for the third time, still nearer and still louder. The fourth
call was loud and clear, as if sounded near at hand ; ^ as soon as
it ceased, the shuffling tread of moccasined feet was heard, and a
moment later the god //ast^eyal/i stood before them.
288. He told the four people to come up to the top of T^olihi after
twelve nights had passed, bringing with them the turquoise image
they had found, and at once he departed. They pondered deeply on
his word,s, and every day they talked among themselves, wondering
why //astyeyaM had summoned them to the mountain.
289. On the morning of the appointed day they ascended the
mountain by a holy trail,93 and on a level spot, near the summit, they
met a party that awaited them there. They found there //astreyaki,
//asUe/^o^an (the Home God), White Body (who came up from the
lower world with the .Dine*), the eleven brothers (of Maid Who
Becomes a Bear), the Mirage Stone People, the Daylight People
standing in the east, the Blue Sky People standing in the south, the
Yellow Light People standing in the west, and the Darkness People
standing in the north. White Body stood in the east among the
Daylight People, bearing in his hand a small image of a woman
wrought in white shell, about the same size and shape as the blue
image which the Navahoes bore.
290. //ast^eyal/i laid down a sacred buckskin with its head toward
the west. The Mirage Stone People laid on the buckskin, heads
west, the two little images, — of turquoise and white shell, — a white
and a yellow ear of corn, the Pollen Boy, and the Grasshopper
Girl. On top of all these //astreyal/i laid another sacred buckskin
with its head to the east, and under this they now put Ni'ltei
(Wind).
291. Then the assembled crowd stood so as to form a circle, leaving
in the east an opening through which //astreyal/i and
might pass in and out, and they sang the sacred song of
Four times the gods entered and raised the cover. When they
raised it for the fourth time, the images and the ears of corn were
found changed to living beings in human form : the turquoise image
had become Estsanatlehi, the Woman Who Changes (or rejuvenates
herself) ; the white shell image had become Yo/kai Estsan, the
White Shell Woman ; the white ear of corn had become Na/a/kai
Arike ; the White Corn Boy and the yellow ear of corn, Na/a/tsoi
A/eV, the Yellow Corn Girl.94 After the ceremony, White Body
took Pollen Boy, Grasshopper Girl, White Corn Boy, and Yellow
Corn Girl with him into T^olihi ; the rest of the assembly departed,
and the two divine sisters, Estsanatlehi 95 and Yo/kai Estsan,96 were
left on the mountain alone.
292. The women remained here four nights ; on the fourth morn-
ing Estsanatlehi said : " 5ite^i (younger sister), why should we
remain here ? Let us go to yonder high point and look around us."
They went to the highest point of the mountain, and when they had
been there several days Estsanatlehi said : " It is lonely here ; we
have no one to speak to but ourselves ; we see nothing but that
which rolls over our heads (the sun), and that which drops below us
(a small dripping waterfall). I wonder if they can be people. I shall
stay here and wait for the one in the morning, while you go down
among the rocks and seek the other."
293. In the morning Estsanatlehi found a bare, flat rock and lay
on it with her feet to the east, and the rising sun shone upon her.
Yo/kai Estsan went down where the dripping waters descended and
allowed them to fall upon her. At noon the women met again on
the mountain top and Estsanatlehi said to her sister : " It is sad to
be so lonesome. How can we make people so that we may have
others of our kind to talk to ? " Yo/kai Estsan answered : " Think,
Elder Sister ; perhaps after some days you may plan how this is to
be done."
294. Four days after this conversation Yo/kai Estsan said : "Elder
Sister, I feel something strange moving within me ; what can it be ? "
and Estsanatlehi answered : " It is a child. It was for this that you
lay under the waterfall. I feel, too, the motions of a child within
me. It was for this that I let the sun shine upon me." Soon after
the voice of //asUeyaM was heard four times, as usual, and after the
last call he and 76'nenili98 appeared. They came to prepare the
women for their approaching delivery.99
295. In four days more they felt the commencing throes of labor,
and one said to the other : " I think my child is coming." She had
scarcely spoken when the voice of the approaching god was heard,
and soon //asUeyal/i and To'nemli (Water Sprinkler) were seen
io6 Navaho Legends.
approaching. The former was the accoucheur of Estsanatlehi, and
the latter of Yo/kai Estsan.100 To one woman a drag-rope of rain-
bow was given, to the other a drag-rope of sunbeam, and on these
they pulled when in pain, as the Navaho woman now pulls on the
rope. Estsanatlehi's child was born first.101 //asUeyaM took it
aside and washed it. He was glad, and laughed and made iron-
ical motions, as if he were cutting the baby in slices and throwing
the slices away. They made for the children two baby-baskets,
both alike ; the foot-rests and the back battens were made of sun-
beam, the hoods of rainbow, the side-strings of sheet lightning,
and the lacing strings of zigzag lightning. One child they covered
with the black cloud, and the other with the female rain.102 They
called the children Smali (grandchildren), and they left, promising
to return at the end of four days.
296. When the gods (yei) returned at the end of four days, the
boys had grown to be the size of ordinary boys of twelve years of
age. The gods said to them : " Boys, we have come to have a race
with you." So a race was arranged that should go all around a
neighboring mountain, and the four started, — two boys and two
yei. Before the long race was half done the boys, who ran fast,
began to flag, and the gods, who were still fresh, got behind them
and scourged the lads with twigs of mountain mahogany.103
//ast.reyal/i won the race, and the boys came home rubbing their
sore backs. When the gods left they promised to return at the end
of another period of four days.
297. As soon as the gods were gone, Ni'ltri, the Wind, whispered
to the boys and told them that the old ones were not such fast run-
ners, after all, and that if the boys would practice during the next
four days they might win the coming race. So for four days they
ran hard, many times daily around the neighboring mountain, and
when the gods came back again the youths had grown to the full
stature of manhood. In the second contest the gods began to flag
and fall behind when half way round the mountain, where the others
had fallen behind in the first race, and here the boys got behind
their elders and scourged the latter to increase their speed. The
elder of the boys won this race, and when it was over the gods
laughed and clapped their hands, for they were pleased with the
spirit and prowess they witnessed.
298. The night after the race the boys lay down as usual to sleep ;
but hearing the women whispering together, they lay awake and
listened. They strained their attention, but could not hear a word
of what was uttered. At length they rose, approached the women,
and said : " Mothers, of what do you speak ? " and the women
answered : " We speak of nothing." The boys then said : " Grand-
mothers, of what do you speak?" but the women again replied:
"We speak of nothing." The boys then questioned : "Who are our
fathers ? " " You have no fathers," responded the women ; " you are
yutaAi (illegitimate)." " Who are our fathers ? " again demanded the
boys, and the women answered : " The round cactus and the sitting
cactus 104 are your fathers."
299. Next day the women made rude bows of juniper wood, and
arrows, such as children play with, and they said to the boys : " Go
and play around with these, but do not go out of sight from our hut,
and do not go to the east." Notwithstanding these warnings the boys
went to the east the first day, and when they had travelled a good
distance they saw an animal with brownish hair and a sharp nose.
They drew their arrows and pointed them toward the sharp-nosed
stranger; but before they could shoot he jumped down into a canyon
and disappeared. When they returned home they told the women —
addressing them as "Mother" and "Grandmother" — what they
had seen. The women said : " That is Coyote which you saw. He
is a spy for the anaye TeelgeV."
300. On the following day, although again strictly warned not to
go far from the lodge, the boys wandered far to the south, and there
they saw a great black bird seated on a tree. They aimed their
arrows at it ; but just as they were about to shoot the bird rose and
flew away. The boys returned to the 7/o^-an and said to the women :
" Mothers, we have been to the south to-day, and there we saw a
great black bird which we tried to shoot ; but before we could let
loose our arrows it flew off. "Alas !" said the women. "This was
Raven that you saw. He is the spy of the Tse'na'hale, the great
winged creatures that devour men."
301. On the third day the boys slipped off unknown to the anx-
ious women, who would fain keep them at home, and walked a long
way toward the west. The only living thing they saw was a great
dark bird with a red skinny head that had no feathers on it. This
bird they tried to shoot also ; but before they could do so it spread
its wings and flew a long way off. They went home and said to the
women : " Mothers, we have been to the west, and we have seen a
great dark bird whose head was red and bare. We tried to shoot it,
but it flew away before we could discharge our arrows." "It was
D^eso, the Buzzard, that you saw," said the women. " He is the
spy for Tse7a//otril/a'/i, he who kicks men down the cliffs."
302. On the fourth day the boys stole off as usual, and went
toward the north. When they had travelled a long way in that
direction, they saw a bird of black plumage perched on a tree on the
edge of a canyon. It was talking to itself, saying "a'a'K" They
aimed at it, but before they could let fly their arrows it spread its
io8 Navaho Legends.
wings and tail and disappeared down the canyon. As it flew, the
boys noticed that its plumes were edged with white. When they
got home they told their mothers, as before, what they had seen.
" This bird that you saw," said the women, " is the Magpie. He is
the spy for the Binaye A/zani, who slay people with their eyes. Alas,
our children ! What shall we do to make you hear us ? What shall
we do to save you ? You would not listen to us. Now the spies of
the anaye (the alien gods) in all quarters of the world have seen you.
They will tell their chiefs, and soon the monsters will come here to
devour you, as they have devoured all your kind before you."
303. The next morning the women made a corncake and laid it
on the ashes to bake. Then Yo/kai Estsan went out of the /fo^an,
and, as she did so, she saw Yeitso,105 the tallest and fiercest of the
alien gods, approaching. She ran quickly back and gave the warn-
ing, and the women hid the boys under bundles and sticks. Yeitso
came and sat down at the door, just as the women were taking the
cake out of the ashes. " That cake is for me," said Yeitso. " How
nice it smells!" "No," said Estsanatlehi, "it was not meant for
your great maw." " I don't care," said Yeitso. " I would rather eat
boys. Where are your boys ? I have been told you have some here,
and I have come to get them." " We have none," said Estsanatlehi.
"All the boys have gone into the paunches of your people long
ago." " No boys ?" said the giant. "What, then, has made all the
tracks around here ? " " Oh ! these tracks I have made for fun,"
replied the woman. " I am lonely here, and I make tracks so that
I may fancy there are many people around me." She showed Yeitso
how she could make similar tracks with her fist. He compared the
two sets of tracks, seemed to be satisfied, and went away.
304. When he was gone, Yo/kai Estsan, the White Shell Woman,
went up to the top of a neighboring hill to look around, and she
beheld many of the anaye hastening in the direction of her lodge.
She returned speedily, and told her sister what she had seen. Estsa-
natlehi took four colored hoops, and threw one toward each of the
cardinal points, — a white one to the east, a blue one to the south, a
yellow one to the west, and a black one to the north. At once a
great gale arose, blowing so fiercely in all directions from the kogzn
that none of the enemies could advance against it.
305. Next morning the boys got up before daybreak and stole
away. Soon the women missed them, but could not trace -them in
the dark. When it was light enough to examine the ground the
women went out to look for fresh tracks. They found four footprints
of each of the boys, pointing in the direction of the mountain of
DsT/nao/i/, but more than four tracks they could not find. They
came to the conclusion that the boys had taken a holy trail, so they
gave up further search and returned to the lodge.
306. The boys travelled rapidly in the holy trail,93 and soon after
sunrise, near Dsi/nao^i/, they saw smoke arising from the ground.
They went to the place where the smoke rose, and they found it
came from the smoke-hole of a subterranean chamber. A ladder,
black from smoke, projected through the hole. Looking down into
the chamber they saw an old woman, the Spider Woman,106 who
glanced up at them and said : " Welcome, children. Enter. Who are
you, and whence do you two come together walking ? " They made
no answer, but descended the ladder. When they reached the floor
she again spoke to them, asking : "Whither do you two go walking
together?" "Nowhere in particular," they answered; "we came
here because we had nowhere else to go." She asked this question
four times, and each time she received a similar answer. Then she
said : " Perhaps you would seek your father ? " " Yes," they an-
swered, "if we only knew the way to his dwelling." "Ah!" said
the woman, "it is a long and dangerous way to the house of your
father, the Sun. There are many of the anaye dwelling between
here and there, and perhaps, when you get there, your father may
not be glad to see you, and may punish you for coming. You must
pass four places of danger, • — the rocks that crush the traveller, the
reeds that cut him to pieces, the cane cactuses that tear him to
pieces, and the boiling sands that overwhelm him. But I shall
give you something to subdue your enemies and preserve your
lives." She gave them a charm called nayeatsos, or feather of the
alien gods, which consisted of a hoop with two life-feathers (feathers
plucked from a living eagle) attached, and another life-feather, hyma
biltsos,107 to preserve their existence. She taught them also this
magic formula, which, if repeated to their enemies, would subdue
their anger : " Put your feet down with pollen.108 Put your hands
down with pollen. Put your head down with pollen. Then your
feet are pollen ; your hands are pollen ; your body is pollen ; your
mind is pollen ; your voice is pollen. The trail is beautiful (bike
>&o*6ni). Be still." 109
307. Soon after leaving the house of Spider Woman, the boys
came to Tse'yeinti'li (the rocks that crush). There was here a nar-
row chasm between two high cliffs. When a traveller approached,
the rocks would open wide apart, apparently to give him easy pas-
sage and invite him to enter ; but as soon as he was within the cleft
they would close like hands clapping and crush him to death. These
rocks were really people ; they thought like men ; they were andye.
When the boys got to the rocks they lifted their feet as if about to
enter the chasm, and the rocks opened to let them in. Then the
boys put down their feet, but withdrew them quickly. The rocks
closed with a snap to crush them ; but the boys remained safe on
1 10 Navaho Legends.
the outside. Thus four times did they deceive the rocks. When
they had closed for the fourth time the rocks said : " Who are ye ;
whence come ye two together, and whither go ye ? " "We are chil-
dren of the Sun," answered the boys. " We come from Dsi/naotf/,
and we go to seek the house of our father." Then they repeated the
words the Spider Woman had taught them, and the rocks said :
" Pass on to the house of your father." When next they ventured
to step into the chasm the rocks did not close, and they passed
safely on.
308. The boys kept on their way and soon came to a great plain
covered with reeds that had great leaves on them as sharp as knives.
When the boys came to the edge of the field of reeds (Zokaadikm),
the latter opened, showing a clear passage through to the other side.
The boys pretended to enter, but retreated, and as they did so the
walls of reeds rushed together to kill them. Thus four times did
they deceive the reeds. Then the reeds spoke to them, as the rocks
had done; they answered and repeated the sacred words. "Pass
on to the house of your father," said the reeds, and the boys passed
on in safety.
309. The next danger they encountered was in the country covered
with cane cactuses.89 These cactuses rushed at and tore to pieces
whoever attempted to pass through them. When the boys came to
the cactuses the latter opened their ranks to let the travellers pass
on, as the reeds had done before. But the boys deceived them as
they had deceived the reeds, and subdued them as they had subdued
the reeds, and passed on in safety.
310. After they had passed the country of the cactus they came,
in time, to Saitad, the land of the rising sands. Here was a great
desert of sands that rose and whirled and boiled like water in a pot,
and overwhelmed the traveller who ventured among them. As the
boys approached, the sands became still more agitated and the boys
did not dare venture among them. "Who are ye ? " said the sands,
" and whence come ye ? " " We are children of the Sun, we came
from Dsi/nao/i/, and we go to seek the house of our father." These
words were four times said. Then the elder of the boys repeated
his sacred formula ; the sands subsided, saying : " Pass on to the
house of your father," and the boys continued on their journey over
the desert of sands.110
311. Soon after this adventure they approached the house of the
Sun. As they came near the door they found the way guarded by
two bears that crouched, one to the right and one to the left, their
noses pointing toward one another. As the boys drew near, the
bears rose, growled angrily, and acted as if about to attack the
intruders ; but the elder boy repeated the sacred words the Spider
Woman had taught him, and when he came to the last words, " Be
still," the bears crouched down again and lay still. The boys walked
on. After passing the bears they encountered a pair of sentinel
serpents, then a pair of sentinel winds, and, lastly, a pair of sentinel
lightnings. As the boys advanced, all these guardians acted as if
they would destroy them ; but all were appeased with the words of
prayer.111
312. The house of the Sun God was built of turquoise; it was
square like a pueblo house, and stood on the shore of a great water.
When the boys entered they saw, sitting in the west, a woman ;
in the south, two handsome young men;112 and in the north, two
handsome young women. The women gave a glance at the strangers
and then looked down. . The young men gazed at them more closely,
and then, without speaking, they rose, wrapped the strangers in four
coverings of the sky, and laid them on a shelf.113
313. The boys had lain there quietly for some time when a rattle
that hung over the door shook and one of the young women said :
"Our father is coming." The rattle shook four times, and soon
after it shook the fourth time, T^ohanoai, the bearer of the sun,
entered his house. He took the sun off his back and hung it up on
a peg on the west wall of the room, where it shook and clanged for
some time, going "tla, tla, tla, tla," till at last it hung still.
314. Then T^ohanoai turned to the woman and said, in an angry
tone : " Who are those two who entered here to-day ? " The woman
made no answer and the young people looked at one another, but
each feared to speak. Four times he asked this question, and at
length the woman said : " It would be well for you not to say too
much. Two young men came hither to-day, seeking their father.
When you go abroad, you always tell me that you visit 'nowhere, and
that you have met no woman but me. Whose sons, then, are these ? "
She pointed to the bundle on the shelf, and the children smiled sig-
nificantly at one another.
315. He took the bundle from the shelf. He first unrolled the
robe of dawn with which they were covered, then the robe of blue
sky, next the robe of yellow evening light, and lastly the robe of
darkness. When he unrolled this the boys fell out on the floor. He
seized them, and threw them first upon great, sharp spikes of white
shell that stood in the east ; but they bounded back, unhurt, from
these spikes, for they held their life-feathers tightly all the while.
He then threw them in turn on spikes of turquoise in the south, on
spikes of haliotis in the west, and spikes of black rock in the north ;
but they came uninjured from all these trials and T^ohanoai said:
" I wish it were indeed true that they were my children."
316. He said then to the elder children, — those who lived with
1 1 2 Navaho Legends.
him, — " Go out and prepare the sweat-house and heat for it four of
the hardest boulders you can find. Heat a white, a blue, a yellow,
and a black boulder." When the Winds heard this they said : " He
still seeks to kill his children. How shall we avert the danger?"
The sweat-house was built against a bank. Wind dug into the bank
a hole behind the sudatory, and concealed the opening with a flat
stone. Wind then whispered into the ears of the boys the secret of
the hole and said : " Do not hide in the hole until you have answered
the questions of your father." The boys went into the sweat-house,
the great hot boulders were put in, and the opening of the lodge was
covered with the four sky-blankets. Then T^ohanoai called out to
the boys: " Are you hot?" and they answered : " Yes, very hot."
Then they crept into the hiding-place and lay there. After a while
T^ohanoai came and poured water through the top of the sweat-
house on the stones, making them burst with a loud noise, and a
great heat and steam was raised. But in time the stones cooled
and the boys crept out of their hiding-place into the sweat-house.
T^ohanoai came and asked again : "Are you hot ? " hoping to get no
reply ; but the boys still answered : " Yes, very hot." Then he took
the coverings off the sweat-house and let the boys come out. He
greeted them in a friendly way and said : " Yes, these are my chil-
dren," and yet he was thinking of other ways by which he might
destroy them if they were not.
317. The fouf sky-blankets were spread on the ground one over
another, and the four young men were made to sit on them, one
behind another, facing the east. "My daughters, make these boys
to look like my other sons," said T^ohanoai. The young women
went to the strangers, pulled their hair out long, and moulded their
faces and forms so that they looked just like their brethren. Then
Sun bade them all rise and enter the house. They rose and all went,
in a procession, the two strangers last.
318. As they were about to enter the door they heard a voice
whispering in their ears : "St ! Look at the ground." They looked
down and beheld a spiny caterpillar called Wasekede, who, as they
looked, spat out two blue spits on the ground. " Take each of
you one of these," said Wind, "and put it in your mouth, but do not
swallow it. There is one more trial for you, — a trial by smoking."
When they entered the house T^ohanoai took down a pipe of tur-
quoise that hung on the eastern wall and filled it with tobacco. " This
is the tobacco he kills with," whispered Ni'ltsi to the boys. T^ohanoai
held the pipe up to the sun that hung on the wall, lit it, and gave it
to the boys to smoke. They smoked it, and passed it from one to
another till it was finished. They said it tasted sweet, but it did them
no harm.
319. When the pipe was smoked out and T^ohanoai saw the boys
were not killed by it, he was satisfied and said : " Now, my children,
what do you want from me ? Why do you seek me ?" "Oh, father!"
they replied, "the land where we dwell is filled with the anaye, who
devour the people. There are Yeitso and Teelge/, the Tse'nahale, -
the Bmaye A//ani, and many others. They have eaten nearly all of
our kind ; there are few left ; already they have sought our lives,
and we have run away to escape them. Give us, we beg, the wea-
pons with which we may slay our enemies. Help us to destroy
them."
320. " Know," said T^ohanoai, " that Yeitso who dwells at Tso-
tsi/ is also my son, yet I will help you to kill him. I shall hurl the first
bolt at him, and I will give you those things that will help you in
war." He took from pegs where they hung around the room and
gave to each a hat, a shirt, leggings, moccasins, all made of pes
(iron or knives),114 a chain-lightning arrow, a sheet-lightning arrow,
a sunbeam arrow, a rainbow arrow, and a great stone knife or knife
club (pe^//al).115 " These are what we want," said the boys. They
put on the clothes of pes, and streaks of lightning shot from every
joint.116
321. Next morning T^ohanoai led the boys out to the edge of the
world, where the sky and the earth came close together, and beyond
which there was no world. Here sixteen wands or poles leaned
from the earth to the sky ; four of these were of white shell, four of
turquoise, four of haliotis shell, and four of red stone.117 A deep
stream flowed between them and the wands. As they approached
the stream, Ni'ltri, the Wind, whispered: "This is another trial;"
but he blew a great breath and formed a bridge of rainbow,86' over
which the brothers passed in safety. Ni'ltri whispered again : " The
red wands are for war, the others are for peace ; " so when T^ohanoai
asked his sons : " On which wands will ye ascend ? " they answered :
"On the wands of red stone," for they sought war with their ene-
mies. They climbed up to the sky on the wands of red stone, and
their father went with them.118
322. They journeyed on till they came to Yaga/zoka, the sky-hole,
which is in the centre of the sky.119 The hole is edged with four
smooth, shining cliffs that slope steeply downwards, — cliffs of the
same materials as the wands by which they had climbed from the
earth to the sky. They sat down on the smooth declivities, — T^oha-
noai on the west side of the hole, the brothers on the east side.
The latter would have slipped down had not the Wind blown up and
helped them to hold on. T^ohanaoi pointed down and said : "Where
do you belong in the world below ? Show me your home." The
brothers looked down and scanned the land ; but they could distin-
ii4 Navaho Legends.
guish nothing ; all the land seemed flat ; the wooded mountains
looked like dark spots on the surface ; the lakes gleamed like stars,
and the rivers like streaks of lightning. The elder brother said : " I
do not recognize the land, I know not where our home is." Now
Ni'lUi prompted the younger brother, and showed him which were
the sacred mountains and which the great rivers, and the younger
exclaimed, pointing downwards : " There is the Male Water (San
Juan River), and there is the Female Water (Rio Grande) ; yonder is
the mountain of TjTniacLsl'ni ; below us is TsotsT/ ; there in the west
is Z?okoshV ; that white spot beyond the Male Water is Z>epe'ntsa ;
and there between these mountains is Dsi/nao/i/, near which our
home is." " You are right, my child, it is thus that the land lies,"
said T^dhanoai. Then, renewing his promises, he spread a streak of
lightning ; he made his children stand on it, — one on each end, —
and he shot them down to the top of Tsotsi/ (Mt. San Mateo, Mt.
Taylor).
323. They descended the mountain on its south side and walked
toward the warm spring at 7o'sa/o.120 As they were walking along
under a high bluff, where there is now a white circle, they heard
voices hailing them. "Whither are you going? Come hither
a while." They went in the direction in which they heard the voices
calling and found four holy people, — Holy Man, Holy Young Man,
Holy Boy, and Holy Girl. The brothers remained all night in a cave
with these people, and the latter told them all about Yeitso.121 They
said that he showed himself every day three times on the mountains
before he came down, and when he showed himself for the fourth
time he descended from Tsotsi/ to 76'sa/o to drink ; that, when he
stooped down to drink, one hand rested on Tsotsi/ and the other on
the high hills on the opposite side of the valley, while his feet
stretched as far .away as a man could walk between sunrise and
noon.
324. They left the cave at daybreak and went on to 7o'sa/o,
where in ancient days there was a much larger lake than there is
now. There was a high, rocky wall in the narrow part of the valley,
and the lake stretched back to where Blue Water is to-day. When
they came to the edge of the lake, one brother said to the other:
" Let us try one of our father's weapons and see what it can do."
They shot one of the lightning arrows at Tsotsi/; it made a great
cleft in the mountain, which remains to this day, and one said to the
other : " We cannot suffer in combat while we have such weapons as
these."
325. Soon they heard the sound of thunderous footsteps, and they
beheld the head of Yeitso peering over a high hill in the east; it was
withdrawn in a moment. Soon after, the monster raised his head
and chest over a hill in the south, and remained a little longer in
sight than when he was in the east. Later he displayed his body to
the waist over a hill in the west ; and lastly he showed himself, down
to the knees, over Tsotsi/ in the north.122 Then he descended the
mountain, came to the edge of the lake, and laid down a basket
which he was accustomed to carry.
326. Yeitso stooped four times to the lake to drink, and, each time
he drank, the waters perceptibly diminished; when he had done
drinking, the lake was nearly drained.123 The brothers lost their
presence of mind at sight of the giant drinking, and did nothing
while he was stooping down. As he took his last drink they ad-
vanced to the edge of the lake, and Yeitso saw their reflection in
the water. He raised his head, and, looking at them, roared: "What
a pretty pair have come in sight ! Where have I been hunting? "
(i. e., that I never saw them before). Yinike/oko ! Yinike/oko ! " 124
" Throw (his words) back in his mouth," said the younger to the
elder brother. " What a great thing has come in sight ! Where
have we been hunting?" shouted the elder brother to the giant.
Four times these taunts were repeated by each party. The brothers
then heard Ni'ltri whispering quickly, " Ako' ! Ako' ! Beware ! Be-
ware ! " They were standing on a bent rainbow just then ; they'
straightened the rainbow out, descending to the ground, and at the
same instant a lightning bolt, hurled by Yeitso, passed thundering
over their heads. He hurled four bolts rapidly ; as he hurled the
second, they bent their rainbow and rose, while the bolt passed
under their feet ; as he discharged the third they descended, and
let the lightning pass over them. When he threw the fourth bolt
they bent the rainbow very high, for this time he aimed higher than
before ; but his weapon still passed under their feet and did them
no harm. He drew a fifth bolt to throw at them ; but at this
moment the lightning descended from the sky on the head of the
giant and he reeled beneath it, but did not fall.125 Then the elder
brother sped a chain-lightning arrow ; his enemy tottered toward the
east, but straightened himself up again. The second arrow caused
him to stumble toward the south (he fell lower and lower each time),
but again he stood up and prepared himself to renew the conflict.
The third lightning arrow made him topple toward the west, and
the fourth to the north. Then he fell to his knees, raised himself
partly again, fell flat on his face, stretched out his limbs, and moved
no more.
327. When the arrows struck him, his armor was shivered in
pieces and the scales flew in every direction. The elder brother
said: " They may be useful to the people in the future."126 The
brothers then approached their fallen enemy and the younger
n6 Navaho Legends.
scalped him. Heretofore the younger brother bore only the name
of Tb'bad^ist.rini, or Child of the Water ; but now his brother gave
him also the warrior name of NaiVikm (He Who Cuts Around).
What the elder brother's name was before this we do not know ;
but ever after he was called Nayenezgani (Slayer of the Alien
Gods).127
328. They cut off his head and threw it away to the other side of
TsotsT/, where it may be seen to-day on the eastern side of the
mountain.128 The blood from the body now flowed in a great stream
down the valley, so great that it broke down the rocky wall that
bounded the old lake and flowed on. Nflt^i whispered to the
brothers : " The blood flows toward the dwelling of the Bmaye
AMni ; if it reaches them, Yeitso will come to life again." Then
Nayenezgani took his pe^al, or knife club, and drew with it across
the valley a line. Here the blood stopped flowing and piled itself
up in a high wall. But when it had piled up here very high it began
to flow off in another direction, and Ni'ltn again whispered : " It now
flows toward the dwelling of Sajnalkahi, the Bear that Pursues ;
if it reaches him, Yeitso will come to life again." Hearing this,
Nayenezgani again drew a line with his knife on the ground, and
again the blood piled up and stopped flowing. The blood of Yeitso
fills all the valley to-day, and the high cliffs in the black rock that
we see there now are the places where Nayenezgani stopped the flow
with his pe^al.129
329. They then put the broken arrows of Yeitso and his scalp
into his basket and set out for their home near Dsi/nao/i/. When
they got near the house, they took off their own suits of armor and
hid these, with the basket and its contents, in the bushes. The
mothers were rejoiced to see them, for they feared their sons were
lost, and they said : " Where have you been since you left here yes-
terday, and what have you done ? " Nayenezgani replied : " We have
been to the house of our father, the Sun. We have been to Tsots!/
and we have slain Yeitso." " Ah, my child," said Estsanatlehi, " do
not speak thus. It is wrong to make fun of such an awful subject."
"Do you not believe us ? " said Nayenezgani ; "come out, then, and
see what we have brought back with us." He led the women out
to where he had hidden the basket and showed them the trophies of
Yeitso. Then they were convinced and they rejoiced, and had a
dance to celebrate the victory.130
330. When their rejoicings were done, Nayenezgani said to his
mother : " Where does Teelge/131 dwell ? " " Seek not to know," she
answered, " you have done enough. Rest contented. The land of
the anaye is a dangerous place. The anaye are hard to kill." "Yes,
and it was hard for you to bear your child," the son replied (meaning
that she triumphed notwithstanding). " He lives at Bike/^atei'n,"
she said. Then the brothers held a long council to determine what
they should do. They made two cigarette kethawns of a plant called
aze/a<^il/ehe,132 one black and one blue, each three finger-widths long ;
to these they attached a sunbeam and laid them in a turquoise dish.
"I shall go alone to fight TeelgeV," said Nayenezgani, "while you,
younger brother, remain at home and watch these kethawns. If
they take fire from the sunbeam, you may know that I am in great
danger ; as long as they do not take fire, you may know that I am
safe." This work was finished at sundown.133
331. Nayenezgani arose early next morning and set out alone to
find 2"eelge/. He came, in time, to the edge of a great plain, and
from one of the hills that bordered it he saw the monster lying
down a long way off. He paused to think how he could approach
nearer to him without attracting his attention, and in the mean time
he poised one of his lightning arrows in his hand, thinking how
he should throw it. While he stood thus in thought, Nasi'zi, the
Gopher, came up to him and said : " I greet you, my friend ! Why
have you come hither?" " Oh, I am just wandering around," said
Nayenezgani. Four times this question was asked and this answer
was given. Then Nasi'zi said : " I wonder that you come here ; no
one but I ever ventures in these parts, for all fear TeelgeV. There
he lies on the plain yonder." " It is him I seek," said Nayenezgani ;
"but I know not how to approach him." "Ah, if that is all you
want, I can help you," said Gopher ; "and if you slay him, all I ask
is his hide. I often go up to him, and I will go now to show you."
Having said this, Nasi'zi disappeared in a hole in the ground.
332. While he was gone Nayenezgani watched TeelgeV. After a
while he saw the great creature rise, walk from the centre in four
different directions, as if watching, and lie down again in the spot
where he was first seen. He was a great, four-footed beast, with
horns like those of a deer. Soon Nasi'zi returned and said : " I have
dug a tunnel up to TeelgeV, and at the end I have bored four tun-
nels for you to hide in, one to the east, one to the south, one to the
west, and one to the north. I have made a hole upwards from the
tunnel to his heart, and I have gnawed the hair off near his heart.
When I was gnawing the hair he spoke to me and said: 'Why do
you take my hair ? ' and I answered, ' I want it to make a bed for
my children.' Then it was that he rose and walked around ; but he
came back and lay down where he lay before, over the hole that
leads up to his heart."
333. Nayenezgani entered the tunnel and crawled to the end.
When he looked up through the ascending shaft of which Nasi'zi had
told him, he saw the great heart of TeelgeV beating there. He sped
n8 Navaho Legends.
his arrow of chain-lightning and fled into the eastern tunnel. The
monster rose, stuck one of his horns into the ground, and ripped the
tunnel open. Nayenezgani fled into the south tunnel ; TeelgeV then
tore the south tunnel open with his horns, and the hero fled into the
west tunnel. When the west tunnel was torn up he fled into the
north tunnel. The anaye put his horn into the north tunnel to
tear it up, but before he had half uncovered it he fell and lay still.
Nayenezgani, not knowing that his enemy was dead, and still fearing
him, crept back through the long tunnel to the place where he first
met NasT'zi, and there he stood gazing at the distant form of 7eelge7.
334. While he was standing there in thought, he observed ap-
proaching him a little old man dressed in tight leggings and a tight
shirt, with a cap and feather on his head ; this was //azai, the
Ground Squirrel. " What do you want here, my grandchild ? " said
//azai. " Nothing ; I am only walking around," replied the warrior.
Four times this question was asked and four times a similar answer
given, when Ground Squirrel spoke again and inquired : " Do you
not fear the anaye that dwells on yonder plain ? " " I do not know,"
replied Nayenezgani ; " I think I have killed him, but I am not cer-
tain." "Then I can find out for you," said //azai. "He never
minds me. I can approach him any time without danger. If he is
dead I will climb up on his horns and dance and sing." Nayenezgani
had not watched long when he saw //azaf climbing one of the horns
and dancing on it. When he approached his dead enemy he found
that //azaf had streaked his own face with the blood of the slain (the
streaks remain on the ground squirrel's face to this day), and that
Nasi'zi had already begun to remove the skin by gnawing on the
insides of the fore-legs. When Gopher had removed the skin, he
put it on his own back and said : " I shall wear this in order that, in
the days to come, when the people increase, they may know what
sort of a skin TeelgeV wore." He had a skin like that which covers
the Gopher to-day, //azai cut out a piece of the bowel, filled it with
blood, and tied the ends ; he cut out also a piece of one of the
lungs, and he gave these to Nayenezgani for his trophies.134
335. When Nayenezgani came home again, he was received with
great rejoicing, for his mother had again begun to fear he would
never more return. "Where have you been, my son, and what have
you done since you have been gone?" she queried. "I have been
to Bike/;al#i'n and I have slain Teelge/," he replied. "Ah, speak
not thus, my son," she said ; " he is too powerful for you to talk thus
lightly about him. If he knew what you said he might seek you out
arid kill you." " I have no fear of him," said her son. " Here is his
blood, and here is a piece of his liver. Do you not now believe I
have slain him ? " Then he said : " Mother, grandmother, tell me,
O >4
§ 1
t-3 "3
or THf
UNIVERSITY
OF
where do the Tse'na'hale 135 dwell?" "They dwell at Tse'bi/ai
(Winged Rock),"136 she answered, "but do not venture near them;
they are fierce and strong."
336. Next morning early he stole away, taking with him the piece
of bowel filled with blood. He climbed the range of mountains
where the hill of Tsuskai rises, and travelled on till he came to a
place where two great snakes lay. Since that day these snakes have
been changed into stone. He walked along the back of one of the
snakes, and then he stepped from one snake to the other and went
out on the plain that stretched to the east of the mountains, until he
came close to Tse'bi/aT, which is a great black rock that looks like a
bird. While he was walking along he heard a tremendous rushing
sound overhead, like the sound of a whirlwind, and, looking up, he
saw a creature of great size, something like an eagle in form, flying
toward him from the east. It was the male Tse'na'hale. The war-
rior had barely time to cast himself prone on the ground when
Tse'na'hale swooped over him. Thus four times did the monster
swoop at him, coming each time from a different direction. Three
times Nayenezgani escaped ; but the fourth time, flying from the
north, the monster seized him in his talons and bore him off to
Tse'bi/ai.
337. There is a broad, level ledge on one side of Tse'bi/aT, where
the monster reared his young ; he let the hero drop on this ledge, as
was his custom to do with his victims, and perched on a pinnacle
above. This fall had killed all others who had dropped there ; but
Nayenezgani was preserved by the life-feather, the gift of Spider
Woman, which he still kept. When the warrior fell he cut open the
bag of bowel that he carried and allowed the blood of TeelgeV to
flow out over the rock, so that the anaye might think he was killed.
The two young approached to devour the body of the warrior, but
he said " Sh ! " at them. They stopped and cried up to their father :
" This thing is not dead ; it says ' Sh ! ' at us." " That is only air
escaping from the body," said the father ; " Never mind, but eat it."
Then he flew away in search of other prey. When the old bird was
gone, Nayenezgani hid himself behind the young ones and asked
them, "When will your father come back, and where will he sit when
he comes ? " They answered : " He will return when we have a he-
rain,137 and he will perch on yonder point " (indicating a rock close
by on the right). Then he inquired : "When will your mother return,
and where will she sit ? " " She will come when we have a she-
rain,137 and will sit on yonder point " (indicating a crag on the left).
He had not waited long when drops of rain began to fall, the thun-
der rolled, lightning flashed, the male Tse'na'hale returned and
perched on the rock which the young had pointed out. Then
I2O Navaho Legends.
Nayenezgani hurled a lightning arrow and the monster tumbled to
the foot of Winged Rock dead. After a while rain fell again, but
there was neither thunder nor lightning with it. While it still
poured, there fell upon the ledge the body of a Pueblo woman,
covered with fine clothes and ornamented with ear pendants and
necklaces of beautiful shells and turquoise. Nayenezgani looked up
and beheld the female Tse'na'hale soaring overhead (she preyed only
on women, the male only on men). A moment later she glided
down, and was just about to light on her favorite crag, when
Nayenezgani hurled another lightning arrow and sent her body
down to the plain to join that of her mate.
338. The young ones now began to cry, and they said to the war-
rior : " Will you slay us, too ? " " Cease your wailing," he cried.
" Had you grown up here you would have been things of evil ; you
would have lived only to destroy my people ; but I shall now make
of -you something that will be of use in the days to come when men
increase in the land." He seized the elder and said to it, " You
shall furnish plumes for men to use in their rites, and bones for
whistles." He swung the fledgling back and forth four times ; as
he did so it began to change into a beautiful bird with strong wings,
and it said : " Suk, suk, suk, suk." Then he threw it high in the air.
It spread its pinions and soared out of sight, an eagle. To the
younger he said : " In the days to come men will listen to your voice
to know what will be their future : sometimes you will tell the truth ;
sometimes you will lie." He swung it back and forth, and as he did
so its head grew large and round ; its eyes grew big ; it began to
say, " Uwu, uwu, uwu, uwu," and it became an owl. Then he threw
it into a hole in the side of the cliff and said : " This shall be your
1 Ml OQ •
home.
339. As he had nothing more to do at Tse'bl/aT, he determined to
go home, but he soon found that there was no way for him to descend
the rock ; nothing but a winged creature could reach or leave the
ledge on which he stood. The sun was about half way down to the
horizon when he observed the Bat Woman walking along near the
base of the cliff. " Grandmother," he called aloud, "come hither
and take me down." " T^e'dani," 139 she answered, and hid behind a
point of rock. Again she came in view, and again he called her ;
but she gave him the same reply and hid herself again. Three times
were these acts performed and these words said. When she ap-
peared for the fourth time and he begged her to carry him down, he
added : " I will give you the feathers of the Tse'na'hale if you will
take me off this rock." When she heard this she approached the
base of the rock, and soon disappeared under the ledge where he
stood. Presently he heard a strange flapping sound,140 and a voice
calling to him : " Shut your eyes and go back, for you must not see
how I ascend." He did as he was bidden, and soon after the Bat
Woman stood beside him. " Get into this basket, and I will carry
you down," she demanded. He looked at the large carrying-basket
which she bore on her back, and observed that it hung on strings
as thin as the strings of a spider's web. " Grandmother," he said,
" I fear to enter your basket ; the strings are too thin." " Have no
fear," she replied ; " I often carry a whole deer in this basket : the
strings are strong enough to bear you." Still he hesitated, and still
she assured him. The fourth time that he expressed his fear she
said : " Fill the basket with stones and you will see that I speak the
truth." He did as he was bidden, and she danced around with the
loaded basket on her back ; but the strings did not break, though
they twanged like bowstrings. When he entered the basket she
bade him keep his eyes shut till they reached the bottom of the cliff,
as he must not see how she managed to descend. He shut his eyes,
and soon felt himself gradually going down ; but he heard again the
strange flapping against the rock, which so excited his curiosity that
he opened his eyes. Instantly he began to fall with dangerous
rapidity, and the flapping stopped ; she struck him with her stick
and bade him shut his eyes. Again he felt himself slowly descend-
ing, and the flapping against the rock began. Three times more he
disobeyed her, but the last time they were near the bottom of the
cliff, and both fell to the ground unhurt.
340. Together they plucked the two Tse'na'hale, put the feathers
in her basket, and got the basket on her back. He reserved only the
largest feather from one wing of each bird for his trophies. As she
was starting to leave he warned her not to pass through either of two
neighboring localities, which were the dry beds of temporary lakes ;
one was overgrown with weeds, the other with sunflowers. Despite
his warning she walked toward the sunflowers. As she was about
to enter them he called after her again, and begged her not to go that
way, but she heeded him not and went on. She had not taken many
steps among the sunflowers when she heard a fluttering sound behind
her, and a little bird of strange appearance flew past her close to
her ear. As she stepped farther on she heard more fluttering and
saw more birds of varying plumage, such as she had never seen
before, flying over her shoulders and going off in every direction.
She looked around, and was astonished to behold that the birds were
swarming out of her own basket. She tried to hold them in, to
catch them as they flew out, but all in vain. She laid down her
basket and watched, helplessly, her feathers changing into little birds
of all kinds, — wrens, warblers, titmice, and the like, — and flying
away, until her basket was empty. Thus it was that the little birds
were created.141
341. When he got home 7Vbad.2ist.nni said to him : " Elder brother,
I have watched the kethawns all the time you were gone. About
midday the black cigarette took fire, and I was troubled, for I knew
you were in danger ; but when it had burned half way the fire went
out and then I was glad, for I thought you were safe again." "Ah,
that must have been the time when Tse'na'hale carried me up and
threw me on the rocks," said Nayenezgani. He hung his trophies
on the east side of the lodge, and then he asked his mother where
Tse'/a^ot-yil/a'/i m dwelt. She told him he lived at TseWeza ; but,
as on previous occasions, she warned him of the power of the
enemy, and tried to dissuade him from seeking further dangers.
Next morning he set out to find Tse7a^oUnVa7i, He Who Kicks
(People) Down the Cliff. This anaye lived on the side of a high cliff,
a trail passed at his feet, and when travellers went that way he
kicked them down to the bottom of the precipice. Nayenezgani
had not travelled long when he discovered a well-beaten trail ; fol-
lowing this, he found that it led him along the face of a high preci-
pice, and soon he came in sight of his enemy, who had a form much
like that of a man. The monster reclined quietly against the rock,
as if he meditated no harm, and Nayenezgani advanced as if he
feared no danger, yet watching his adversary closely. As he passed,
the latter kicked at him, but he dodged the kick and asked : " Why
did you kick at me ? " " Oh, my grandchild," said the anaye, " I
was weary lying thus, and I only stretched out my leg to rest my-
self." Four times did Nayenezgani pass him, and four times did the
monster kick at him in vain. Then the hero struck his enemy with
his great stone knife over the eyes, and struck him again and again
till he felt sure that he had slain him ; but he was surprised to find
that the body did not fall down the cliff. He cut with his knife
under the corpse in different places, but found nothing that held it
to the rock until he came to the head, and then he discovered that
the long hair grew, like the roots of a cedar, into a cleft in the rock.
When he cut the hair,143 the body tumbled down out of sight. The
moment it fell a great clamor of voices came up from below. " I
want the eyes," screamed one ; " Give me an arm," cried another ;
"I want the liver," said a third; "No, the liver shall be mine,"
yelled a fourth ; and thus the quarrelling went on. " Ah ! " thought
Nayenezgani, " these are the children quarrelling over the father's
corpse. Thus, perhaps, they would have been quarrelling over mine
had I not dodged his kicks."
342. He tried to descend along the trail he was on, but found it
led no farther. Then he retraced his steps till he saw another trail
that seemed to lead to the bottom of the cliff. He followed it and
soon came to the young of the anaye, twelve in number, who had
just devoured their father's corpse ; the blood was still streaming
from their mouths. He ran among them, and hacked at them in
every direction with his great stone knife. They fled ; but he pur-
sued them, and in a little while he had killed all but one. This one
ran faster than the rest, and climbed among some high rocks ; but
Nayenezgani followed him and caught him. He stopped to take
breath ; as he did so he looked at the child and saw that he was dis-
gustingly ugly and filthy. " You ugly thing," said Nayenezgani ;
"when you 'ran from me so fleetly I thought you might be some-
thing handsome and worth killing ; but now that I behold your face
I shall let you live. Go to yonder mountain of NatsTsaan 144 and
dwell there. It is a barren land, where you will have to work hard
for your living, and will wander ever naked and hungry." The boy
went to Natsisaan, as he was told, and there he became the progeni-
tor of the Pahutes, a people ugly, starved, and ragged, who never
wash themselves and live on the vermin of the desert.145
343. He went to where he had first found the children of Tse^a-
^otril/a'/i. Nothing was left of the father's corpse but the bones
and scalp. (This- anaye used to wear his hair after the manner of a
Pueblo Indian.) The hero cut a piece of the hair from one side
of the head and carried it home as a trophy. When he got home
there were the usual questions and answers and rejoicings, and when
he asked his mother, " Where is the home of the Bmaye A/zani, the
people who slay with their eyes," she begged him, as before, to rest
contented and run no more risks ; but she added : " They live at
Tse'a^akfni, Rock with Black Hole." 146 This place stands to this
day, but is changed since the anaye dwelt there. It has still a hole,
on one side, that looks like a door, and another on the top that looks
like a smoke-hole.
344. On this occasion, in addition to his other weapons, he took
a bag of salt with him on his journey.147 When he came to Tse'a^al-
z\' ni he entered the rock house and sat down on the north side.
In other parts of the lodge sat the old couple of the Bmaye A/zani
and many of their children. They all stared with their great eyes
at the intruder, and flashes of lightning streamed from their eyes
toward him, but glanced harmless off his armor. Seeing that they
did not kill him, they stared harder and harder at him, until their
eyes protruded far from their sockets. Then into the fire in the
centre of the lodge he threw the salt, which spluttered and flew in
every direction, striking the eyes of the anaye and blinding them.
While they held down their heads in pain, he struck with his great
stone knife and killed all except the two youngest.
345. Thus he spoke to the two which he spared : " Had you grown
up here, you would have lived only to be things of evil and to destroy
men ; but now I shall make you of use to my kind in the days to
come when men increase on the earth." To the elder he said : " You
will ever speak to men and tell them what happens beyond their
sight ; you will warn them of the approach of enemies," and he
changed it into a bird called Tsidi/^oi 148 (shooting or exploring bird).
He addressed the younger, saying : " It will be your task to make
things beautiful, to make the earth happy." And he changed it into
a bird called //orto^i,149 which is sleepy in the daytime and comes
out at night.
346. When he reached home with his trophies, which were the
eyes 15° of the first Binaye A//ani he had killed, and told what he
had done, Estsanatlehi took a piece of the lung of TeelgeV (which
he had previously brought home), put it in her mouth, and, dancing
sang this song : —
Naydnezgani brings for me,
Of T^elge/ he brings for me,
Truly a lung he brings for me,
The people are restored.
Tb'badsrlstrini brings for me,
Of Tse'na'hale he brings for me,
Truly a wing he brings for me,
The people are restored.
Z.e'yaneyani brings for me,
Of Tse'/a^otrfl/d'/i he brings for me,
Truly a side-lock he brings for me,
The people are restored.
Tsdwenatlehi 151 brings for me,
Of Bmdye AMni he brings for me,
Truly an eye he brings for me,
The people are restored.270
347. When she had finished her rejoicings he asked, " Where shall
I find Skmalkahi (Bear that Pursues) ? " " He lives at Tse'bahastsit
(Rock that Frightens)," she replied ; but again she plead with him,
pictured to him the power of the enemy he sought, and begged him
to venture no more.
348. Next morning he went off to Rock that Frightens and
walked all around it, without meeting the bear or finding his trail.
At length, looking up to the top of the rock, he saw the bear's head
sticking out of a hole, and he climbed up. The bear's den was in
the shape of a cross, and had four entrances. Nayenezgani looked
into the east entrance, the south entrance, and the west entrance
without getting sight of his enemy. As he approached the north
entrance he saw the head of the watching bear again ; but it was
instantly withdrawn, and the bear went toward the south entrance.
The hero ran round fast and lay in wait. In a little while the bear
thrust forth his head to look, and Nayenezgani cut it off with his
great stone knife.
349. He addressed the head, saying : " You were a bad thing in
your old life, and tried only to do mischief ; but in new shapes I
shall make you of use to the people ; in the future, when they
increase upon the earth, you will furnish them with sweet food to
eat, with foam to cleanse their bodies, and with threads for their
clothing." He cut the head into three pieces : he threw one to the
east, where it became tsasi, or ^a^kan ( Yucca baccata) ; he threw
another to the west, where it became tsasitsoz ( Yucca angustifolia} ;
and he threw the third to the south, where it became no/a (mescal).
He cut off the left forepaw to take home as a trophy.
350. " Where shall I find Tse'nagahi (Travelling Stone) ? " he said
after he had returned from his encounter with Pursuing Bear and
shown his trophy to his people. " You will find him in a lake near
where Tse'espai points up," answered Estsanatlehi ; but she im-
plored him not to go near the lake. He did not heed her, and next
morning he went off to seek the Travelling Stone.
351. He approached the lake on the north side, while the wind
was blowing from the south, but he saw nothing of the stone.
Thence he went around to the south side of the lake. When he
got here the stone scented him, rose to the surface, poised itself a
moment, and flew toward Nayenezgani as if hurled by a giant hand.
Raising his lightning arrow, he held it in the course of the stone
and knocked a piece off the latter. When the stone fell he struck
another piece off with his knife. Tse'nagahi now saw it had a
powerful foe to contend against ; so, instead of hurling itself at him
again, it fled and Nayenezgani went in pursuit. He chased it all over
the present Navaho land, knocking pieces off it in many places 152
as he followed, until at length he chased it into the San Juan River
at Tsm/a/zokata, where a point of forest runs down toward the
river.
352. Travelling Stone sped down with the current and Nayenezgani
ran along the bank after it. Four times he got ahead of the stone,
but three times it escaped him by dipping deep into the river. When
he headed it off for the fourth time, he saw it gleaming like fire under
the water, and he stopped to gaze at it. Then the stone spoke and
said : "Sawe (my baby, my darling), take pity on me, and I shall no
longer harm your people, but do good to them instead. I shall
keep the springs in the mountains open and cause your rivers to
flow ; kill me and your lands will become barren." Nayenezgani
answered : " If you keep this promise I shall spare you ; but if you
ever more do evil as you have done before, I shall seek you again,
and then I shall not spare you." Tse'nagahi has kept his promise
ever since, and has become the Tieholtsodi of the upper world.
353. He brought home no trophy from the contest with Tse'nagahi.
It had now been eight days since he left the house of the Sun.153 He
was weary from his battles with the anaye, and he determined to
rest four days. During this time he gave his relatives a full account
of his journeys and his adventures from first to last, and as he began
he sang a song : —
Naydnezgani to Atsd Estsdn began to tell,
About Bi/eelge/i he began to tell,
From homes of giants coming, he began to tell.
Tb'bad^Istfini to Estsdnatlehi began to tell,
About the Tse'na'hale he began to tell,
From homes of giants coming, he began to tell.
Ze'yaneyani to Atsd Estsa"n began to tell,
Of Tse'/aAotrfl/d'/i he began to tell,
From homes of giants coming, he began to tell.
Tsdwenatlehi to Estsdnatlehi began to tell,
About Bmdye AMni he began to tell,
From homes of giants coming, he began to tell.277
354. There were still many of the anaye to kill ; there was White
under the Rock, Blue under the Rock, Yellow under the Rock,
Black under the Rock, and many ye/apahi, or brown giants. Besides
these there were a number of stone pueblos, now in ruins, that were
inhabited by various animals (crows, eagles, etc.),154 who filled the
land and left no room for the people. During the four days of rest,
the brothers consulted as to how they might slay all these enemies,
and they determined to visit again the house of the Sun. On the
morning of the fourth night they started for the east. They en-
countered no enemies on the way and had a pleasant journey. When
they entered the house of the Sun no one greeted them ; no one
offered them a seat. They sat down together on the floor, and as
soon as they were seated lightning began to shoot into the lodge.
It struck the ground near them four times. Immediately after the
last flash T^apani, Bat, and ro'nemli, Water Sprinkler, entered. " Do
not be angry with us," said the intruders ; " we flung the lightning
only because we feel happy and want to play with you : " still the
brothers kept wrathful looks on their faces, until Ni'ltji whispered
into their ears : " Be not angry with the strangers. They were once
friends of the anaye and did not wish them to die ; but now they
are friends of yours, since you have conquered the greatest of the
anaye." Then, at last, T^ohanoai spoke to his children, saying :
" These people are rude ; they respect no one. Heed them not.
Here are seats for you. Be seated." Saying this, he offered the
brothers a seat of shell and a seat of turquoise ; but Nl'ltri told the
brothers not to take them. "These are seats of peace," he said;
"you still want help in war. Nayenezgani, take the seat of red
stone, which is the warrior's seat ; and you, Tb'badzistsini, stand."
They did as the Wind bade them.
355. " My children, why do you come to me again?" asked
T^ohanoai, the bearer of the sun. " We come for no special pur-
pose ; we come only to pass away the time," Nayenezgani answered.
Three times he asked this question and got the same reply. When
he asked for the fourth time, he added, " Speak the truth. When
you came to me before I gave you all you asked for." Now it was
TVbad^istrini who replied : " Oh, father ! there are still many of
the anaye left, and they are increasing. We wish to destroy them."
" My children," said T^ohanoai, "when I helped you before, I asked
you for nothing in return. I am willing to help you again ; but I
wish to know, first, if you are willing to do something for me. I
have a long way to travel every day, and often, in the long summer
days, I do not get through in time, and then I have no place to rest
or eat till I get back to my home in the east. I wish you to send
your mother to the west that she may make a new home for me."
" I will do it," said Nayenezgani ; " I will send her there." But
7Vbad,2rist.nni said : "No, Estsanatlehi is under the power of none ;
we cannot make promises for her, she must speak for herself, she
is her own mistress ; but I shall tell .her your wishes and plead for
you." The room they were in had four curtains which closed the
ways leading into other apartments. T^ohanoai lifted the curtain in
the east, which was black, and took out of the room in the east five
hoops : one of these was colored black, another blue, a third yellow,
and a fourth white, the fifth was many-colored and shining. Each
hoop had attached to it a knife of the same color as itself. He took
out also four great hailstones, colored like the four first hoops. He
gave all these to his sons and said : " Your mother will know what
to do with these things."
356. When they got their gifts they set out on their homeward
journey. As they went on their way they beheld a wonderful vision.
The gods spread before them the country of the Navahoes as it was
to be in the future when men increased in the land and became
rich and happy. They spoke to one another of their father, of what
he had said to them, of what they had seen in his house, and of all
the strange things that had happened. When they got near their
journey's end they sang this song : —
1 28 Navaho Legends.
Naydnezgani, he is holy,
Thus speaks the Sun,
Holy he stands.
Tb'bads-istnni, he is holy,
Thus speaks the Moon,
Holy he moves.
Zdyaneyani, he is holy,
Thus speaks the Sun,
Holy he stands.
Tsdwenatlehi, he is holy,
Thus speaks the Moon,
Holy he moves. 2?s
357. When they got within sight of their home they sang this
song : —
Slayer of Giants,
Through the sky I hear him.
His voice sounds everywhere,
His voice divine.
Child of the Water,
Through the floods I hear him.
His voice sounds everywhere,
His voice divine.
Reared 'neath the Earth,
Through the earth I hear him.
His voice sounds everywhere,
His voice divine.
The Changing Grandchild,
Through the clouds I hear him.
His voice sounds everywhere,
His voice divine.279
358. When the brothers got home they said to Estsanatlehi :
" Here are the hoops which our father has given us, and he told us
you knew all about them. Show us, then, how to use them." She
replied : " I have no knowledge of them." Three times she thus
answered their questions. When they spoke to her for the fourth
time and Nayenezgani was becoming angry and impatient, she said :
" I have never seen the Sun God except from afar. He has never
been down to the earth to visit me. I know nothing of these talis-
mans of his, but I will try what I can do." She took the black hoop
to the east, set it up so that it might roll, and spat through it the black
hail, which was four-cornered ; at once the hoop rolled off to the
east and rolled out of sight. She took the blue hoop to the south,
set it up, and spat through it the blue hail, which was six-cornered.
Then the hoop rolled away to the south and disappeared. She car-
ried the yellow hoop to the west, set it up, and spat through it the
eight-cornered yellow hail ; the hoop rolled off to the west and was
lost to sight. She bore the white hoop to the north ; spat through it
the white hail, which had eleven corners, and the hoop sped to the
north until it was seen no more. She threw the shining hoop up
toward the zenith, threw the four colored knives in the same direc-
tion, and blew a powerful breath after them. Up they all went until
they were lost to sight in the sky. As each hoop went away thunder
was heard.155
359. During four days after this nothing of importance happened,
and no change came in the weather. At the end of four days they
heard thunder high up in the sky, and after this there were four days
more of good weather. Then the sky grew dark, and something like a
great white cloud descended from above. Estsanatlehi went abroad ;
she saw in all directions great whirlwinds which uprooted tall trees
as if they had been weeds, and tossed great rocks around as if they
had been pebbles. " My son, I fear for our house," she said when
she came back. " It is high among the mountains, and the great
winds may destroy it." When he heard this, Nayenezgani went out.
He covered the house first with a black cloud, which he fastened to
the ground with rainbows ; second, with a black fog, which he fas-
tened down with sunbeams ; third, with a black cloud, which he
secured with sheet-lightning ; and fourth, with a black fog, which he
secured with chain-lightning. At sunset that evening they caught a
little glimpse of the sun ; but after that, continuously for four days
and four nights, it was dark ; a storm of wind and hail prevailed,
such as had never been seen before, and the air was filled with sharp
stones carried before the wind. The people stayed safe in the lodge,
but they could hear the noise of the great storm without. On the
morning of the fifth day the tumult ceased, and Nayenezgani, going
out, found that all was calm, though it was still dark. He now pro-
ceeded to remove the coverings from the lodge and threw them
upwards toward the heavens. As the first covering, a sheet of fog,
ascended, chain-lightning shot out of it (with chain-lightning it had
been fastened down). As the second covering, a cloud, ascended,
sheet-lightning came forth from it. As the third covering, a fog,
went up, sunbeams streamed from it ; and as the fourth cover, a
robe of cloud, floated up, it became adorned with rainbows. The air
was yet dark, and full of dust raised by the high wind ; but a gentle
shower of rain came later, laying the dust, and all was clear again.
All the inmates of the lodge now came out, and they marvelled to
see what changes the storm had wrought : near their house a great
canyon had been formed ; the shape of the bluffs around had been
changed, and solitary pillars of rock 156 had been hewn by the winds.
1 30 Navaho Legends.
360. " Surely all the anaye are now killed," said Estsanatlehi.
" This storm must have destroyed them." But Ni'lt-si whispered into
Nayenezgani's ear, " Sa/z (Old Age) still lives." The hero said then
to his mother : " Where used Old Age to dwell ? " His mother would
not answer him, though he repeated his question four times. At last
Ni'ltri again whispered in his ear and said : " She lives in the moun-
tains of Ztepe'ntsa."
361. Next morning he set out for the north, and when, after a
long journey, he reached Ztepe'ntsa, he saw an old woman who came
slowly toward him leaning on a staff. Her back was bent, her hair
was white, and her face was deeply wrinkled. He knew this must
be Scin. When they met he said : " Grandmother, I have come on a
cruel errand. I have come to slay you." "Why would you slay
me ? " she said in a feeble voice, " I have never harmed any one. I
hear that you have done great deeds in order that men might in-
crease on the earth, but if you kill me there will be no increase of
men ; the boys will not grow up to become fathers ; the worthless
old men will not die ; the people will stand still. It is well that
people should grow old and pass away and give their places to the
young. Let me live, and I shall help you to increase the people."
" Grandmother, if you keep this promise I shall spare your life,"
said Nayenezgani, and he returned to his mother without a trophy.
362. When he got home Ni'ltri whispered to him : " //akaz Estsan
(Cold Woman) still lives." Nayenezgani said to Estsanatlehi : " Mo-
ther, grandmother, where does Cold Woman dwell ? " His mother
would not answer him ; but Ni'ltri again whispered, saying : " Cold
Woman lives high on the summits of Ztepe'ntsa, where the snow
never melts."
363. Next day he went again to the north arid climbed high among
the peaks of Ztepe'ntsa, where no trees grow and where the snow lies
white through all the summer. Here he found a lean old woman,
sitting on the bare snow, without clothing, food, fire, or shelter. She
shivered from head to foot, her teeth chattered, and her eyes streamed
water. Among the drifting snows which whirled around her, a mul-
titude of snow-buntings were playing ; these were the couriers she
sent out to announce the coming of a storm. " Grandmother," he
said, '' a cruel man I shall be. I am going to kill you, so that men may
no more suffer and die by your hand," and he raised his knife-club to
smite her. " You may kill me or let me live, as you will. I care
not," she said to the hero ; " but if you kill me it will always be hot,
the land will dry up, the springs will cease to flow, the people will
perish. You will do well to let me live. It will be better for your
people." He paused and thought upon her words. He lowered
the hand he had raised to strike her, saying : " You speak wisely,
grandmother; I shall let you live." He turned around and went
home.
364. When Nayenezgani got home from this journey, bearing no
trophy, Wind again whispered in his ear and said : " Tick (Poverty)
still lives." He asked his mother where Poverty used to live, but
she would not answer him. It was Wind who again informed him.
'•There are two, and they dwell at Dsi/^asd^l'ni."
365. He went to Dsi/^asd^i'ni next day and found there an old man
and an old woman, who were filthy, clad in tattered garments, and
had no goods in their house. " Grandmother, grandfather," he. said,
"a cruel man I shall be. I have come to kill you." "Do not kill
us, my grandchild," said the old man : "it would not be'well for the
people, in days to come, if we were dead ; then they would always
wear the same clothes and never get anything new. If we live, the
clothing will wear out and the people will make new and beautiful
garments ; they will gather goods and look handsome. Let us live
and we will pull their old clothes to pieces for them." So he spared
them and went home without a trophy.
366. The next journey was to seek Zfitri'n, Hunger, who lived, as
Ni'ltsi told him, at Tlo/zadaskaf, White Spot of Grass. At this place
he found twelve of the Hunger People. Their chief was a big, fat
man, although he had no food to eat but the little brown cactus. "I
am going to be cruel," said Nayenezgani, "so that men may suffer
no more the pangs of hunger and die no more of hunger." " Do not
kill us," said the chief, " if you wish your people to increase and
be happy in the days to come. We are your friends. If we die,
the people will not care for food ; they will never know the pleasure
of cooking and eating nice things, and they will never care for the
pleasures of the chase." So he spared also the £>itri'n, and went
home without a trophy.
367. When Nayenezgani came back from the home of Hunger,
Ni'ltji spoke to him no more of enemies that lived. The Slayer of
the Alien Gods said to his mother : " I think all the anaye must be
dead, for every one I meet now speaks to me as a relation ; they say
to me, 'my grandson/ ^my son/ 'my brother.' " 15T Then he took
off his armor — his knife, moccasins, leggings, shirt, and cap — and
laid them in a pile ; he put with them the various weapons which x;\
the Sun had given him, and he sang this song : —
Now Slayer of the Alien Gods arrives
Here from the house made of the dark stone knives.
From where the dark stone knives dangle on high,
You have the treasures, holy one, not I.
The Offspring of the Water now arrives,
Here from the house made of the serrate knives.
From where the serrate knives dangle on high,
You have the treasures, holy one, not I.
He who was Reared beneath the Earth arrives,
Here from the house made of all kinds of knives.
From where all kinds of knives dangle on high,
You have the treasures, holy one, not I.
The hero, Changing Grandchild, now arrives,
Here from the house made of the yellow knives.
From where the yellow knives dangle on high,
You have the treasures, holy one, not I.280
368. His song had scarcely ceased when they heard, in the far
east, a loud voice singing this song : -
With Slayer of the Alien Gods I come,
From the house made of dark stone knives I come,
From where dark knives dangle on high I come,
With implement of sacred rites I come,
Dreadful to you.
With Offspring of the Waters now I come,
From the house made of serrate knives I come,
From where the serrate knives hang high I come,
With implement of sacred rites I come,
Divine to you.
With Reared beneath the Earth now do I come,
From house of knives of every kind I come,
Where knives of every kind hang high I come,
With implement of sacred rites I come,
Dreadful to you.
Now with the Changing Grandchild here I come,
From the house made of yellow knives I come,
From where the yellow knives hang high I come,
With implement of sacred rites I come,
Dreadful to you.281
369. As the voice came nearer and the song continued, Estsana-
tlehi said to the youths : " Put on quickly the clothes you usually
wear, T^ohanoai is coming to see us ; be ready to receive him,"
and she left the lodge, that she might not hear them talk about the
anaye.
370. When the god had greeted his children and taken a seat, he
said to the elder brother : " My son, do you think you have slain all
the anaye ?" "Yes, father," replied the son, "I think I have killed
all that should die." " Have you brought home trophies from the
slain?" the father questioned again. "Yes, my father," was the
reply ; " I have brought back wing-feathers, and lights and hair and
eyes, and other trophies of my enemies." " It is not well," said
TVohanoai, " that the bodies of these great creatures should lie
where they fell ; I shall have them buried near the corpse of Yeitso.
(He got the holy ones to carry the corpses to San Mateo and hide
them under the blood of Yeitso, and this is the reason we do not
see them lying all over the land now, but sometimes see them stick-
ing out of the rocks.)159 He took the trophies and the armor and
said : " These I shall carry back to my house in the east and keep
them safe. If you ever need them again, come and get them."
Promising to come back again in four days, and meet Estsanatlehi
on the top of T^olihi, he departed.
371. At the end of four days Estsanatlehi went to the top of
Ts-olihi and sat down on a rock. T^ohanoai came, sat beside her,
and sought to embrace her; but she avoided him, saying : "What do
you mean by this ? I want none of your embraces." " It means
that I want you for my own," said the bearer of the Sun. " I want
you to come to the west and make a home for me there." " But I
do not wish to do so," said she. "What right have you to ask
me ? " " Have I not given your boys the weapons to slay the alien
gods ? " he inquired, and added : " I have done much for you : now
you must reward me." She replied, " I never besought you to do
this. You did not do it on my account ; you did it of your own
good will, and because your sons asked you." He urged another
reason : " When Nayenezgani visited me in the east, he promised to
give you to me." "What care I for his promise?" she exclaimed;
" I am not bound by it. He has no right to speak for me." Thus
four times she repulsed him. When he pleaded for the fifth time,
saying : " Come to the west and make a home for me," she said :
" Let me hear first all you have to promise me. You have a beauti-
ful house in the east. I have never seen it, but I have heard how
beautiful it is. I want a house just the same built for me in the
west ; I want to have it built floating on the water, away from the
shore, so that in the future, when people increase, they will not
annoy me with too many visits. I want all sorts of gems — white
shell, turquoise, haliotis, jet, soapstone, agate, and redstone -
planted around my house, so that they will grow and increase. Then
I shall be lonely over there and shall want something to do, for my
sons and my sister will not go with me. Give me animals to take
along. Do all this for me and I shall go with you to the west." He
promised all these things to her, and he made elk, buffalo, deer,
long-tail deer, mountain sheep, jack-rabbits, and prairie-dogs to go
with her.
372. When she started for her new home the //a^a^onestid^me'
and the //a^a^onige^me', two tribes of divine people,160 went with
1 34 Navaho Legends.
her and helped her to drive the animals, which were already nu-
merous. They passed over the Tuintja range at Pe.y/it$i (Red Knife
or Red Metal), and there they tramped the mountain down so that
they formed a pass. They halted in T^mli valley to have a cere-
mony161 and a foot-race, and here the animals had become vastly
more numerous. When they crossed Dsi//lsri'n (Black Moun-
tain),162 the herd was so great that it tramped a deep pass whose
bottom is almost on a level with the surrounding plain ; at Black
Mountain all the buffaloes broke from the herd and ran to the east ;
they never returned to Estsanatlehi and are in the east still. At
Hosto&itQ1 the elks went to the east and they never returned. From
time to time a few, but not all, of the antelope, deer, and other ani-
mals left the herd and wandered east. Four days after leaving
T^inli valley they arrived at Dokoslid (San Francisco Mountain),
and here they stopped to perform another ceremony. What hap-
pened on the way from this mountain to the great water in the west,
we do not know, but after a while Estsanatlehi arrived at the great
water and went to dwell in her floating house beyond the shore.
Here she still lives, and here the Sun visits her, when his journey is
done, every day that he crosses the sky. But he does not go every
day ; on dark, stormy days he stays at home in the east and sends
in his stead the serpents of lightning, who do mischief.
373. As he journeys toward the west, this is the song he sings : —
In my thoughts I approach,
The Sun God approaches,
Earth's end he approaches,
Estsdnatlehi's hearth approaches,
In old age walking
The beautiful trail.
In my thoughts I approach,
The Moon God approaches,
Earth's end he approaches,
Yo/kdi Estsdn's hearth approaches,
In old age walking
The beautiful trail.282
374. When Estsanatlehi had departed, Nayenezgani and Tb'ba-
dsrlstrfni went, as their father had bidden them, to Tb'ye'tli,163 where
two rivers join, in the valley of the San Juan; there they made
their dwelling, there they are to this day, and there we sometimes
still see their forms in the San Juan River.164 The Navahoes still go
there to pray, but not for rain, or good crops, or increase of stock ;
only for success in war, and only the warriors go.
PLATE VII. rO'EADZtSTSINI. (See pars. 76 and 105 and note 270.)
Legend 4
375. Before Estsanatlehi left, she said to Yo/kai Estsan : "Now,
younger sister, I must leave you. Think well what you would
most like to do after I am gone." The younger sister replied : "I
would most like to go back to jttepe'ntsa, where our people came
from." "Alas! you will be lonely there," said the elder sister.
" You will want for some one around you to make a noise and keep
you company." Still, when Estsanatlehi left, Yolkai Estsan turned
her face toward Z>epe'ntsa. She went with the two brothers as far
as Tb'ye'tli, and, when these stopped there, she set out alone for the
mountains.
376. When she got to Ztepe'ntsa (the San Juan Mountains), she
went first to a place lying east of //adtfinai (the Place of Emer-
gence), named Dsi//a^i//ehi ; in an old ruined pueblo on its side
she rested during the day, and at night she went to the top of the
mountain to sleep. On the second day she went to a mountain
south of the Place of Emergence, called Dsi/fn<^i//ehi ; rested on
the side of the mountain during the day, and on its top at night.
She began now to feel lonely, and at night she thought of how men
might be made to keep her company. She wandered round in
thought during the third day, and on the third night she slept on
top of Dsi//agii//ehi, a mountain west of //adsrinaf. On the fourth
day she walked around the Place of Emergence, and wandered into
the old ruins she found there. On the fourth night she went to the
top of Dsi//ini//ez, the mountain which lies to the north of the Place
of Emergence, and there she rested, but did not sleep ; for she
thought all the time about her loneliness, and of how people might
be made. On the fifth day she came down to the shores of the lake
which surrounded the Place of Emergence, and built a shelter of
brush. " I may as well stay here," she said to herself; "what does
it avail that I wander round? " She sat up late that night thinking
of her lonely condition. She felt that she could not stay there
longer without companionship. She thought of her sister in the far
west, of the Twelve People, of the gods that dwelt in the different
mountains, and she thought she might do well to go and live with
some of them.
377. The next morning she heard faintly, in the early dawn, the
voice of //astreyal/i shouting his usual " Wu'hu'hu'hu," in the far
east. Four times the cry was uttered, each time louder and nearer.
Immediately after the last call the god appeared. " Where did you
save yourself ? " he asked the White Shell Woman, meaning,
" Where were you, that you escaped the anaye when they ravaged
1 36 Navaho Legends.
the land?" " I was at Dsi/nao/i/ with my sister," she said; "but for
five nights I have been all alone in these mountains. I have been
hoping that something might happen to relieve my great loneliness,
—that I might meet some one. Sitss.i (Grandfather), whence do you
come ? " He replied : " I come from Tse'gi'hi,165 the home of the
gods. I pity your loneliness and wish to help you. If you remain
where you are, I shall return in four days and bring Estsanatlehi,
the divine ones of all the great mountains, and other gods, with me."
When he left, she built for herself a good hut with a storm door.
She swept the floor clean, and made a comfortable bed of soft grass
and leaves.
378. At dawn on the fourth day after the god departed, Yo/kai
Estsan heard two voices calling, — the voice of //astreyal/i, the
Talking God, and the voice of //astj-eV/o^-an, the House God. The
voices were heard, as usual, four times, and immediately after1 the
last call the gods appeared. It was dark and misty that day ; the
sun did not rise. Soon after the arrival of the first two, the other
promised visitors came, and they all formed themselves in a circle
east of the lodge, each in the place where he or she belonged. Thus
the divine ones of Tsisnad^i'ni stood in the east ; those of TsotsT/
(San Mateo Mountain) in the south ; those of Ztokoslu/ (San Fran-
cisco Mountain) in the west ; those of Ztepe'ntsa (San Juan Moun-
tain) in the north. Each one present had his appropriate place in
the group. At first Yo/kai Estsan stood in the west ; but her sister,
Estsanatlehi, said to her : " No, my young sister ; go you and stand
in the east. My place is in the west," and thus they stood during
the ceremony. Estsanatlehi brought with her two sacred blankets
called Z>i/pi7-naska, the Dark Embroidered, and Zakai-naska, the
White Embroidered. //astre//og-an brought with him two sacred
buckskins, and the Nalkenaas (a divine couple who came together
walking arm in arm) brought two ears of corn, — one yellow, one
white, — which the female carried in a dish of turquoise.
379. //astreyal/i laid the sacred blankets on the ground, and
spread on top of these one of the sacred buckskins with its head to
the west. He took from the dish of the female Nalkenaa^ the two
ears of corn, handing the white ear to Tse'ga^nartni Arike", the
Rock Crystal Boy of the eastern mountain, and the yellow ear to
Na^a/tsoi A/eV, the Yellow Corn Girl of San Francisco Mountain.
These divine ones laid the ears on the buckskin, — the yellow with
its tip toward the west, the white with its tip toward the east.
//astr6yal/i picked up the ears, and nearly laid them down on the
buckskin with their tips to the east, but he did not let them touch the
buckskin ; as he did this he uttered his own cry of " Wu'hu'hu'hu."
Then he nearly laid them down with their tips to the south, giving
as he did so //astre/jqg-an's cry of " //a-wa-u-u. " With similar mo-
tions he pointed the ears to the west and the north. Next he raised
them toward the sky, and at length laid them down on the buck-
skin, with their tips to the east. He accompanied each act with a
cry of his own or of //ast^e/^o^an, alternating as in the beginning.
So the ears were turned in every direction, and this is the reason
the Navahoes never abide in one home like the Pueblos, but wander
ever from place to place. Over the ears of corn he laid the other
sacred buckskin with its head to the east, and then Ni'ltri, the Wind,
entered between the skins. Four times, at intervals, //asUeyaM
raised the buckskins a little and peeped in. When he looked the
fourth time, he saw that the white ear of corn was changed to a man,
and the yellow ear to a woman. It was Ni'ltri who gave them the
breath of life. He entered at the heads and came out at the ends
of the fingers and toes, and to this day we see his trail in the tip of
every human finger. The Rock Crystal Boy furnished them with
mind, and the Grasshopper Girl gave them voices. When //astye-
yaki at last threw off the top buckskin, a dark cloud descended and
covered like a blanket the forms of the new pair. Yo/kai Estsan
led them into her /zo^-an, and the assembled gods dispersed. Before
he left, //astreyal/i promised to return in four days.
380. No songs were sung and no prayers uttered during their
rites, and the work was done in one day. The //o^an near which all
these things happened still stands ; but since that time it has been
transformed into a little hill. To-day (A. D. 1884) seven times old
age has killed since this pair was made by the holy ones from the
ears of corn. The next very old man who dies will make the eighth
time.166
381. Early on the fourth morning after his departure //astreyalri
came again as he had promised, announcing his approach by calling
four times as usual. When White Shell Woman heard the first call,
she aroused the young people and said : " Get up, my children, and
make a fire. //astreyalA is coming." He brought with him another
couple, //a</a/2onige Arike (Mirage Boy) and //a<^a/zonesri</ A/e/
(Ground-heat Girl). He gave Yo/kai Estsan two ears of corn, say-
ing, " Grind only one grain at a time," and departed. Yo/kai Estsan
said to the newly-arrived couple : " This boy and girl of corn cannot
marry one another, for they are brother and sister ; neither can you
marry one another, for you are also brother and sister, yet I must do
something for you all." So she married the boy made of corn to
the Ground-heat Girl, and the Mirage Boy to the girl made of corn.
After a time each couple had two children, — a boy and a girl.
When these were large enough to run around, this family all moved
away from //adsinai, where they had lived four years, to Tse'/akai'ia
1 38 Navaho Legends.
(White Standing Rock). The two men were busy every day hunt-
ing rabbits, rats, and other such animals, for on such game they
chiefly lived. From these people are descended the gens of Tse'-
d^mki'ni,167 House of the Dark Cliffs ; so named because the gods
who created the first pair came from the cliff houses of Tse'gihi,
and brought from there the ears of corn from which this first pair
was made.
382. After they had lived thirteen years at Tse'/akaiia, during
which time they had seen no sign of the existence of any people
but themselves, they beheld one night the gleam of a distant fire.
They sought for the fire all that night and the next day, but
could not find it. The next night they saw it again in the same
place, and the next day they searched with greater vigilance, but in
vain. On the third night, when the distant gleam shone again
through the darkness, they determined to adopt some means, better
than they had previously taken, to locate it. They drove a forked
stick firmly into the ground ; one of the men got down on his hands
and knees, spreading them as wide apart as possible, and sighted
the fire through the fork of the stick. Next morning he carefully
placed his hands and knees in the tracks which they had made the
night before, and once more looked through the fork. His sight
was thus guided to a little wooded hollow on the side of a far-off
mountain. One of the men walked over to the mountain and en-
tered the little hollow, which was small and could be explored in a
few moments ; but he discovered no fire, no ashes, no human tracks,
no evidence of the presence of man. On the fourth night all the
adults of the party took sight over the forked stick at the far
twinkle, and in the morning when they looked again they found they
had all sighted the same little grove on. the distant mountain-side.
" Strange! " said the man who had hunted there the day before ; "the
place is small. I went all through it again and again. There was
no sign of life there, and not a drop of water that could reflect a
ray from a star or from the moon." Then all the males of the fam-
ily, men and boys, went to explore the little wood. Just as they
were about to return, having found nothing, Wind whispered into
the ear of one : " You are deceived. That light shines through a
crack in the mountain at night. Cross the ridge and you will find
the fire." 168 They had not gone far over the ridge when they saw
the footprints of men, then the footprints of children, and soon
they came to the camp. One party was as much rejoiced as the
other to find people like themselves in the wilderness. They em-
braced one another, and shouted mutual greetings and questions.
"Whence do you come?" said the strangers. " From Tse'/akaiia,"
was the response. " And whence come you?" asked the men of
the White Standing Rock. " We tarried last," replied the strangers,
"at Tb'i'n^otsos, a poor country, where we lived on ducks and
snakes.169 We have been here only a few days, and now we live on
ground-rats, prairie-dogs, and wild seeds." The new party consisted
of twelve persons, — five men, three women, one grown girl, one
grown boy, and two small children. The Tse'd^mki'ni people took
the strangers home with them, and Yo/kai Estsan welcomed them,
saying : " A/zalani j-a.rt.mii ! " (Greeting, my children !) The place
where the Tse'dstfnkfni found the strangers encamped was called
Tse'tlana (Bend in a Canyon) ; so they gave them the name of
Tse'tlani, or Tse'tlani^ne', and from them is descended the pres-
ent gens of Tse'tlani in the Navaho nation.
383. The next morning after the arrival of the Tse'tlani, //ast.re-
yaUi came once more to the lodge of the White Shell Woman ; but
he talked with her apart from the others, and when he was gone she
told no one what he said. In three days he came back again ; again
they talked apart, and when //asUeyal/i was gone she remained
silent. It was her custom to sleep with one of the little girls, who
was her favorite and companion. In the morning after the second
visit of //astreyaM she said to this little girl : " I am going to
leave you. The gods of Tse'gi'hi have sent for me ; but I shall
not forget your people, and shall come often to watch over them and
be near them. Tell them this when they waken." When she had
spoken she disappeared from the sight of the little girl, and when
the people woke they searched, but could find her nowhere. They
supposed she had gone to Tse'gihi and tarried there a while before
she went to Z)epe'ntsa to dwell forever in the house of White Shell,
which had been prepared for her there. The fourth night after the
departure of Yo/kai Estsan the little girl had a dream, which she
related to her people in the morning. In the vision she saw Yo/kai
Estsdn, who said to her : " My grandchild, I am going to Z>epe'ntsa
to dwell. I would take you with me, for I love you, were it not
that your parents would mourn for you. But look always for the
she-rain when it comes near your dwelling, for I shall ever be in the
she-rain."
384. While at White Standing Rock the men wandered much
around the country in search of food. Some who had been to
To'dokonzi (Saline Water) said the latter was a better place than
than that in which they lived ; that there were some porcupines
there, an abundance of rats, prairie-dogs, and seed-bearing plants ;
and that there were steep-sided mesa points in the neighborhood
where they might surround large game.170 After the departure of
Yo/kai Estsan the people all moved to 7bWoko;m ; m but they
remained here only a few days, and then went to Tja'olgaY/as^e.
Here they planted some grains of corn from the two ears that
//asUeyal/i had given them long ago. This was a very prolific kind
of corn ; when planted, several stalks sprouted from each grain, and
a single grain, when ground, produced a large quantity of meal,
which lasted them many days.
385. When they had been fourteen years at Tra'olga^as^e they
were joined by another people, who came from the sacred mountain
of Dsi/nao/i/, and were therefore called Dsi/naoH'/ni, or Dsi/naotfV-
a?me'. These were regarded as ^/me' dfigfni, or holy people, because
they had no tradition of their recent creation, and were supposed to
have escaped the fury of the alien gods by means of some miracu-
lous protection. They did not camp at first with the older settlers,
but dwelt a little apart, and sent often to the latter to borrow pots
and metates. After a while all joined together as one people, and
for a long time these three gentes have been as one gens and have
become close relations to one another. The new-comers dug among
old ruins and found pots and stone axes ; with the latter they built
themselves huts.
386. Seven years after the arrival of the Dsi/nao/i7ni a fourth
gens joined the Navahoes. The new arrivals said they had been
seeking for the Dsi/nao/i'/ni all over the land for many years.
Sometimes they would come upon the dead bushes of old camps.
Sometimes they would find deserted brush shelters, partly green,
or, again, quite green and fresh. Occasionally they would observe
faint footprints, and think they were just about to meet another
people like themselves in the desolate land ; but again all traces
of humanity would be lost. They were rejoiced to meet at last the
people they so long had sought. The new-comers camped close to
the Dsi/nao^iVni, and discovered that they and the latter carried
similar red arrow-holders,172 such as the other gentes did not have,
and this led them to believe that they were related to the Dsi/nao-
/iVni. The Navahoes did not then make large skin quivers such
as they have in these days ; they carried their arrows in simpler
contrivances. The strangers said that they came from a place
called //aAan^atso (much Yucca baccatd), and that they were the
', or Yucca People ; but the older gentes called them
or //ajkan/^atso^ine', from the place whence they
came.173
387. Fourteen years after the accession of the fourth gens, the
Navahoes moved to Kintyel (which was then a ruin), in the Chaco
Canyon. They camped there at night in a scattering fashion, and
made so many fires that they attracted the attention of some
strangers camped on a distant mountain, and these strangers came
down next day to find out who the numerous people were that kin-
died so many fires. As the strangers, who were also ^/me* ^/Tgfni,
or holy people, said they came from Na/zopa (Place of the Brown
Horizontal Streak), the Navahoes called them Na/^opani. They
joined the tribe, camping near the //ajkan//atso and Dsi/nao/i'/ni.
388. It was autumn when the fifth gens was received. Then the
whole tribe moved to the banks of the San Juan River and settled
at a place called Tsm/6'betlo 174 (Tree Sweeping Water), where a
peculiar white tree hangs over the stream and sweeps the surface of
the water with its long branches : there is no other tree of its kind
near by. Here they determined to remain some time and raise
crops ; so they built warm huts for the winter, and all the fall and
winter, when the days were fair, they worked in the bottom-lands
grubbing up roots and getting the soil ready for gardens to be
planted in the spring. The elder gentes camped farther down the
stream than those more newly arrived.
389. In those days the language which the Navahoes spoke was
not the same they speak now. It was a poor language then ; it is
better in these days.
390. When the tribe had been living six years on the banks of the
San Juan, a band joined them who came from Tsi'nad-s-m 175 (Black
Horizontal Forest), and were named as a gens from the place
whence they came. The Navahoes observed that in this band
there was a man who talked a great deal to the people almost every
morning and evening. The Navahoes did not at first understand
what this meant ; but after a while they learned he spoke to his
people because he was their chief. His name was Nabmil/ahi.
391. While living at the San Juan the people amused themselves
much with games. They played mostly nan^o^76 in the daytime
and ke'siUe 176 at night. They had as yet no horses, domestic sheep,
or goats. They rarely succeeded in killing deer or Rocky Moun-
tain sheep. When they secured deer it was sometimes by still-
hunting them, sometimes by surrounding one and making it run
till it was exhausted, and sometimes by driving them over preci-
pices. When a man got two skins of these larger animals he made
a garment of them by tying the fore-legs together over his shoul-
ders. The woman wore a garment consisting of two webs of woven
cedar bark, one hanging in front and one behind ; all wore sandals of
yucca fibre or cedar bark. They had headdresses made of weasel-
skins and rat-skins, with the tails hanging down behind. These
headdresses were often ornamented with colored artificial horns,
made out of wood, or with the horns of the female mountain sheep
shaved thin. Their blankets were made of cedar bark, of yucca
fibre, or of skins sewed together.177 Each house had, in front of the
door, a long passageway, in which hung two curtains, — one at the
outer, the other at the inner end, — made usually of woven cedar
bark. In winter they brought in plenty of wood at night, closed
both curtains, and made the house warm before they went to sleep.
Their bows were of plain wood then ; the Navahoes had not yet
learned to put animal fibre on the backs of the bows.178 Their
arrows were mostly of reeds tipped with wood ; but some made
wooden arrows.180 The bottom-land which they farmed was sur-
rounded by high bluffs, and hemmed in up-stream and down-stream
by jutting bluffs which came close to the river. After a time the
tribe became too numerous for all to dwell and farm on this spot, so
some went up in the bluffs to live and built stone storehouses in
the cliffs,179 while others — the Tslnadsi'ni — went below the lower
promontory to make gardens. Later yet, some moved across the
San Juan and raised crops on the other side of the stream.180
392. Eight years after the coming of the Tsinad.si'ni, some fires
were observed at night on a distant eminence north of the river, and
spies were sent out to see who made them. The spies brought
back word that they had found a party of strangers encamped at a
place called 7Y/a'neza', Among the Scattered (Hills). Soon after,
this party came in and joined the Navahoes, making a new gens,
which was called 77/a'neza'ni. The strangers said they were de-
scended from the //a^a^onige^me', or Mirage People. The remains
of their old huts are still to be seen at T^a'neza'.
393. Five years after the T^a'neza'ni were added, another people
joined the tribe ; but what gods sent them none could tell. They
came from a place called Dsi/tla' (Base of Mountain), and were
given the name of Dsi/tla'ni. As they had headdresses, bows, ar-
rows, and arrow-holders similar to those of the 77/a'neza'ni they
concluded they must be related to the latter. Ever since, these
two gentes have been very close friends, — so close that a member
of one cannot marry a member of the other. The Dsi/tla'ni knew
how to make wicker water-bottles, carrying-baskets, and earthen
pots, and they taught their arts to the rest of the people.
394. Five years later, they were joined on the San Juan by a
numerous band who came originally from a place called ZTia'paha-
^alkaf, White Valley among the Waters, which is near where the
city of Santa Fe now stands. These people had long viewed in the
western distance the mountains where the Navahoes dwelt, wonder-
ing if any one lived there, and at length decided to go thither.
They journeyed westward twelve days till they reached the moun-
tains, and they spent eight days travelling among them before they
encountered the Navahoes. Then they settled at TViWotsos and
lived there twelve years, subsisting on ducks and fish,169 but making
no farms. All this time they were friendly to the Navahoes and
exchanged visits ; but, finding no special evidences of relationship
with the latter, they dwelt apart. When at length they came to the
San Juan to live, marriages had taken place between members of
the two tribes, and the people from Among the Waters became a
part of the Navaho nation, forming the gens of TM'paha. They
settled at a place called HyieVym (Trails Leading Upward), close to
the Navahoes. Here was a smooth, sandy plain, which they thought
would be good for farming, and the chief, whose name was Gontso,
or Big Knee, had stakes set around the plain to show that his
people claimed it. The people of the new gens were goo.d hunters,
skilled in making weapons and beautiful buckskin shirts, and they
taught their arts to the other gentes.
395. The 77/a'paha then spoke a language more like the modern
Navaho than that which the other gentes spoke. The languages
were not alike. The chief of the Tsmad^i'ni and Gontso often
visited one another at night, year after year, for the purpose of
uniting the two languages and picking out the words in each that
were best. But the words of the TM'paha were usually the best
and plainest ; 182 so the new language resembles the 77/a'paha more
than it resembles the old Navaho.
396. While the T^a'paha lived at HyieVym they had always abun-
dant crops, — better crops than their neighbors had. Sorrfetimes
they could not harvest all they raised, and let food lie ungathered in
the field. They built stone storehouses, something like pueblo
houses, among the cliffs, and in these stored their corn. The store-
houses stand there yet. The 77/a'paha remained at HyieVym thir-
teen years, during which time many important events occurred, as
will be told, and then they moved to Azafeltrigi.
397. Gontso had twelve wives ; four of these were from the gens
of Tsmadzi'ni, four from the gens of Dsi/tla'ni, and four from the
gens of 77*a'neza'ni. He used to give much grain from his abun-
dant harvests to the gentes to which his wives belonged ; but, in
spite of his generosity, his wives were unfaithful to him. He com-
plained to their relations and to their chiefs ; these remonstrated
with the wives, but failed to improve their ways. At last they lost
patience with the women and said to Gontso : " Do with them as
you will. We shall not interfere." So the next wife whom he
detected in crime he mutilated in a shameful way, and she died in
consequence. He cut off the ears of the next transgressor, and she,
too, died. He amputated the breasts of the third wife who offended
him, and she died also. He cut off the nose of the fourth ; she did
not die. He determined then that cutting the nose should, in
future, be the greatest punishment imposed on the faithless wife, —
something that would disfigure but not kill, — and the rest of the
people agreed with him.183 But this had no effect on the remaining
wives ; they continued to lapse from virtue till all were noseless.
Then they got together and began to plot mischief against their
husband, Big Knee. They spoke so openly of their evil intentions
that he feared to let any of them stay in his lodge at night and he
slept alone.
398. About this time the people determined to have a great cere-
mony for the benefit of Big Knee ; so they made great preparations
and held a rite of nine days' duration.184 During its progress the
mutilated .women remained in a hut by themselves, and talked about
the unkindness of their people and the vengeance due to their hus-
band. They said one to another : " We should leave our people
and go elsewhere." On the last night of the ceremony there was a
series of public exhibitions in a corral, or circle of branches, such as
the Navahoes have now on the last night of the ceremony of the
mountain chant,185 and among the different alili, or entertainments
of the night, was a dance by the mutilated women. When their
time came they entered the circle, each bearing a knife in her hand,
and danced around the central fire, peering among the spectators as
if searching for their husband ; but he was hidden in the wall of
branches that formed the circle. As they danced they sang a song
the burden of which was " Pejla a^ila." (It was the knife that did
it to me.) When they had finished their dance they left the corral,
and, in the darkness without, screamed maledictions at their peo-
ple, saying : " May the waters drown ye ! May the winters freeze
ye ! May the fires burn ye ! May the lightnings strike ye ! " and
much more. Having cursed till they were tired, they departed
for the far north, where they still dwell, and now, whenever they
turn their faces to the south, we have cold winds and storms and
lightning.
399. Not long after this memorable ceremony a number of Utes
visited the Navahoes. They came when the corn-ears were small,
and remained till the corn was harvested. They worked for the
Navahoes, and when their stomachs were filled all left except one
family, which consisted of an old couple, two girls, and a boy.
These at first intended to stay but a short time after their friends
had gone; but they tarried longer and longer, and postponed their
going from time to time, till they ended by staying with the Na.va-
hoes till they died. They made particular friends with the T^a'paha,
and got into the way of speaking to the latter people as they would
to relations. One of the girls, whose name was Tsa'yiski^ (Sage-
Brush Hill), lived to be an old woman and the mother of many chil-
dren. From her is descended the gens of Tsa'yiskiVni, which is so
closely allied to the TM'paha that a member of one of these gentes
may not marry a member of the other.
400. Soon after the departure of the Utes the Navahoes were
joined by a group of people who, when they came to tell their story,
were found to have come from T^a'paha-^alkai, and to have made
wanderings similar to those of the people who first came from that
place. The new people spoke, also, the same language as the
77/a'paha. For these reasons they were not formed into a new gens,
but were joined to the gens of T^a'paha.
401. Some years later a large band came from the south to the
settlement on the San Juan. It consisted of Apaches, who told the
Navahoes that they had left their old tribe forever and desired to
become Navahoes. They had not come to visit, they said, but to
stay. They all belonged to one gens among the Apaches, — the
gens of Tse'sinafiaf (Trap-dyke),186 and they were admitted into the
tribe as a new gens with their old name. From the beginning they
showed a desire to associate with TM'paha, and now they are
closely related to the latter and must not marry with them. An-
other band of Apaches, which came a little later, was added to the
same gens.
402. About this time there was a great famine in Zuni, and some
people from this pueblo came to the San Juan to dwell with the
Navahoes. They came first to the Tyza'paha, and, although they had
women in the party, they were not formed into a new gens, but
added to 77/a'paha. The gens of Zuni was formed later.
403. The famine prevailed also at other pueblos, and some starv-
ing people came to the Navahoes from an old pueblo named Klogi,
which was near where the pueblo of Jemez now stands. These
formed the gens of Klogi, and made special friends of the TM'paha.
404. The next accession was a family of seven adults, who came
from a place called To'^ani (Near the Water). They first visited
the Dsi/tla'ni and remained, forming the gens of ToV/ani, affiliated
now with Dsi/tla/ni.
405. The people who joined the Navahoes next after the To'/^ani
came from a place called T^a'Ui, Among the Red (Waters or
Banks), which was west of the San Juan settlement. From their
traditions it appeared that they were not a newly created people ;
they had escaped in some way from the alien gods, and were for
these reasons regarded as^/ine' digmi, or holy people. They were
divided into two gentes, T/za'tsini and KaiWine', or Willow People,
and for a while they formed two gentes among the Navahoes ; but
in these days all traces of this division have been lost, and all their
descendants are now called, without distinction, sometimes T^a'trini
and sometimes Kai or KaiVme'.
406. Before this time the Navahoes had been a weak and peace-
able tribe ; but now they found themselves becoming a numerous
people and they began to talk of going to war. Of late years they
had heard much of the great pueblos along the Rio Grande, but
how their people had saved themselves from the anaye the Nava-
hoes did not know. A man named Napailm/a got up a war party
and made a raid on a pueblo named Km/itri (Red House), and
returned with some captives, among whom was a girl captured by
Napai'lln/a. From her is descended the gens of Kin/itn, whose
members are now close relations to Tsmad-s-fni (the gens of Napai-
Im/a), and cannot intermarry with the latter.
407. The captives from KTn/it^i were, at first, slaves among the
Navahoes ; 187 but their descendants became free and increased
greatly, and from them came another gens, Tlizi/ani, Many Goats,
also closely related to Tsmad^fni.
408. Next in order came a band of Apaches from the south repre-
senting two gentes, — _Z?estnni (Red Streak People), and Tlastn'ni
(Red Flat Ground People). These were adopted by the Navahoes
as two separate gentes and became close relations to the Tsmad^i'ni.
409. Not long after the arrival of these Apaches some Utes came
into the neighborhood of the Navahoes, camping at a place called
Tse^di'yikani (a ridge or promontory projecting into the river), not
far from Hyie/ym. They had good arms of all kinds, and two varie-
ties of shields, — one round and one with a crescentic cut in the top.
They lived for a while by themselves, and were at first unruly and
impertinent ; but in the course of time they merged into the Nava-
hoes, forming the gens of No/a or No/a</ine', Ute People.
410. About the time they were incorporated by the Navahoes,
or soon after, a war party of the Utes made a raid on a Mexican
settlement, somewhere near where Socorro now is, and captured
a Spanish woman. She was their slave ; but her descendants be-
came free among the Navahoes and formed the NakaiVine' (White
Stranger People), or Mexican gens, who cannot now intermarry with
No/a^me'.
411. Gontso, or Big Knee, chief of the TTia'paha, was still alive
and was a famous old man ; but he had become feeble and had many
ailments. There was a great ceremony practised in those days called
natri'd, which lasted all winter,184 from harvest-time to planting-time;
but the Navahoes have long ceased to celebrate it. This ceremony
was held one winter for the benefit of Big Knee at the sacred place
of Tb'ye'tli, the home of the War Gods. One night, while the rites
were being performed, some strangers joined the Navahoes coming
from the direction of the river. Adopted by the Navahoes, they
formed the gens of Tb'yetlini, and became closely allied to No/a^me'
and NakaiWme*.
412. On another occasion during the same winter some Apaches
came from their country in the south to witness the ceremony of
natn'd. Among the women of the 77/a'paha was one who visited
the Apache camp and remained all night there. She became attached
to an Apache youth, with whom she secretly absconded when the
visitors left. For a long time her people did not know what had
become of her ; but many years after, learning where she was, some
of her relations went to the Apache country to persuade her to
return. She came back an old woman, bringing her husband and a
family of three girls. The girls were handsome, had light skins and
fair hair. Their grandmother, who admired them* very much, insisted
that a new gens should be made of them. So they were called
//altso, Yellow Bodies,188 and originated the gens of that name.
Their father died an old man among the Navahoes.
413. On another night of the same winter, while the ceremony
for Big Knee was going on, two strange men, speaking the Navaho
language, entered the camp. They said they were the advanced
couriers of a multitude of wanderers who had left the shores of the
great waters in the west to join the Navahoes. You shall now hear
the story of the people who came from the western ocean : —
414. Surrounding Estsanatlehi's home were four mountains, lo-
cated like those at the Place of Emergence — one in the east, one
in the south, one in the west, and one in the north. She was in the
habit of dancing on these mountains, — on the mountain in the east
to bring clouds ; on the mountain in the south, to bring all kinds of
goods, — jewels, clothing, etc. ; on the mountain in the west, to bring
plants of all kinds ; ajnd on the mountain in the north, to bring corn
and animals. On these journeys for dancing she passed from the
east mountain to the south, the west, and the north mountain, the
way the sun goes ; and when she was done dancing on the north
mountain she retraced her course (without crossing it) to the east ;
but she never completed the circle, /. e., she never passed from the
north directly to the east. Over the space between the north and
the east mountains she never travelled. This is the way her trail
lay : —
Fig. 33. Trail of Estsanatlehi.
415. Estsanatlehi had not been long in her western home when
she began to feel lonely. She had no companions there. The
people who had accompanied her thither did not stay with her. She
thought she might make people to keep her company, so one day,
when she had completed one of her dancing journeys, she sat down
on the eastern mountain. Here she rubbed epidermis from under
her left arm with her right hand ; she held this in her palm and it
changed into four persons, — two men and two women, — from whom
descended a gens to which no name was then given, but which after-
terwards (as will be told) received the name of //onaga'ni. She
rubbed the epidermis with her left hand from under her right arm,
held it in her palm as before, and it became two men and two
women, from whom descended the gens afterwards known as Ki«-
aa'ni. In a similar way, of epidermis rubbed from under her left
breast she created four people, from whom descended the gens later
known as Tb'dityini ; of epidermis from under her right breast, four
persons, from whom descended the gens called Bi/ani ; of epidermis
from the middle of her chest, the four whose descendants were called
//a^/i^ni ; and of epidermis from her back between her shoulders,
the four whose descendants were called Bi/a'ni in later times.
416. She said to these: "I wish you to dwell near me, where I
can always see you ; but if you choose to go to the east, where your
kindred dwell, you may go." She took them from her floating home
to the mainland ; here they lived for thirty years, during which time
they married and had many children. At the end of this time the
Twelve People (Z>me' Naki^a/a), or rather what was left of them,
appeared among Estsanatlehi's people and said to them : " We have
lost our sister who kept our house for us ; we have no home ; we
know not where else to go ; so we have come here to behold our
mother, our grandmother. You have kindred in the far east who
have increased until they are now a great people. We do not visit
them, but we stand on the mountains and look at them from afar.
We know they would welcome you if you went to them." And many
more things they told about the people in the far east.
417. Now all crossed on a bridge of rainbow to the house of Estsa-
natlehi on the sea, where she welcomed them and embraced them.
Of the Z>me' Naki^/a/a but ten were left, for, as has been told, they
lost their sister and their younger brother ; but when they came to
the home of Estsanatlehi she made for them two more people out
of turquoise, and this completed their original number of twelve.
She knew with what thoughts her children had come. She opened
four doors leading from the central chamber of her house into four
other rooms, and showed them her various treasures, saying : " Stay
with me always, my children ; these things shall be yours, and we
shall be always happy together."
418. When the people went back from the house of Estsanatlehi
to the mainland, all was gossip and excitement in their camp about
what they had heard of the people in the east. Each one had a dif-
ferent part or version of the tale to tell, — of how the people in the
east lived, of what they ate, of the way in which they were divided
into gentes, of how the gentes were named, and of other things
about them they had heard. "The people are few where we live,"
they said; "we would be better off where there are so many."
They talked thus for twelve days. At the end of that time they
concluded to depart, and they fixed the fourteenth day after that as
the day they should leave.
419. Before they left, the Z>ine' Naki^a/a and Estsanatlehi came
to see them. She said : " It is a long and dangerous journey to
where you are going. It is well that you should be cared for and
protected on the way. I shall give you five of my pets,189 — a bear,
a great snake, a deer, a porcupine, and a puma, — to watch over you.
They will not desert you. Speak of no evil deeds in the presence
of the bear or the snake, for they may do the evil they hear you
speak of ; but the deer and the porcupine are good, — say whatever
you please to say in their presence."
1 50 Navaho Legends.
420. Besides these pets she gave them five magic wands. To
those who were afterwards named //bnaga'ni she gave a wand of
turquoise ; to those who later were called Ki/zaa'ni, a wand of white
shell ; to those who became TVditnni, a wand of haliotis shell ; to
those who became Bi/a'ni, a wand of black stone ; and to those who
in later days became Husll'sm, a wand of red stone. " I give you
these for your protection," she said, " but I shall watch over you
myself while you are on your journey."
421. On the appointed day they set out on their journey. On the
twelfth day of their march they crossed a high ridge and came in
sight of a great treeless plain, in the centre of which they observed
some dark objects in motion. They could not determine what they
were, but suspected they were men. They continued their journey,
but did not directly approach the dark objects ; they moved among
the foothills that surrounded the plain, and kept under cover of the
timber. As they went along they discerned the dark objects more
plainly, and discovered that these were indeed human beings. They
got among the foothills to one side of where the strangers were,
and camped in the woods at night.
422. In spite of all the precautions taken by the travellers, they
had been observed by the people of the plain, and at night two of
the latter visited their camp. The visitors said they were Ki/tsoi,
or Ki/tsok/ine' (People of the Bigelovia graveolens) ; that their tribe
was numerous ; that the plain in which they dwelt was extensive ;
and that they had watermelons getting ripe, with corn and other
food, in their gardens. The people of the west concluded to remain
here a while. The second night they had two more visitors, one of
whom became enamored of a maiden among the wanderers, and
asked for her in marriage. Her people refused him at first ; but
when he came the second night and begged for her again, they gave
her to him. He stayed with her in the camp of her people as long
as they remained in the valley, except the last two nights, when she
went and stayed with his people. These gave an abundance of the
produce of their fields to the wanderers, and the latter fared well.
When the travellers were prepared to move, they implored the young
husband to go with them, while he begged to have his wife remain
with him in the valley. They argued long ; but in the end the
woman's relations prevailed, and the Ki/tsoi man joined them on
their journey. In the mean time four other men of Ki/tsoi had
fallen in love with maidens of the wanderers, and asked for them in
marriage. The migrating band refused to leave the girls behind,
so the enamored young men left their kindred and joined the trav-
ellers. The KT/tsoi tried to persuade the others to dwell in their
land forever, but without avail.
423. They broke camp at last early in the morning, and travelled
all day. At night * a great wind arose, and the bear would not rest,
but ran around the camp all night, uneasy and watchful. The men
looked out and saw some of the Ki/tsoi trying to approach ; but the
bear warded them off and they disappeared without doing harm.
In the morning it was found that the men of the Ki/tsoi who had
joined them on their journey had now deserted them, and it was sup-
posed that in some way they were in league with their brethren
outside.
424. The second day they journeyed far, and did not make camp
until after dark. As on the previous night, the bear was awake,
watchful, and uneasy all night. They supposed he was still looking
out for lurking Ki/tsoi. Not until daybreak did he lie down and
take a little sleep while the people were preparing for the day's
march.
425. On the third night the bear was again wakeful and on guard,
and only lay down in the morning while the people were breaking
camp. " My pet, why are you troubled thus every night ? " said one
of the men to the bear. The latter only grunted in reply, and made
a motion with his nose in the direction whence they had come.
426. On the fourth night they camped, for mutual protection,
closer together than they had camped before. The bear sat on a
neighboring hill, from which he could watch the sleepers, but slept
not himself all night. As before, he took a short sleep in the morn-
ing. Before the people set out on their march some one said : " Let
us look around and see if we can find what has troubled our pet."
They sent two couriers to the east and two to the west. The former
returned, having found nothing. The latter said they had seen
strange footprints, as of people who had approached the camp and
then gone back far to the west. Their pursuers, they thought, had
returned to their homes.
427. They had now been four days without finding water, and the
children were crying with thirst. On the fifth day's march they
halted at noon and held a council. " How shall we procure water? "
said one. " Let us try the power of our magic wands," said another.
A man of the gens who owned the wand of turquoise stuck this
wand into the ground, and worked it back and forth and round and
round to make a good-sized hole. Water sprang from the hole. A
woman of another gens crouched down to taste it. "It is bitter
water," she cried. " Let that, then, be your name and the name of
your people," said those who heard her ; thus did the gens of Tb'di-
tsini, Bitter Water People, receive its name.
428. When the people had cooked and eaten food and drunk their
fill of the bitter water, they said : " Let us try to reach yonder moun-
tain before night." So they pushed on to a distant mountain they
had beheld in the east. When they got near the mountain they saw
moccasin tracks, and knew there must be some other people at
hand. At one place, near the base of the mountain, they observed
a cluster of cottonwood trees, and, thinking there might be a spring
there, they went straight to the cottonwood. Suddenly they found
themselves among a strange people who were dwelling around a
spring. The strangers greeted the wanderers in a friendly manner,
embraced them, and asked them whence they came. The wanderers
told their story briefly, and the strangers said : " We were created at
this spring and have always lived here. It is called Mai/6', Coyote
Water (Coyote Spring), and we are the MaiWine4 " (Coyote People).
The Navahoes called them Mai/6'</ine'.
429. The travellers tarried four days at the Coyote Spring,. dur-
ing which time they talked much to their new friends, and at length
persuaded the latter to join them on their eastern journey. Before
they started, the Coyote People declared that their spring was the
only water in the neighborhood ; that they knew of no other water
within two days' journey in any direction. On the morning of the
fifth day they all moved off toward the east. They travelled all
day, and made a dry camp at night. The next day at noon they
halted on their way, and decided to try again the power of a magic
wand. This time the white shell was used by a member of the gens
to whom it had been given, in the same way that the turquoise wand
was used before. Water sprang up. A woman of another gens
said: "It is muddy; it may make the children sick." " Let your
people then be named H&sll'zm, Mud People," cried voices in the
crowd. Thus the gens of H&sl\z, or HaslVzm, was named.
430. The second night after leaving Coyote Spring, darkness over-
took the wanderers at a place where there was no water, and they
rested there for the night. At noon on the following day all were
thirsty, and the children were crying. The people halted, and pro-
posed to try again the efficacy of a sacred wand. The wand of
haliotis was used this time. When the water sprang up, a woman
of the Coyote People stooped first and drank. " It is To'dokonz,
alkaline (or sapid) water," she exclaimed. To her and her children
the name 7b'dfok6«#i was then given, and from them the present
gens of that name is descended. Its members may not marry with
MaiAS'dfine', to whom they are related.
431. On the night after they found the alkaline water, they en-
camped once more at a place where no water was to be found, and
on the following day great were their sufferings from thirst. At
midday they rested, and begged the bearers of the black stone wand
to try the power of their magic implement. A stream of fine, clear
water sprang up when the wand was stuck in the ground. They
filled their vessels and all drank heartily, except a boy and a girl of
the gens that bore the black stone wand. " Why do you not come
and drink before the water is all gone ? " some one asked. The
children made no reply, but stood and looked at the water. The
girl had her arms folded under her dress. They gave then to her
and to her gens the name of Bi/a'ni,190 which signifies the arms
under the dress.
432. The night after the Bi/a'ni was named, the travellers slept
once more at a place where no water was to be found, and next day
they were very thirsty on their journey. In the middle of the day
they stopped, and the power of the red stone wand was tried. It
brought forth water from the ground, as the other wands had done,
and all drank till they were satisfied ; but no member of the gentes
still unnamed said anything and no name was given.
433. After this they camped two nights without water. On the
second noon they arrived at a spring in a canyon known to the
MaiWme' and called by them //alkaf/o', Water of the White Valley.
They journeyed no farther that day, but camped by the water all
night.
434. From //alkai/o' they travelled steadily for twenty five days,
until they came to a little river near San Francisco Mountain, and
west of it. During this part of the journey they found sufficient
water for their needs every day. They stopped at this river five
nights and five days and hunted. Here one man, and one only, —
whose name was Balnili'm (Looks on at a Battle), — killed a deer, a
large one, which he cut into small pieces and distributed around so
that every one might get a taste.
435. From the banks of this stream they came to the east side
of San Francisco Mountain, to where, beside a little peak, there is a
spring that has no name. Here the travellers stopped several days,
and built around their camp a stone wall that still stands.
436. The puma belonged to the gens that bore the black stone
wand, and that was afterwards called Ki/zaa'ni. While the people
were camped at this spring he killed a deer. The bear sometimes
killed rabbits. The snake and the porcupine were of no use, but
were a trouble instead, since they had to be carried along. The
deer ran among the crowd and did neither good nor harm. The
people lived mostly on rabbits and other small animals and the
seeds of wild plants.
437. From the spring near San Francisco Mountain they travelled
to Bi/d/zotji (Red Place on Top),191 and from there to Tse'sintJidflya.
Here they held a council about the big snake. He was of no use to
them, and a great incumbrance. They turned him loose among the
rocks, and his descendants are there in great numbers to this day.
At Natsisaan (Navaho Mountain) they turned the porcupine loose,
and that is why there are so many porcupines on the Navaho Moun-
tain now.
438. They next went to the place now called Aga/a,192 or Aga/ani,
Much Wool, or Hair, and were now in the land of the Ozai (Orai-
bes). They camped all around the peak of Aga/a and went out
hunting. Some who wore deer-masks for decoys, and went to get
deer, succeeded in killing a great number. They dressed many
skins, and the wind blew the hair from the skins up in a great pile.
Seeing this, one of the //bnaga'ni proposed that the place be called
Aga/a, so this name was given to it.
439. From Aga/a the wanderers went to Tse'^otsobia-si, Little
Place of Yellow Rocks, and from there to Yotso, Big Bead. On
the way they camped often, and sometimes tarried a day or two to
hunt. It was now late in the autumn. At Yotso they saw moccasin
tracks, evidently not fresh, and they said to one another: " Perhaps
these are the footprints of the people whom we seek." Now there
were diverse counsels among the immigrants. Some were in haste
to reach the end of the journey, while others, as the season was late,
thought it prudent to remain where they were. Thus they became
divided into two parties, one of which remained at Yotso, while the
other (containing parts of several gentes) continued the journey.
Soon after the latter was gone, those who remained at Yotso sent
two messengers, and later they sent two more, to induce the sece-
ders to return ; but the latter were never overtaken. The couriers
came to a place where the runaways had divided into two bands.
From one of these the Jicarilla Apaches are supposed to have
descended. The other band, it is thought, wandered far off and
became part of the Z>ine< Na/^otloni.193
440. The last two messengers sent out pursued one of the fugi-
tive bands some distance, gave up the task, and returned to Yotso.
The messengers sent first pursued the other band. After a while
they saw its camp-fires ; but at such a great distance that they de-
spaired of overtaking it and turned toward the San Juan River,
where they found at length the long-sought Navahoes. These two
messengers were the men, of whom you have heard before, who
entered the camp of Big Knee at Tb'ye'tli while the dance of natn'd
was going on, and announced the approach of the immigrants from
the west. (See par. 143.)
441. When spring-time came, the people who had remained at
Yotso set out again on their journey; but before long some of the
Tb'ditnni got tired. They said that the children's knees were
swollen, that their feet were blistered, and that they could not go
much farther. Soon after they said this they came to a place where
a great lone tree stood, and here they declared : " We shall stop at
this tree. After a while the people will come here and find us."
They remained and became the gens of Tsmsaka</ni, People of the
(Lone) Tree, who are closely related to TVdrtrini and cannot marry
with the latter.
442. At PtabiA)', Deer Spring, some more of the gens of TVditrini
halted, because, they said, their children were lame from walking
and could travel no farther. Here they formed a new gens of
Pi;zbi/6Wme', People of Deer Spring,194 who are also closely related
to Tb'ditrini. At this place they wanted their pet deer to leave
them, but he would not go ; he remained at the spring with the
people who stayed there. What finally became of him is not
known.195
443. The main body of the immigrants kept on their way, and,
soon after passing Deer Spring, arrived at Hyfefyin, where the peo-
ple of 7/^a/paha had their farms. Big Knee was still alive when
they came ; but he was very old and feeble, and was not respected
and obeyed as in former days. When TM'paha and Hasti'zni met,
they traced some relationship between the two gentes : their names
had much the same meaning ; their headdresses and accoutrements
were alike ; so the H&sll'zm stopped with 77za'paha and became
great friends with the latter. Yet to-day a member of one of these
gentes may marry a member of the other.
444. The bear was the last of their five pets whicri the immigrants
retained. When they were done their journey they said to him:
" Our pet, you have served us well ; but we are now safe among our
friends and we need your services no more. If you wish you may
leave us. There are others of your kind in Tjitakai (the Chusca
Mountains). Go there and play with them." They turned him
loose in Tjiijkai, and bears have been numerous there ever since.
^45. Of the people from the west, there was yet one gens — that
to which Estsanatlehi had given the wand of turquoise — which had
no name. This nameless people did not stay long on the banks of
the San Juan before they wandered off far toward the south. One
day two men of the party, while hunting, came to a place called
Tse'nahapi/, where there were high overhanging rocks. Here they
saw the fresh prints of unshod human feet. They followed these
tracks but a short distance when they beheld a man watching them
from a rocky pinnacle. As soon as he saw that he was observed,
he crouched and disappeared. They ran quickly behind the rock on
which they had seen him and again observed him, running as fast
as he could. "Why do you fly from us?" they shouted. "We
mean no harm to you." Hearing this he stopped till they came up
to him. Then they found he spoke the same language they did,
and they addressed him in terms of relationship. " Where do you
live?" they asked. "In a canyon high on the mountain," he re-
plied. " What do you live on ? " they queried. " We live mostly
on seeds," he answered ; " but sometimes we catch wood-rats, and
we raise small crops." "We shall have many things to tell one an-
other," said the hunters ; " but your home is too far for our people
to reach to-day. Tell your people to come to this spot, and we shall
tell ours to come up here and meet them." When the hunters got
home they found their friends cooking rabbits and making mush
of wild seeds. When the meal was finished all climbed the moun-
tain to the appointed place and found the strangers awaiting them.
The two parties camped together that night and related to one
another their histories and adventures. The strangers said that
they had been created at the place where they were all then camped
only seven years previously ; that they were living not far off at a
place called Na/anbi//2a/in, but that they came often to their natal
place to pick cactus fruit and yucca fruit. They said they called
themselves Tse'^me', or Rock People ; but the nameless ones gave
them the name of Tse'nahapiVni, Overhanging Rocks People, from
the place where they met. With this name they became a gens
of the Navahoes.
446. The Tse'nahapiVni told their new friends that they had
some corn and pumpkins cached at a distance, and they proposed to
open their stores and get ready for a journey. They knew of some
Apaches to the south, whom they would all visit together. These
Apaches, they said, had some gentes of the same names as those of
the Navahoes. Then they all went to where the provisions were
stored, and they made corn-cakes to use on the journey. When they
were ready they went to the south and found, at a place called
Tj-ohanaa, the Apaches, who recognized them as friends, and treated
their visitors so well that the latter concluded to remain for a while.
447. At the end of three years the Tse'nahapiVni went off to join
the Navahoes on the San Juan. The nameless people stayed four
years longer. About the end of that time they began to talk of
leaving, and their Apache friends tried to persuade them to remain,
but without avail. When they had all their goods packed and were
ready to start, an old woman was observed walking arounpl them.
She walked around the whole band, coming back to the place from
which she started ; then she turned towards them and said : " You
came among us without a name, and you have dwelt among us,
nameless, for seven years ; no one knew what to call you ; but you
shall not leave us without a name. I have walked around you, and
I call you //bnaga'ni (Walked-around People)." 196
448. When the //bnaga'ni got back to the San Juan they found
that the Tse'nahapi'/ni had been long settled there and had become
closely related to Tlastrini, J9estrini, Km/it^ini, and Tsmad^Fni.
The //bnaga'ni in time formed close relationships with 77za'neza'ni,
Dsi/tla'ni, To'^ani, and Na/zopani. These five gentes are now all
the same as one gens, and no member of one may marry a member
of another.
449. It happened about this time, while some of the T^a'paha
were sojourning at Aga/a, that they sent two children, one night, to
a spring to get water. The children carried out with them two
wicker bottles, but returned with four. " Where did you get these
other bottles ? " the parents inquired. " We took them away from
two little girls whom we met at the spring," answered the children.
" Why did you do this, and who are the girls ? " said the elders.
" We do not know. They are strangers," said the little ones. The
parents at once set out for the spring to find the strange children
and restore the stolen bottles to them ; but on their way they met
the little girls coming toward the T/^a'paha camp, and asked them
who they were. The strange children replied : " We belong to a
band of wanderers who are encamped on yonder mountain. They
sent us two together to find water." "Then we shall give you a
name," said the T^a/paha ; " we shall call you To'Da^rnaasi," Two
Come Together for Water. The TM'paha brought the little girls
to their hut and bade them be seated. " Stay with us," they said.
" You are too weak and little to carry the water so far. We will
send some of our young men to carry it for you." When the young
men found the camp of the strangers they invited the latter to visit
them. The 77/a'paha welcomed the new-comers as friends, and told
them they had already a name for them, Tb'ba^naa^i. Under this
name they became united to the Navahoes as a new gens, and they
are now closely affiliated with TM'paha.197
450. Shortly after the coming of Tb'ba^naa^i, the Navahoes were
joined by a band of Apaches, who were adopted by T/za'paha and not
formed into a new gens. About the same time a band of Pah Utes
came and were likewise adopted by TM'paha. A little later some
more Apaches arrived and became a part of T^a'paha ; but, although
no distinct name is now given them, their descendants are known
among the TM'paha as a people of different origin from the others.
451. Another party of Apaches, who came afterwards, dwelt a
long time among the To'dokozi ; but later they abode with the
JM'paha, and became closely related to the latter. They are still
affiliated with TM'paha, but these call them Tbtfokdsi
452. Some years passed before the next accession was made.
This was another party of Zufii Indians, and they were admitted into
the gens of the TM'paha. Soon after them came the Zufii People,
who were at last formed into a separate gens, — that of Nana^/e^i;/.
This is the Navaho name for all the Zufiians, and means Black
Horizontal Stripe Aliens.198 All these people deserted the Zufii
villages on account of scarcity of food.
453. A new people, with painted faces, came from the west about
the same time as those who formed the gens of Zuni, or a little
later. They are supposed to have been a part of the tribe now
called Mohaves on the banks of the Colorado. They bore the name
of Z^ild^ehi, and their descendants now form a gens of that name
among the Navahoes. At first they affiliated with Nana^/e^i;/ ; but
to-day they are better friends with TM'trini than with Nana^/e^iw.
454. A war-party, consisting of members of different gentes, was
now organized among the Navahoes to attack a pueblo called
Saibe^cg-an, House Made of Sand. At that place they captured
two girls and brought them home as slaves. There was a salt lake
near their old home, and the girls belonged to a gens of Salt People
there. So their numerous descendants now among the Navahoes
form the gens of A^ihi, or Salt. The captives were taken by mem-
bers of the Tse'dzlnkl'ni, hence A^ihi and Tse'd^inkfni are now
affiliated.
455. Then a war party was gotten up to attack the people of
Jemez pueblo. On this raid one of the Tlastrini captured a Jemez
girl, but sold her to one of the Tse'd^inki'ni. She was the pro-
genitor of the gens of Mai^e^ki^ni, People of Wolf Pass (i. e.,
Jemez), which is now affiliated with Tse'dsffnkl'ni.
456. After the Navahoes attacked Saibe^og-an there was a famine
there, and some of the people abandoned their homes and joined
the Navahoes. They said that in their pueblo there was a gens of
JM'paha, and hearing there was such a gens among the Navahoes
they came to join it. Therefore they sought 77/a'paha till they
found it and became a part of it.
457. There came once a party of seven people from a place called
Tse'yana/6'ni, Horizontal Water under Cliffs, to pay a short visit
to the Navahoes ; but from time to time they delayed their depar-
ture, and at last stayed forever with the Navahoes. They formed
the gens of Tse'yana/6'ni, which is now extinct.
458. The people whom Estsanatlehi created from the skin under
her right arm, and to whom she gave the wand of white shell, was
called, after they came among the Navahoes, Ki;zaa'ni, High Stone
House People; not because they built or dwelt in such a house,
but because they lived near one.199
459. When the Bita'ni were encamped at a place called Tb'tso, or
Big Water, near the Carrizo Mountains, a man and a woman came
up out of the water and joined them. From this pair is descended
the gens of To'tsoni, People of the Big Water, which is affiliated
with BWd'ni.
Legend 5
relations, near the mountain of Dsi/nao/i/. The few people who
lived there used to wander continually around the mountain, hence
its name, Encircled Mountain. Na/i'nes///ani delighted in gambling,
but was not successful. He lost at game, not only all his own
goods, but all the goods and jewels of his relations, until there was
only one article of value left — a necklace consisting of several
strings of white beads. His parents and brother lived in one lodge ;
his grandmother and niece lived in another, a little distance from
the first. When the gambler had parted with everything except the
necklace, his brother took this to the lodge of his grandmother and
gave it to her, saying : " My brother has gambled away everything
save this. Should he lose this at game, it is the last thing he will
ever lose, for then I shall kill him."
461. Natf'nes//zani did not spend all his time gambling; some-
times he hunted for wood-rats and rabbits in the mountains. The
day the necklace was brought, in returning from his hunt, he came
to the house of his grandmother and saw the necklace hanging up
there. " Why is this here?" he asked. "It is put here for safe-
keeping," replied his niece. " Your brother values it and has asked
us to take care of it. If you lose it in gambling, he has threatened
to kill you. I have heard the counsels of the family about you.
They are tired of you. If you lose this necklace at play, it is the
last thing you will ever lose." On hearing this he only said to
his niece, " I must think what I shall do," and he lay down to rest.
462. Next morning he rose early, made his breakfast of wood-
rats, and went out to hunt, travelling toward the east. He stopped
at one place, set fall-traps for wood-rats, and slept there all night.
During the night he pondered on many plans. He thought at first
he would go farther east and leave his people forever ; but again he
thought, " Who will hunt wood-rats for my niece when I am gone ?"
and he went back to her lodge and gave her all the little animals he
had killed.
463. In the morning he breakfasted again on wood-rats, and said
JVaii'nesihant. 1 6 1
to himself: " I shall go to-day to the south and never return." Such
was his intention as he went on his way. He travelled to the south,
and spent the night out again ; but in the morning he changed his
mind, and came back to his niece with wood-rats and rabbits and the
seeds of wild plants that he had gathered. The women cooked
some of the wood-rats for his supper that night. When he lay
down he thought of his brother's threats, and made plans again for
running away. He had not touched the beads, though he longed to
take them.
464. Next morning he went to the west, hunted there all day,
and camped out at night as before ; but again he could not make up
his mind to leave his people, though he thought much about it; so
he returned to his niece with such food as he had been able to get
for her/ and slept in the lodge that night.
465. On the following day he went to the north and hunted. He
slept little at night while camping out, for his mind was filled with
sad thoughts. "My brother disowns me," he said to himself. "My
parents refuse me shelter. My niece, whom I love most, barely
looks at me. I shall never go back again." Yet, for all these words,
when morning came he returned to the lodge.19
466. By this time he was very poor, and so were his grandmother
and niece. His sandals, made of grass and yucca-fibre, were worn
through, and the blanket made of yucca-fibre and cedar-bark, which
covered his back, was ragged.177 But the people in the other lodge
were better off. They gave the. grandmother and niece food at
times ; but always watched these closely when they came for food,
lest they should carry off something to give the gambler. " Let
him live," said his parents, " on wood-rats and rabbits as well as he
can."
467. The night after he returned from his hunt to the north he
slept little, but spent the time mostly in thinking and making
plans. What these plans were you shall soon know, for the next
day he began to carry them out. His thought for his niece was now
the only thing that made him care to stay at home.
468. In the morning after this night of thought he asked his
niece to roast for him four wood-rats ; he tied these together and set
out for the San Juan River. When he got to the banks of the river
he examined a number of cottonwood trees until he found one that
suited him. He burned this down and burned it off square at the
base. He kept his fire from burning up the whole trunk by apply-
ing mud above the place to be burned. His plan was to make a
hollow vessel by which he could go down the San Juan River. It
was his own plan. He had never heard of such a thing before.
The Navahoes had never anything better than rafts, and these were
1 62 Navaho Legends.
good only to cross the river. He lay down beside the log to see
where he should divide it, for he had planned to make the vessel a
little longer than himself, and he burned the log across at the place
selected. All this he did in one day, and then he went home, col-
lecting rats on the way ; but he told his niece nothing about the
log. He slept that night in the lodge.
469. He went back, next morning, to his log on the banks of the
San Juan, and spent the day making the log hollow by means of
fire, beginning at the butt end. He succeeded in doing only a part
of this work in one day. It took him four days to burn the hole
through from one end of the log to the other and to make it wide
enough to hold his body. At the end of each day's work he returned
to his grandmother's lodge, and got wood-rats and rabbits on his
way home.
470. The next day, after the hole was finished, was spent in mak-
ing and inserting plugs. He moistened a lot of shredded cedar-
bark and pounded it between stones so as to make a soft mass. He
shoved a large piece of this in at the butt end and rammed it down
to the tip end. In burning out the log, he had burned, where the
tree branched, four holes which he did not need, and these he filled
with plugs of the cedar-bark. He prepared another plug to be
rammed into the butt from the inside, after he entered the log, and
when this was finished he went home to his grandmother's house,
collecting wood-rats from his traps as he went.
471. The next morning his niece cooked several wood-rats and
ground for him a good quantity — as much as could be held in two
hands — of the seeds of tlo'tsozi (Sporobolns cryptandrus). This
meal she put in a bag of wood-rat skins sewed together. Thus pro-
vided he went back to his log. He put the provisions into the hole
and then proceeded to enter, in person, to see if the log was sound
and the hole big enough. He entered, head foremost, and crawled
inwards until half of his chest was in the log, when he heard a voice
crying, " Wu'hu'hu'hu ! " a and he came out to see who called. He
looked in every direction and examined the ground for tracks, but
seeing no signs of any intruder he proceeded again to enter the log.
This time he got in as far as his waist, when again he heard the cry
of " Wu'hu'hu'hu," but louder and nearer than before. Again he
came out of the log and looked around farther and more carefully
than he did the first time, going in his search to the margin of the
river ; but he saw no one, found no tracks, and returned to his log.
On the next trial he entered as far as his knees, when for the third
time the cry sounded, and he crept out once more to find whence it
came. He searched farther, longer, and more closely than on either
of the previous occasions, but without success, and he went back to
Natifriesthani. 163
enter the log again. On the fourth trial, when he had entered as
far as his feet, he heard the cry loud and near, and he felt some one
shaking the log. He crept out for the fourth time and beheld
//astreyal/i, the Talking God,73 standing over him.
472. //astreyaM did not speak at first, but told the man by signs
that he must not get into the log, that he would surely be drowned
if he did, and that he must go home. Then //astyeyal/i walked off
a distance from the log and motioned to the Navaho to come to him.
When Natf'nes/^ani came near the god, the latter spoke, saying :
" My grandchild, why are you doing all this work ? Where do you
intend to go with this log?" The man then told the god all his sad
story, and ended by saying : " I am an outcast. I wish to get far
away from my people. Take pity on me. Stop me not, but let me
go in this log as far as the waters of the Old Age River (San Juan)
will bear me.' ' //astreyal/i replied : "No. You must not attempt
to go into that log. You will surely be drowned if you do. I shall
not allow you." Four times Natf'nes/^ani pleaded, and four times
the god denied him. Then the god said : " Have you any precious
stones ? " " Yes," replied the man. " Have you white shell beads ?
Have you turquoise ? " and thus the god went on asking him, one
by one, if he had all the original eighteen sacred things 202 that must
be offered to the gods to gain their favor. To each of his questions
the man replied " Yes," although he had none of these things, and
owned nothing but the rags that covered him. " It is well," said
the god. "You need not enter that log to make your journey. Go
home and stay there for four nights. At daylight, after the fourth
night, you may expect to see me again. Have yourself and your
house clean and in order for my coming. Have the floor and all
around the house swept carefully. Have the ashes taken out. Wash
your body and your hair with yucca suds the night before I arrive,
and bid your niece to wash herself also with yucca. I shall go off,
now, and tell the other divine ones about you."
473. As soon as he came home, Na/i'nes^ani told his niece what
things he wanted (except the baskets and the sacred buckskins) ;
but he did not tell her for what purpose he required them, and he
asked her to steal them from their neighbors. This she did, a few
things at a time, and during many visits. It took her three days to
steal them all. On the evening of the third day, after they had
washed themselves with the yucca suds, he told her about the bas-
kets and the sacred buckskins which he needed. She went to the
neighboring lodge and stole these articles, wrapping the baskets up
in the buckskins. When she returned with her booty, he wrapped all
the stolen goods up in the skins, put them away in the edge of the
lodge, and lay down to rest. He was a good sleeper, and usually
slept all night ; but on this occasion he woke about midnight, and
could not go to sleep again.
474. At dawn he heard, faintly, the distant " Wu'hu'hu'hu " of
//astreyal/i. At once he woke his grandmother, saying: "I hear a
voice. The digmi (holy ones, divine ones) are coming." " You fool,"
she replied. " Shut your mouth and go to sleep. They would never
come to visit such poor people as we are," and she fell asleep again.
In a little while he heard the voice a second time, louder and nearer,
and again he shook his grandmother and told her he heard the
voices of the gods ; but she still would not believe him, and slept
again. The third time that he awoke her, when he heard the voices
still more plainly, she remained awake, beginning to believe him.
The fourth time the call sounded loud and clear, as if cried by one
standing at the door. " Hear," he said to his grandmother. " Is
that not "truly the voice of a divine one ? " At last she believed
him, and said in wonder: "Why should the digmi come to visit us ? "
475. //astreyal/i and //ast^e/^o^an were at the door, standing on
the rainbow on which they had travelled. The former made signs
to the man, over the curtain which hung in the doorway, bidding
him pull the curtain aside and come out. " Grandmother," said the
Navaho, " //ast siy&\t\ calls me to him." " It is well," she answered.
" Do as he bids you." As he went out, bearing his bundle of sacri-
ficial objects, he said : " I go with the divine ones, but I shall come
back again to see you." The niece had a pet turkey203 that roosted
on a tree near the lodge, //astreyal/i made signs to the Navaho to
take the turkey along. The Navaho said : " My niece, the gods bid
me take your turkey, and I would gladly do it, for I am going among
strange people, where I shall be lonely. I love the bird ; he would
be company to me and remind me of my home. Yet I shall not take
him against your will." "Then you may have my -turkey pet," re-
plied the niece. The old woman said to the god : " I shall be glad
to have my grandchild back again. Will you let him return to us ? "
//astre'yalri. only nodded his head. The gods turned the rainbow
around sunwise, so that its head,204 which formerly pointed to the
door of the lodge, now pointed in a new direction, //ast^eyal/i
got on the bow first. He made the Navaho get on behind him.
//astye/^an got on behind the man. " Shut your eyes," com-
manded //asUeyal/i, and the Navaho did as he was bidden.
476. In a moment //asUeyal/i cried again: "Open your eyes."
The Navaho obeyed and found himself far away from his home at
Tse'/a^i, where the ^igini dwelt. They led him into a house in the
rock which was full of divine people. It was beautiful inside — the
walls were covered with rock crystal, which gave forth a brilliant
light. //asts-eyaM ordered food brought for his visitor. The latter
Natiriesthani. 165
was handed a small earthen cup only so big (a circle ' made by the
thumb and index ringer joined at the tips) filled with mush. " What
a poor. meal to offer a stranger ! " thought the Navaho, supposing he
would finish it in one mouthful. But he ate, and ate, and ate, and
ate, from the cup and could not empty it. When he had eaten till
he was satisfied the little cup was as full as in the beginning.205 He
handed the cup, when he was done, back to T/astreyalri, who, with
one sweep of his finger, emptied it, and it remained empty. The
little cup was then filled with water and given to the guest to drink.
He drank till his thirst was satisfied ; but the cup was as full when
he was done as it was when he began. He handed it again to
//astreyal/i, who put it to his own lips and emptied it at a single
swallow.
477. The gods opened the bundle of the Navaho and examined
the contents to see if he had brought all they required, and they
found he had done so. In the mean time he filled his pipe and
lighted it. While he was smoking, the gods Nayenezgani, To'ba-
dzistsini, and //astreol/oi 206 arrived from Tb'ye'tli and entered the
house. Nayenezgani said to the visitor : " I hear that you were
found crawling into a hole which you had made in a log by burn-
ing. Why were you doing this ? " In reply the Navaho told his
whole story, as he had told it to //asUeyal/i, and ended by saying :
" I wished to go to Tb'ye'tli, where the rivers meet, or wherever else
the waters would bear me. While I was trying to carry out this
plan, my grandfather, //asUeyal/i, found me and bade me not to go.
For this reason only I gave my plan up and went home." " Do you
still wish to go to Tb'ye'tli ? " said Nayenezgani. " Yes," said the
Navaho, " I wish to go to Tb'ye'tli or as far down the San Juan as I
can get." " Then you shall go," said the god.
478. Nayenezgani went forth from the house and the other gods
followed him. They went to a grove of spruce, and there picked
out a tree of unusual size. They tied rainbow ropes to it, so that it
might not fall with too great force and break in falling. Nayenez-
gani and Tb'bad^isUini cut it near the root with their great stone
knives, and it fell to the north. Crooked Lightning struck the fallen
tree and went through it from butt to tip. Straight Lightning struck
it and went through it from tip to butt. Thus the hole was bored
in -the log, and this was done before the branches were cut away.
The hole that Crooked Lightning bored was too crooked. Straight
Lightning made it straight, but still it was too small. Black Wind
was sent into the hole, and he made it larger, but not large enough.
Blue Wind, Yellow Wind, and White Wind entered the hole, each in
turn, and each, as he went through, made it a little larger. It was
not until White Wind had done his work that the hole was big
1 66 Navaho Legends.
enough to contain the body of a man. //astreyal/i supplied a bowl
of food, a vessel of water, and a white cloud for bedding. They
wrapped the Navaho up in the cloud and put him into the log. They
plugged the ends with clouds, — a black cloud in the butt and a blue
cloud in the tip, — and charged him not to touch either of these
cloudy plugs. When they got him into the log some one said: " How
will he get light ? How will he know when it is night and when it
is day ? " They bored two holes in the log, one on each side of his
head, and they put in each hole, to make a window, a piece of rock
crystal, which they pushed in so tightly that water could not leak in
around it.
479. While some of the gods were preparing the log, others were
getting the pet turkey ready for his journey, but they did this un-
known to the Navaho. They put about his body black cloud, he-rain,
black mist, and she-rain. They put under his wings white corn,
yellow corn, blue corn, corn of mixed colors, squash seed, water-
melon seed, muskmelon seed, gourd seed, and beans of all colors.
These were the six gods who prepared the turkey : four of the
Ga/zaskh/i 207 from a place called Z)epe//a//a/i/, one //astrey/o^ian from
Tse'gihi,165 and the //astye/zo^an from Tse'/a^i, — the one who found
the Navaho entering his cottonwood log and took him home to the
house in the rocks.
480. The next thing they had to think about was how they should
carry the heavy log to the river with the man inside of it. They
put under the log (first) a rope of crooked lightning, (second) a rope
of rainbow, (third) a rope of straight lightning, and (fourth) another
rope of rainbow. They attached a sunbeam to each end of the log.
All the gods except those who were engaged in preparing the tur-
key tried to move the log, but they could not stir it ; and they sent
for the six who were at work on the turkey to come to their aid.
Two of the Ga/zasku/i were now stationed at each end, and two of
the //astje^o^an in the middle. The others were stationed at other
parts. The Ga?zaski^i put their wands under the log crosswise,
thus, X. All lifted together, and the log was carried along. Some
of them said : "If strength fail us and we let the log fall, we shall
not attempt to raise it again, and the Navaho will . not make his
journey." As they went along some became tired and were about
to let the log go, but the winds came to help them — Black Wind
and Blue Wind in front, Yellow Wind and White Wind behind, and
soon the log was borne to the margin of the river. As they went
along, To'nemli,98 the Water Sprinkler, made fun and played tricks,
as he now does in the dances, to show that he was pleased with
what they were doing. While the gods were at work the Navaho
sang five songs, each for a different part of the work ; the signifi-
cant words of the songs were these : —
Na£iries\\\ani. 167
First Song, " A beautiful tree they fell for me."
Second Song, " A beautiful tree they prepare for me."
Third Song, " A beautiful tree they finish for me."
Fourth Song, " A beautiful tree they carry with me."
Fifth Song, " A beautiful tree they launch with me." 283
481. When they threw the log on the surface of the water it
floated around in different directions, but would not go down stream,
so the gods consulted together to determine what they should do.
They covered the log first with black mist and then with black cloud.
Some of the gods standing on the banks punched the log with their
plumed wands, when it approached the shore or began to whirl
round, and they kept this up till it got into a straight course, with
its head pointed down stream, and floated on. When the gods were
punching the log to get it into the current, the Navaho sang a song,
the principal words of which were : —
1. "A beautiful tree, they push with me."
When the log was about to go down the stream, he sang : —
2. " A beautiful tree is about to float along with me,"
and when the log got into the current and went down, he sang : —
3. u A beautiful tree floats along with me." ^
482. All went well till they approached a pueblo called Kfiidfo/lfe,
or Blue House,208 when two of the Kisani, who were going to hunt
eaglets, saw the log floating by, though they could not see the gods
that guided its course. Wood was scarce around Blue House. When
the men saw the log they said, " There floats a big tree. It would
furnish us fuel for many days if we could get it. We must try to
bring it to the shore." The two men ran back to the pueblo and
announced that a great log was coming down the river. A number
of people turned out to seize it. Most of them ran down the stream
to a shallow place where they could all wade in, to await the arrival
of the log, while a few went up along the bank to herald its ap-
proach. When it came to the shallow place they tried to break off
branches, but failed. They tied ropes to the branches, and tried to
pull it ashore ; but the log, hurried on by the current, carried the
crowd with it. But the next time the log got to a shallow place the
Kisani got it stranded, and sent back to the pueblo for axes, intend-
ing to cut off branches and make the log light. When the gods
saw the people coming with axes they said : " Something must be
done." They sent down a great shower of rain, but the Kisani
held on to the log. They sent hail, with hailstones as big as two
fists ; but still the Kisani held on. They sent lightning to the right
— the people to the left held on. They sent lightning to the left —
the people to the right held on. They sent lightning in all direc-
1 68 Navaho Legends.
tions four times, when, at last, the Kisani let go and the log floated
on. Now the gods laid upon the log a cloud so thick that no one
could see through it ; they put a rainbow lengthwise and a rainbow
crosswise over it, and they caused the zigzag lightning to flash all
around it. When the Kisani saw all these things they began to fear.
" The gods must guard this log," they said. " Yes," said the chief.
" Go to your homes, and let the log pass on. It must be holy."
483. The log floated steadily with the stream till it came to a place
where a ridge of rocks, standing nearly straight up, disturbs the
current, and here the log became entangled in the rocks. But two
of the Fringe-mouths209 of the river raised it from the rocks and
set it floating again. They turned the log around, one standing at
each end, until they got it lying lengthwise with the current, and
then they let it float away.
484. Thence it floated safely to Tfrkodoflls, where the gods on
the bank observed it stopping and slowly sinking, until only a few-
leaves on the ends of the branches could be seen. It was the sacred
people under the water who had pulled the log down this time.
These were Tieholtsodi, Tie//;/,210 Frog, Fish, Beaver, Otter, and
others. They took the Navaho out of the log and bore him down
to their home under the water. The gods on the bank held a coun-
cil to consider why the tree stuck. They shook it and tried to get
it loose, but they could not move it. Then they called on Tb'nemli,
Water Sprinkler, to help them. He had two magic water jars,
Tb'sa^i/yiV, the black jar, which he carried in his right hand, and
Tb'sadfo/ll's, the blue jar, which he carried in his left hand ; with
these he struck the water to the right and to the left, crying as he
did so his call of " Tu'wu'wu'wu ! " The water opened before him
and allowed him to descend. He went around the tree, and when
he came to the butt he found that the plug had been withdrawn and
that the Navaho was no longer there. He called up to his friends on
the bank and told them what he had found. They spread a short
rainbow 211 for him to travel on, and he went to the house of the divine
ones under the water. This house consisted of four chambers, one
under another, like the stories of a pueblo dwelling. The first
chamber, that on top, was black ; the second was blue ; the third
yellow ; the fourth white.18 Two of the Tie/in, or water pets with
blue horns, stood at the door facing one another, and roared as
To'nenili passed. He descended from one story to another, but
found no one till he came to the last chamber, and here he saw
Tieholtsodi, the water monster ; Xral, Frog (a big rough frog) ; T^a,
Beaver, Tabas/i/z, Otter, Tlo'ayumlftigi (a great fish), and the cap-
tive Navaho. " I seek my grandchild. Give him to me," said
To'nenili. " Shut your mouth and begone," said Tieholtsodi.
JVaiifnesi\\ani. 169
"Such as you cannot come here giving orders. I fear you not,
Water Sprinkler ; you shall not have your grandchild." Then 7o'-
nenili went out again and told his friends what had happened to
him, and what had been said in the house of Tieholtsodi under the
water.
485. The gods held another council. " Who shall go down and
rescue our grandchild ? " was the question they asked one another.
While they were talking Hastsezmi 212 (Black God), who owns all
fire, sat apart and took no part in the council. He had built a fire,
while the others waited, and sat with his back to it, as was his custom.
" Go tell your grandfather there what has occurred," said the others
to To'nemli. The latter went over to where HasUe-s-ini sat. " Why
are they gathered together yonder and of what do they talk so an-
grily ? " said the Black God. In answer, 76'nenili told of his adven-
tures under the water and what Tieholtsodi had said to him. //astre-
zmi was angry when he heard all this. " I fear not the sacred people
beneath the water," he said. "I shall have my grandchild." He
hastened to the river, taking To'nenili with him, for To'nemli had
the power to open the water, and these two descended into the river.
When they reached the room where Tieholtsodi sat, the Black God
said, " We come together for our grandchild." " Run out there,
both of you. Such as you may not enter here," said Tieholtsodi.
" I go not without my grandson. Give him to me, and I shall go,"
said the other. " Run out," repeated Tieholtsodi, " I shall not re-
lease your grandchild." "I shall take my grandchild. I fear you
not." " I shall not restore him to you. I heed not your words."
" I never recall what I have once spoken. I have come for my
grandchild, and I shall not leave without him." "I said you should
not go with him, and I mean what I say. I am mighty." Thus
they spoke defiantly to one another for some time. At length
//astjdsini said : " I shall beg no longer for my grandchild. You
say you are mighty. We shall see which is the more powerful,
you or I," and Tieholtsodi answered : "Neither shall I ask your per-
mission to keep him. I should like to see how you will take him
from me." When //asUezmi heard this he took from his belt his
fire-stick and fire-drill.213 He laid the stick on the ground, steadied
it with both feet, and whirled the drill around, pausing four times.
The first time he whirled the drill there was a little smoke ; the
second time there was a great smoke ; the third time there was
flame ; the fourth time the surrounding waters all took fire. Then
Tieholtsodi cried : "Take your grandchild, but put out the flames."
" Ah," said //asUe^mi, " you told me you were mighty. Why do
you implore me now ? Why do you not put out the fire your-
self ? Do you mean what you say this time ? Do you really want
the fire quenched?" "Oh! yes," cried Tieholtsodi. "Take your
grandchild, but put out the flames. I mean what I say." At a sign
from Black God, Water Sprinkler took the stoppers out of his jars
and scattered water all around him four times, crying his usual
" Tu'wu'wu'wu " as he did so, and the flames died out. The water in
76'nenili's jars consisted of all kinds of water — he-rain, she-rain,
hail, snow, lake-water, spring-water, and water taken from the four
quarters of the world. This is why it was so potent.67
486. When the fire was extinguished the three marched out in
single file — 76'nemli in front, to divide the water, the Navaho in
the middle, and //ast.ye.s'ini in the rear. Before they had quite
reached the dry land they heard a flopping sound behind them, and,
looking around, they saw Tra/, the Frog. "Wait," said he. "I have
something to tell you. We can give disease to those who enter our
dwelling, and there are cigarettes, sacred to us, by means of which
our spell may be taken away. The cigarette of Tieholtsodi should
be painted black ; that of Tie/iX blue ; those of the Beaver and
the Otter, yellow ; that of the great fish, and that sacred to me,
white." Therefore, in these days, when a Navaho is nearly drowned
in the water, and has spewed the water all out, such cigarettes 12 are
made to take the water sickness out of him.
487. The gods took Natf'nes///ani back to his log. To'nemli
opened a passage for them through the river, and took the water
out of the hollow in the log. The Navaho crawled into the hollow.
The gods plugged the butt again, and set the log floating. It floated
on and on until it came to a fall in the San Juan River, and here it
stuck again. The gods had hard labor trying to get it loose. They
tugged and worked, but could not move it. At length the Dsaha-
dbld^a, the Fringe-mouths of the water, came to help. They put
the zigzag lightning which was on their bodies 209 under the butt of
the log, — as if the lightning were a rope, — and soon they got the
log loose and sent it floating down the river.
488. At the end of the San Juan River, surrounded by mountains,
there is a whirling lake or large whirlpool called To'nihili/z, or End
of the Water. When the log entered here it whirled around the
lake four times. The first time it went around it floated near the
shore, but it gradually approached the centre as it went round again
and again. From the centre it pointed itself toward the east and
got near the shore ; but it retreated again to the centre, pointed
itself to the south, and at last stranded on the south shore of the
lake. When it came to land four gods stood around it thus : //astre-
7/o^-an on the east, //asUeyal/i on the south, one Ga^aski^i on the
west, and one on the north. They pried out one of the stoppers
with their wands, and the Navaho came out on the land. They took
out what remained of the food they had given him, a bow of cedar
with the leaves on, and two reed arrows that they had placed in the
log before they launched it. This done, they plugged the log again
with a black cloud.
489. Then the gods spoke to the Navaho and said : " We have
taken you where you wished to go. We have brought you to the
end of the river. We have done for you all that in the beginning
you asked us to do, and now we shall give you a new name. Hence-
forth you shall be called A/joafrse/i, He Who Floats. Go sit yonder "
(pointing out a place), " and turn your back to us." He went and
sat as he was told, and soon they called to him and bade him go
to a hill west of the lake. When he ascended it he looked around
and saw the log moving back in the direction whence, he thought,
he had come. He looked all around, but could see no one. The
gods had disappeared, and he was all alone. He sat down to think.
He felt sad and lonely. He was sorry he had come ; yet, he thought,
"This is my own deed; I insisted on coming here, and had I stayed
at home I might have been killed." Still the more he thought the
sadder he felt, and he began to weep.
490. The mountains all around the lake were very precipitous,
except on the west side. Here they were more sloping, and he
began to think of crossing, when he heard faintly in the distance
V
\
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)
/
/
/
/
/
\
\
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V
1 1
s
% H
X
X
\
r>
/
/
X
v« ^
^
Fig. 34. Trail of turkey approaching his master.
the gobbling of a turkey. He paused and listened, and soon heard
the gobbling again, more distinctly and apparently nearer. In a
short time he heard the sound for the third time, but louder and
clearer than before. The fourth time that the gobbling was heard
it seemed very loud and distinct ; and a moment later he beheld,
running toward him, his pet turkey, whom he had thought he would
never see again. The turkey, which had followed him all the way
down the San Juan River, now approached its master from the east,
as if it were coming to him at once ; but when it got within arm's
length of the man it retreated and went round him sunwise, ap-
proaching and retreating again at the south, the west, and the north.
When it got to the east again it ran up to its master and allowed
itself to be embraced. (Fig. 34 shows the way it approached its
master.) " A/^alani, s\l\n (Welcome, my pet)," said Na/i'nes/^ani, " I
am sorry for you that you have followed me, I pity you ; but now
that you are here, I thank you for coming."
491. The man now began to think again of crossing the mountain
in the west, but suddenly night came on. He had not noticed the
light fading until it was too dark to begin the journey, and he felt
obliged to seek a resting-place for the night. They went to a gulch
near at hand where there were a few small cedar-trees. They spread
out, for a bed, the dead leaves and the soft debris which they found
under the trees and lay down, side by side, to sleep. The Navaho
spread his bark blanket over himself, and the turkey spread one of
its wings over its master, and he slept well that night.
492. Next morning they rose early and went out to hunt wood-
rats. They went down a small winding valley till they came to a
beautiful flat, through which ran a stream of water. " This would be
a good place for a farm if I had but the seeds to plant," said the
Navaho aloud. When he had spoken he observed that his turkey
began to act in a very peculiar manner. It ran to the western bor-
der of the flat, circled round to the north, and then ran directly
from north to south, where it rejoined its master, who had in the
mean time walked around the edge of the flat from east to west.
This (fig. 35) shows how they went. When they met they walked
together four times around the flat, gradually approaching the centre
as they walked. Here, in the centre, the man sat down and the
turkey gambolled around him. " My pet," said the Navaho, "what
a beautiful farm I could make here if I only had the seeds." The
turkey gobbled in reply and spread out its wings.
493. Na/i'nes///ani had supposed that when the gods were prepar-
ing the log for him they had done something to the turkey, but
what they had done he knew not. Now that his pet was acting so
strangely, it occurred to him that perhaps it could aid him. " My
pet," he said, "can you do anything to help me make a farm
here ? " The turkey ran a little way to the east and shook its wings,
from which four grains of white corn dropped out ; then it ran to
the south and shook from its wings four grains of blue corn ; at the
west it shook out four grains of yellow corn, and at the north four
Natt'riesfoani.
grains of variegated corn. Then it ran up to its master from the
east and shook its wings four times, each time shaking out four
seeds. The first time it dropped pumpkin seeds ; the second time,
watermelon seeds ; the third time, muskmelon seeds ; the fourth
time, beans. " E'yehe, slim (Thanks, my pet). I thought you had
something for me," said Na/i'nes//£ani.
494. He went away from the flat, roasted wood-rats for a meal,
and when he had eaten he made two planting sticks, one of grease-
wood and one of tsintli'zi 2M (Fendleria rupicold). He returned to
the flat and began to make his farm. He dug four holes in the east
Fig. 35. Tracks of man and turkey.
with the stick of tsintli'zi, and dropped into each hole a grain of
white corn. He dug four holes in the south with his greasewood
stick, and placed in each hole one grain of blue corn. He dug four
holes in the west with the tsmtli'zi stick, and planted in each one
grain of -yellow corn. He made four holes in the north with the
greasewood, and put in each one grain of variegated corn. With
the implement of tslntlfzi he planted the pumpkin seed between the
white corn and the blue corn. With the implement of greasewood
he planted watermelon seed between the blue corn and the yellow
corn. With the stick of tsmtli'zi he planted muskmelon seeds be-
tween the yellow corn and the variegated corn. With the stick of
greasewood he planted beans between the variegated corn and the
white corn.215 He looked all around to see if he had done every-
thing properly, and he went to the west of his farm among the foot-
hills and camped there.
1 74 Navaho Legends.
495. He felt uneasy during the night, fearing that there might be
some one else to claim the land, and he determined to examine the
surrounding country to see if he had any neighbors. Next day he
walked in a circle, sunwise, around the valley, and this he did for
four consecutive days, taking a wider circle each day ; but he met no
people and saw no signs of human life, and he said : " It is a good
place for a farm. No one claims the land before me." Each morn-
ing, before he went on his journey, he visited his farm. On the
fourth morning he saw that the corn had grown half a finger-length
above the ground.
496. On the fourth night, after his long day's walk around the
valley, when darkness fell, he sat by his fire facing the east, and was
surprised to see a faint gleam half way up the side of the mountains
in the east. " Strange," he said, " I have travelled all over that
ground and have seen neither man nor house nor track nor the re-
mains of fire." Then he spoke to the turkey, saying : " Stay at home
to-morrow, my pet ; I must go and find out who builds that fire."
497. Next day, leaving his turkey at home, he went off to search
the mountain-side, where he had seen the gleam ; but he searched
well and saw no signs of human life. When he came home he told
all his adventures to his turkey and said : " It must have been a
great glow-worm that I beheld." He got home pretty early in the
day and went out to trap wood-rats, accompanied by his turkey. In
the evening when he returned to his camp, he looked again, after
dark, toward the eastern mountain, and saw the gleam as he had
seen it the night before. He set a forked stick in the ground, got
down on his hands and knees, and looked at the fire through the
fork. (See par. 382.)
498. On the following morning he placed himself in the same
position he was in the night before, — putting his hands and knees
in the tracks then made, — and looked again over the forked stick.
He found his sight directed to a spot which he had already ex-
plored well. Notwithstanding this he went there again, leaving his
turkey behind, and searched wider and farther and with greater
care than on previous occasions ; but he still saw no traces of
human life. When he returned to camp he told his turkey all that
had happened to him. That night he saw the light again, and once
more he sighted over the forked stick with care.
499. When morning came, he found that he had marked the same
spot he had marked before ; and though he had little hope he set
out for the third time to find who made the distant fire. He
returned after a time, only to tell his disappointment to his turkey.
As usual he spent the rest of the day, accompanied by the turkey,
setting traps for wood-rats and other small animals. After dark,
Naitriesi\iani. 1 75
when he saw the distant flame again, he set a second forked stick in
the ground and laid between the two forks a long, straight stick,
which he aimed at the fire as he would aim an arrow. When this
was done he went to sleep.
500. Next morning he noted with great care the particular spot
to which the straight stick pointed, and set out to find the fire.
Before he left he said to his turkey : " I go once more to seek the
distant fire ; but it is the last time I shall seek it. If I find it not
to-day, I shall never try again. Stay here till I return." While he
spoke the turkey turned its back on him, and showed its master that
it was angry. It acted like a pouting child. He went to the place
on the eastern mountain to which the stick pointed, and here he
found, what he had not observed before, a shelf in the rocks, which
seemed to run back some distance. He climbed to the shelf and
discovered there two nice huts. He thought that wealthy people
must dwell in them. He felt ashamed of his ragged bark blanket, of
his garment of wood-rat skins, of his worn grass sandals, of his poor
bow and arrows ; so he took these off, laid them in the fork of a
juniper-tree, and, retaining only his breech-cloth of wood-rat skins,
his belt, tobacco pouch, and pipe, he approached one of the houses.
501. He pushed aside the curtain and saw, sitting inside, a young
woman making a fine buckskin shirt which she was garnishing
beautifully with fringes and shells. Ashamed of his appearance, he
hung his head and advanced, looking at her under his eyebrows.
" Where are the men ? " he said, and he sat on the ground. The
young woman replied : " My father and mother are in the other
hut." Just as the Navaho had made up his mind to go to the other
house the father entered. Doubtless the Navaho had been observed
while disrobing, for the old man, as he came in, brought the poor
rags with him. " Why do you not take in my son-in-law's goods ? "
said the old man to his daughter, as he laid the ragged bundle in
a conspicuous place on top of a pile of fine fabrics. Poor Nafl'-
nes^ani hung his head again in shame and blushed, while the
woman looked sideways and smiled. " Why don't you spread a skin
for my son-in-law to sit on ? " said the old man to his daughter.
She only smiled and looked sideways again. The old man took a
finely dressed Rocky Mountain sheep-skin and a deer-skin, — skins
finer than the Navaho had ever seen before, — spread them on the
ground beside the woman, and said to the stranger : " Why do you
not sit on the skins?" Na/fn£s/£ani made a motion as if to rise
and take the offered seat, but he sank back again in shame. Invited
a second time, he arose and sat down beside the young woman on
the skins.
502. The old man placed another skin beside the Navaho, sat on
it, tapped the visitor on the knee to attract his attention, and said :
" I long for a smoke. Fill your pipe 216 with tobacco and let me
smoke it." The Navaho answered: " I am poor. I have nothing."
Four times this request was made and this reply given. On the
fourth occasion the Navaho added : "I belong to the Ninoksu/ine' (the
People up on the Earth),217 and I have nothing." " I thought the
Ninoka^me* had plenty of tobacco," said the old man. The young
man now drew from his pouch, which was adorned with pictures of
the sun and moon, a mixture of native wild tobacco with four other
plants.218 His pipe was made of clay, collected from a place where
a wood-rat had been tearing the ground. He filled the pipe with
the mixture, lighted it with the sun,219 sucked it four times till it
was well kindled, and handed it to the old man to smoke. When
the latter had finished the pipe and laid it down he began to per:
spire violently and soon fell into a swoon. The young woman
thought her father was dead or dying, and ran to the other lodge to
tell her mother. The mother gave the young woman a quantity of
goods and said : " Give these to my son-in-law and tell him they shall
all be his if he restores your father to life." When the daughter
returned to the lodge where her father lay, she said to the Navaho :
" Here are goods for you. Treat my father. You must surely know
what will cure him." They laid the old man out on his side, in the
middle of the floor, with his head to the north and his face to the
east. The Navaho had in his pouch a medicine called ke'tlo, or
atsosi ke'tlo,220 consisting of many different ingredients. Where he
got the ingredients we know not ; but the medicine men now collect
them around the headwaters of the San Juan. He put some of
this medicine into a pipe, lighted it with the sunbeams, puffed the
smoke to the earth, to the sky, to the earth, and to the sky again ;
puffed it at the patient from the east, the south, the west, and the
north. When this fumigation was done, the patient began to show
signs of life, — his eyelids twitched, his limbs jerked, his body
shook. Na/i'nes///ani directed the young woman to put some of the
medicine, with water, to soak in an earthen bowl, — no other kind of
bowl is now used in making this infusion, — and when it was soaked
enough he rubbed it on the body of the patient.
503. " Sa^/ani, s\t& (My son-in-law, my nephew)," said the old
man, when he came to his senses once more, " fill the pipe for me
again. I like your tobacco." The Navaho refused and the old man
begged again. Four times did the old man beg and thrice the
young man refused him ; but when the fourth request was made the
young man filled the pipe, lit it as before, and handed it to the old
man. The latter smoked, knocked out the ashes, laid down the
pipe, began to perspire, and fell again into a deathly swoon. As on
the previous occasion, the women were alarmed and offered the
Navaho a large fee, in goods, if he would restore the smoker to life.
The medicine being administered and the ceremonies being re-
peated, the old man became again conscious.
504. As soon as he recovered he said : " My son-in-law, give me
another smoke. I have travelled far and smoked much tobacco ;
but such fine tobacco as yours I never smoked before." As on the
other occasions, the old man had to beg four times before his request
was granted. A third time the pipe was filled ; the old man smoked
and swooned ; the women gave presents to the Navaho ; the atsosi
ke'tlo was administered, and the smoker came to life again.
505. But as soon as he regained his senses he pleaded for another
smoke. " The smoke is bad for you," said the Navaho. " It does
you harm. Why do you like my tobacco so well ? " " Ah ! it makes
me feel good to the ends of my toes. It smells well and tastes
well." "Since you like it so well," said the young man, "I shall
give you one more pipeful." This time the old man smoked vigor-
ously ; he drew the smoke well into his chest and kept it there a
long time before blowing it out. Everything happened now as
before, but in addition to the medicine used previously, the Navaho
scattered the fragrant yau/i^mi/ 221 on the hot coals and let the
patient breathe its fumes. The Navaho had now four large bundles
of fine goods as pay for his services. When the old man recovered
for the fourth time he praised loudly the tobacco of the Navaho.
He said he had never felt so happy as when smoking it. He asked
the Navaho : " How would you like to try my tobacco ? " and he
went to the other lodge to fetch his tobacco pouch. While he was
gone the Wind People whispered into the ear of the Navaho : " His
tobacco will kill you surely. It is not like your tobacco. Those
who smoke it never wake again ! "
506. Presently the old man returned with a pouch that had pic-
tures of the sun and moon on it, and with a large pipe — much
larger than that of the Navaho — decorated with figures of deer,
antelope, elk, and Rocky Mountain sheep.222 The old man filled his
pipe, lighted it, puffed the smoke to earth and sky, each twice, alter-
nately, and handed the pipe to the Navaho. The young man said :
" I allow no one to fill the pipe for me but myself. My customs
differ from yours. You ask a stranger for a smoke. I ask no man
for a smoke. I pick my own tobacco. Other people's tobacco
makes me ill ; that is why I do not use it." Thus he spoke, yet the
stuff he had given the old man to smoke was not the same that he
used himself. The latter consisted of four kinds of tobacco :
glona/o, or weasel tobacco, dfepenafo, or sheep tobacco, dsiVna/o, or
mountain tobacco, and kosnato, or cloud tobacco.223 He had differ-
1 78 Navaho Legends.
ent compartments in his pouch for his different mixtures. The old
man invited him four times to smoke ; but four times the Navaho
refused, and said at last : " I have my pipe already filled with my
own tobacco. I shall smoke it. My tobacco injures no one unless
he is ill." He proceeded to smoke the pure tobacco. When he had
done smoking, he said : " See. It does me no harm. Try another
pipeful."
507. He now filled his pipe with the mixture of four kinds of real
tobacco and handed it to the old man to smoke. When the latter
had finished he said : " Your tobacco does not taste as it did before,
and I do not now feel the same effect after smoking it as I did at
first. Now it cools me ; formerly it made me perspire. Why did
I fall down when I smoked it before ? Tell me, have I some dis-
ease ? " The Navaho answered : " Yes. It is yaji'ntrogi, some-
thing bad inside of you, that makes the tobacco affect you so.
There are four diseases that may cause this : they are the yellow
disease, the cooked-blood disease, the water-slime disease, and the
worm disease. One or more of these diseases you surely have."224
The old man closed his eyes and nodded his head to show that he
believed what was told him. Of course the Navaho did not believe
what he himself had said ; he only told this to the old man to conceal
the fact that he had filled the pipe with poisoned tobacco.
508. While all these things were happening the Navaho had paid
no heed to how the day was passing ; but now he became suddenly
aware that it was late in the afternoon and that the sun was about
to set. " I must hasten away. It is late," he said. " No, my son-
in-law ; do not leave us," pleaded the old man. "Sleep here to-
night." He ordered his daughter to make a bed for the stranger.
She spread on the floor fine robes of otter-skin and beaver-skin,
beautifully ornamented. He laid down on the rugs and slept there
that night.
509. Next morning the young woman rose early and went out.
Soon after her departure the old man entered the lodge and said to
his guest : " I and my daughter were so busy yesterday with all that
you did to me, and all the cures you wrought on me, that we had no
time to cook food and eat ; neither had you. She has gone now to
prepare food. Stay and eat with us." Presently the young woman
returned, bringing a dish of stewed venison and a basket filled with
mush made of wild seeds. The basket was such a one as the
Navahoes now use in their rites.5 On the aMatlo (the part where
the coil terminates, the point of finish), the old man had, with
the knowledge of his daughter, placed poison. She presented the
basket to the stranger, with the point of finish toward him, as her
father had directed her to do, saying : " When a stranger visits us
Natiriesfaani. 1 79
we always expect him to eat from the part of the basket where it is
finished." As he took the basket the Wind People 75 whispered to
him : " Eat not from that part of the basket ; death is there, but
there is no death in the venison." The young man turned the
basket around and began to eat from the side opposite to that which
was presented to him, saying : " It is my custom to eat from the
edge opposite to the point of finish." He did not eat all the mush.
He tried the venison stew ; but as it was made of dried meat he did
not like it and ate very little of it. When he had done she took the
dishes back to the other lodge. " From which side of the basket
did my son-in-law eat ? " asked the old man. " From the wrong
side. He told me it was his custom never to eat from the side
where the basket was finished," said the young woman. Her father
was surprised. When a visitor came to him he always tried the
poisoned tobacco first ; if that failed he next tried the poisoned
basket. " My husband says he wants to go home now," said the
young woman. " Tell him it is not the custom for a man to go
home the morning after his marriage. He should always remain
four days at least," said the old man. She brought this message
back to the Navaho. He remained that day and slept in the lodge
at night.
510. Next morning the young woman rose early again and went
to the other lodge. Soon after she was gone the old man entered
and said to Nafl'nes/^ani : " You would do well not to leave till you
have eaten. My daughter is preparing food for you." In a little
while, after he left, the young woman entered, bringing, as before, a
dish of stewed venison and a basketful of mush, which she handed
to the Navaho without making any remark. But Wind whispered :
"There is poison all around the edge of the basket this time ; there
is none in the venison." The Navaho ate some of the stew, and
when he took the basket of mush he ate only from the middle, say-
ing : "When I eat just as the sun is about to come up, it is my cus-
tom to eat only from the middle of the basket." The sun was about
to rise as he spoke. When she went back to the other lodge with
the remains of the meal, her father asked : " How did he eat this
morning ? " She replied : " He ate the stew ; but the mush he ate
only from the middle of the basket." " Ahahaha ! " said the old
man, "it never took me so long, before." The Navaho remained in
the lodge all that day and all night.
511. The next (third) morning things happened as before: the
woman rose early, and while she was gone the old man came into
the lodge, saying : " The women are cooking food for you. Don't
go out till you have eaten." The reason they gave their visitor only
one meal a day was that he might be so ravenous with hunger when
it came that he would not notice the poison and would eat plenty of
it. When the food was brought in, the Wind People whispered to
the Navaho : " Poison is mixed all through the mush, take none of
it." He ate heartily of the stew, and when he was done he said to
the young woman : " I may eat no mush to-day. The sun is already
risen, and I have sworn that the sun shall never see me eat mush."
When she went back to the other lodge her father asked : " How
did my son-in-law eat this morning?" " He ate only of the stew,"
she said. " He would not touch the mush." " Ahahaha," said the
old man in a suspicious tone ; but he said no more. Again the
Navaho stayed all day and all night.
512. On the fourth morning when the daughter went to prepare
food and the old man entered the lodge, he said : " Go out some-
where to-day. Why do you not take a walk abroad every day ? Is
it on your wife's account that you stay at home so much, my son-in-
law ? " When the young woman brought in the usual venison stew
and basket of mush, Wind whispered : " All the food is poisoned this
morning." When she handed the food to the young man he said :
" I do not eat at all to-day. It is my custom to eat no food one day
in every four. This is the day that I must fast." When she took
the untasted food back to the other lodge, her father inquired :
" What did my son-in-law eat this morning ? " and she answered :
" He ate nothing." The old man was lying when he spoke ; he rose
when she answered him and carefully examined 'the food she had
brought back. " Truly, nothing has been touched," he said. " This
must be a strange man who eats nothing. My daughter, do you tell
him anything he should not know ? " " Truly, I tell him nothing,"
she replied.
513. When the young woman came back again from her father's
lodge, the Navaho said to her : " I have a hut and a farm and a
pet not far from here ; I must go home to-day and see them." " It
is well," she said. "You may go." He began to dress for the
journey by putting on his old sandals. She brought him a pair of
fine new moccasins, beautifully embroidered, and urged him to put
them on ; but he refused them, saying : " I may put them on some
other time. I shall wear my old sandals to-day."
514. When Na/i'nesMani got back to his farm he found the tracks
of his turkey all around, but the turkey itself he could not' see. It
was evident from the tracks that it had visited the farm and gone
back to the hut again. The Navaho made four circuits around the
hut — each circuit wider than the preceding — to see whither the
tracks led. On the fourth circuit he found they led to the base of a
mountain which stood north of the hut. " I shall find my pet some-
where around the mountain," thought the Navaho. The tracks had
the appearance of being four days old, and from this he concluded
that the turkey had left the same day he had. It took him four
days, travelling sunwise and going spirally up the mountain, to reach
the summit, where he found many turkey tracks, but still no turkey.
He fancied his pet might have descended the mountain again, so he
went below and examined the ground carefully, but found no de-
scending tracks. He returned to the summit and, looking more
closely than at first, discovered where the bird had flown away from
a point on the eastern edge of the summit and gone apparently
toward the east.
515. The Navaho sat down, sad and lonely, and wept. "Dear
pet," he said, " would that I had taken you with me that day when
I set out on my journey. Had I done so I should not have lost you.
Dear pet, you were the black cloud ; you were the black mist ; you
were the beautiful he-rain;225 you were the beautiful she-rain;137
you were the beautiful lightning ; you were the beautiful rainbow ;
you were the beautiful white corn ; you were the beautiful blue
corn ; you were the beautiful yellow corn ; you were the beautiful
corn of all colors ; you were the beautiful bean. Though lost to
me, you shall be of use to men, upon the earth, in the days to come
— they shall use your feathers and your beard in their rites." The
Navaho never saw his pet again ; it had flown to the east, and from
it we think the tame turkeys of the white men are descended. But
all the useful and beautiful things he saw in his pet are still to be
seen in the turkey. It has the colors of all the different kinds of
corn in its feathers. The black of the black mist and the black
cloud are there. The flash of the lightning and the gleam of
the rainbow are seen on its plumes when it walks in the sun. The
rain is in its beard ; the bean it carries on its forehead.
516. He dried his tears, descended the mountain, and sought his
old hut, which was only a poor shelter of brush, and then he went
to visit his farm. He found his corn with ears already formed and
all the other plants well advanced toward maturity.226 He pulled
one ear from a stalk of each one of the four different kinds of corn,
and, wrapping the ears in his mantle of wood-rat skins, went off to
see his wife. She saw him coming, met him at the door, and re-
lieved him of his weapons and bundle. " What is this ? " she said,
pointing to the bundle after she had laid it down. He opened it.
She started back in amazement. She had never seen corn before.
He laid the ears down side by side in a row with their points to the
east, and said : " This is what we call naM^, corn. This (pointing
to the first ear — the most northerly of the row) is white corn ; this
(pointing to the next) is blue corn ; this (pointing to the third) is
yellow corn, and this (pointing to the fourth) is corn of all colors."227
182 Navaho Legends
"And what do your people do with it?" she asked. "We eat it,"
he replied. " How do you prepare it to eat ? " she inquired. He
said : " We have four ways when it is green like this. We put it,
husk and all, in hot coals to roast. We take off the husk and roast
it in hot ashes. We boil it whole in hot water. We cut off the
grains and mix it with water to make mush."
5 1 7. She wrapped the four ears in a bundle and carried them to
the other lodge to show them to her parents. Both were astonished
and alarmed. The old man rose and shaded his eyes with his open
hand to look at them. They asked her questions about the corn,
such as she had asked her husband, and she answered them as he
had answered her. She cooked the four ears of corn, each one in a
different way, according to the methods her husband described.
They increased in cooking so that they made food enough to fur-
nish a hearty meal for all. The old people, who were greatly
pleased, said the mush smelled like fawn-cheese.228 " Where does
my son-in-law get this fine stuff ? Ask him. I wish to know, it is
so delicious. Does he not want some himself ? " said the old man
to his daughter. She brought a large dish of the corn to her hus-
band in the other lodge, and they ate it together. The Navaho had
no fear of poison this time, for the food did not belong to the old
man.
518. At night when they were alone together she asked him
where he got the corn. " I found it," he said. " Did you dig it out
of the ground ? " she asked. " No. I picked it up," was his an-
swer. Not believing him, she continued to question him until at
last he told her : "These things I plant and they grow where I plant
them. Do you wish to see my field ? " " Yes, if my father will let
me," the woman replied.
519. Next morning she told her father what she had found out on
the previous night and asked his advice. He said he would like to
have her go with Na/fnes^ani to see what the farm looked like and
to find out what kind of leaves the plant had that such food grew
on. When she came back from her father's lodge she brought with
her pemmican made of venison and a basket of mush. The Wind
People whispered to him that he need not fear the food to-day, so
he ate heartily of it. When the breakfast was over, the Navaho
said: "Dress yourself for the journey, and as soon as you are
ready I shall take you to my farm." She dressed herself for travel
and went to the lodge of her parents, where she said : "I go with
my husband now." " It is well," they said ; "go with him."
520. The Navaho and his wife set out together. When they came
to a little hill from which they could first see the field, they beheld
the sun shining on it ; yet the rain was falling on it at the same
time, and above it was a dark cloud spanned by a rainbow. When
they reached the field they walked four times around it sunwise, and
as they went he described things in the field to his wife. " This is
my white corn, this is my blue corn, this is my yellow corn, and this
is my corn of all colors. These we call squashes, these we call
melons, and these we call beans," he said, pointing to the various
plants. The bluebirds and the yellowbirds were singing in the
corn after the rain, and all was beautiful. She was pleased and
astonished and she asked many questions, — how the seeds were
planted, how the food was prepared and eaten, — and he answered
all her questions. " These on the ground are melons ; they are not
ripe yet. When they are ripe we eat them raw," he explained.
When they had circled four times around the field they went in
among the plants. Then he showed her the pollen and explained its
sacred uses.11 He told her how the corn matured ; how his people
husked it and stored it for winter use, how they shelled, ground, and
prepared it, and how they preserved some to sow in the spring.
" Now, let us pluck an ear of each kind of corn and go home," he
said. When she plucked the corn she also gathered three of the
leaves and put them into the same bundle with the corn ; but as
they walked home the leaves increased in number, and when she
got to the house and untied the bundle she found not only three,
but many leaves in it.
521. He explained to her how to make the dish now known to
the Navahoes as d\t\6gi klesan,230 and told her to make this of the
white corn. He instructed her how to prepare corn as ^Mogm
t-ridikoi,231 and told her to make this of the blue corn. He showed
her how to prepare corn in the form of ^abitra,232 or three-ears,
and bade her make this of the yellow corn. He told her to roast,
in the husk, the ear of many colors. She took the corn to the other
lodge and prepared it as she had been directed. In cooking, it all
increased greatly in amount, so that they all had a big meal out of
four ears.
•522. The old people questioned their daughter about the farm —
what it looked like, what grew there. They asked her many ques-
tions. She told them of all she had seen and heard : of her distant
view of the beautiful farm under the rain, under the black cloud,
under the rainbow ; of her near view of it — the great leaves, the
white blossoms of the bean, the yellow blossoms of the squash, the
tassel of the corn, the silk of the corn, the pollen of the corn, and
all the other beautiful things she saw there. When she had done
the old man said : " I thank you, my daughter, for bringing me such
a son-in-law. I have travelled far, but I have never seen such things
as those you tell of. I thought I was rich, but my son-in-law is
richer. In future cook these things with care, in the way my son-
in-law shows you."
523. The old man then went to see his son-in-law and said : " I
thank you for the fine food you have brought us, and I am glad to
hear you have such a beautiful farm. You know how to raise and
cook corn ; but do you know how to make and cook the pemmican ffi9
of the deer ? " " I know nothing about it," said the Navaho. (The
one knew nothing of venison ; the other knew nothing of corn.)
" How does it taste to you ? " asked the old man. " I like the taste
of it and I thank you for what you have given me," replied the
Navaho. "Your wife, then, will have something to tell you." When
he got back to the other lodge he said : " My son-in-law has been
kind to us ; he has shown you his farm and taught you how to pre-
pare his food. My daughter, now we must show him our farm."
She brought to her husband a large portion of the cooked corn.
524. When night came and they were alone together she asked
him to tell her his name. " I have no name," he replied. Three
times he answered her thus. When she asked for the fourth time
he said : " Why do you wish to know my name ? I have two names.
I am Na/fnes/^ani, He Who Teaches Himself, and I am A//o^/ise/i,
He Who Has Floated. Now that I have told you my name you
must tell me your father's name." " He is called Pi/zil/ani, Deer
Raiser. I am Pi'ml/ani-bitsi', Deer Raiser's Daughter, and my
mother is Pi'ml/ani-baad, She Deer Raiser," the young woman
answered.
525. In the morning after this conversation they had a breakfast
of mush and venison ; but Na/i'nes///ani received no warning from
the Wind People and feared not to eat. When the meal was over,
the young woman said to her husband : " My father has told me
that, as you have shown me your farm, I may now show you his
farm. If you wish to go there, you must first bathe your body in
yucca-suds and then rinse off in pure water." After he had taken
his bath as directed he picked up his old sandals and was about to
put them on when she stopped him, saying : " No. You wore your
own clothes when you went to your own farm. Now you must
wear our clothes when you come to our farm." She gave him
embroidered moccasins ; fringed buckskin leggings ; a buckskin
shirt, dyed yellow, beautifully embroidered with porcupine quills,
and fringed with stripes of otter-skin ; and a headdress adorned
with artificial ears called T^aha^/olkohi — they wore such in the old
days, and there are men still living who have seen them worn.
526. Dressed in these fine garments he set out with his wife and
they travelled toward the southeast. As they were passing the
other hut she bade him wait outside while she went in to procure a
Na t t'ries th an i. 185
wand of turquoise. They went but a short distance (about three
hundred yards) 233 when they came, on the top of a small hill, to a
large, smooth stone, adorned with turquoise, sticking in the ground
like a stopple in a water-jar. She touched this rock stopple with
her wand in four different directions — east, south, west, north —
and it sprang up out of the ground. She touched it in an upward
direction, and it lay over on its side, revealing a hole which led to a
flight of four stone steps.
527. She entered the hole and beckoned to him to follow. When
they descended the steps they found themselves in a square apart-
ment with four doors of rock crystal, one on each side. There was
a rainbow over each door. With her wand she struck the eastern
door and it flew open, disclosing a vast and beautiful country, like
this world, but more beautiful. How vast it was the Navaho knew
not, for he could not see the end of it. They passed through the
door. The land was filled with deer and covered with beautiful
flowers. The air was filled with the odor of pollen and the odor of
fragrant blossoms. Birds of the most beautiful plumage were flying
in the air, perching on the flowers, and building nests in the antlers
of the deer. In the distance a light shower of rain was falling, and
rainbows shone in every direction. " This, then, is the farm of my
father-in-law which you promised to show me," said the Navaho.
" It is beautiful ; but in truth it is no farm, for I see nothing
planted here." She took him into three other apartments. They
were all as beautiful as the first, but they contained different ani-
mals. In the apartment to the south there were antelope ; in that
to the west, Rocky Mountain sheep ; in that to the north, elk.
528. When they closed the last door and came out to the central
apartment they found Deer Raiser there. "Has my son-in-law been
in all the rooms and seen all the game ? " he asked. " I have seen
all," said Na/i'nes^ani. " Do you see two sacrificial cigarettes of
the deer above the rainbow over the eastern door ? " " I see them
now," responded the Navaho, " but I did not notice them when I
entered." The old man then showed him, over the door in the
south, two cigarettes of the antelope ; over the door in the west,
two cigarettes of the Rocky Mountain sheep ; over the door in the
north, the single white cigarette of //ast^eyal/i 234 (the elk had no
cigarette), and at the bottom of the steps by which they had en-
tered, two cigarettes of the fawn. " Look well at these cigarettes,"
said the old man, " and remember how they are painted, for such
we now sacrifice in our ceremonies." "Are you pleased ?" "Do
you admire what you have seen ? " " What do you think of it all ? "
Such were the questions the old man asked, and the Navaho made
answer : " I thank you. I am glad that I have seen your farm and
your pets. Such things I never saw before."
j86 Navaho Legends.
529. "Now, my daughter," said Deer Raiser, "catch a deer for
my son-in-law, that we may have fresh meat." She opened the
eastern door, entered, and caught a big buck by the foot (just as we
catch sheep in these days). She pulled it out. The Navaho walked
in front ; the young woman, dragging the buck, came after him, and
the old man came last of all, closing the doors and putting in the
stopple as he came. They brought the buck home, tied its legs
together with short rainbows, cut its throat with a stone arrow point,
and skinned it as we now skin deer.
530. Now Deer Raiser began again to plot the death of his son-in-
law. He found he could not poison him, so he determined to try an-
other plan. In a neighboring canyon, to which there was but one
entrance, he kept four fierce pet bears. He determined to invite his
son-in-law out to hunt with him, and get him killed by these bears.
The rest of that day the Navaho remained at home with his wife,
while the old man took the hoofs of the slain deer and made with
them a lot of tracks leading into the canyon of the bears.
531. On the following morning, while the young woman was
cooking in the other lodge, Deer Raiser came in where the Navaho
sat and said : " My son-in-law, four of my pet deer have escaped
from the farm. I have tracked them to a canyon near by, which
has only one entrance. As soon as you have eaten I want you to
help me to hunt them. You will stand at the entrance of the can-
yon while I go in to drive the deer toward you, and you can kill
them as they come out. No," said the old man after pausing for a
while and pretending to think, " you must go into the canyon, my
son-in-law, while I stay at the entrance and kill the deer. That will
be better." When about to start on his hunt, the Wind People whis-
pered to the Navaho : " Do not enter the canyon."
532. The two men walked along the steep side of the valley, fol-
lowing the tracks until they came to the high rugged cliffs that
marked the entrance to the canyon. " When my deer escape, here
is where they usually come," said Deer Raiser. A little stream of
water ran out of the canyon, and here the old man had raised a dam
to make a pool. When they reached the pool he said : " Here I
shall stop to shoot the deer. Go you in and drive them out for
me." " No, I fear the deer will pass me," said Na/fnes/7/ani. Four
times these words were said by both. At last the old man, seeing
that his companion was obstinate, said : " Stay here, then, but do
not let the deer escape you, and do not climb the hillsides around
for fear the deer should see you," and he went himself into the
canyon. In spite of all the warnings he had received, Na/i'nes^ani
climbed a rocky eminence where he could watch and be out of dan-
ger. After waiting a while in silence he heard a distant cry like
Natilriesfaani. 187
that of a wolf,235 woo-oo-oo-oo, and became aware that something
was moving toward him through the brush. He soon descried four
bears walking down the canyon in single file, about thirty paces
apart, alternately a female and a male. The old man had probably
told them there was some one for them to kill, for they advanced
with hair bristling, snouts up, and teeth showing. When he saw
them coming he said, " I am Nayenezgani. I am //astreyal/i. I am
Sa^nalkahi. I am a god of bears," and he mentioned the names
of other potent gods. As the bears were passing their hidden
enemy he drew arrow after arrow to the head and slew them all, one
by one. He killed them as they walked along a ledge of rock, and
their bodies tumbled down on the other side of the ledge, where
they were hidden from view. Soon the voice of the old man was
heard in the distance crying: " Oh, my pets! Oh, Tjananai! Oh,
T^e'sko*^ ! (for the bears had names).236 Save a piece for me! Save
a piece for me!" And a little later he came in sight, running and
panting. He did not see his son-in-law till he was right beside him.
He showed at once that he was surprised and angry, but he quickly
tried to make it appear that he was angry from another cause.
" I should have been here. You have let them run by," he cried
in angry tones. "Oh, no," said the Navaho, " I have not let them
run by. I have killed them. Look over the ledge and you will see
them." The old man looked as he was told, and was struck dumb
with astonishment and sorrow. He sat down in silence, with his
head hanging between his knees, and gazed at the bodies of his dead
pets. He did not even thank his son-in-law.237
533. Why did Deer Raiser seek the life of his son-in-law ? Now
Na/i'nes//zani knew, and now you shall know. The old man was a
^me'yiani, or man-eater, and a wizard. He wanted the flesh of the
Navaho to eat, and he wanted parts of the dead body to use in
the rites of witchcraft. But there was yet another reason ; he was
jealous of the Navaho, for those who practise witchcraft practise
also incest.
534. " Why did you shoot them ? " said the old man at last ; " the
deer went out before them. Why did you not shoot the deer? Now
you may skin the bears." " You never drove deer to me," said
the Navaho. " These are what you drove to me. When a compan-
ion in the hunt drives anything to me I kill it, no matter what it is.
You have talked much to me about hunting with you. Now I have
killed game and you must skin it." " Help me, then, to skin it,"
said Deer Raiser. " No. I never skin the game I kill myself.238
You must do the skinning. I killed for you," said the Navaho. " If
you will not help me," said the old man, " go back to the house and
tell my daughter to come and assist me to skin the bears. Go back
by the way we came when we trailed the deer."
1 88 Navaho Legends.
535. Na/i'nes/^ani set off as the Deer Raiser had directed him.
As soon as he was out of sight the old man rushed for the house by
a short cut. Reaching home, he hastily dressed himself in the skin
of a great serpent, went to the trail which his son-in-law was to
take, and lay in ambush behind a log at a place where the path led
through a narrow defile. As the Navaho approached the log the
Wind People told him : " Your father-in-law awaits you behind the
log." The Navaho peeped over the log before he got too near, and
saw Deer Raiser in his snake-skin suit, swaying uneasily back and
forth, poising himself as if preparing to spring. When he saw the
young man looking in his direction he crouched low. "What are
you doing there ? " called the Navaho (in a way which let Deer Raiser
know he was recognized),239 and he drew an arrow on the old man.
" Stop ! stop ! " cried the latter. " I only came here to meet you
and hurry you up." "Why do you not come from behind, if that is
so ? Why do you come from before me and hide beside my path ? "
said the Navaho, and he passed on his way and went to his wife's
house.
536. When Na/i'nes//^ani reached the house he told his wife that
he had killed four animals for his father-in-law, but he did not tell
her what kind of animals they were, and he told her that her father
sent for her mother to help skin the animals and cut up the meat.
The daughter delivered the message to her mother, and the latter
went out to the canyon to help her husband. When Deer Raiser
saw his wife coming he was furious. " It was my daughter I sent
for, not you," he roared. " What sort of a man is he who cannot
carry my word straight, who cannot do as he is told ? I bade him
tell my daughter, not you, to come to me." Between them they
skinned and dressed the bears and carried them, one at a time, to
his house. He sent to his son-in-law to know if he wanted some
meat, and the Navaho replied that he did not eat bear meat. When
he heard this, Deer Raiser was again furious, and said : " What man-
ner of a man is this who won't eat meat ? (He did not say what kind
of meat.) When we offer him food he says he does not want to eat
it. He never does what he is told to do. We cook food for him
and he refuses it. What can we do to please him ? What food will
satisfy him ? "
537. The next morning after the bears were killed, the young
woman went out as usual, and the old man entered during her ab-
sence. He said to Na/i'nes//zani : " I wish you to go out with me
to-day and help me to fight my enemies. There are enemies of
mine, not far from here, whom I sometimes meet in battle." " I
will go with you," said the Navaho. " I have long been hoping that
some one would say something like this to me."
Natl'riesthani. 189
538. They went from the lodge toward a mountain which was
edged on two sides by steep cliffs, which no man could climb. On
the top of the mountain the old man said there was a round hole
or valley in which his enemies dwelled. He stationed his son-in-law
on one side of this round valley where no cliffs were, and he went
to the opposite side to drive the enemy, as he said. He promised to
join the Navaho when the enemy started. Deer Raiser went around
the mountain and cried four times in imitation of a wolf. Then,
instead of coming to his comrade's help, he ran around the base of
the hill and got behind his son-in-law. Soon after the old man
made his cry, the Navaho saw twelve great ferocious bears coming
toward him over the crest of the hill. They were of the kind called
.yajnalkahi, or tracking bears, such as scent and track a man, and
follow till they kill him. They were of all the sacred colors, —
white, blue, yellow, black, and spotted. They came toward the
Navaho, but he was well armed and prepared to meet them. He
fought with them the hardest fight he ever fought ; but at length he
killed them all, and suffered no harm himself.240
539. In the mean time the old man ran off in the direction of his
home, sure that his son-in-law was killed. He said : " I think we
shall hear no more of Na/fnes/^ani. I think we shall hear no more
of A^o^/ise/i. Hereafter it will be Na/i'nes//zanini (the dead Na/i'-
nes/^ani). Hereafter it will be A/zo^ise/ini (the dead A/fco^/ise/i).241
He can't come back out of the tracking bears' mouths." After kill-
ing the bears, the Navaho found the old man's trail and followed it.
Presently he came to Deer Raiser, who was sitting on a knoll. The
old man could not conceal his astonishment at seeing the Navaho
still alive. " When we went out to this battle," said the young
man, " we promised not to desert one another. Why did you run
away from me ? " The Deer Raiser answered : " I am sorry I could
not find you. I did not see where you were, so I came on this
way. What did you do where I left you ? Did you kill any of the
bears?" "Yes, I killed all of them," said Nafl'nes^ani. "I am
glad you killed all and came away with your own life, my dear son-
in-law," said the old cheat.
540. They started to walk home together, but night fell when
they reached a rocky ridge on the way ; here they picked out a
nice spot of ground to sleep on, built a shelter of brushwood, and
made a fire. Before they went to rest the old man said : " This
is a bad place to camp. It is called KedidiVyena'a' (Ridge of the
Burnt Moccasins)." As they lay down to sleep, one on either side of
the fire, each took off his moccasins and put them under his head.
The old man said : " Take good care of your moccasins, my son-in-
law. Place them securely." " Why does he say these things ? "
asked the Navaho to himself. As he lay awake, thinking of the
warning of the old man, he heard the latter snoring. He rose softly,
took away the old man's moccasins, put his own in their place, and
lay down to sleep with Deer Raiser's moccasins under his head.
Later in the night the old man got up, pulled the moccasins from
under the young man's head, and buried them in the hot embers.
He was anxious to get home next morning before his son-in-law.
541. At dawn the old man aroused his companion with " It is time
we were on our road." The young man woke, rubbed his eyes,
yawned, and pretended to look for his moccasins. After searching
a while he asked : " Where are my moccasins ? Have I lost them ? "
"Huh!" said Deer Raiser. "You did not listen to what I told
you last night. I said that this was the Ridge of the Burned Moc-
casins." In the mean time, on the other side of the fire, the old man
was putting on his companion's moccasins, not noticing that they
were not his own. " Look. You are putting on my moccasins
instead of your own. Give me my moccasins," said the Navaho,
reaching across the fire. He took them out of his companion's
hands, sat down and put them on. " Now we must hurry back," he
said. " I can't see what made you burn your moccasins, but I can-
not wait for you. I am going now." 242
542. Before the young man left, his father-in-law gave him a mes-
sage. " I cannot travel as fast as you on my bare feet. When you
go home, tell my daughter to come out with a pair of moccasins and
some food, and meet me on the trail." When the Navaho got home
he said to his wife : " I camped with your father last night, and he
burned his moccasins. He is limping home barefoot. He bids his
wife to come out and meet him with moccasins and food." The
daughter delivered the message to her mother, and the latter went
out to meet her husband with moccasins, food, and a brand of burn-
ing cedar-bark. When the old man met her he was angry. " Why
have you come ? Why has not my daughter come ? " he asked.
" Your son-in-law said that I should come," the old woman replied.
" Oh, what a fool my son-in-law is," cried Deer Raiser. " He never
can remember what he is told to say." He ate his food, put on
his moccasins, and hurried home with his wife.
543- When Deer Raiser visited his son-in-law on the following
morning he said : " I warn you never to stray alone to the east of the
lodge in which you dwell. There is a dangerous place there." The
old man went home, and the Navaho pondered all day over what his
father-in-law had said, and during the night he made up his mind to
do just what the old man had told him not to do.
544. When Na/i'nes^/zani had eaten in the morning he dressed
himself for a journey, left the lodge, and travelled straight to the east.
' N
UNIVERSITY j
ro^ Nati'nes&am. 191
He came to a steep white ridge ; 243 when he had climbed this about
half way, he observed approaching him a man of low stature. His
coat, which fitted him skin-tight, was white on the chest and insides of
the arms, while it was brown elsewhere, like the skin of a deer. He
wore on his head a deer-mask, with horns, such as deer-hunters use.
He carried a turquoise wand, a black bow with sinew on the back,
and two arrows with featherings of eagle-tail. He was one of the
Tsidas/6k/me'.244 When the men met, the stranger, who had a pale
face,245 looked out from under his mask and said : " Whence come
you, my grandchild ? " "I come, my grandfather, from a place near
here. I come from the house of Piml/ani," the Navaho answered.
" My grandchild, I have heard of you. Do you know how my cigar-
ette is made ? " said the man with the deer-mask. " No, my grand-
father, I never heard of your cigarette," was the reply. "There is
a cigarette 12 for me, my grandson," said the stranger. " It is painted
white, with a black spot on it, and is so long (second joint of mid-
dle finger). It should be laid in the fork of a pinon-tree. I am
now walking out, and am going in the direction whence you came.
There are people living behind the ridge you are climbing. You
should visit them, and hear what they will have to tell you."
545. The Navaho climbed the ridge ; and as he began to descend
it on the other side, he observed below him two conical tents, such
as the Indians of the plains use. The tents were white below and
yellow above, representing the dawn and the evening twilight. As
he approached the tents he observed that two games of nanm? were
being played, — one beside each tent, — and a number of people
were gathered, watching the games. As he advanced toward the
crowd a man came forward to meet him, saying : " Go to the lodge in
the south. There are many people there." He went to the lodge
in the south, as he was bidden. A woman of bright complexion,
fairer than the Navahoes usually are, the wife of the owner of the
lodge, came out and invited him to enter.
546. When Natf'nes/^ani entered the lodge he found its owner
seated in the middle. The latter was a man past middle age, but
not very old. He was dressed in a beautiful suit of buckskin em-
broidered with porcupine quills. He pointed to a place by his side,
and said to the Navaho : " Sit here, my grandchild." When the
Navaho was seated his host said : " Whence do you come ? The
people who live up on the earth are never seen here." "I come
from the house of Pi/nl/ani," the young man answered. " Oh ! Do
you ? " questioned the host. " And do you know that Deer Raiser
is a great villain ; that he kills his guests ; that he talks softly, and
pretends friendship, and lures people to stay with him until he can
quietly kill them ? Has he never spoken thus softly to you ? How
long have you been staying with him ? " " I have dwelt with him
for many days," Na/fnes/^ani answered. "Ah!" said his host.
" Many of our young men have gone over there to woo his daughter ;
but they have never returned. Some are killed on the first day ;
others on the second day ;. others on the third day; others on the
fourth ; but no one ever lives beyond the fourth day. No one has
ever lived there as long as you have." " He seems to be such a
man as you describe him," said Natf'nes//2ani. " He has been trying
to kill me ever since I have been with him." " You must be a wise
man to have escaped him so long ; your prayer must be potent ; your
charm must be strong," m declared the host. " No, truly, I know
no good prayer ; I possess no charm," the Navaho replied, and then
he went on to tell how he came into that country, and all that hap-
pened to him, till he came to the house of Deer Raiser. " He is
rich, but he is no good. That daughter of his is also his wife, and
that is why he wants to poison her suitors," said the owner of the
lodge, and then he described four ways in which Pi;/il/ani killed his
guests. The Navaho remained silent. He knew all the ways of the
Deer Raiser, but he pretended not to know. Then the host went
on : " The house of Deer Raiser is a place of danger. You will
surely be killed if you stay there. I am sorry you are in such bad
company, for you seem to be a good man." " You speak of Deer
Raiser as a great man ; but he cannot be so great as you think he is.
Four times have I killed him with, smoke, and four times have I
brought him to life again," said the Navaho, and then he related all
his adventures since he had been with Piwil/ani.
547. The host thanked him for having slain the bears, and went
out to call the players and all the crowd that stood around them to
come to his tent. They came, for he was their chief, and soon the
tent was crowded. Then he spoke to the assembly, and told them
the story of the Navaho. There was great rejoicing when they
heard it. They thanked Na/fnes/7/ani for what he had done. One
said that Deer Raiser had killed his brother ; another said he had
killed his son ; another said the bears had slain his nephew, and
thus they spoke of their many woes.
548. The people were of five kinds, or gentes : the Puma People,
the Blue Fox People, the Yellow Fox People, the Wolf People, and
the Lynx People, and the host was chief of all.
549. The chief ordered one of his daughters to prepare food for
the visitor. She brought in deer pemmican. The Navaho ate, and
when he was done he said : " I am now ready to go, my grandfa-
ther." "Wait a while," said the chief. " I have some medicine to
give you. It is an antidote for Deer Raiser's poison." He gave his
visitor two kinds of medicine ; one was an object the size of the
Na ti'riestham. 193
last two joints of the little finger, made of the gall of birds of prey,
— all birds that catch with their claws ; the other was a small quan-
tity (as much as one might grasp with the tips of all the fingers of
one hand) of a substance composed of material vomited by each of
the five animals that were the totems of this people. " Now have
no fear," said the chief. "The bears are slain, and you have here
medicines that will kill the wizard's poison. They are potent against
witchcraft." ™
550. When the Navaho went back to the house where his wife
was, she said : " My father has been here inquiring for you. When
I told him you had gone to the east he was very angry, and said that
he told you not to go there." Soon the old man entered and said
fiercely : " Why have you gone to the east ? I told you not to go
there. I told you it was a bad place." The young man made no
reply, but acted as if he had seen and heard nothing while he was
gone, and in a little while Deer Raiser calmed down and acted as if
he wished to be at peace again with his son-in-law ; but before he
left he warned him not to go to the south. Natf'nes^ani pondered
on the words of his father-in-law that night, and made up his mind
to again disobey him when morning came.
551. Next day, when he had eaten, he dressed himself for a jour-
ney and walked toward the south. He came, in time, to a blue
ridge, and when he was ascending it he met a little man, much like
the one he had met the day before, but he had a bluish face. In-
stead of being dressed to look like a deer, he was dressed to look
like an antelope ; he wore an antelope hunting-mask with horns, he
carried a wand of haliotis, and a bow made of a wood called tse/kani,
with no sinew on the back, and he had arrows trimmed with the tail
feathers of the red-tailed buzzard.248 Like the little man of the east,
he was also one of the Tsidas/6i People. He told the Navaho how
to make the cigarette that belonged to him, to make it the length of
the middle joint of the little finger, to paint it blue, spot it with yel-
low, and deposit it in the fork of a cedar-tree. The little man told
the Navaho to go on over the ridge till he came to two lodges and
to listen there to what the people would tell him. He went and
found two lodges, and people playing naoms', and had all things
happen to him nearly the same as happened to him in the east.
When he returned home he had again an angry talk from his father-
in-law, and was warned not to go to the west ; but again he deter-
mined to pay no heed to the warning.
552. When he went to the west, next day, he found a yellow ridge
to cross. The little man whom he met had a yellowish face ; he
was armed and dressed the same as the little man of the east, except
that he had no horns on his deer-mask, for he represented a doe.
He described to the Navaho how to make a cigarette sacred to him-
self, which was to be painted yellow, spotted with blue, and de-
posited in a pinon-tree, like the cigarette of the east. Other events
happened much as on the two previous days.
553. On the fourth of these forbidden journeys the Navaho went
to the north. The ridge which he had to cross was black. The
little man whom he met was armed and dressed like the man in the
south, but he had no horns on his mask. His face was very dark.
The cigarette whi.ch he described was to be painted black and
spotted with white ; it was to be the same length as the cigarette of
the south, and disposed of in the same way.
554. When he got home from his fourth journey, his father-in-law
came into the lodge and reviled him once more with angry words ;
but this time the Navaho did not remain silent. He told the old
man where he had been, what people he had met, what stories he
had heard, and all that he knew of him. He told him, too, that he
had learned of cigarettes, and medicines, and charms, and rites to
protect him against a wizard's power. " You have killed others,"
said Natf'nes//zani, " you have tried to kill me. I knew it all the
time, but said nothing. Now I know all of your wickedness." " All
that you say is true," said the old man ; " but I shall seek your life
no more, and I shall give up all my evil ways. While you were
abroad on your journeys you learned of powerful sacrifices, and
rites, and medicines. All that I ask is that you will treat me with
these." His son-in-law did as he was desired, and in doing so per-
formed the first atsosi 7za/al.249
555. After treating his father-in-law, Na/i'nes///ani returned to his
people, taught them all he had learned while he was gone, and thus
established the rite of atsosi ^a^a/ among the Navahoes. Then he
went back to the whirling lake of To'nihilm, and he dwells there
still.
Legend 6
556. Kintyel,72 Broad House, and Ki'ndotlls, Blue House,208 are
two pueblo houses in the Chaco Canyon. They are ruins now ; but
in the days when Ki/mfki lived on earth many people dwelt there.
Not far from the ruins is a high cliff called Tse'deza', or Standing
Rock. Near these places the rite of yoi /^a^a/,250 or the bead chant,
Fig. 36. Ruin in the Chaco Canyon, probably Kmtyel (after Bickford).
was first practised by the Navahoes, and this is the tale of how it
first became known to man : —
557. Two young men, one from Kmtyel and one from Ki'ndb/lfe,
went out one day to hunt deer. About sunset, as they were return-
ing to KiWo/lfe, weary and unsuccessful, they observed a war-
eagle soaring overhead, and they stopped to watch his flight. He
Navaho Legends.
moved slowly away, growing smaller and smaller to their gaze until
at length he dwindled to a black speck, almost invisible ; and while
they strained their sight to get a last look he seemed to them to
descend on the top of Standing Rock. In order to mark the spot
where they last saw him they cut a forked stick, stuck it in the
ground fork upward, and arranged it so that when they should look
over it again, crouching in a certain position, their sight would be
guided to the spot. They left the stick standing and went home to
558. In those days eagles were very scarce in the land ; it was a
wonder to see one ; so when the young men got home and told the
story of their day's adventures, it became the subject of much con-
versation and counsel, and at length the people determined to send
four men, in the morning, to take sight over the forked stick, in
order to find out where the eagle lived.
559. Next morning early the four men designated went to the
forked stick and sighted over it, and all came to the conclusion that
the eagle lived on the point of Tse'deza*. They went at once to the
rock, climbed to the summit, and saw the eagle and its young in a
cleft on the face of the precipice below them. They remained on
the summit all day and watched the nest.
560. At night they went home and told what they had seen.
They had observed two young eagles of different ages in the nest.
Of the four men who went on the search, two were from Kintyel
and two were from Ki'n^/o/li^, therefore people from the two pueblos
met in counsel in an estufa, and there it was decided that Kf ndotliz
should have the elder of the two eaglets and that Kintyel should
have the younger.
561. The only way to reach the nest was to lower a man to it
with a rope ; yet directly above the nest was an overhanging ledge
which the man, descending, would be obliged to pass. It was a
dangerous undertaking, and no one could be found to volunteer for
it. Living near the pueblos was a miserable Navaho beggar who
subsisted on such food as he could pick up. When the sweepings
of the rooms and the ashes from the fireplaces were thrown out on
the kitchen heap, he searched eagerly through them and was happy
if he could find a few grains of corn or a piece of paper bread. He
was called Nahoditahe, or He Who Picks Up (like a bird). They
concluded to induce this man to make the dangerous descent.
562. They returned to the pueblo and sent for the poor Navaho
to come to the estufa. When he came they bade him be seated,
placed before him a large basket of paper bread, bowls of boiled
corn and meat, with all sorts of their best food, and told him to eat
his fill. He ate as he had never eaten before, and after a long time
The Great Shell of Kintyel. 197
he told his hosts that he was satisfied. " You shall eat," said they,
" of such abundance all your life, and never more have to scrape for
grains of corn among the dirt, if you will do as we desire." Then
they told him of their plan for catching the young eagles, and asked
him if he were willing to be put in a basket and lowered to the nest
with a rope. He pondered and was silent. They asked him again
and again until they had asked him four times, while he still sat in
meditation. At last he answered : " I lead but a poor life at best.
Existence is not sweet to a man who always hungers. It would be
pleasant to eat such food for the rest of my days, and some time or
other I must die. I shall do as you wish."
563. On the following morning they gave him another good meal;
they made a great, strong carrying-basket with four corners at the
top ; they tied a strong string to each corner, and, collecting a large
party, they set out for the rock of Tse'deza'.
564. When the party arrived at the top of the rock they tied a
long, stout rope to the four strings on the basket. They instructed
the Navaho to take the eaglets out of the nest and drop them to the
bottom of the cliff. The Navaho then entered the basket and was
lowered over the edge of the precipice. They let the rope out
slowly till they thought they had lowered him far enough and then
they stopped ; but as he had not yet reached the nest he called out
to them to lower him farther. They did so, and as soon as he was
on a level with the nest he called to the people above to stop.
565. He was just about to grasp the eaglets and throw them
down when Wind whispered to him : " These people of the Pueblos
are not your friends. They desire not to feed you with their good
food as long as you live. If you throw these young eagles down, as
they bid you, they will never pull you up again. Get into the eagles'
nest and stay there." When he heard this, he called to those above:
" Swing the basket so that it may come nearer to the cliff. I can-
not reach the nest unless you do." So they caused the basket to
swing back and forth. When it touched the cliff he held fast to the
rock and scrambled into the nest, leaving the empty basket swing-
ing in the air.
566. The Pueblos saw the empty basket swinging and waited,
expecting to see the Navaho get back into it again. But when they
had waited a good while and found he did not return they began to
call to him as if he were a dear relation of theirs. " My son," said
the old men, " throw down those little eagles." " My elder brother!
My younger brother ! " the young men shouted, " throw down those
little eagles." They kept up their clamor until nearly sunset ; but
they never moved the will of the Navaho. He sat in the cleft and
never answered them, and when the sun set they ceased calling and
went home.
Navaho Legends.
567. In the cleft or cave, around the nest, four dead animals lay ;
to the east there was a fawn ; to the south a hare ; to the west the
young of a Rocky Mountain sheep, and to the north a prairie-dog.
From time to time, when the eaglets felt hungry, they would leave
the nest and eat of the meat ; but the Navaho did not touch it.
568. Early next day the Pueblo people returned and gathered in a
great crowd at the foot of the cliff. They stayed there all day re-
peating their entreaties and promises, calling the Navaho by endear-
ing terms, and displaying all kinds of tempting food to his gaze ;
but he heeded them not and spoke not.
569. They came early again on the third day, but they came in
anger. They no longer called him by friendly names ; they no
longer made fair promises to him ; but, instead, they shot fire-
arrows at the eyry in hopes they would burn the Navaho out or set
fire to the nest and compel him to throw it and the eaglets down.
But he remained watchful and active, and whenever a fire-arrow
entered the cave he seized it quickly and threw it out. Then they
abused him and reviled him, and called him bad names until sunset,
when again they went home.
570. They came again on the fourth day and acted as they had
done on the previous day ; but they did not succeed in making the
Navaho throw down the little eagles. He spoke to the birds, saying:
" Can you not help me ? " They rose in the nest, shook their wings,
and threw out many little feathers, which fell on the people below.
The Navaho thought the birds must be scattering disease on his
enemies. When the latter left at sunset they said: "Now we
shall leave you where you are, to die of hunger and thirst." He
was then altogether three nights and nearly four days in the cave.
For two days the Pueblos had coaxed and flattered him ; for two
days they had cursed and reviled him, and at the end of the fourth
day they went home and left him in the cave to die.
571. When his tormentors were gone he sat in the cave hungry
and thirsty, weak and despairing, till the night fell. Soon after
dark he heard a great rushing sound which approached from one
side of the entrance to the cave, roared a moment in front, and then
grew faint in the distance at the other side. Thus four times the
sound came and went, growing louder each time it passed, and at
length the male Eagle lit on the eyry. Soon the sounds were
repeated, and the female bird, the mother of the eaglets, alighted.
Turning at once toward the Navaho, she said : " Greeting, my child !
Thanks, my child ! You have not thrown down your younger
brother, Z>oniki." 285 The male Eagle repeated the same words.
They addressed the Navaho by the name of Z?oniki, but afterwards
they named him Kiwniki, after the chief of all the Eagles in the sky.
He only replied to the Eagles : " I am hungry. I am thirsty."
The Great Shell of KmtyeL 1 99
572. The male Eagle opened his sash and took out a small white
cotton cloth which contained a little corn meal, and he took out a
small bowl of white shell no bigger than the palm of the hand.
When the Indian saw this he said : " Give me water first, for I am
famishing with thirst." "No," replied the Eagle; "eat first and
then you shall have something to drink." The Eagle then drew
forth from among his tail feathers a small plant called el/md^akaj,262
which has many joints and grows near streams. The joints were all
filled with water. The Eagle mixed a little of the water with some
of the meal in the shell and handed -the mixture to the Navaho.
The latter ate and ate, until he was satisfied, but he could not
diminish in the least the contents of the shell vessel. When he
was done eating there was as much in the cup as there was when he
began. He handed it back to the Eagle, the latter emptied it with
one sweep of his finger, and it remained empty. Then the Eagle put
the jointed plant to the Navaho's lips as if it were a wicker bottle,
and the Indian drank his fill.
573. On the previous nights, while lying in the cave, the Navaho
had slept between the eaglets in the nest to keep himself warm and
shelter himself from the wind, and this plan had been of some help
to him ; but on this night the great Eagles slept one on each side of
him, and he felt as warm as if he had slept among robes of fur.
Before the Eagles lay down to sleep each took off his robe of plumes,
which formed a single garment, opening in front, and revealed a
form like that of a human being.
574. The Navaho slept well that night and did not waken till he
heard a voice calling from the top of the cliff: "Where are you?
The day has dawned. It is growing late. Why are you not abroad
already ? " At the sound of this voice the Eagles woke too and put
on their robes of plumage. Presently a great number of birds were
seen flying before the opening of the cave and others were heard
calling to one another on the rock overhead. There were many
kinds of Eagles and Hawks in the throng. Some of all the large
birds of prey were there. Those on top of the rock sang : —
Ki#nakiye, there he sits.
When they fly up,
We shall see him.
He will flap his wings.286
575. One of the Eagles brought a dress of eagle plumes and was
about to put it on the Navaho when the others interfered, and they
had a long argument as to whether they should dress him in the
garment of the Eagles or not ; but at length they all flew away
without giving him the dress. When they returned they had
2OO Navaho Legends. < <
thought of another plan for taking him out of the cave. Laying
him on his face, they put a streak of crooked lightning under his
feet, a sunbeam under his knees, a piece of straight lightning under
his chest, another under his outstretched hands, and a rainbow
under his forehead.
576. An Eagle then seized each end of these six supports, — mak-
ing twelve Eagles in all, — and they flew with the Navaho and the
eaglets away from the eyry. They circled round twice with their
burden before they reached the level of the top of the cliff. They
circled round twice more ascending, and then flew toward the
south, still going upwards. When they got above the top of Tsotsi/
(Mt. Taylor), they circled four times more, until they almost
touched the sky. Then they began to flag and breathed hard, and
they cried out: "We are weary. We can fly no farther." The
voice of one, unseen to the Navaho, cried from above : " Let go your
burden." The Eagles released their hold on the supports, and the
Navaho felt himself descending swiftly toward the earth. But he
had not fallen far when he felt himself seized around the waist and
chest, he felt something twining itself around his body, and a
moment later he beheld the heads of two Arrow-snakes 253 looking
at him over his shoulders. The Arrow-snakes bore him swiftly
upwards, up through the sky-hole, and landed him safely on the sur-
face of the upper world above the sky.
577. When he looked around him he observed four pueblo dwell-
ings, or towns : a white pueblo in the east, a blue pueblo in the
south, a yellow pueblo in the west, and a black pueblo in the north.
Wolf was the chief of the eastern pueblo, Blue Fox of the southern,
Puma of the western, and Big Snake of the northern. The Navaho
was left at liberty to go where he chose, but Wind whispered into
his ear and said : " Visit, if you wish, all the pueblos except that of
the north. Chicken Hawk254 and other bad characters dwell there."
578. Next he observed that a war party was preparing, and soon
after his arrival the warriors went forth. What enemies they sought
he could not learn. He entered several of the houses, was well treated
wherever he went, and given an abundance of paper bread and other
good food to eat. He saw that in their homes the Eagles were just
like ordinary people down on the lower world. As soon as they
entered their pueblos they took off their feather suits, hung these
up on pegs and poles, and went around in white suits which they
wore underneath their feathers when in flight. He visited all the
pueblos except the black one in the north. In the evening the war-
riors returned. They were received with loud wailing and with
tears, for many who went out in the morning did not return at
night. They had been slain in battle.
The Great Shell of K^inty el. 201
579. In a few days another war party was organized, and this time
the Navaho determined to go with it. When the warriors started on
the trail he followed them. " Whither are you going ? " they asked.
"I wish to be one of your party," he replied. They laughed at him
and said : " You are a fool to think you can go to war against such
dreadful enemies as those that we fight. We can move as fast as the
wind, yet our enemies can move faster. If they are able to overcome
us, what chance have you, poor man, for your life ? " Hearing this,
he remained behind, but they had not travelled far when he hurried
after them. When he overtook them, which he soon did, they spoke
to him angrily, told him more earnestly than before how helpless he
was, and how great his danger, and bade him return to the villages.
Again he halted ; but as soon as they were out of sight he began
to run after them, and he came up with them at the place where
they had encamped for the night. Here they gave him of their
food, and again they scolded him, and sought to dissuade him from
accompanying them.
580. In the morning, when the warriors resumed their march, he
remained behind on the camping-ground,, as if he intended to re-
turn ; but ' as soon as they were out of sight he proceeded again to
follow them. He had not travelled far when he saw smoke coming
up out of the ground, and approaching the smoke he found a smoke-
hole, out of which stuck an old ladder, yellow with smoke, such as
we see in the pueblo dwellings to-day. He looked down through
the hole and beheld/ in a subterranean chamber beneath, a strange-
looking old woman with a big mouth. Her teeth were not set in
her head evenly and regularly, like those of an Indian ; they pro-
truded from her mouth, were set at a distance from one another,
and were curved like the claws of a bear. She was NasUe' Estsan,
the Spider Woman. She invited him into her house, and he passed
down the ladder.
581. When he got inside, the Spider Woman showed him four
large wooden hoops, — one in the east colored black, one in the south
colored blue, one in the west colored yellow, and one in the north
white and sparkling. Attached to each hoop were a number of
decayed, ragged feathers. "These feathers," said she, "were once
beautiful plumes, but now they are old and dirty. I want some new
plumes to adorn my hoops, and you can get them for me. Many of
the Eagles will be killed in the battle to which you are going, and
when they die you can pluck out the plumes and bring them to me.
Have no fear of the enemies. Would you know who they are that
the Eagles go to fight ? They are only the bumblebees and the
tumble-weeds." 256 She gave him a long black cane and said : " With
this you can gather the tumble-weeds into a pile, and then you can
2O2 Navaho Legends.
set them on fire. Spit the juice of trildilgl'si ffi7 at the bees and they
cannot sting you. But before you burn up the tumble-weeds gather
some of the seeds, and when you have killed the bees take some
of their nests. You will need these things when you return to the
earth." When Spider Woman had done speaking the Navaho left
to pursue his journey.
582. He travelled on, and soon came up with the warriors where
they were hiding behind a little hill and preparing for battle. Some
were putting on their plumes; others were painting and adorning
themselves. From time to time one of their number would creep
cautiously to the top of the hill and peep over ; then he would run
back and whisper: " There are the enemies. They await us." The
Navaho went to the top of the hill and peered over; but he could
see no enemy whatever. He saw only a dry, sandy flat, covered in
one place with sunflowers, and in another place with dead weeds ;
for it was now late in the autumn in the world above.
583. Soon the Eagles were all ready for the fray. They raised
their war-cry, and charged over the hill into the sandy plain. The
Navaho remained behind the hill, peeping over to see what would
occur. As the warriors approached the plain a whirlwind arose ; 258
a great number of tumble-weeds ascended with the wind and surged
around madly through the air ; and, at the same time, from among
the sunflowers a cloud of bumblebees arose. The Eagles charged
through the ranks of their enemies, and when they had passed to
the other side they turned around and charged back again. Some
spread their wings and soared aloft to attack the tumble-weeds that
had gone up with the whirlwind. From time to time the Navaho
noticed the dark body of an Eagle falling down through the air.
When the combat had continued some time, the Navaho noticed a
few of the Eagles running toward the hill where he lay watching. In
a moment some more came running toward him, and soon after the
whole party of Eagles, all that was left of it, rushed past him, in a
disorderly retreat, in the direction whence they had come, leaving
many slain on the field. Then the wind fell ; the tumble-weeds lay
quiet again on the sand, and the bumblebees disappeared among
the sunflowers.
584. When all was quiet, the Navaho walked down to the sandy
flat, and, having gathered some of the seeds and tied them up in a
corner of his shirt, he collected the tumble-weeds into a pile, using
his black wand. Then he took out his fire-drill, started a flame, and
burnt up the whole pile. He gathered some trnWllgi'si, as the Spider
Woman had told him, chewed it, and went, in among the sunflowers.
Here the bees gathered around him in a great swarm, and sought
to sting him ; but he spat the juice of the ttfUilgi'si at them and
The Great Shell of KmtyeL 203
stunned with it all that he struck. Soon the most of them lay help-
less on the ground, and the others fled in fear. He went around
with his black wand and killed all that he could find. He dug into
the ground and got out some of their nests and honey ; he to*ok a
couple of the young bees and tied their feet together, and all these
things he put into the corner of his blanket. When the bees were
conquered he d,id not forget the wishes of his friend, the Spider
Woman ; he went around among the dead eagles, and plucked as
many plumes as he could grasp in both hands.
585. He set out on his return journey, and soon got back to the
house of Spider Woman. He gave her the plumes and she said :
" Thank you, my grandchild, you have brought me the plumes that
I have long wanted to adorn my walls, and you have done a great
service to your friends, the Eagles, because you have slain their ene-
mies." When she had spoken he set out again on his journey.
586. He slept that night on the trail, and next morning he got
back to the towns of the Eagles. As he approached he heard from
afar the cries of the mourners, and when he entered the place the
people gathered around him and said: "We have lost many of our
kinsmen, and we are wailing for them ; but we have been also
mourning for you, for those who returned told us you had been
killed in the fight."
587. He made no reply, but took from his blanket the two young
bumblebees and swung them around his head. All the people were
terrified and ran, and they did not stop running till they got safely
behind their houses. In a little while they got over their fear, came
slowly from behind their houses, and crowded around the Navaho
again. A second time he swung the bees around his head, and a
second time the people ran away in terror ; but this time they only
went as far as the front walls of their houses, and soon they returned
again to the Navaho. The third time that he swung the bees
around his head they were still less frightened, ran but half way to
their houses, and returned very soon. The fourth time that he
swung the bees they only stepped back a step or two. When their
courage came back to them, he laid the two bees on the ground ;
he took out the seeds of the tumble-weeds and laid them on the
ground beside the bees, and then he said to the Eagle People : " My
friends, here are the children of your enemies ; when you see these
you may know that I have slain your enemies." There was great
rejoicing among the people when they heard this, and this one said :
" It is well. They have slain my brother," and that one said : " It is
well. They have slain my father," and another said : " It is well.
They have slain my sons." Then Great Wolf, chief of the white
pueblo, said : " I have two beautiful maiden daughters whom I shall
2O4 Navaho Legends.
give to you." Then. Fox, chief of the blue pueblo in the south,
promised him two more maidens, and the chiefs of the other pueblos
promised him two each, so that eight beautiful maidens were prom-
ised to him in marriage.
588. The chief of the white pueblo now conducted the Navaho to
his house and into a large and beautiful apartment, the finest the
poor Indian had ever seen. It had a smooth wall, nicely coated
with white earth, a large fireplace, mealing-stones, beautiful pots and
water-jars, and all the conveniences and furniture of a beautiful
pueblo home. And the chief said to him : " 5a<a&ni, my son-in-law,
this house is yours."
589. The principal men from all the pueblos now came to visit
him, and thanked him for the great service he had done for
them. Then his maidens from the yellow house came in bringing
corn meal ; the maidens from the black house entered bringing soap-
weed, and the maidens of the white house, where he was staying,
came bearing a large bowl of white shell. A suds of the soap-weed
was prepared in the shell bowl. The maidens of the white house
washed his head with the suds ; the maidens of the black house
washed his limbs and feet, and those of the yellow house dried him
with corn meal. When the bath was finished the maidens went
out ; but they returned at dark, accompanied this time by the
maidens of the blue house. Each of the eight maidens carried a
large bowl of food, and each bowl contained food of a different kind.
They laid the eight bowls down before the Navaho, and he ate of
all till he was satisfied. Then they brought in beautiful robes and
blankets, and spread them on the floor for his bed.
590. Next morning the Navaho went over to the sky-hole, taking
with him the young bees and the seeds of the tumble-weeds. To the
former he said : " Go down to the land of the Navahoes and multiply
there. My people will make use of you in the days to come ; but
if you ever cause them sorrow and trouble, as you have caused the
people of this land, I shall again destroy you." As he spoke, he
flung them down to the earth. Then taking the seeds of the tum-
ble-weeds in his hands, he spoke to them as he had spoken to the
bees, and threw them down through the sky-hole. The honey of
the bees and the seeds of the tumble-weeds are now used in the
rites of yoi ^a/a/, or the bead chant.
591. The Navaho remained in the pueblos of the Eagle People
twenty-four days, during which time he was taught the songs,
prayers, ceremonies, and sacrifices of the Eagles, the same as those
now known to us in the rite of yoi /za^a/;259 and when he had learned
all, the people told him it was time for him to return to the earth,
whence he had come.
The Great Shell of Kmtyel. 205
592. They put on him a robe of eagle plumage, such as they wore
themselves, and led him to the sky-hole. They said to him:
" When you came up from the lower world you were heavy and had
to be carried by others. Henceforth you will be light and can move
through the air with your own power." He spread his wings to
show that he was ready ; the Eagles blew a powerful breath behind
him ; he went down through the sky -hole, and was wafted down on
his outstretched wings until he lit on the summit of Tsotsi/.
593. He went back to his own relations among the Navahoes ;
but when he went back everything about their lodge smelt ill ; its
odors were intolerable to him, and he left it and sat outside.260
They built for him then a medicine-lodge where he might sit by
himself. They bathed his younger brother, clothed him in new
raiment, and sent him, too, into the lodge, to learn what his elder
brother could tell him. The brothers spent twelve days in the
lodge together, during which the elder brother told his story and
•instructed the younger in all the rites and songs learned among the
Eagles.
594. After this he went to visit the pueblo of Kintyel, whose
inmates had before contemplated such treachery to him ; but they
did not recognize him. He now looked sleek and well fed. He was
beautifully dressed and comely in his person, for" the Eagles had
moulded, in beauty, his face and form. The pueblo people never
thought that this was the poor beggar whom they had left to die in
the eagles' nest. He noticed that there were many sore and lame
in the pueblo. A new disease, they told him, had broken out among
them. This was the disease which they had caught from the
feathers of the eaglets when they were attacking the nest. " I have
a brother," said the Navaho, "who is a potent shaman. He knows
a rite that will cure this disease." The people of the pueblo con-
sulted together and concluded to employ his brother to perform the
ceremony over their suffering ones.
595. The Navaho said that he must be one of the atsa'/ei,261 or
first dancers, and that in order to perform the rite properly he must
be dressed in a very particular way. He must, he said, have strings
of fine beads — shell and turquoise — sufficient to cover his legs
and forearms completely, enough to go around his neck, so that he
could not bend his head back, and great strings to pass over the
shoulder and under the arm on each side. He must have the largest
shell basin to be found in either pueblo to hang on his back, and the
one next in size to hang on his chest. He must have their longest
and best strings of turquoise to hang to his ears. The Wind told
him that the greatest shell basin they had was so large that if he
tried to embrace it around the edge, his finger-tips would scarcely
meet on the opposite side, and that this shell he must insist on
having. The next largest shell, Wind told him, was but little
smaller.262
596. Three days after this conference, people began to come in
from different pueblos in the Chaco Canyon and from pueblos on
the banks of the San Juan, — all these pueblos are now in ruins, -
and soon a great multitude had assembled. Meantime, too, they
collected shells and beads from the various pueblos in order to
dress the atsa'/ei as he desired. They brought him some great shell
basins and told him these were what he wanted for the dance ; but
he measured them with his arms as Wind had told him, and, finding
that his hands joined easily when he embraced the shells, he dis-
carded them. They brought him larger and larger shells, and tried
to persuade him that such were their largest ; but he tried and
rejected all. On the last day, with reluctance, they brought him
the great shell of Kintyel and the great shell of Ki'ndo/lte. He
clasped the first in his arms ; his fingers did not meet on the oppo-
site side. He clasped the second in his arms, and the tips of his
fingers just met. "These," said he, "are the shells I must wear
when I dance."
597. Four days before that on which the last dance was to occur,
the pueblo people sent out messengers to the neighboring camps
Fig. 37. Circle of branches of the rite of the mountain chant, after ceremony is over.
of Navahoes, to invite the latter to witness the exhibition of the
last night and to participate in it with some of their alili (dances
or dramas). One of the messengers went to the Chelly Canyon
and there he got Ga/zaski^i, with his son and daughter, to come and
perform a dance. The other messengers started for the Navaho
camp at the foot of Tsotsi/ on the south (near where Cobero is
The Great Shell of Kmtyel. 207
now). On his way he met an akanmili, or messenger, coming from
Tsotsi/ to invite the people of the Chaco Canyon to a great Navaho
ceremony. (You have heard all about the meeting of these mes-
sengers in the legend of the mountain chant. I shall not now
repeat it.)263 The messengers exchanged bows and quivers as a
sign they had met one another, and the messenger from Kmtyel
returned to his people without being able to get the Navahoes to
attend. This is the reason that, on the last night of the great cere-
mony of yoi /za^a/, there are but few different dances or shows.
598. On the evening of the last day they built a great circle of
branches, such as the Navahoes build now for the rites of the moun-
tain chant (fig. 37), and a great number of people crowded into the
inclosure. They lighted the fires and dressed the atsa'/ei in all their
fine beads and shells just as he desired them to dress him. They
put the great shell of Kmtyel on his back, and the great shell of
Kfndb/lte on his chest, and another fine shell on his forehead.
Then the Navaho began to dance, and his brother, the medicine-
man, began to sing, and this was the song he sang : —
The white-corn plant's great ear sticks up.
Stay down and eat.
The blue-corn plant's great ear sticks up.
Stay down and eat.
The yellow-corn plant's great ear sticks up.
Stay down and eat.
The black-corn plant's great ear sticks up.
Stay down and eat.
All-colored corn's great ear sticks up.
Stay down and eat.
The round-eared corn's great ear sticks up.
Stay down and eat.287
599. This seemed a strange song to the pueblo people, and they
all wondered what it could mean ; but they soon found out what it
meant, for they observed that the dancing Navaho was slowly rising
.from the ground. First his head and then his shoulders appeared
above the heads of the crowd ; next his chest and waist ; but it was
not until his whole body had risen above the level of their heads
that they began to realize the loss that threatened them. He was
rising toward the sky with the great shell of Kmtyel, and all the
wealth of many pueblos in shell-beads and turquoise on his body.
Then they screamed wildly to him and called him by all sorts of
dear names — father, brother, son — to come down again, but the
more they called the higher he rose. When his feet had risen above
them they observed that a streak of white lightning passed under
his feet like a rope, and hung from a dark cloud that gathered
above. It was the gods that were lifting him ; for thus, the legends
say, the gods lift mortals to the sky. When the pueblos found that
no persuasions could induce the Navaho to return, some called for
ropes that they might seize him and pull him down ; but he was
soon beyond the reach of their longest rope. Then a shout was
raised for arrows that they might shoot him ; but before the arrows
could come he was lost to sight in the black cloud and was never
more seen on earth.