{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_2503/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_2503","id":"gutenberg_2503","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2503","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore","Indians of North America -- California -- Folklore","Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Folklore","Native America"],"text":"Produced by David A. Schwan\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST\n\nBy Various\n\nCompiled and Edited by Katharine Berry Judson\n\n\n     Author of \"Myths and Legends of Alaska\",\n     \"Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest\",\n     and \"Montana.\"\n\nIllustrated\n\nSecond Edition\n\n\n\n\nPreface\n\nIn the beginning of the New-making, the ancient fathers lived\nsuccessively in four caves in the Four fold-containing-earth. The first\nwas of sooty blackness, black as a chimney at night time; the second,\ndark as the night in the stormy season; the third, like a valley in\nstarlight; the fourth, with a light like the dawning. Then they came up\nin the night-shine into the World of Knowing and Seeing.\n\nSo runs the Zuni myth, and it typifies well the mental development,\ninsight, and beauty of speech of the Indian tribes along the Pacific\nCoast, from those of Alaska in the far-away Northland, with half of life\nspent in actual darkness and more than half in the struggle for\nexistence against the cold and the storms loosed by fatal curiosity from\nthe bear's bag of bitter, icy winds, to the exquisite imagery of the\nZunis and other desert tribes, on their sunny plains in the Southland.\n\nIt was in the night-shine of this southern land, with its clear, dry air\nand brilliant stars, that the Indians, looking up at the heavens above\nthem, told the story of the bag of stars of Utset, the First Mother, who\ngave to the scarab beetle, when the floods came, the bag of Star People,\nsending him first into the world above. It was a long climb to the world\nabove and the tired little fellow, once safe, sat down by the sack.\nAfter a while he cut a tiny hole in the bag, just to see what was in it,\nbut the Star People flew out and filled the heavens everywhere. Yet he\nsaved a few stars by grasping the neck of the sack, and sat there,\nfrightened and sad, when Utset, the First Mother, asked what he had done\nwith the beautiful Star People.\n\nThe Sky-father himself, in those early years of the New-making, spread\nout his hand with the palm downward, and into all the wrinkles of his\nhand set the semblance of shining yellow corn-grains, gleaming like\nsparks of fire in the dark of the early World-dawn. \"See,\" said\nSky-father to Earth-mother, \"our children shall be guided by these when\nthe Sun-father is not near and thy mountain terraces are as darkness\nitself. Then shall our children be guided by light.\" So Sky-father\ncreated the stars. Then he said, \"And even as these grains gleam upward\nfrom the water, so shall seed grain like them spring up from the earth\nwhen touched by water, to nourish our children.\"  And he created the\ngolden Seed-stuff of the corn.\n\nIt is around the beautiful Corn Maidens that perhaps the most delicate\nof all imagery clings, Maidens offended when the dancers sought their\npresence all too freely, no longer holding them so precious as in the\nolden time, so that, in white garments, they became invisible in the\nthickening white mists. Then sadly and noiselessly they stole in amongst\nthe people and laid their corn wands down amongst the trays, and laid\ntheir white broidered garments thereon, as mothers lay soft kilting over\ntheir babes. Even as the mists became they, and with the mists drifting,\nfled away, to the south Summer-land.\n\nThey began the search for the Corn Maidens, found at last only by\nPaiyatuma, the god of dawn, from whose flute came wonderful music, as of\nliquid voices in caverns, or the echo of women's laughter in water\nvases, heard only by men of nights as they wandered up and down the\nriver trail.\n\nWhen he paused to rest on his journey, playing on his painted flute,\nbutterflies and birds sought him, and he sent them before to seek the\nMaidens, even before they could hear the music of his song-sound. And\nthe Maidens filled their colored trays with seed-corn from their fields,\nand over all spread broidered mantles, broidered with the bright colors\nand the creature signs of the Summer-land, and thus following him,\njourneyed only at night and dawn, as the dead do, and the stars also.\n\nBack to the Seed People they came, but only to give to the ancients the\nprecious seed, and this having been given, the darkness of night fell\naround them. As shadows in deep night, so these Maidens of the Seed of\nCorn, the beloved and beautiful, were seen no more of men. But Shutsuka\nwalked behind the Maidens, whistling shrilly as they sped southward,\neven as the frost wind whistles when the corn is gathered away, among\nthe lone canes and the dry leaves of a gleaned field.\n\nThe myths of California, in general, are of the same type as those given\nin a preceding volume on the myths of the Pacific Northwest. Indeed many\nof the myths of Northern Californian tribes are so obviously the same as\nthose of the Modocs and Klamath Indians that they have not been\nrepeated. Coyote and Fox reign supreme, as they do along the entire\ncoast, though the birds of the air take a greater part in the creation\nof things. These stories are quaint and whimsical, but they lack the\nbeauty of the myths of the desert tribes. There is nothing in all\nCalifornian myths, so far as I have studied them, which in any way\ncompares with the one of the Corn Maidens, referred to above, or the Sia\nmyths of the Cloud People. In the compilation of this volume, the same\nidea has governed as in the two preceding volumes, simply the preparation\nof a volume of the quainter, purer myths, suitable for general reading,\nauthentic, and with illustrations of the country portrayed, but with no\npretensions to being a purely scientific piece of work. Scientific\npeople know well the government documents and reports of learned\nsocieties which contain myths of all kinds, good, bad, and indifferent.\nBut the volumes of this series are intended for popular use. Changes\nhave been made only in abridgments of long conversations and of\nceremonial details which detracted from the myth as a myth, even though\nof great ethnological importance.\n\nEspecial credit is due in this volume to the work of the ethnologists\nwhose work has appeared in the publications of the Smithsonian\nInstitution, and the U. S. Geographical and Geological Surveys West of\nthe Rocky Mountains: to Mrs. Mathilda Cox Stevenson for the Sia myths,\nand to the late James Stevenson for the Navajo myths and sand painting;\nto the late Frank Hamilton Cushing for the Zuni myths, to the late Frank\nRussell for the Pima myths, to the late Stephen Powers for the\nCalifornian myths, and also to James Mooney and Cosmos Mindeleff. The\nrecent publications of the University of California on the myths of the\ntribes of that State have not been included.\n\nThanks are also due to the Smithsonian Institution for the illustrations\naccredited to them, to the Carnegie Institution of Washington for\nillustrations from the Desert Botanical Laboratory at Tucson, Arizona,\nand to Mr. Ferdinard Ellerman of the Mount Wilson Observatory and to\nothers.\n\nK. B. J.\n\nDepartment of History,\n\nUniversity of Washington.\n\n\n\n\nTable of Contents\n\n\n  The Beginning of Newness--Zuni (New Mexico)\n  The Men of the Early Times--Zuni (New Mexico)\n  Creation and Longevity--Achomawi (Pit River, Cal.)\n  Old Moles Creation--Shastika (Cal.)\n  The Creation of the World--Pima (Arizona)\n  Spider's Creation--Sia (New Mexico)\n  The Gods and the Six Regions\n  How Old Man Above Created the World--Shastika (Cal.)\n  The Search for the Middle and the Hardening of the World--Zuni (New\n          Mexico)\n  Origin of Light--Gallinomero (Russian River, Cal.)\n  Pokoh, the Old Man--Pai Ute (near Kern River, Cal.)\n  Thunder and Lightning--Maidu (near Sacramento Valley. Cal.)\n  Creation of Man--Miwok (San Joaquin Valley, Cal.)\n  The First Man and Woman--Nishinam (near Bear River, Cal.)\n  Old Man Above and the Grizzlies--Shastika (Cal.)\n  The Creation of Man-kind and the Flood--Pima (Arizona)\n  The Birds and the Flood--Pima (Arizona)\n  Legend of the Flood--Ashochimi (Coast Indians, Cal.)\n  The Great Flood--Sia (New Mexico)\n  The Flood and the Theft of Fire--Tolowa (Del Norte Co., Cal.)\n  Legend of the Flood in Sacramento Maidu Valley--(near Sacramento, Cal.)\n  The Fable of the Animals--Karok (near Klamath River, Cal.)\n  Coyote and Sun--Pai Ute (near Kern River, Cal.)\n  The Course of the Sun--Sia (New Mexico)\n  The Foxes and the Sun--Yurok (near Klamath River, Cal.)\n  The Theft of Fire--Karok (near Klamath River, Cal.)\n  The Theft of Fire--Sia (New Mexico)\n  The Earth-hardening after the Flood--Sia (New Mexico)\n  The Origins of the Totems and of Names--Zuni (New Mexico)\n  Traditions of Wanderings--Hopi (Arizona)\n  The Migration of the Water People--Walpi (Arizona)\n  Coyote and the Mesquite Beans--Pima (Arizona)\n  Origin of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Range--Yokuts (near Fresno,\n          Cal.)\n  Yosemite Valley and its Indian Names\n  Legend of Tu-tok-a-nu'-la (El Capitan)--Yosemite Valley\n  Legend of Tis-se'-yak (South Dome and North Dome) Yosemite Valley\n  Historic Tradition of the Upper Tuolumne--Yosemite Valley\n  California Big Trees--Pai Ute (near Kern River, Cal.)\n  The Children of Cloud--Pima (Arizona)\n  The Cloud People--Sia (New Mexico)\n  Rain Song--Sia (New Mexico)\n  Rain Song\n  Rain Song--Sia (New Mexico)\n  The Corn Maidens--Zuni (New Mexico)\n  The Search for the Corn Maidens--Zuni (New Mexico)\n  Hasjelti and Hostjoghon--Navajo (New Mexico)\n  The Song-hunter--Navajo (New Mexico)\n  Sand Painting of the Song-hunter--Navajo\n  The Guiding Duck and the Lake of Death--Zuni (New Mexico)\n  The Boy who Became a God--Navajo (New Mexico)\n  Origin of Clear Lake--Patwin (Sacramento Valley, Cal.)\n  The Great Fire--Patwin (Sacramento Valley, Cal.)\n  Origin of the Raven and the Macaw--Zuni (New Mexico)\n  Coyote and the Hare--Sia (New Mexico)\n  Coyote and the Quails--Pima (Arizona)\n  Coyote and the Fawns--Sia (New Mexico)\n  How the Bluebird Got its Color--Pima (Arizona)\n  Coyote's Eyes--Pima (Arizona)\n  Coyote and the Tortillas--Pima (Arizona)\n  Coyote as a Hunter--Sia (New Mexico)\n  How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite--Pima (Arizona)\n  Coyote and the Rattlesnake--Sia (New Mexico)\n  Origin of the Saguaro and Palo Verde Cacti--Pima (Arizona)\n  The Thirsty Quails--Pima (Arizona)\n  The Boy and the Beast--Pima (Arizona)\n  Why the Apaches are Fierce--Pima (Arizona)\n  Speech on the Warpath--Pima (Arizona)\n  The Spirit Land--Gallinomero (Russian River, Cal.)\n  Song of the Ghost Dance--Pai Ute (Kern River, Cal.)\n\n\n\n\nThe Beginning of Newness\nZuni (New Mexico)\n\nBefore the beginning of the New-making, the All-father Father alone had\nbeing. Through ages there was nothing else except black darkness.\n\nIn the beginning of the New-making, the All-father Father thought\noutward in space, and mists were created and up-lifted. Thus through his\nknowledge he made himself the Sun who was thus created and is the great\nFather. The dark spaces brightened with light. The cloud mists thickened\nand became water.\n\nFrom his flesh, the Sun-father created the Seed-stuff of worlds, and he\nhimself rested upon the waters. And these two, the Four-fold-containing\nEarth-mother and the All-covering Sky-father, the surpassing beings,\nwith power of changing their forms even as smoke changes in the wind,\nwere the father and mother of the soul beings.\n\nThen as man and woman spoke these two together. \"Behold!\" said\nEarth-mother, as a great terraced bowl appeared at hand, and within it\nwater, \"This shall be the home of my tiny children. On the rim of each\nworld-country in which they wander, terraced mountains shall stand,\nmaking in one region many mountains by which one country shall be known\nfrom another.\"\n\nThen she spat on the water and struck it and stirred it with her\nfingers. Foam gathered about the terraced rim, mounting higher and\nhigher. Then with her warm breath she blew across the terraces. White\nflecks of foam broke away and floated over the water. But the cold\nbreath of Sky-father shattered the foam and it fell downward in fine\nmist and spray.\n\nThen Earth-mother spoke:\n\n\"Even so shall white clouds float up from the great waters at the\nborders of the world, and clustering about the mountain terraces of the\nhorizon, shall be broken and hardened by thy cold. Then will they shed\ndownward, in rain-spray, the water of life, even into the hollow places\nof my lap. For in my lap shall nestle our children, man-kind and\ncreature-kind, for warmth in thy coldness.\"\n\nSo even now the trees on high mountains near the clouds and Sky-father,\ncrouch low toward Earth mother for warmth and protection. Warm is\nEarth-mother, cold our Sky-father.\n\nThen Sky-father said, \"Even so. Yet I, too, will be helpful to our\nchildren.\" Then he spread his hand out with the palm downward and into\nall the wrinkles of his hand he set the semblance of shining yellow\ncorn-grains; in the dark of the early world-dawn they gleamed like\nsparks of fire.\n\n\"See,\" he said, pointing to the seven grains between his thumb and four\nfingers, \"our children shall be guided by these when the Sun-father is\nnot near and thy terraces are as darkness itself. Then shall our\nchildren be guided by lights.\" So Sky-father created the stars. Then he\nsaid, \"And even as these grains gleam up from the water, so shall seed\ngrain like them spring up from the earth when touched by water, to\nnourish our children.\" And thus they created the seed-corn. And in many\nother ways they devised for their children, the soul-beings.\n\nBut the first children, in a cave of the earth, were unfinished. The\ncave was of sooty blackness, black as a chimney at night time, and foul.\nLoud became their murmurings and lamentations, until many sought to\nescape, growing wiser and more man-like.\n\nBut the earth was not then as we now see it. Then Sun-father sent down\ntwo sons (sons also of the Foam-cap), the Beloved Twain, Twin Brothers\nof Light, yet Elder and Younger, the Right and the Left, like to\nquestion and answer in deciding and doing. To them the Sun-father\nimparted his own wisdom. He gave them the great cloud-bow, and for\narrows the thunderbolts of the four quarters. For buckler, they had the\nfog-making shield, spun and woven of the floating clouds and spray. The\nshield supports its bearer, as clouds are supported by the wind, yet\nhides its bearer also. And he gave to them the fathership and control of\nmen and of all creatures. Then the Beloved Twain, with their great\ncloud-bow lifted the Sky-father into the vault of the skies, that the\nearth might become warm and fitter for men and creatures. Then along the\nsun-seeking trail, they sped to the mountains westward. With magic\nknives they spread open the depths of the mountain and uncovered the\ncave in which dwelt the unfinished men and creatures. So they dwelt with\nmen, learning to know them, and seeking to lead them out.\n\nNow there were growing things in the depths, like grasses and vines. So\nthe Beloved Twain breathed on the stems, growing tall toward the light\nas grass is wont to do, making them stronger, and twisting them upward\nuntil they formed a great ladder by which men and creatures ascended to\na second cave.\n\nUp the ladder into the second cave-world, men and the beings crowded,\nfollowing closely the Two Little but Mighty Ones. Yet many fell back and\nwere lost in the darkness. They peopled the under-world from which they\nescaped in after time, amid terrible earth shakings.\n\nIn this second cave it was as dark as the night of a stormy season, but\nlarger of space and higher. Here again men and the beings increased, and\ntheir complainings grew loud. So the Twain again increased the growth of\nthe ladder, and again led men upward, not all at once, but in six bands,\nto become the fathers of the six kinds of men, the yellow, the tawny\ngray, the red, the white, the black, and the mingled. And this time also\nmany were lost or left behind.\n\nNow the third great cave was larger and lighter, like a valley in\nstarlight. And again they increased in number. And again the Two led\nthem out into a fourth cave. Here it was light like dawning, and men\nbegan to perceive and to learn variously, according to their natures,\nwherefore the Twain taught them first to seek the Sun-father.\n\nThen as the last cave became filled and men learned to understand, the\nTwo led them forth again into the great upper world, which is the World\nof Knowing Seeing.\n\n\n\n\nThe Men of the Early Times\nZuni (New Mexico)\n\nEight years was but four days and four nights when the world was new. It\nwas while such days and nights continued that men were led out, in the\nnight-shine of the World of Seeing. For even when they saw the great\nstar, they thought it the Sun-father himself, it so burned their eye-balls.\n\nMen and creatures were more alike then than now. Our fathers were black,\nlike the caves they came from; their skins were cold and scaly like\nthose of mud creatures; their eyes were goggled like an owl's; their\nears were like those of cave bats; their feet were webbed like those of\nwalkers in wet and soft places; they had tails, long or short, as they\nwere old or young. Men crouched when they walked, or crawled along the\nground like lizards. They feared to walk straight, but crouched as\nbefore time they had in their cave worlds, that they might not stumble\nor fall in the uncertain light.\n\nWhen the morning star arose, they blinked excessively when they beheld\nits brightness and cried out that now surely the Father was coming. But\nit was only the elder of the Bright Ones, heralding with his shield of\nflame the approach of the Sun-father. And when, low down in the east,\nthe Sun-father himself appeared, though shrouded in the mist of the\nworld-waters, they were blinded and heated by his light and glory. They\nfell down wallowing and covered their eyes with their hands and arms,\nyet ever as they looked toward the light, they struggled toward the Sun\nas moths and other night creatures seek the light of a camp fire. Thus\nthey became used to the light. But when they rose and walked straight,\nno longer bending, and looked upon each other, they sought to clothe\nthemselves with girdles and garments of bark and rushes. And when by\nwalking only upon their hinder feet they were bruised by stone and sand,\nthey plaited sandals of yucca fibre.\n\n\n\n\nCreation and Longevity\nAchomawi (Pit River, Cal.)\n\nCoyote began the creation of the earth, but Eagle completed it. Coyote\nscratched it up with his paws out of nothingness, but Eagle complained\nthere were no mountains for him to perch on. So Coyote made hills, but\nthey were not high enough. Therefore Eagle scratched up great ridges.\nWhen Eagle flew over them, his feathers dropped down, took root, and\nbecame trees. The pin feathers became bushes and plants.\n\nCoyote and Fox together created man. They quarrelled as to whether they\nshould let men live always or not. Coyote said, \"If they want to die,\nlet them die.\" Fox said, \"If they want to come back, let them come\nback.\" But Coyote's medicine was stronger, and nobody ever came back.\n\nCoyote also brought fire into the world, for the Indians were freezing.\nHe journeyed far to the west, to a place where there was fire, stole\nsome of it, and brought it home in his ears. He kindled a fire in the\nmountains, and the Indians saw the smoke of it, and went up and got\nfire.\n\n\n\n\nOld Mole's Creation\nShastika (Cal.)\n\nLong, long ago, before there was any earth, Old Mole burrowed underneath\nSomewhere, and threw up the earth which forms the world. Then Great Man\ncreated the people. But the Indians were cold.\n\nNow in the cast gleamed the white Fire Stone. Therefore Coyote journeyed\neastward, and brought back the Fire Stone for the Indians. So people had\nfire.\n\nIn the beginning, Sun had nine brothers, all flaming hot like himself.\nBut Coyote killed the nine brothers and so saved the world from burning\nup. But Moon also had nine brothers all made of ice, like himself, and\nthe Night People almost froze to death. Therefore Coyote went away out\non the eastern edge of the world with his flint-stone knife. He heated\nstones to keep his hands warm, and as the Moons arose, he killed one\nafter another with his flint-stone knife, until he had slain nine of\nthem. Thus the people were saved from freezing at night.\n\nWhen it rains, some Indian, sick in heaven, is weeping. Long, long ago,\nthere was a good young Indian on earth. When he died the Indians wept so\nthat a flood came upon the earth, and drowned all people except one\ncouple.\n\n\n\n\nThe Creation of the World\nPima (Arizona)\n\nIn the beginning there was nothing at all except darkness. All was\ndarkness and emptiness. For a long, long while, the darkness gathered\nuntil it became a great mass. Over this the spirit of Earth Doctor\ndrifted to and fro like a fluffy bit of cotton in the breeze. Then Earth\nDoctor decided to make for himself an abiding place. So he thought\nwithin himself, \"Come forth, some kind of plant,\" and there appeared the\ncreosote bush. He placed this before him and set it upright. But it at\nonce fell over. He set it upright again; again it fell. So it fell until\nthe fourth time it remained upright. Then Earth Doctor took from his\nbreast a little dust and flattened it into a cake. When the dust cake\nwas still, he danced upon it, singing a magic song.\n\nNext he created some black insects which made black gum on the creosote\nbush. Then he made a termite which worked with the small earth cake\nuntil it grew very large. As he sang and danced upon it, the flat World\nstretched out on all sides until it was as large as it is now. Then he\nmade a round sky-cover to fit over it, round like the houses of the\nPimas. But the earth shook and stretched, so that it was unsafe. So\nEarth Doctor made a gray spider which was to spin a web around the edges\nof the earth and sky, fastening them together. When this was done, the\nearth grew firm and solid.\n\nEarth Doctor made water, mountains, trees, grass, and weeds-made\neverything as we see it now. But all was still inky blackness. Then he\nmade a dish, poured water into it, and it became ice. He threw this\nround block of ice far to the north, and it fell at the place where the\nearth and sky were woven together. At once the ice began to gleam and\nshine. We call it now the sun. It rose from the ground in the north up\ninto the sky and then fell back. Earth Doctor took it and threw it to\nthe west where the earth and sky were sewn together. It rose into the\nsky and again slid back to the earth. Then he threw it to the far south,\nbut it slid back again to the flat earth. Then at last he threw it to\nthe east. It rose higher and higher in the sky until it reached the\nhighest point in the round blue cover and began to slide down on the\nother side. And so the sun does even yet.\n\nThen Earth Doctor poured more water into the dish and it became ice. He\nsang a magic song, and threw the round ball of ice to the north where\nthe earth and sky are woven together. It gleamed and shone, but not so\nbrightly as the sun. It became the moon, and it rose in the sky, but\nfell back again, just as the sun had done. So he threw the ball to the\nwest, and then to the south, but it slid back each time to the earth.\nThen he threw it to the east, and it rose to the highest point in the\nsky-cover and began to slide down on the other side. And so it does even\nto-day, following the sun.\n\nBut Earth Doctor saw that when the sun and moon were not in the sky, all\nwas inky darkness. So he sang a magic song, and took some water into his\nmouth and blew it into the sky, in a spray, to make little stars. Then\nhe took his magic crystal and broke it into pieces and threw them into\nthe sky, to make the larger stars. Next he took his walking stick and\nplaced ashes on the end of it. Then he drew it across the sky to form\nthe Milky Way. So Earth Doctor made all the stars.\n\n\n\n\nSpider's Creation\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nIn the beginning, long, long ago, there was but one being in the lower\nworld. This was the spider, Sussistinnako. At that time there were no\nother insects, no birds, animals, or any other living creature.\n\nThe spider drew a line of meal from north to south and then crossed it\nwith another line running east and west. On each side of the first line,\nnorth of the second, he placed two small parcels. They were precious but\nno one knows what was in them except Spider. Then he sat down near the\nparcels and began to sing. The music was low and sweet and the two\nparcels accompanied him, by shaking like rattles. Then two women\nappeared, one from each parcel.\n\nIn a short time people appeared and began walking around. Then animals,\nbirds, and insects appeared, and the spider continued to sing until his\ncreation was complete.\n\nBut there was no light, and as there were many people, they did not pass\nabout much for fear of treading upon each other. The two women first\ncreated were the mothers of all. One was named Utset and she as the\nmother of all Indians. The other was Now-utset, and she was the mother\nof all other nations. While it was still dark, the spider divided the\npeople into clans, saying to some, \"You are of the Corn clan, and you\nare the first of all.\" To others he said, \"You belong to the Coyote\nclan.\" So he divided them into their clans, the clans of the Bear, the\nEagle, and other clans.\n\nAfter Spider had nearly created the earth, Ha-arts, he thought it would\nbe well to have rain to water it, so he created the Cloud People, the\nLightning People, the Thunder People, and the Rainbow People, to work\nfor the people of Ha-arts, the earth. He divided this creation into six\nparts, and each had its home in a spring in the heart of a great\nmountain upon whose summit was a giant tree. One was in the spruce tree\non the Mountain of the North; another in the pine tree on the Mountain\nof the West; another in the oak tree on the Mountain of the South; and\nanother in the aspen tree on the Mountain of the East; the fifth was on\nthe cedar tree on the Mountain of the Zenith; and the last in an oak on\nthe Mountain of the Nadir.\n\nThe spider divided the world into three parts: Ha-arts, the earth;\nTinia, the middle plain; and Hu-wa-ka, the upper plain. Then the spider\ngave to these People of the Clouds and to the rainbow, Tinia, the middle\nplain.\n\nNow it was still dark, but the people of Ha-arts made houses for\nthemselves by digging in the rocks and the earth. They could not build\nhouses as they do now, because they could not see. In a short time Utset\nand Now-utset talked much to each other, saying,\n\n\"We will make light, that our people may see. We cannot tell the people\nnow, but to-morrow will be a good day and the day after to-morrow will\nbe a good day,\" meaning that their thoughts were good. So they spoke\nwith one tongue. They said, \"Now all is covered with darkness, but after\na while we will have light.\"\n\nThen these two mothers, being inspired by Sussistinnako, the spider,\nmade the sun from white shell, turkis, red stone, and abalone shell.\nAfter making the sun, they carried him to the east and camped there,\nsince there were no houses. The next morning they climbed to the top of\na high mountain and dropped the sun down behind it. After a time he\nbegan to ascend. When the people saw the light they were happy.\n\nWhen the sun was far off, his face was blue; as he came nearer, the face\ngrew brighter. Yet they did not see the sun himself, but only a large\nmask which covered his whole body.\n\nThe people saw that the world was large and the country beautiful. When\nthe two mothers returned to the village, they said to the people, \"We\nare the mothers of all.\"\n\nThe sun lighted the world during the day, but there was no light at\nnight. So the two mothers created the moon from a slightly black stone,\nmany kinds of yellow stone, turkis, and a red stone, that the world\nmight be lighted at night. But the moon travelled slowly and did not\nalways give light. Then the two mothers created the Star People and made\ntheir eyes of sparkling white crystal that they might twinkle and\nbrighten the world at night. When the Star People lived in the lower\nworld they were gathered into beautiful groups; they were not scattered\nabout as they are in the upper world.\n\n\n\n\nThe Gods and the Six Regions\n\nIn ancient times, Po-shai-an-ki-a, the father of the sacred bands, or\ntribes, lived with his followers in the City of Mists, the Middle Place,\nguarded by six warriors, the prey gods. Toward the North, he was guarded\nby Long Tail, the mountain lion; West by Clumsy Foot, the bear; South by\nBlack-Mark Face, the badger; East by Hang Tail, the wolf; above by White\nCap, the eagle; below by Mole.\n\nSo when he was about to go forth into the world, he divided the earth\ninto six regions: North, the Direction of the Swept or Barren Plains;\nWest, the Direction of the Home of the Waters; South, the Place of the\nBeautiful Red; East, the Direction of the Home of Day; upper regions,\nthe Direction of the Home of the High; lower regions, the Direction of\nthe Home of the Low.\n\n\n\n\nHow Old Man Above Created the World\nShastika (Cal.)\n\nLong, long ago, when the world was so new that even the stars were dark,\nit was very, very flat. Chareya, Old Man Above, could not see through\nthe dark to the new, flat earth. Neither could he step down to it\nbecause it was so far below him. With a large stone he bored a hole in\nthe sky. Then through the hole he pushed down masses of ice and snow,\nuntil a great pyramid rose from the plain. Old Man Above climbed down\nthrough the hole he had made in the sky, stepping from cloud to cloud,\nuntil he could put his foot on top the mass of ice and snow. Then with\none long step he reached the earth.\n\nThe sun shone through the hole in the sky and began to melt the ice and\nsnow. It made holes in the ice and snow. When it was soft, Chareya bored\nwith his finger into the earth, here and there, and planted the first\ntrees. Streams from the melting snow watered the new trees and made them\ngrow. Then he gathered the leaves which fell from the trees and blew\nupon them. They became birds. He took a stick and broke it into pieces.\nOut of the small end he made fishes and placed them in the mountain\nstreams. Of the middle of the stick, he made all the animals except the\ngrizzly bear. From the big end of the stick came the grizzly bear, who\nwas made master of all. Grizzly was large and strong and cunning. When\nthe earth was new he walked upon two feet and carried a large club. So\nstrong was Grizzly that Old Man Above feared the creature he had made.\nTherefore, so that he might be safe, Chareya hollowed out the pyramid of\nice and snow as a tepee. There he lived for thousands of snows. The\nIndians knew he lived there because they could see the smoke curling\nfrom the smoke hole of his tepee. When the pale-face came, Old Man Above\nwent away. There is no longer any smoke from the smoke hole. White men\ncall the tepee Mount Shasta.\n\n\n\n\nThe Search for the Middle and the Hardening of the World\nZuni (New Mexico)\n\nAs it was with the first men and creatures, so it was with the world. It\nwas young and unripe. Earthquakes shook the world and rent it. Demons\nand monsters of the under-world fled forth. Creatures became fierce,\nbeasts of prey, and others turned timid, becoming their quarry.\nWretchedness and hunger abounded and black magic. Fear was everywhere\namong them, so the people, in dread of their precious possessions,\nbecame wanderers, living on the seeds of grass, eaters of dead and slain\nthings. Yet, guided by the Beloved Twain, they sought in the light and\nunder the pathway of the Sun, the Middle of the world, over which alone\nthey could find the earth at rest(1).\n\nWhen the tremblings grew still for a time, the people paused at the\nFirst of Sitting Places. Yet they were still poor and defenceless and\nunskilled, and the world still moist and unstable. Demons and monsters\nfled from the earth in times of shaking, and threatened wanderers.\n\nThen the Two took counsel of each other. The Elder said the earth must\nbe made more stable for men and the valleys where their children rested.\nIf they sent down their fire bolts of thunder, aimed to all the four\nregions, the earth would heave up and down, fire would, belch over the\nworld and burn it, floods of hot water would sweep over it, smoke would\nblacken the daylight, but the earth would at last be safer for men.\n\nSo the Beloved Twain let fly the thunderbolts.\n\nThe mountains shook and trembled, the plains cracked and crackled under\nthe floods and fires, and the hollow places, the only refuge of men and\ncreatures, grew black and awful. At last thick rain fell, putting out\nthe fires. Then water flooded the world, cutting deep trails through the\nmountains, and burying or uncovering the bodies of things and beings.\nWhere they huddled together and were blasted thus, their blood gushed\nforth and flowed deeply, here in rivers, there in floods, for gigantic\nwere they. But the blood was charred and blistered and blackened by the\nfires into the black rocks of the lower mesas(2). There were vast plains\nof dust, ashes, and cinders, reddened like the mud of the hearth place.\nYet many places behind and between the mountain terraces were unharmed\nby the fires, and even then green grew the trees and grasses and even\nflowers bloomed. Then the earth became more stable, and drier, and its\nlone places less fearsome since monsters of prey were changed to rock.\n\nBut ever and again the earth trembled and the people were troubled.\n\n\"Let us again seek the Middle,\" they said. So they travelled far\neastward to their second stopping place, the Place of Bare Mountains.\n\nAgain the world rumbled, and they travelled into a country to a place\ncalled Where-tree-boles-stand-in-the-midst-of-waters. There they\nremained long, saying, \"This is the Middle.\" They built homes there. At\ntimes they met people who had gone before, and thus they learned war.\nAnd many strange things happened there, as told in speeches of the\nancient talk.\n\nThen when the earth groaned again, the Twain bade them go forth, and\nthey murmured. Many refused and perished miserably in their own homes,\nas do rats in falling trees, or flies in forbidden food.\n\nBut the greater number went forward until they came to\nSteam-mist-in-the-midst-of-waters. And they saw the smoke of men's\nhearth fires and many houses scattered over the hills before them. When\nthey came nearer, they challenged the people rudely, demanding who they\nwere and why there, for in their last standing-place they had had touch\nof war.\n\n\"We are the People of the Seed,\" said the men of the hearth-fires, \"born\nelder brothers of ye, and led of the gods.\"\n\n\"No,\" said our fathers, \"we are led of the gods and we are the Seed\nPeople...\"\n\nLong lived the people in the town on the sunrise slope of the mountains\nof Kahluelawan, until the earth began to groan warningly again. Loath\nwere they to leave the place of the Kaka and the lake of their dead. But\nthe rumbling grew louder and the Twain Beloved called, and all together\nthey journeyed eastward, seeking once more the Place of the Middle. But\nthey grumbled amongst themselves, so when they came to a place of great\npromise, they said, \"Let us stay here. Perhaps it may be the Place of\nthe Middle.\"\n\nSo they built houses there, larger and stronger than ever before, and\nmore perfect, for they were strong in numbers and wiser, though yet\nunperfected as men. They called the place \"The Place of Sacred\nStealing.\"\n\nLong they dwelt there, happily, but growing wiser and stronger, so that,\nwith their tails and dressed in the skins of animals, they saw they were\nrude and ugly.\n\nIn chase or in war, they were at a disadvantage, for they met older\nnations of men with whom they fought. No longer they feared the gods and\nmonsters, but only their own kind. So therefore the gods called a\ncouncil.\n\n\"Changed shall ye be, oh our children,\" cried the Twain. \"Ye shall walk\nstraight in the pathways, clothed in garments, and without tails, that\nye may sit more straight in council, and without webs to your feet, or\ntalons on your hands.\"\n\nSo the people were arranged in procession like dancers. And the Twain\nwith their weapons and fires of lightning shored off the forelocks\nhanging down over their faces, severed the talons, and slitted the\nwebbed fingers and toes. Sore was the wounding and loud cried the\nfoolish, when lastly the people were arranged in procession for the\nrazing of their tails.\n\nBut those who stood at the end of the line, shrinking farther and\nfarther, fled in their terror, climbing trees and high places, with loud\nchatter. Wandering far, sleeping ever in tree tops, in the far-away\nSummerland, they are sometimes seen of far-walkers, long of tail and\nlong handed, like wizened men-children.\n\nBut the people grew in strength, and became more perfect, and more than\never went to war. They grew vain. They had reached the Place of the\nMiddle. They said, \"Let us not wearily wander forth again even though\nthe earth tremble and the Twain bid us forth.\"\n\nAnd even as they spoke, the mountain trembled and shook, though\nfar-sounding.\n\nBut as the people changed, changed also were the Twain, small and\nmisshapen, hard-favored and unyielding of will, strong of spirit, evil\nand bad. They taught the people to war, and led them far to the\neastward.\n\nAt last the people neared, in the midst of the plains to the eastward,\ngreat towns built in the heights. Great were the fields and possessions\nof this people, for they knew how to command and carry the waters,\nbringing new soil. And this, too, without hail or rain. So our ancients,\nhungry with long wandering for new food, were the more greedy and often\ngave battle.\n\nIt was here that the Ancient Woman of the Elder People, who carried her\nheart in her rattle and was deathless of wounds in the body, led the\nenemy, crying out shrilly. So it fell out ill for our fathers. For,\nmoreover, thunder raged and confused their warriors, rain descended and\nblinded them, stretching their bow strings of sinew and quenching the\nflight of their arrows as the flight of bees is quenched by the\nsprinkling plume of the honey-hunter. But they devised bow strings of\nyucca and the Two Little Ones sought counsel of the Sun-father who\nrevealed the life-secret of the Ancient Woman and the magic powers over\nthe under-fires of the dwellers of the mountains, so that our enemy in\nthe mountain town was overmastered. And because our people found in that\ngreat town some hidden deep in the cellars, and pulled them out as rats\nare pulled from a hollow cedar, and found them blackened by the fumes of\ntheir war magic, yet wiser than the common people, they spared them and\nreceived them into their next of kin of the Black Corn....\n\nBut the tremblings and warnings still sounded, and the people searched\nfor the stable Middle.\n\nNow they called a great council of men and the beasts, birds, and\ninsects of all kinds. After a long council it was said,\n\n\"Where is Water-skate? He has six legs, all very long. Perhaps he can\nfeel with them to the uttermost of the six regions, and point out the\nvery Middle.\"\n\nSo Water-skate was summoned. But lo! It was the Sun-father in his\nlikeness which appeared. And he lifted himself to the zenith and\nextended his fingerfeet to all the six regions, so that they touched the\nnorth, the great waters; the west, and the south, and the east, the\ngreat waters; and to the northeast the waters above, and to the\nsouthwest the waters below. But to the north his finger foot grew cold,\nso he drew it in. Then gradually he settled down upon the earth and\nsaid, \"Where my heart rests, mark a spot, and build a town of the\nMid-most, for there shall be the Mid-most Place of the Earth-mother.\"\n\nAnd his heart rested over the middle of the plain and valley of Zuni.\nAnd when he drew in his finger-legs, lo! there were the trail-roads\nleading out and in like stays of a spider's nest, into and from the\nmid-most place he had covered.\n\nHere because of their good fortune in finding the stable Middle, the\npriest father called the town the Abiding-place-of-happy-fortune.\n\n(1) The earth was flat and round, like a plate.\n\n(2) Lava.\n\n\n\n\nOrigin of Light\nGallinomero (Russian River, Cal.)\n\nIn the earliest beginning, the darkness was thick and deep. There was no\nlight. The animals ran here and there, always bumping into each other.\nThe birds flew here and there, but continually knocked against each\nother.\n\nHawk and Coyote thought a long time about the darkness. Then Coyote felt\nhis way into a swamp and found a large number of dry tule reeds. He made\na ball of them. He gave the ball to Hawk, with some flints, and Hawk\nflew up into the sky, where he touched off the tule reeds and sent the\nbundle whirling around the world. But still the nights were dark, so\nCoyote made another bundle of tule reeds, and Hawk flew into the air\nwith them, and touched them off with the flints. But these reeds were\ndamp and did not burn so well. That is why the moon does not give so\nmuch light as the sun.\n\n\n\n\nPokoh, the Old Man\nPai Ute (near Kern River, Cal.)\n\nPokoh, Old Man, they say, created the world. Pokoh had many thoughts. He\nhad many blankets in which he carried around gifts for men. He created\nevery tribe out of the soil where they used to live. That is why an\nIndian wants to live and die in his native place. He was made of the\nsame soil. Pokoh did not wish men to wander and travel, but to remain in\ntheir birthplace.\n\nLong ago, Sun was a man, and was bad. Moon was good. Sun had a quiver\nfull of arrows, and they are deadly. Sun wishes to kill all things.\n\nSun has two daughters (Venus and Mercury) and twenty men kill them; but\nafter fifty days, they return to life again.\n\nRainbow is the sister of Pokoh, and her breast is covered with flowers.\n\nLightning strikes the ground and fills the flint with fire. That is the\norigin of fire. Some say the beaver brought fire from the east, hauling\nit on his broad, flat tail. That is why the beaver's tail has no hair on\nit, even to this day. It was burned off.\n\nThere are many worlds. Some have passed and some are still to come. In\none world the Indians all creep; in another they all walk; in another\nthey all fly. Perhaps in a world to come, Indians may walk on four legs;\nor they may crawl like snakes; or they may swim in the water like fish.\n\n\n\n\nThunder and Lightning\nMaidu (near Sacramento Valley, Cal.)\n\nGreat-Man created the world and all the people. At first the earth was\nvery hot, so hot it was melted, and that is why even to-day there is\nfire in the trunk and branches of trees, and in the stones.\n\nLightning is Great-Man himself coming down swiftly from his world above,\nand tearing apart the trees with his flaming arm.\n\nThunder and Lightning are two great spirits who try to destroy mankind.\nBut Rainbow is a good spirit who speaks gently to them, and persuades\nthem to let the Indians live a little longer.\n\n\n\n\nCreation of Man\nMiwok (San Joaquin Valley, Cal.)\n\nAfter Coyote had completed making the world, he began to think about\ncreating man. He called a council of all the animals. The animals sat in\na circle, just as the Indians do, with Lion at the head, in an open\nspace in the forest. On Lion's right was Grizzly Bear; next Cinnamon\nBear; and so on to Mouse, who sat at Lion's left.\n\nLion spoke first. Lion said he wished man to have a terrible voice, like\nhimself, so that he could frighten all animals. He wanted man also to be\nwell covered with hair, with fangs in his claws, and very strong teeth.\n\nGrizzly Bear laughed. He said it was ridiculous for any one to have such\na voice as Lion, because when he roared he frightened away the very prey\nfor which he was searching. But he said man should have very great\nstrength; that he should move silently, but very swiftly; and he should\nbe able to seize his prey without noise.\n\nBuck said man would look foolish without antlers. And a terrible voice\nwas absurd, but man should have ears like a spider's web, and eyes like\nfire.\n\nMountain Sheep said the branching antlers would bother man if he got\ncaught in a thicket. If man had horns rolled up, so that they were like\na stone on each side of his head, it would give his head weight enough\nto butt very hard.\n\nWhen it came Coyote's turn, he said the other animals were foolish\nbecause they each wanted man to be just like themselves. Coyote was sure\nhe could make a man who would look better than Coyote himself, or any\nother animal. Of course he would have to have four legs, with five\nfingers. Man should have a strong voice, but he need not roar all the\ntime with it. And he should have feet nearly like Grizzly Bear's,\nbecause he could then stand erect when he needed to. Grizzly Bear had no\ntail, and man should not have any. The eyes and ears of Buck were good,\nand perhaps man should have those. Then there was Fish, which had no\nhair, and hair was a burden much of the year. So Coyote thought man\nshould not wear fur. And his claws should be as long as the Eagle's, so\nthat he could hold things in them. But no animal was as cunning and\ncrafty as Coyote, so man should have the wit of Coyote.\n\nThen Beaver talked. Beaver said man would have to have a tail, but it\nshould be broad and flat, so he could haul mud and sand on it. Not a\nfurry tail, because they were troublesome on account of fleas.\n\nOwl said man would be useless without wings.\n\nBut Mole said wings would be folly. Man would be sure to bump against\nthe sky. Besides, if he had wings and eyes both, he would get his eyes\nburned out by flying too near the sun. But without eyes, he could burrow\nin the soft, cool earth where he could be happy.\n\nMouse said man needed eyes so he could see what he was eating. And\nnobody wanted to burrow in the damp earth. So the council broke up in a\nquarrel.\n\nThen every animal set to work to make a man according to his own ideas.\nEach one took a lump of earth and modelled it just like himself. All but\nCoyote, for Coyote began to make the kind of man he had talked of in the\ncouncil.\n\nIt was late when the animals stopped work and fell asleep. All but\nCoyote, for Coyote was the cunningest of all the animals, and he stayed\nawake until he had finished his model. He worked hard all night. When\nthe other animals were fast asleep he threw water on the lumps of earth,\nand so spoiled the models of the other animals. But in the morning he\nfinished his own, and gave it life long before the others could finish\ntheirs. Thus man was made by Coyote.\n\n\n\n\nThe First Man And Woman\nNishinam (near Bear River, Cal.)\n\nThe first man created by Coyote was called Aikut. His wife was Yototowi.\nBut the woman grew sick and died. Aikut dug a grave for her close beside\nhis camp fire, for the Nishinam did not burn their dead then. All the\nlight was gone from his life. He wanted to die, so that he could follow\nYototowi, and he fell into a deep sleep.\n\nThere was a rumbling sound and the spirit of Yototowi arose from the\nearth and stood beside him. He would have spoken to her, but she forbade\nhim, for when an Indian speaks to a ghost he dies. Then she turned away\nand set out for the dance-house of ghosts. Aikut followed her. Together\nthey journeyed through a great, dark country, until they came to a river\nwhich separated them from the Ghost-land. Over the river there was a\nbridge of but one small rope, so small that hardly Spider could crawl\nacross it. Here the woman started off alone, but when Aikut stretched\nout his arms, she returned. Then she started again over the bridge of\nthread. And Aikut spoke to her, so that he died. Thus together they\njourneyed to the Spirit-land.\n\n\n\n\nOld Man Above and the Grizzlies\nShastika (Cal.)\n\nAlong time ago, while smoke still curled from the smoke hole of the\ntepee, a great storm arose. The storm shook the tepee. Wind blew the\nsmoke down the smoke hole. Old Man Above said to Little Daughter: \"Climb\nup to the smoke hole. Tell Wind to be quiet. Stick your arm out of the\nsmoke hole before you tell him.\" Little Daughter climbed up to the smoke\nhole and put out her arm. But Little Daughter put out her head also. She\nwanted to see the world. Little Daughter wanted to see the rivers and\ntrees, and the white foam on the Bitter Waters. Wind caught Little\nDaughter by the hair. Wind pulled her out of the smoke hole and blew her\ndown the mountain. Wind blew Little Daughter over the smooth ice and the\ngreat forests, down to the land of the Grizzlies. Wind tangled her hair\nand then left her cold and shivering near the tepees of the Grizzlies.\n\nSoon Grizzly came home. In those days Grizzly walked on two feet, and\ncarried a big stick. Grizzly could talk as people do. Grizzly laid down\nthe young elk he had killed and picked up Little Daughter. He took\nLittle Daughter to his tepee. Then Mother Grizzly warmed her by the\nfire. Mother Grizzly gave her food to eat.\n\nSoon Little Daughter married the son of Grizzly. Their children were not\nGrizzlies. They were men. So the Grizzlies built a tepee for Little\nDaughter and her children. White men call the tepee Little Shasta.\n\nAt last Mother Grizzly sent a son to Old Man Above. Mother Grizzly knew\nthat Little Daughter was the child of Old Man Above, but she was afraid.\nShe said: \"Tell Old Man Above that Little Daughter is alive.\"\n\nOld Man Above climbed out of the smoke hole. He ran down the mountain\nside to the land of the Grizzlies. Old Man Above ran very quickly.\nWherever he set his foot the snow melted. The snow melted very quickly\nand made streams of water. Now Grizzlies stood in line to welcome Old\nMan Above. They stood on two feet and carried clubs. Then Old Man Above\nsaw his daughter and her children. He saw the new race of men. Then Old\nMan Above became very angry. He said to Grizzlies:\n\n\"Never speak again. Be silent. Neither shall ye stand upright. Ye shall\nuse your hands as feet. Ye shall look downward.\"\n\nThen Old Man Above put out the fire in the tepee. Smoke no longer curls\nfrom the smoke hole. He fastened the door of the tepee. The new race of\nmen he drove out. Then Old Man Above took Little Daughter back to his\ntepee.\n\nThat is why grizzlies walk on four feet and look downward. Only when\nfighting they stand on two feet and use their fists like men.\n\n\n\n\nThe Creation of Man-Kind and the Flood\nPima (Arizona)\n\nAfter the world was ready, Earth Doctor made all kinds of animals and\ncreeping things. Then he made images of clay, and told them to be\npeople. After a while there were so many people that there was not food\nand water enough for all. They were never sick and none died. At last\nthere grew to be so many they were obliged to eat each other. Then Earth\nDoctor, because he could not give them food and water enough, killed\nthem all. He caught the hook of his staff into the sky and pulled it\ndown so that it crushed all the people and all the animals, until there\nwas nothing living on the earth. Earth Doctor made a hole through the\nearth with his stick, and through that he went, coming out safe, but\nalone, on the other side.\n\nHe called upon the sun and moon to come out of the wreck of the world\nand sky, and they did so. But there was no sky for them to travel\nthrough, no stars, and no Milky Way. So Earth Doctor made these all over\nagain. Then he created another race of men and animals.\n\nThen Coyote was born. Moon was his mother. When Coyote was large and\nstrong he came to the land where the Pima Indians lived.\n\nThen Elder Brother was born. Earth was his mother, and Sky his father.\nHe was so powerful that he spoke roughly to Earth Doctor, who trembled\nbefore him. The people began to increase in numbers, just as they had\ndone before, but Elder Brother shortened their lives, so the earth did\nnot become so crowded. But Elder Brother did not like the people created\nby Earth Doctor, so he planned to destroy them again. So Elder Brother\nplanned to create a magic baby....\n\nThe screams of the baby shook the earth. They could be heard for a great\ndistance. Then Earth Doctor called all the people together, and told\nthem there would be a great flood. He sang a magic song and then bored a\nhole through the flat earth-plain through to the other side. Some of the\npeople went into the hole to escape the flood that was coming, but not\nvery many got through. Some of the people asked Elder Brother to help\nthem, but he did not answer. Only Coyote he answered. He told Coyote to\nfind a big log and sit on it, so that he would float on the surface of\nthe water with the driftwood. Elder Brother got into a big olla which he\nhad made, and closed it tight. So he rolled along on the ground under\nthe olla. He sang a magic song as he climbed into his olla.\n\nA young man went to the place where the baby was screaming. Its tears\nwere a great torrent which cut gorges in the earth before it. The water\nwas rising all over the earth. He bent over the child to pick it up, and\nimmediately both became birds and flew above the flood. Only five birds\nwere saved from the flood. One was a flicker and one a vulture. They\nclung by their beaks to the sky to keep themselves above the waters, but\nthe tail of the flicker was washed by the waves and that is why it is\nstiff to this day. At last a god took pity on them and gave them power\nto make \"nests of down\" from their own breasts on which they floated on\nthe water. One of these birds was the vipisimal, and if any one injures\nit to this day, the flood may come again.\n\nNow South Doctor called his people to him and told them that a flood was\ncoming. He sang a magic song and he bored a hole in the ground with a\ncane so that people might go through to the other side. Others he sent\nto Earth Doctor, but Earth Doctor told them they were too late. So they\nsent the people to the top of a high mountain called Crooked Mountain.\nSouth Doctor sang a magic song and traced his cane around the mountain,\nbut that held back the waters only for a short time. Four times he sang\nand traced a line around the mountain, yet the flood rose again each\ntime. There was only one thing more to do.\n\nHe held his magic crystals in his left hand and sang a song. Then he\nstruck it with his cane. A thunder peal rang through the mountains. He\nthrew his staff into the water and it cracked with a loud noise.\nTurning, he saw a dog near him. He said, \"How high is the tide?\" The dog\nsaid, \"It is very near the top.\" He looked at the people as he said it.\nWhen they heard his voice they all turned to stone. They stood just as\nthey were, and they are there to this day in groups: some of the men\ntalking, some of the women cooking, and some crying.\n\nBut Earth Doctor escaped by enclosing himself in his reed staff, which\nfloated upon the water. Elder Brother rolled along in his olla until he\ncame near the mouth of the Colorado River. The olla is now called Black\nMountain. After the flood he came out and visited all parts of the land.\n\nWhen he met Coyote and Earth Doctor, each claimed to have been the first\nto appear after the flood, but at last they admitted Elder Brother was\nthe first, so he became ruler of the world.\n\n\n\n\nThe Birds and the Flood\nPima (Arizona)\n\nOnce upon a time, when all the earth was flooded, two birds were hanging\nabove the water. They were clinging to the sky with their beaks. The\nlarger bird was gray with a long tail and beak, but the smaller one was\nthe tiny bird that builds a nest shaped like an olla, with only a very\nsmall opening at the top. The birds were tired and frightened. The\nlarger one cried and cried, but the little bird held on tight and said,\n\"Don't cry. I 'm littler than you are, but I 'm very brave.\"\n\n\n\n\nLegend of the Flood\nAshochimi (Coast Indians, Cal.)\n\nLong ago there was a great flood which destroyed all the people in the\nworld. Only Coyote was saved. When the waters subsided, the earth was\nempty. Coyote thought about it a long time.\n\nThen Coyote collected a great bundle of tail feathers from owls, hawks,\neagles, and buzzards. He journeyed over the whole earth and carefully\nlocated the site of each Indian village. Where the tepees had stood, he\nplanted a feather in the ground and scraped up the dirt around it. The\nfeathers sprouted like trees, and grew up and branched. At last they\nturned into men and women. So the world was inhabited with people again.\n\n\n\n\nThe Great Flood\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nFor a long time after the fight, the people were very happy, but the\nninth year was very bad. The whole earth was filled with water. The\nwater did not fall in rain, but came in as rivers between the mesas. It\ncontinued to flow in from all sides until the people and the animals\nfled to the mesa tops. The water continued to rise until nearly level\nwith the tops of the mesas. Then Sussistinnako cried, \"Where shall my\npeople go? Where is the road to the north?\" He looked to the north.\n\"Where is the road to the west? Where is the road to the east? Where is\nthe road to the south?\" He looked in each direction. He said, \"I see the\nwaters are everywhere.\"\n\nAll of the medicine men sang four days and four nights, but still the\nwaters continued to rise.\n\nThen Spider placed a huge reed upon the top of the mesa. He said, \"My\npeople will pass up through this to the world above.\"\n\nUtset led the way, carrying a sack in which were many of the Star\npeople. The medicine men followed, carrying sacred things in sacred\nblankets on their backs. Then came the people, and the animals, and the\nsnakes, and birds. The turkey was far behind and the foam of the water\nrose and reached the tip ends of his feathers. You may know that is true\nbecause even to this day they bear the mark of the waters.\n\nWhen they reached the top of the great reed, the earth which formed the\nfloor of the world above, barred their way. Utset called to Locust,\n\"Man, come here.\" Locust went to her. She said, \"You know best how to\npass through the earth. Go and make a door for us.\"\n\n\"Very well, mother,\" said Locust. \"I think I can make a way.\"\n\nHe began working with his feet and after a while he passed through the\nearthy floor, entering the upper world. As soon as he saw it, he said to\nUtset, \"It is good above.\"\n\nUtset called Badger, and said, \"Make a door for us. Sika, the Locust has\nmade one, but it is very small.\"\n\n\"Very well, mother, I will,\" said Badger.\n\nAfter much work he passed into the world above, and said,\n\n\"Mother, I have opened the way.\" Badger also said, \"Father-mother, the\nworld above is good.\"\n\nUtset then called Deer. She said, \"You go through first. If you can get\nyour head through, others may pass.\"\n\nThe deer returned saying, \"Father, it is all right. I passed without\ntrouble.\"\n\nUtset called Elk. She said, \"You pass through. If you can get your head\nand horns through the door, all may pass.\"\n\nElk returned saying, \"Father, it is good. I passed without trouble.\"\n\nThen Utset told the buffalo to try, and he returned saying,\n\"Father-mother, the door is good. I passed without trouble.\"\n\nUtset called the scarab beetle and gave him the sack of stars, telling\nhim to pass out first with them. Scarab did not know what the sack\ncontained, but he was very small and grew tired carrying it. He wondered\nwhat could be in the sack. After entering the new world he was so tired\nhe laid down the sack and peeped into it. He cut only a tiny hole, but\nat once the Star People flew out and filled the heavens everywhere.\n\nThen Utset and all the people came, and after Turkey passed, the door\nwas closed with a great rock so that the waters from below could not\nfollow them.\n\nThen Utset looked for the sack with the Star People. She found it nearly\nempty and could not tell where the stars had gone. The little beetle sat\nby, very much frightened and very sad. But Utset was angry and said,\n\"You are bad and disobedient. From this time forth, you shall be blind.\"\nThat is the reason the scarabaeus has no eyes, so the old ones say.\n\nBut the little fellow had saved a few of the stars by grasping the sack\nand holding it fast. Utset placed these in the heavens. In one group she\nplaced seven--the great bear. In another, three. In another group she\nplaced the Pleiades, and threw the others far off into the sky.\n\n\n\n\nThe Flood and the Theft of Fire\nTolowa (Del Norte Co., Cal.)\n\nAlong time ago there came a great rain. It lasted a long time and the\nwater kept rising till all the valleys were submerged, and the Indian\ntribes fled to the high lands. But the water rose, and though the\nIndians fled to the highest point, all were swept away and drowned-all\nbut one man and one woman. They reached the very highest peak and were\nsaved. These two Indians ate the fish from the waters around them.\n\nThen the waters subsided. All the game was gone, and all the animals.\nBut the children of these two Indians, when they died, became the\nspirits of deer and bear and insects, and so the animals and insects\ncame back to the earth again.\n\nThe Indians had no fire. The flood had put out all the fires in the\nworld. They looked at the moon and wished they could secure fire from\nit. Then the Spider Indians and the Snake Indians formed a plan to steal\nfire. The Spiders wove a very light balloon, and fastened it by a long\nrope to the earth. Then they climbed into the balloon and started for\nthe moon. But the Indians of the Moon were suspicious of the Earth\nIndians. The Spiders said, \"We came to gamble.\" The Moon Indians were\nmuch pleased and all the Spider Indians began to gamble with them. They\nsat by the fire.\n\nThen the Snake Indians sent a man to climb up the long rope from the\nearth to the moon. He climbed the rope, and darted through the fire\nbefore the Moon Indians understood what he had done. Then he slid down\nthe rope to earth again. As soon as he touched the earth he travelled\nover the rocks, the trees, and the dry sticks lying upon the ground,\ngiving fire to each. Everything he touched contained fire. So the world\nbecame bright again, as it was before the flood.\n\nWhen the Spider Indians came down to earth again, they were immediately\nput to death, for the tribes were afraid the Moon Indians might want\nrevenge.\n\n\n\n\nLegend of the Flood in Sacramento Valley\nMaidu (near Sacramento Valley, Cal.)\n\nLong, long ago the Indians living in Sacramento Valley were happy.\nSuddenly there came the swift sound of rushing waters, and the valley\nbecame like Big Waters, which no man can measure. The Indians fled, but\nmany slept beneath the waves. Also the frogs and the salmon pursued them\nand they ate many Indians. Only two who fled into the foothills escaped.\nTo these two, Great Man gave many children, and many tribes arose. But\none great chief ruled all the nation. The chief went out upon a wide\nknoll overlooking Big Waters, and he knew that the plains of his people\nwere beneath the waves. Nine sleeps he lay on the knoll, thinking\nthoughts of these great waters. Nine sleeps he lay without food, and his\nmind was thinking always of one thing: How did this deep water cover the\nplains of the world?\n\nAt the end of nine sleeps he was changed. He was not like himself. No\narrow could wound him. He was like Great Man for no Indian could slay\nhim. Then he spoke to Great Man and commanded him to banish the waters\nfrom the plains of his ancestors. Great Man tore a hole in the mountain\nside, so that the waters on the plains flowed into Big Waters. Thus the\nSacramento River was formed.\n\n\n\n\nThe Fable of the Animals\nKarok (near Klamath River,. Cal.)\n\nA great many hundred snows ago, Kareya, sitting on the Sacred Stool,\ncreated the world. First, he made the fishes in the Big Water, then the\nanimals on the green land, and last of all, Man! But at first the\nanimals were all alike in power. No one knew which animals should be\nfood for others, and which should be food for man. Then Kareya ordered\nthem all to meet in one place, that Man might give each his rank and his\npower. So the animals all met together one evening, when the sun was\nset, to wait overnight for the coming of Man on the next morning. Kareya\nalso commanded Man to make bows and arrows, as many as there were\nanimals, and to give the longest one to the animal which was to have the\nmost power, and the shortest to the one which should have least power.\nSo he did, and after nine sleeps his work was ended, and the bows and\narrows which he had made were very many.\n\nNow the animals, being all together, went to sleep, so they might be\nready to meet Man on the next morning. But Coyote was exceedingly\ncunning--he was cunning above all the beasts. Coyote wanted the longest\nbow and the greatest power, so he could have all the other animals for\nhis meat. He decided to stay awake all night, so that he would be first\nto meet Man in the morning. So he laughed to himself and stretched his\nnose out on his paw and pretended to sleep. About midnight he began to\nbe sleepy. He had to walk around the camp and scratch his eyes to keep\nthem open. He grew more sleepy, so that he had to skip and jump about to\nkeep awake. But he made so much noise, he awakened some of the other\nanimals. When the morning star came up, he was too sleepy to keep his\neyes open any longer. So he took two little sticks, and sharpened them\nat the ends, and propped open his eyelids. Then he felt safe. He watched\nthe morning star, with his nose stretched along his paws, and fell\nasleep. The sharp sticks pinned his eyelids fast together.\n\nThe morning star rose rapidly into the sky. The birds began to sing. The\nanimals woke up and stretched themselves, but still Coyote lay fast\nasleep. When the sun rose, the animals went to meet Man. He gave the\nlongest bow to Cougar, so he had greatest power; the second longest he\ngave to Bear; others he gave to the other animals, giving all but the\nlast to Frog. But the shortest one was left. Man cried out, \"What animal\nhave I missed?\" Then the animals began to look about and found Coyote\nfast asleep, with his eyelids pinned together. All the animals began to\nlaugh, and they jumped upon Coyote and danced upon him. Then they led\nhim to Man, still blinded, and Man pulled out the sharp sticks and gave\nhim the shortest bow of all. It would hardly shoot an arrow farther than\na foot. All the animals laughed.\n\nBut Man took pity on Coyote, because he was now weaker even than Frog.\nSo at his request, Kareya gave him cunning, ten times more than before,\nso that he was cunning above all the animals of the wood. Therefore\nCoyote was friendly to Man and his children, and did many things for\nthem.\n\n\n\n\nCoyote and Sun\nPai Ute (near Kern River, Cal.)\n\nAlong time ago, Coyote wanted to go to the sun. He asked Pokoh, Old Man,\nto show him the trail. Coyote went straight out on this trail and he\ntravelled it all day. But Sun went round so that Coyote came back at\nnight to the place from which he started in the morning.\n\nThe next morning, Coyote asked Pokoh to show him the trail. Pokoh showed\nhim, and Coyote travelled all day and came back at night to the same\nplace again.\n\nBut the third day, Coyote started early and went out on the trail to the\nedge of the world and sat down on the hole where the sun came up. While\nwaiting for the sun he pointed with his bow and arrow at different\nplaces and pretended to shoot. He also pretended not to see the sun.\nWhen Sun came up, he told Coyote to get out of his way. Coyote told him\nto go around; that it was his trail. But Sun came up under him and he\nhad to hitch forward a little. After Sun came up a little farther, it\nbegan to get hot on Coyote's shoulder, so he spit on his paw and rubbed\nhis shoulder. Then he wanted to ride up with the sun. Sun said, \"Oh, no\";\nbut Coyote insisted. So Coyote climbed up on Sun, and Sun started up the\ntrail in the sky. The trail was marked off into steps like a ladder. As\nSun went up he counted \"one, two, three,\" and so on. By and by Coyote\nbecame very thirsty, and he asked Sun for a drink of water. Sun gave him\nan acorn-cup full. Coyote asked him why he had no more. About noontime,\nCoyote became very impatient. It was very hot. Sun told him to shut his\neyes. Coyote shut them, but opened them again. He kept opening and\nshutting them all the afternoon. At night, when Sun came down, Coyote\ntook hold of a tree. Then he clambered off Sun and climbed down to the\nearth.\n\n\n\n\nThe Course of the Sun\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nSussistinnako, the spider, said to the sun, \"My son, you will ascend and\npass over the world above. You will go from north to south. Return and\ntell me what you think of it.\"\n\nThe sun said, on his return, \"Mother, I did as you bade me, and I did\nnot like the road.\"\n\nSpider told him to ascend and pass over the world from west to the east.\nOn his return, the sun said,\n\n\"It may be good for some, mother, but I did not like it.\"\n\nSpider said, \"You will again ascend and pass over the straight road from\nthe east to the west. Return and tell me what you think of it.\"\n\nThat night the sun said, \"I am much contented. I like that road much.\"\n\nSussistinnako said, \"My son, you will ascend each day and pass over the\nworld from east to west.\"\n\nUpon each day's journey the sun stops midway from the east to the centre\nof the world to eat his breakfast. In the centre he stops to eat his\ndinner. Halfway from the centre to the west he stops to eat his supper.\nHe never fails to eat these three meals each day, and always stops at\nthe same points.\n\nThe sun wears a shirt of dressed deerskin, with leggings of the same\nreaching to his thighs. The shirt and leggings are fringed. His\nmoccasins are also of deerskin and embroidered in yellow, red, and\nturkis beads. He wears a kilt of deerskin, having a snake painted upon\nit. He carries a bow and arrows, the quiver being of cougar skin,\nhanging over his shoulder, and he holds his bow in his left hand and an\narrow in his right. He always wears the mask which protects him from the\nsight of the people of Ha-arts.\n\nAt the top of the mask is an eagle plume with parrot plumes; an eagle\nplume is at each side, and one at the bottom of the mask. The hair\naround the head and face is red like fire, and when it moves and shakes\npeople cannot look closely at the mask. It is not intended that they\nshould observe closely, else they would know that instead of seeing the\nsun they see only his mask.\n\nThe moon came to the upper world with the sun and he also wears a mask.\n\nEach night the sun passes by the house of Sussistinnako, the spider, who\nasks him, \"How are my children above? How many have died to-day? How\nmany have been born to-day?\" The sun lingers only long enough to answer\nhis questions. He then passes on to his house in the east.\n\n\n\n\nThe Foxes and the Sun\nYurok (near Klamath River, Cal.)\n\nOnce upon a time, the Foxes were angry with Sun. They held a council\nabout the matter. Then twelve Foxes were selected--twelve of the\nbravest to catch Sun and tie him down. They made ropes of sinew; then\nthe twelve watched until the Sun, as he followed the downward trail in\nthe sky, touched the top of a certain hill. Then the Foxes caught Sun,\nand tied him fast to the hill. But the Indians saw them, and they killed\nthe Foxes with arrows. Then they cut the sinews. But the Sun had burned\na great hole in the ground. The Indians know the story is true, because\nthey can see the hole which Sun burned.\n\n\n\n\nThe Theft of Fire\nKarok (near Klamath River, Cal.)\n\nThere was no fire on earth and the Karoks were cold and miserable. Far\naway to the east, hidden in a treasure box, was fire which Kareya had\nmade and given to two old hags, lest the Karoks should steal it. So\nCoyote decided to steal fire for the Indians.\n\nCoyote called a great council of the animals. After the council he\nstationed a line from the land of the Karoks to the distant land where\nthe fire was kept. Lion was nearest the Fire Land, and Frog was nearest\nthe Karok land. Lion was strongest and Frog was weakest, and the other\nanimals took their places, according to the power given them by Man.\n\nThen Coyote took an Indian with him and went to the hill top, but he hid\nthe Indian under the hill. Coyote went to the tepee of the hags. He\nsaid, \"Good-evening.\" They replied, \"Good-evening.\"\n\nCoyote said, \"It is cold out here. Can you let me sit by the fire?\" So\nthey let him sit by the fire. He was only a coyote. He stretched his\nnose out along his forepaws and pretended to go to sleep, but he kept\nthe corner of one eye open watching. So he spent all night watching and\nthinking, but he had no chance to get a piece of the fire.\n\nThe next morning Coyote held a council with the Indian. He told him when\nhe, Coyote, was within the tepee, to attack it. Then Coyote went back to\nthe fire. The hags let him in again. He was only a Coyote. But Coyote\nstood close by the casket of fire. The Indian made a dash at the tepee.\nThe hags rushed out after him, and Coyote seized a fire brand in his\nteeth and flew over the ground. The hags saw the sparks flying and gave\nchase. But Coyote reached Lion, who ran with it to Grizzly Bear. Grizzly\nBear ran with it to Cinnamon Bear; he ran with it to Wolf, and at last\nthe fire came to Ground-Squirrel. Squirrel took the brand and ran so\nfast that his tail caught fire. He curled it up over his back, and\nburned the black spot in his shoulders. You can see it even to-day.\nSquirrel came to Frog, but Frog couldn't run. He opened his mouth wide\nand swallowed the fire. Then he jumped but the hags caught his tail.\nFrog jumped again, but the hags kept his tail. That is why Frogs have no\ntail, even to this day. Frog swam under water, and came up on a pile of\ndriftwood. He spat out the fire into the dry wood, and that is why there\nis fire in dry wood even to-day. When an Indian rubs two pieces\ntogether, the fire comes out.\n\n\n\n\nThe Theft of Fire\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nAlong, long time ago, the people became tired of feeding on grass, like\ndeer and wild animals, and they talked together how fire might be found.\nThe Ti-amoni said, \"Coyote is the best man to steal fire from the world\nbelow,\" so he sent for Coyote.\n\nWhen Coyote came, the Ti-amoni said, \"The people wish for fire. We are\ntired of feeding on grass. You must go to the world below and bring the\nfire.\"\n\nCoyote said, \"It is well, father. I will go.\"\n\nSo Coyote slipped stealthily to the house of Sussistinnako. It was the\nmiddle of the night. Snake, who guarded the first door, was asleep, and\nhe slipped quickly and quietly by. Cougar, who guarded the second door,\nwas asleep, and Coyote slipped by. Bear, who guarded the third door, was\nalso sleeping. At the fourth door, Coyote found the guardian of the fire\nasleep. Slipping through into the room of Sussistinnako, he found him\nalso sleeping.\n\nCoyote quickly lighted the cedar brand which was attached to his tail\nand hurried out. Spider awoke, just enough to know some one was leaving\nthe room. \"Who is there?\" he cried. Then he called, \"Some one has been\nhere.\" But before he could waken the sleeping Bear and Cougar and Snake,\nCoyote had almost reached the upper world.\n\n\n\n\nThe Earth-Hardening After the Flood\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nAfter the flood, the Sia returned to Ha-arts, the earth. They came\nthrough an opening in the far north. After they had remained at their\nfirst village a year, they wished to pass on, but the earth was very\nmoist and Utset was puzzled how to harden it.\n\nUtset called Cougar. She said, \"Have you any medicine to harden the road\nso that we may pass over it?\" Cougar replied, \"I will try, mother.\" But\nafter going a short distance over the road, he sank to his shoulders in\nthe wet earth. He returned much afraid and told Utset that he could go\nno farther.\n\nThen she sent for Bear. She said, \"Have you any medicine to harden the\nroad?\" Bear started out, but he sank to his shoulders, and returned\nsaying, \"I can do nothing.\"\n\nThen Utset called Badger, and he tried. She called Shrew, and he failed.\nShe called Wolf, and he failed.\n\nThen Utset returned to the lower world and asked Sussistinnako what she\ncould do to harden the earth so that her people might travel over it. He\nasked, \"Have you no medicine to make the earth firm? Have you asked\nCougar and Wolf, Bear and Badger and Wolf to use their medicines to\nharden the earth?\"\n\nUtset said, \"I have tried all these.\"\n\nThen Sussistinnako said, \"Others will understand.\" He told her to have a\nwoman of the Kapina (spider) clan try to harden the earth.\n\nWhen the woman arrived, Utset said, \"My mother, Sussistinnako tells me\nthe Kapina society understand how to harden the earth.\"\n\nThe woman said, \"I do not know how to make the earth hard.\"\n\nThree times Utset asked the woman about hardening the earth, and three\ntimes the woman said, \"I do not know.\" The fourth time the woman said,\n\"Well, I guess I know. I will try.\"\n\nSo she called together the members of the Spider society, the Kapina,\nand said,\n\n\"Our mother, Sussistinnako, bids us work for her and harden the earth so\nthat the people may pass over it.\" The spider woman first made a road of\nfine cotton which she produced from her own body, and suspended it a few\nfeet above the earth. Then she told the people they could travel on\nthat. But the people were afraid to trust themselves to such a frail\nroad.\n\nThen Utset said, \"I wish a man and not a woman of the Spider society to\nwork for me.\"\n\nThen he came. He threw out a charm of wood, latticed so it could be\nexpanded or contracted. When it was extended it reached to the middle of\nthe earth. He threw it to the south, to the east, and to the west; then\nhe threw it toward the people in the north.\n\nSo the earth was made firm that the people might travel upon it.\n\nSoon after Utset said, \"I will soon leave you. I will, return to the\nhome from which I came.\"\n\nThen she selected a man of the Corn clan. She said to him, \"You will be\nknown as Ti-amoni (arch-ruler). You will be to my people as myself. You\nwill pass with them over the straight road. I give to you all my wisdom,\nmy thoughts, my heart, and all. I fill your mind with my mind.\"\n\nHe replied: \"It is well, mother. I will do as you say.\"\n\n\n\n\nThe Origins of the Totems and of Names\nZuni (New Mexico)\n\nNow the Twain Beloved and the priest-fathers gathered in council for the\nnaming and selection of man-groups and creature-kinds, and things. So\nthey called the people of the southern space the Children of Summer, and\nthose who loved the sun most became the Sun people. Others who loved the\nwater became the Toad people, or Turtle people, or Frog people. Others\nloved the seeds of the earth and became the Seed people, or the people\nof the First-growing grass, or of the Tobacco. Those who loved warmth\nwere the Fire or Badger people. According to their natures they chose\ntheir totems.\n\nAnd so also did the People of Winter, or the People of the North. Some\nwere known as the Bear people, or the Coyote people, or Deer people;\nothers as the Crane people, Turkey people, or Grouse people. So the\nBadger people dwelt in a warm place, even as the badgers on the sunny\nside of hills burrow, finding a dwelling amongst the dry roots whence is\nfire.\n\n\n\n\nTraditions of Wanderings\nHopi (Arizona)\n\nAfter the Hopi had been taught to build stone houses, they took\nseparate ways. My people were the Snake people. They lived in snake\nskins, each family occupying a separate snake skin bag. All were hung on\nthe end of a rainbow which swung around until the end touched Navajo\nMountain. Then the bags dropped from it. Wherever a bag dropped, there\nwas their house. After they arranged their bags they came out from them\nas men and women, and they then built a stone house which had five\nsides. Then a brilliant star arose in the southeast. It would shine for\na while and disappear.\n\nThe old men said, \"'Beneath that star there must be people.\" They\ndecided to travel to it. They cut a staff and set it in the ground and\nwatched until the star reached its top. Then they started and travelled\nas long as the star shone. When it disappeared they halted. But the star\ndid not shine every night. Sometimes many years passed before it\nappeared again. When this occurred, the people built houses during their\nhalt. They built round houses and square houses, and all the ruins\nbetween here and Navajo Mountain mark the places where our people lived.\nThey waited until the star came to the top of the staff again, but when\nthey moved on, many people remained in those houses.\n\nWhen our people reached Waipho (a spring a few miles from Walpi) the\nstar vanished. It has never been seen since. They built a house there,\nbut Masauwu, the God of the Face of the Earth, came and compelled the\npeople to move about halfway between the East Mesa and the Middle Mesa\nand there they stayed many plantings. One time when the old men were\nassembled, the god came among them, looking like a horrible skeleton and\nrattling his bones. But he could not frighten them. So he said, \"I have\nlost my wager. All that I have is yours. Ask for anything you want and I\nwill give it to you.\"\n\nAt that time, our people's house was beside the water course. The god\nsaid, \"Why do you sit there in the mud? Go up yonder where it is dry.\"\n\nSo they went across to the west side of the mesa near the point and\nbuilt a house and lived there.\n\nAgain when the old men assembled two demons came among them, but the old\nmen took the great Baho and chased them away.\n\nOther Hopi (Hopituh) came into this country from time to time and old\npeople said, \"Build here,\" or \"Build there,\" and portioned the land\namong the newcomers.\n\n\n\n\nThe Migration of the Water People\nWalpi (Arizona)\n\nIn the long ago, the Snake, Horn, and Eagle people lived here (in\nTusayan) but their corn grew only a span high and when they sang for\nrain, the Cloud god sent only a thin mist. My people lived then in the\ndistant Pa-lat Kwa-bi in the South. There was a very bad old man there.\nWhen he met any one he would spit in their faces.... He did all\nmanner of evil. Baholihonga got angry at this and turned the world\nupside down. Water spouted up through the kivas and through the fire\nplaces in the houses. The earth was rent in great chasms, and water\ncovered everything except one narrow ridge of mud. Across this the\nSerpent-god told all the people to travel. As they journeyed across, the\nfeet of the bad slipped and they fell into the dark water. The good\npeople, after many days, reached dry land.\n\nWhile the water was rising around the village, the old people got on top\nof the houses. They thought they could not struggle across with the\nyounger people. But Baholihonga clothed them with the skins of turkeys.\nThey spread their wings out and floated in the air just above the\nsurface of the water, and in this way they got across. There were saved\nof us, the Water people, the Corn people, the Lizard, Horned-toad, and\nSand peoples, two families of Rabbit, and the Tobacco people. The turkey\ntail dragged in the water. That is why there is white on the turkey's\ntail now. This is also the reason why old people use turkey-feathers at\nthe religious ceremonies.\n\n\n\n\nCoyote and the Mesquite Beans\nPima (Arizona)\n\nAfter the waters of the flood had gone down, Elder Brother said to\nCoyote, \"Do not touch that black bug; and do not eat the mesquite beans.\nIt is dangerous to harm anything that came safe through the flood.\"\n\nSo Coyote went on, but presently he came to the black bug. He stopped\nand ate it up. Then he went on to the mesquite beans. He stopped and\nlooked at them a while, and then said, \"I will just taste one and that\nwill be all.\" But he stood there and ate and ate until he had eaten them\nall up. And the bug and the beans swelled up in his stomach and killed\nhim.\n\n\n\n\nOrigin of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Range\nYokuts (near Fresno, Cal.)\n\nOnce there was a time when there was nothing in the world but water.\nAbout the place where Tulare Lake is now, there was a pole standing far\nup out of the water, and on this pole perched Hawk and Crow. First Hawk\nwould sit on the pole a while, then Crow would knock him off and sit on\nit himself. Thus they sat on the top of the pole above the water for\nmany ages. At last they created the birds which prey on fish. They\ncreated Kingfisher, Eagle, Pelican, and others. They created also Duck.\nDuck was very small but she dived to the bottom of the water, took a\nbeakful of mud, and then died in coming to the top of the water. Duck\nlay dead floating on the water. Then Hawk and Crow took the mud from\nDuck's beak, and began making the mountains.\n\nThey began at the place now known as Ta-hi-cha-pa Pass, and Hawk made\nthe east range. Crow made the west one. They pushed the mud down hard\ninto the water and then piled it high. They worked toward the north. At\nlast Hawk and Crow met at Mount Shasta. Then their work was done. But\nwhen they looked at their mountains, Crow's range was much larger than\nHawk's.\n\nHawk said to Crow, \"How did this happen, you rascal? You have been\nstealing earth from my bill. That is why your mountains are the\nbiggest.\" Crow laughed.\n\nThen Hawk chewed some Indian tobacco. That made him wise. At once he\ntook hold of the mountains and turned them around almost in a circle. He\nput his range where Crow's had been. That is why the Sierra Nevada Range\nis larger than the Coast Range.\n\n\n\n\nYosemite Valley\n(Explanatory) (3)\n\nMr. Stephen Powers claims that there is no such word in the Miwok\nlanguage as Yosemite. The valley has always been known to them, and is\nto this day, when speaking among themselves, as A-wa'-ni. This, it is\ntrue, is only the name of one of the ancient villages which it\ncontained; but by prominence it gave its name to the valley, and in\naccordance with Indian usage almost everywhere, to the inhabitants of\nthe same. The word Yosemite is simply a very beautiful and sonorous\ncorruption of the word for grizzly bear. On the Stanislaus and north of\nit, the word is u-zu'-mai-ti; at Little Gap, o-so'-mai-ti; in\nYosemite itself, u-zu'-mai-ti; on the South Fork of the Merced,\nuh-zu'-mai-tuh....\n\n\"In the following list, the signification of the name is given whenever\nthere is any known to the Indians:\n\n\"Wa-kal'-la (the river), Merced River.\n\n\"Lung-u-tu-ku'-ya, Ribbon Fall.\n\n\"Po'-ho-no, Po-ho'-no (though the first is probably the more correct),\nBridal-Veil Fall.... This word is said to signify 'evil wind.' The\nonly 'evil wind' that an Indian knows of is a whirlwind, which is\npoi-i'-cha or Kan'-u-ma.\n\n\"Tu-tok-a-nu'-la, El Capitan. 'Measuring-worm stone.' [Legend is given\nelsewhere.]\n\n\"Ko-su'-ko, Cathedral Rock.\n\n\"Pu-si'-na, and Chuk'-ka (the squirrel and the acorn-cache), a tall,\nsharp needle, with a smaller one at its base, just east of Cathedral\nRock.... The savages... imagined here a squirrel nibbling at the\nbase of an acorn granary.\n\n\"Loi'-a, Sentinel Rock.\n\n\"Sak'-ka-du-eh, Sentinel Dome.\n\n\"Cho'-lok (the fall), Yosemite Fall. This is the generic word for 'fall.'\n\n\"Ma'-ta (the canon), Indian canon. A generic word, in explaining which\nthe Indians hold up both hands to denote perpendicular walls.\n\n\"Ham'-mo-ko (usually contracted to Ham'-moak),... broken debris lying\nat the foot of the walls.\n\n\"U-zu'-mai-ti La'-wa-tuh (grizzly bear skin), Glacier Rock... from\nthe grayish, grizzled appearance of the wall.\n\n\"Cho-ko-nip'-o-deh (baby-basket), Royal Arches. This... canopy-rock\nbears no little resemblance to an Indian baby-basket. Another form is\ncho-ko'-ni,... literally... 'dog-house.'\n\n\"Pai-wai'-ak (white water?), Vernal Fall.\n\n\"Yo-wai-yi, Nevada Fall. In this word is detected the root of Awaia, 'a\nlake' or body of water.\n\n\"Tis-se'-yak, South Dome. [See legend elsewhere.]\n\n\"To-ko'-ye, North Dome, husband of Tisseyak. [See legend elsewhere.]\n\n\"Shun'-ta, Hun'-ta (the eye), Watching Eye.\n\n\"A-wai'-a (a lake), Mirror Lake.\n\n\"Sa-wah' (a gap), a name occurring frequently.\n\n\"Wa-ha'-ka, a village which stood at the base of Three Brothers; also\nthe rock itself. This was the westernmost village in the valley.\n\n\"There were nine villages in Yosemite Valley and... formerly others\nextending as far down as the Bridal Veil Fall, which were destroyed in\nwars that occurred before the whites came.\"\n\n(3) The explanation given above is that made by Mr. Stephen Powers, in\nVol. 3, U. S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain\nregion, Part 2, Contributions to North American Ethnology, 1877.\n\n\n\n\nLegend of Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La (El Capitan)\nYosemite Valley\n\nHere were once two little boys living in the valley who went down to the\nriver to swim. After paddling and splashing about to their hearts'\ncontent, they went on shore and crept up on a huge boulder which stood\nbeside the water. They lay down in the warm sunshine to dry themselves,\nbut fell asleep. They slept so soundly that they knew nothing, though\nthe great boulder grew day by day, and rose night by night, until it\nlifted them up beyond the sight of their tribe, who looked for them\neverywhere.\n\nThe rock grew until the boys were lifted high into the heaven, even far\nup above the blue sky, until they scraped their faces against the moon.\nAnd still, year after year, among the clouds they slept.\n\nThen there was held a great council of all the animals to bring the boys\ndown from the top of the great rock. Every animal leaped as high as he\ncould up the face of the rocky wall. Mouse could only jump as high as\none's hand; Rat, twice as high. Then Raccoon tried; he could jump a\nlittle farther. One after another of the animals tried, and Grizzly Bear\nmade a great leap far up the wall, but fell back. Last of all Lion\ntried, and he jumped farther than any other animal, but fell down upon\nhis back. Then came tiny Measuring-Worm, and began to creep up the rock.\nSoon he reached as high as Raccoon had jumped, then as high as Bear,\nthen as high as Lion's leap, and by and by he was out of sight, climbing\nup the face of the rock. For one whole snow, Measuring-Worm climbed the\nrock, and at last he reached the top. Then he wakened the boys, and came\ndown the same way he went up, and brought them down safely to the\nground. Therefore the rock is called Tutokanula, the measuring worm. But\nwhite men call it El Capitan.\n\n\n\n\nLegend of Tis-Se'-Yak (South Dome and North Dome)\nYosemite Valley\n\nTisseyak and her husband journeyed from a country very far off, and\nentered the valley of the Yosemite foot-sore from travel. She bore a\ngreat heavy conical basket, strapped across her head. Tisseyak came\nfirst. Her husband followed with a rude staff and a light roll of skins\non his back. They were thirsty after their long journey across the\nmountains. They hurried forward to drink of the waters, and the woman\nwas still in advance when she reached Lake Awaia. Then she dipped up the\nwater in her basket and drank of it. She drank up all the water. The\nlake was dry before her husband reached it. And because the woman drank\nall the water, there came a drought. The earth dried tip. There was no\ngrass, nor any green thing.\n\nBut the man was angry because he had no water to drink. He beat the\nwoman with his staff and she fled, but he followed and beat her even\nmore. Then the woman wept. In her anger she turned and flung her basket\nat the man. And even then they were changed into stone. The woman's\nbasket lies upturned beside the man. The woman's face is tear-stained,\nwith long dark lines trailing down.\n\nSouth Dome is the woman and North Dome is the husband. The Indian woman\ncuts her hair straight across the forehead, and allows the sides to drop\nalong her cheeks, forming a square face.\n\n\n\n\nHistoric Tradition of the Upper Tuolumne\nYosemite Valley\n\n(As given by Mr. Stephen Powers, 1877.)(4)\n\nThere is a lake-like expansion of the Upper Tuolumne some four miles\nlong and from a half mile to a mile wide, directly north of Hatchatchie\nValley (erroneously spelled Hetch Hetchy). It appears to have no name\namong Americans, but the Indians call it O-wai-a-nuh, which is\nmanifestly a dialectic variation of a-wai'-a, the generic word for\n\"lake.\" Nat. Screech, a veteran mountaineer and hunter, states that he\nvisited this region in 1850, and at that time there was a valley along\nthe river having the same dimensions that this lake now has. Again, in\n1855, he happened to pass that way and discovered that the lake had been\nformed as it now exists. He was at a loss to account for its origin; but\nsubsequently he acquired the Miwok language as spoken at Little Gap, and\nwhile listening to the Indians one day he overheard them casually refer\nto the formation of this lake in an extraordinary manner. On being\nquestioned they stated that there had been a tremendous cataclysm in\nthat valley, the bottom of it having fallen out apparently, whereby\nthe entire valley was submerged in the waters of the river. As nearly\nas he could ascertain from their imperfect methods of reckoning time,\nthis occurred in 1851; and in that year, while in the town of Sonora,\nScreech and many others remembered to have heard a huge explosion in\nthat direction which they then supposed was caused by a local earthquake.\n\nOn Drew's Ranch, Middle Fork of the Tuolumne, lives an aged squaw called\nDish-i, who was in the valley when this remarkable event occurred.\nAccording to her account the earth dropped in beneath their feet, and\nwaters of the river leaped up and came rushing upon them in a vast,\nroaring flood, almost perpendicular like a wall of rock. At first the\nIndians were stricken dumb, and motionless with terror, but when they\nsaw the waters coming, they escaped for life, though thirty or forty\nwere overtaken and drowned. Another squaw named Isabel says that the\nstubs of trees, which are still plainly visible deep down in the\npellucid waters, are considered by the old superstitious Indians to be\nevil spirits, the demons of the place, reaching up their arms, and that\nthey fear them greatly.\n\n(4) (Vol. 3, Part 2, U. S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the\nRocky Mountain region: Contributions to North American Ethnology, 1877.)\n\n\n\n\nCalifornia Big Trees\nPai Utes (near Kern River, Cal.)\n\nThe California big trees are sacred to the Monos, who call them\n\"woh-woh-nau,\" a word formed in imitation of the hoot of the owl. The\nowl is the guardian spirit and the god of the big trees. Bad luck comes\nto those who cut down the big trees, or shoot at an owl, or shoot in the\npresence of the owl.\n\nIn old days the Indians tried to persuade the white men not to cut down\nthe big trees. When they see the trees cut down they call after the\nwhite men. They say the owl will bring them evil.\n\n\n\n\nThe Children of Cloud\nPima (Arizona)\n\nWhen the Hohokam dwelt on the Gila River and tilled their farms around\nthe great temple which we call Casa Grande, there was a beautiful young\nwoman in the pueblo who had two twin sons. Their father was Cloud, and\nhe lived far away.\n\nOne day the boys came to their mother, as she was weaving mats. \"Who is.\nour father?\" they asked. \"We have no one to run to when he returns from\nthe hunt, or from war, to shout to him.\"\n\nThe mother answered: \"In the morning, look toward the sunrise and you\nwill see a white Cloud standing upright. He is your father.\"\n\n\"Can we visit our father?\" they asked.\n\n\"Yes,\" said their mother. \"You may visit him, but you must make the\njourney without stopping. First you will reach Wind, who is your\nfather's eldest brother. Behind him you will find your father.\"\n\nThe boys travelled four days and came to the house of Wind.\n\n\"Are you our father?\" they asked.\n\n\"No, I am your Uncle,\" answered Wind.\" Your father lives in the next\nhouse. Go on to him.\"\n\nThey travelled on to Cloud. But Cloud drove them away. He said, \"Go to\nyour uncle Wind. He will tell you something.\" But Wind sent them back to\nCloud again. Thus the boys were driven away from each house four times.\n\nThen Cloud said to them, \"Prove to me you are my sons. If you are, you\ncan do what I do.\"\n\nThe younger boy sent chain lightning across the sky with sharp,\ncrackling thunder. The elder boy sent the heat lightning with its\ndistant rumble of thunder.\n\n\"You are my children,\" said Cloud. \"You have power like mine.\"\n\nBut again he tested them. He took them to a house near by where a flood\nof rain had drowned the people. \"If I they are my sons,\" he said, \"they\nwill not be harmed.\"\n\nThen Cloud sent the rain and the storm. The water rose higher and\nhigher, but the two boys were not harmed. The water could not drown\nthem. Then Cloud took them to his home and there they stayed a long,\nlong time.\n\nBut after a long time, the boys wished to see their mother again. Then\nCloud made them some bows and arrows differing from any they had ever\nseen, and sent them to their mother. He told them he would watch over\nthem as they travelled but they must speak to no one they met on their\nway.\n\nSo the boys travelled to the setting sun. First they met Raven. They\nremembered their father's command and turned aside so as not to meet\nhim. Then they met Roadrunner, and turned aside to avoid him. Next came\nHawk and Eagle.\n\nEagle said, \"Let's scare those boys.\" So he swooped down over their\nheads until they cried from fright.\n\n\"We were just teasing you,\" said Eagle. \"We will not do you any harm.\"\nThen Eagle flew on.\n\nNext they met Coyote. They tried to avoid him, but Coyote ran around and\nput himself in their way. Cloud was watching and he sent down thunder\nand lightning. And the boys sent out their magic thunder and lightning\nalso, until Coyote was frightened and ran away.\n\nNow this happened on the mountain top, and one boy was standing on each\nside of the trail. After Coyote ran away, they were changed into mescal\n--the very largest mescal ever known. The place was near Tucson. This is\nthe reason why mescal grows on the mountains, and why thunder and\nlightning go from place to place--because the children did. That is why\nit rains when we gather mescal.\n\n\n\n\nThe Cloud People\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nNow all the Cloud People, the Lightning People, the Thunder and Rainbow\nPeoples followed the Sia into the upper world. But all the people of\nTinia, the middle world, did not leave the lower world. Only a portion\nwere sent by the Spider to work for the people of the upper world. The\nCloud People are so many that, although the demands of the earth people\nare so great, there are always many passing about over Tinia for\npleasure. These Cloud People ride on wheels, small wheels being used by\nthe little Cloud children and large wheels by the older ones. (5)\n\nThe Cloud People keep always behind their masks. The shape of the mask\ndepends upon the number of the people and the work being done. The\nHenati are the floating white clouds behind which the Cloud People pass\nfor pleasure. The Heash are clouds like the plains and behind these the\nCloud People are laboring to water the earth. Water is brought by the\nCloud People, from the springs at the base of the mountains, in gourds\nand jugs and vases by the men, women, and children. They rise from the\nsprings and pass through the trunk of the tree to its top, which reaches\nTinia. They pass on to the point to be sprinkled.\n\nThe priest of the Cloud People is above even the priests of the Thunder,\nLightning, and Rainbow Peoples. The Cloud People have ceremonials, just\nlike those of the Sia. On the altars of the Sia may be seen figures\narranged just as the Cloud People sit in their ceremonials.\n\nWhen a priest of the Cloud People wishes assistance from the Thunder and\nLightning Peoples, he notifies their priests, but keeps a supervision of\nall things himself.\n\nThen the Lightning People shoot their arrows to make it rain the harder.\nThe smaller flashes come from the bows of the children. The Thunder\nPeople have human forms, with wings of knives, and by flapping these\nwings they make a great noise. Thus they frighten the Cloud and\nLightning People into working the harder.\n\nThe Rainbow People were created to work in Tinia to make it more\nbeautiful for the people of Ha-arts, the earth, to look upon. The elders\nmake the beautiful rainbows, but the children assist. The Sia have no\nidea of what or how these bows are made. They do know, however, that war\nheroes always travel upon the rainbows.\n\n(5) The Indians say the Americans also ride wheels, therefore they must\nhave known about the Cloud People.\n\n\n\n\nRain Song\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nWe, the ancient ones, ascended from the middle of the world below,\nthrough the door of the entrance to the lower world, we hold our songs\nto the Cloud, Lightning, and Thunder Peoples as we hold our own hearts.\nOur medicine is precious.\n\n(Addressing the people of Tinia:)\n\nWe entreat you to send your thoughts to us so that we may sing your\nsongs straight, so that they will pass over the straight road to the\nCloud priests that they may cover the earth with water, so that she may\nbear all that is good for us.\n\nLightning People, send your arrows to the middle of the earth. Hear the\necho! Who is it? The People of the Spruce of the North. All your people\nand your thoughts come to us. Who is it? People of the white floating\nClouds. Your thoughts come to us. All your people and your thoughts come\nto us. Who is it? The Lightning People. Your thoughts come to us. Who is\nit? Cloud People at the horizon. All your people and your thoughts come\nto us.\n\n\n\n\nRain Song\n\nWhite floating clouds. Clouds, like the plains, come and water the\nearth. Sun, embrace the earth that she may be fruitful. Moon, lion of\nthe north, bear of the west, badger of the south, wolf of the east,\neagle of the heavens, shrew of the earth, elder war hero, younger war\nhero, warriors of the six mountains of the world, intercede with the\nCloud People for us that they may water the earth. Medicine bowl, cloud\nbowl, and water vase give us your hearts, that the earth may be watered.\nI make the ancient road of meal that my song may pass straight over it--\nthe ancient road. White shell bead woman who lives where the sun goes\ndown, mother whirlwind, father Sussistinnako, mother Yaya, creator of\ngood thoughts, yellow woman of the north, blue woman of the west, red\nwoman of the south, white woman of the east, slightly yellow woman of\nthe zenith, and dark woman of the nadir, I ask your intercession with\nthe Cloud People.\n\n\n\n\nRain Song\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nLet the white floating clouds--the clouds like the plains--the\nlightning, thunder, rainbow, and cloud peoples, water the earth. Let the\npeople of the white floating clouds,--the people of the clouds like the\nplains--the lightning, thunder, rain bow, and cloud peoples--come and\nwork for us, and water the earth.\n\n\n\n\nThe Corn Maidens\nZuni (New Mexico)\n\nAfter long ages of wandering, the precious Seed-things rested over the\nMiddle at Zuni, and men turned their hearts to the cherishing of their\ncorn and the Corn Maidens instead of warring with strange men.\n\nBut there was complaint by the people of the customs followed. Some said\nthe music was not that of the olden time. Far better was that which of\nnights they often heard as they wandered up and down the river trail.\n(6) Wonderful music, as of liquid voices in caverns, or the echo of\nwomen's laughter in water-vases. And the music was timed with a\ndeep-toned drum from the Mountain of Thunder. Others thought the music\nwas that of the ghosts of ancient men, but it was far more beautiful\nthan the music when danced the Corn Maidens. Others said light clouds\nrolled upward from the grotto in Thunder Mountain like to the mists that\nleave behind them the dew, but lo! even as they faded the bright\ngarments of the Rainbow women might be seen fluttering, and the broidery\nand paintings of these dancers of the mist were more beautiful than the\ncostumes of the Corn Maidens.\n\nThen the priests of the people said, \"It may well be Paiyatuma, the\nliquid voices his flute and the flutes of his players.\"\n\nNow when the time of ripening corn was near, the fathers ordered\npreparation for the dance of the Corn Maidens. They sent the two\nMaster-Priests of the Bow to the grotto at Thunder Mountains, saying,\n\n\"If you behold Paiyatuma, and his maidens, perhaps they will give us the\nhelp of their customs.\"\n\nThen up the river trail, the priests heard the sound of a drum and\nstrains of song. It was Paiyatuma and his seven maidens, the Maidens of\nthe House of Stars, sisters of the Corn Maidens.\n\nThe God of Dawn and Music lifted his flute and took his place in the\nline of dancers. The drum sounded until the cavern shook as with\nthunder. The flutes sang and sighed as the wind in a wooded canon while\nstill the storm is distant. White mists floated up from the wands of the\nMaidens, above which fluttered the butterflies of Summer-land about the\ndress of the Rainbows in the strange blue light of the night.\n\nThen Paiyatuma, smiling, said, \"Go the way before, telling the fathers\nof our custom, and straightway we will follow.\"\n\nSoon the sound of music was heard, coming from up the river, and soon\nthe Flute People and singers and maidens of the Flute dance. Up rose the\nfathers and all the watching people, greeting the God of Dawn with\noutstretched hand and offering of prayer meal. Then the singers took\ntheir places and sounded their drum, flutes, and song of clear waters,\nwhile the Maidens of the Dew danced their Flute dance. Greatly marvelled\nthe people, when from the wands they bore forth came white clouds, and\nfine cool mists descended.\n\nNow when the dance was ended and the Dew Maidens had retired, out came\nthe beautiful Mothers of Corn. And when the players of the flutes saw\nthem, they were enamoured of their beauty and gazed upon them so\nintently that the Maidens let fall their hair and cast down their eyes.\nAnd jealous and bolder grew the mortal youths, and in the morning dawn,\nin rivalry, the dancers sought all too freely the presence of the Corn\nMaidens, no longer holding them so precious as in the olden time. And\nthe matrons, intent on the new dance, heeded naught else. But behold!\nThe mists increased greatly, surrounding dancers and watchers alike,\nuntil within them, the Maidens of Corn, all in white garments, became\ninvisible. Then sadly and noiselessly they stole in amongst the people\nand laid their corn wands down amongst the trays, and laid their white\nbroidered garments thereupon, as mothers lay soft kilting over their\nbabes. Then even as the mists became they, and with the mists drifting,\nfled away, to the far south Summer-land.\n\n(6) The mists and the dawn breeze on the river and in the grotto.\n\n\n\n\nThe Search for the Corn Maidens\nZuni (New Mexico)\n\nThen the people in their trouble called the two Master-Priests and said:\n\"Who, now, think ye, should journey to seek our precious Maidens?\nBethink ye! Who amongst the Beings is even as ye are, strong of will and\ngood of eyes? There is our great elder brother and father, Eagle, he of\nthe floating down and of the terraced tail-fan. Surely he is enduring of\nwill and surpassing of sight.\"\n\n\"Yea. Most surely,\" said the fathers. \"Go ye forth and beseech him.\"\n\nThen the two sped north to Twin Mountain, where in a grotto high up\namong the crags, with his mate and his young, dwelt the Eagle of the\nWhite Bonnet.\n\nThey climbed the mountain, but behold! Only the eaglets were there. They\nscreamed lustily and tried to hide themselves in the dark recesses.\n\"Pull not our feathers, ye of hurtful touch, but wait. When we are older\nwe will drop them for you even from the clouds.\"\n\n\"Hush,\" said the warriors. \"Wait in peace. We seek not ye but thy\nfather.\"\n\nThen from afar, with a frown, came old Eagle. \"Why disturb ye my\nfeatherlings?\" he cried.\n\n\"Behold! Father and elder brother, we come seeking only the light of thy\nfavor. Listen!\"\n\nThen they told him of the lost Maidens of the Corn, and begged him to\nsearch for them.\n\n\"Be it well with thy wishes,\" said Eagle. \"Go ye before contentedly.\"\n\nSo the warriors returned to the council. But Eagle winged his way high\ninto the sky. High, high, he rose, until he circled among the clouds,\nsmall-seeming and swift, like seed-down in a whirlwind. Through all the\nheights, to the north, to the west, to the south, and to the east, he\ncircled and sailed. Yet nowhere saw he trace of the Corn Maidens. Then\nhe flew lower, returning. Before the warriors were rested, people heard\nthe roar of his wings. As he alighted, the fathers said, \"Enter thou and\nsit, oh brother, and say to us what thou hast to say.\" And they offered\nhim the cigarette of the space relations.\n\nWhen they had puffed the smoke toward the four points of the compass,\nand Eagle had purified his breath with smoke, and had blown smoke over\nsacred things, he spoke.\n\n\"Far have I journeyed, scanning all the regions. Neither bluebird nor\nwoodrat can hide from my seeing,\" he said, snapping his beak. \"Neither\nof them, unless they hide under bushes. Yet I have failed to see\nanything of the Maidens ye seek for. Send for my younger brother, the\nFalcon. Strong of flight is he, yet not so strong as I, and nearer the\nground he takes his way ere sunrise.\"\n\nThen the Eagle spread his wings and flew away to Twin Mountain. The\nWarrior-Priests of the Bow sped again fleetly over the plain to the\nwestward for his younger brother, Falcon.\n\nSitting on an ant hill, so the warriors found Falcon. He paused as they\napproached, crying, \"If ye have snare strings, I will be off like the\nflight of an arrow well plumed of our feathers!\"\n\n\"No,\" said the priests. \"Thy elder brother hath bidden us seek thee.\"\n\nThen they told Falcon what had happened, and how Eagle had failed to\nfind the Corn Maidens, so white and beautiful.\n\n\"Failed!\" said Falcon. \"Of course he failed. He climbs aloft to the\nclouds and thinks he can see under every bush and into every shadow, as\nsees the Sunfather who sees not with eyes. Go ye before.\"\n\nBefore the Warrior-Priests had turned toward the town, the Falcon had\nspread his sharp wings and was skimming off over the tops of the trees\nand bushes as though verily seeking for field mice or birds' nests. And\nthe Warriors returned to tell the fathers and to await his coming.\n\nBut after Falcon had searched over the world, to the north and west, to\nthe east and south, he too returned and was received as had been Eagle.\nHe settled on the edge of a tray before the altar, as on the ant hill he\nsettles today. When he had smoked and had been smoked, as had been\nEagle, he told the sorrowing fathers and mothers that he had looked\nbehind every copse and cliff shadow, but of the Maidens he had found no\ntrace.\n\n\"They are hidden more closely than ever sparrow hid,\" he said. Then he,\ntoo, flew away to his hills in the west.\n\n\"Our beautiful Maiden Mothers,\" cried the matrons. \"Lost, lost as the\ndead are they!\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the others. \"Where now shall we seek them? The far-seeing\nEagle and the close-searching Falcon alike have failed to find them.\"\n\n\"Stay now your feet with patience,\" said the fathers. Some of them had\nheard Raven, who sought food in the refuse and dirt at the edge of town,\nat daybreak.\n\n\"Look now,\" they said. \"There is Heavy-nose, whose beak never fails to\nfind the substance of seed itself, however little or well hidden it be.\nHe surely must know of the Corn Maidens. Let us call him.\"\n\nSo the warriors went to the river side. When they found Raven, they\nraised their hands, all weaponless.\n\n\"We carry no pricking quills,\" they called. \"Blackbanded father, we seek\nyour aid. Look now! The Mother-maidens of Seed whose substance is the\nfood alike of thy people and our people, have fled away. Neither our\ngrandfather the Eagle, nor his younger brother the Falcon, can trace\nthem. We beg you to aid us or counsel us.\"\n\n\"Ka! ka!\" cried the Raven. \"Too hungry am I to go abroad fasting on\nbusiness for ye. Ye are stingy! Here have I been since perching time,\ntrying to find a throatful, but ye pick thy bones and lick thy bowls too\nclean for that, be sure.\"\n\n\"Come in, then, poor grandfather. We will give thee food to cat. Yea,\nand a cigarette to smoke, with all the ceremony.\"\n\n\"Say ye so?\" said the Raven. He ruffled his collar and opened his mouth\nso wide with a lusty kaw-la-ka--that he might well have swallowed his\nown head. \"Go ye before,\" he said, and followed them into the court of\nthe dancers.\n\nHe was not ill to look upon. Upon his shoulders were bands of white\ncotton, and his back was blue, gleaming like the hair of a maiden dancer\nin the sunlight. The Master-Priest greeted Raven, bidding him sit and\nsmoke.\n\n\"Ha! There is corn in this, else why the stalk of it?\" said the Raven,\nwhen he took the cane cigarette of the far spaces and noticed the joint\nof it. Then he did as he had seen the Master-Priest do, only more\ngreedily. He sucked in such a throatful of the smoke, fire and all, that\nit almost strangled him. He coughed and grew giddy, and the smoke all\nhot and stinging went through every part of him. It filled all his\nfeathers, making even his brown eyes bluer and blacker, in rings. It is\nnot to be wondered at, the blueness of flesh, blackness of dress, and\nskinniness, yes, and tearfulness of eye which we see in the Raven\nto-day. And they are all as greedy of corn food as ever, for behold! No\nsooner had the old Raven recovered than he espied one of the ears of\ncorn half hidden under the mantle-covers of the trays. He leaped from\nhis place laughing. They always laugh when they find anything, these\nravens. Then he caught up the ear of corn and made off with it over the\nheads of the people and the tops of the houses, crying.\n\n\"Ha! ha! In this wise and in no other will ye find thy Seed Maidens.\"\n\nBut after a while he came back, saying, \"A sharp eye have I for the\nflesh of the Maidens. But who might see their breathing-beings, ye\ndolts, except by the help of the Father of Dawn-Mist himself, whose\nbreath makes breath of others seem as itself.\" Then he flew away cawing.\n\nThen the elders said to each other, \"It is our fault, so how dare we\nprevail on our father Paiyatuma to aid us? He warned us of this in the\nold time.\"\n\nSuddenly, for the sun was rising, they heard Paiyatuma in his daylight\nmood and transformation. Thoughtless and loud, uncouth in speech, he\nwalked along the outskirts of the village. He joked fearlessly even of\nfearful things, for all his words and deeds were the reverse of his\nsacred being. He sat down on a heap of vile refuse, saying he would have\na feast.\n\n\"My poor little children,\" he said. But he spoke to aged priests and\nwhite-haired matrons.\n\n\"Good-night to you all,\" he said, though it was in full dawning. So he\nperplexed them with his speeches.\n\n\"We beseech thy favor, oh father, and thy aid, in finding our beautiful\nMaidens.\" So the priests mourned.\n\n\"Oh, that is all, is it? But why find that which is not lost, or summon\nthose who will not come?\"\n\nThen he reproached them for not preparing the sacred plumes, and picked\nup the very plumes he had said were not there.\n\nThen the wise Pekwinna, the Speaker of the Sun, took two plumes and the\nbanded wing-tips of the turkey, and approaching Paiyatuma stroked him\nwith the tips of the feathers and then laid the feathers upon his\nlips....\n\nThen Paiyatuma became aged and grand and straight, as is a tall tree\nshorn by lightning. He said to the father:\n\n\"Thou are wise of thought and good of heart. Therefore I will summon\nfrom Summer-land the beautiful Maidens that ye may look upon them once\nmore and make offering of plumes in sacrifice for them, but they are\nlost as dwellers amongst ye.\"\n\nThen he told them of the song lines and the sacred speeches and of the\noffering of the sacred plume wands, and then turned him about and sped\naway so fleetly that none saw him.\n\nBeyond the first valley of the high plain to the southward Paiyatuma\nplanted the four plume wands. First he planted the yellow, bending over\nit and watching it. When it ceased to flutter, the soft down on it\nleaned northward but moved not. Then he set the blue wand and watched\nit; then the white wand. The eagle down on them leaned to right and left\nand still northward, yet moved not. Then farther on he planted the red\nwand, and bending low, without breathing, watched it closely. The soft\ndown plumes began to wave as though blown by the breath of some small\ncreature. Backward and forward, northward and southward they swayed, as\nif in time to the breath of one resting.\n\n\"'T is the breath of my Maidens in Summer-land, for the plumes of the\nsouthland sway soft to their gentle breathing. So shall it ever be. When\nI set the down of my mists on the plains and scatter my bright beads in\nthe northland(7), summer shall go thither from afar, borne on the breath\nof the Seed Maidens. Where they breathe, warmth, showers, and fertility\nshall follow with the birds of Summer-land, and the butterflies,\nnorthward over the world.\"\n\nThen Paiyatuma arose and sped by the magic of his knowledge into the\ncountries of Summer-land,--fled swiftly and silently as the soft breath\nhe sought for, bearing his painted flute before him. And when he paused\nto rest, he played on his painted flute and the butterflies and birds\nsought him. So he sent them to seek the Maidens, following swiftly, and\nlong before he found them he greeted them with the music of his\nsongsound, even as the People of the Seed now greet them in the song of\nthe dancers.\n\nWhen the Maidens heard his music and saw his tall form in their great\nfields of corn, they plucked ears, each of her own kind, and with them\nfilled their colored trays and over all spread embroidered\nmantles,--embroidered in all the bright colors and with the\ncreature-songs of Summer-land. So they sallied forth to meet him and\nwelcome him. Then he greeted them, each with the touch of his hands and\nthe breath of his flute, and bade them follow him to the northland home\nof their deserted children.\n\nSo by the magic of their knowledge they sped back as the stars speed\nover the world at night time, toward the home of our ancients. Only at\nnight and dawn they journeyed, as the dead do, and the stars also. So\nthey came at evening in the full of the last moon to the Place of the\nMiddle, bearing their trays of seed.\n\nGlorious was Paiyatuma, as he walked into the courts of the dancers in\nthe dusk of the evening and stood with folded arms at the foot of the\nbow-fringed ladder of priestly council, he and his follower Shutsukya.\nHe was tall and beautiful and banded with his own mists, and carried the\nbanded wings of the turkeys with which he had winged his flight from\nafar, leading the Maidens, and followed as by his own shadow by the\nblack being of the corn-soot, Shutsukya, who cries with the voice of the\nfrost wind when the corn has grown aged and the harvest is taken away.\n\nAnd surpassingly beautiful were the Maidens clothed in the white cotton\nand embroidered garments of Summer-land.\n\nThen after long praying and chanting by the priests, the fathers of the\npeople, and those of the Seed and Water, and the keepers of sacred\nthings, the Maiden-mother of the North advanced to the foot of the\nladder. She lifted from her head the beautiful tray of yellow corn and\nPaiyatama took it. He pointed it to the regions, each in turn, and the\nPriest of the North came and received the tray of sacred seed.\n\nThen the Maiden of the West advanced and gave up her tray of blue corn.\nSo each in turn the Maidens gave up their trays of precious seed. The\nMaiden of the South, the red seed; the Maiden of the East, the white\nseed; then the Maiden with the black seed, and lastly, the tray of\nall-color seed which the Priestess of Seed-and-All herself received.\n\nAnd now, behold! The Maidens stood as before, she of the North at the\nnorthern end, but with her face southward far looking; she of the West,\nnext, and lo! so all of them, with the seventh and last, looking\nsouthward. And standing thus, the darkness of the night fell around\nthem. As shadows in deep night, so these Maidens of the Seed of Corn,\nthe beloved and beautiful, were seen no more of men. And Paiyatuma stood\nalone, for Shutsukya walked now behind the Maidens, whistling shrilly,\nas the frost wind whistles when the corn is gathered away, among the\nlone canes and dry leaves of a gleaned field.\n\n(7) Dew drops.\n\n\n\n\nHasjelti and Hostjoghon\nNavajo (New Mexico)\n\nHasjelti was the son of the white corn, and Hostjoghon the son of the\nyellow corn. They were born on the mountains where the fogs meet. These\ntwo became the great song-makers of the world.\n\nTo the mountain where they were born (Henry Mountain, Utah), they gave\ntwo songs and two prayers. Then they went to Sierra Blanca (Colorado)\nand made two songs and prayers and dressed the mountain in clothing of\nwhite shell with two eagle plumes upon its head. They visited San Mateo\nMountain (New Mexico) and gave to it two songs and prayers, and dressed\nit in turquoise, even to leggings and moccasins, and placed two eagle\nplumes upon its head. Then they went to San Francisco Mountain (Arizona)\nand made two songs and prayers and dressed that mountain in abalone\nshells with two eagle plumes upon its head. They then visited Ute\nMountain and gave to it two songs and prayers and dressed it in black\nbeads. Then they returned to their own mountain where the fogs meet and\nsaid, \"We two have made all these songs.\"\n\nOther brothers were born of the white corn and yellow corn, and two\nbrothers were placed on each mountain. They are the spirits of the\nmountains and to them the clouds come first. All the brothers together\nmade game, the deer and elk and buffalo, and so game was created.\n\nNavajos pray for rain and snow to Hasjelti and Hostjoghon. They stand\nupon the mountain tops and call the clouds to gather around them.\nHasjelti prays to the sun, for the Navajos.\n\n\"Father, give me the light of your mind that my mind may be strong. Give\nme your strength, that my arm may be strong. Give me your rays, that\ncorn and other vegetation may grow.\"\n\nThe most important prayers are addressed to Hasjelti and the most\nvaluable gifts made to him. He talks to the Navajos through the birds,\nand for this reason the choicest feathers and plumes are placed in the\ncigarettes and attached to the prayer sticks offered to him.\n\n\n\n\nThe Song-Hunter\nNavajo (New Mexico)\n\nA man sat thinking. \"Let me see. My songs are too short. I want more\nsongs. Where shall I go to find them?\"\n\nHasjelti appeared and perceiving his thoughts, said, \"I know where you\ncan get more songs.\"\n\n\"Well, I want to get more. So I will follow you.\"\n\nThey went to a certain point in a box canon in the Big Colorado River\nand here they found four gods, the Hostjobokon, at work, hewing\ncottonwood logs.\n\nHasjelti said, \"This will not do. Cottonwood becomes water-soaked. You\nmust use pine instead of cottonwood.\"\n\nThe Hostjobokon began boring the pine with flint, but Hasjelti said,\n\"That is slow work.\" He commanded a whirlwind to hollow the log. A\ncross, joining at the exact middle of each log, a solid one and the\nhollow one, was formed. The arms of the cross were equal.\n\nThe song-hunter entered the hollow log and Hasjelti closed the end with\na cloud so that water would not enter when the logs were launched upon\nthe great waters. The logs floated off. The Hostjobokon, accompanied by\ntheir wives, rode upon the logs, one couple sitting upon each arm.\nHasjelti, Hostjoghon, and the two Naaskiddi walked upon the banks to\nkeep the logs off shore. Hasjelti carried a squirrel skin filled with\ntobacco, with which to supply the gods on their journey. Hostjoghon\ncarried a staff ornamented with eagle and turkey plumes and a gaming\nring with two humming birds tied to it with white cotton cord. The two\nNaaskiddi carried staffs of lightning. The Naaskiddi had clouds upon\ntheir backs in which the seeds of all corn and grasses were carried.\n\nAfter floating a long distance down the river, they came to waters that\nhad a shore on one side only. Here they landed. Here they found a people\nlike themselves. When these people learned of the Song-hunter, they gave\nhim many songs and they painted pictures on a cotton blanket and said,\n\n\"These pictures must go with the songs. If we give this blanket to you,\nyou will lose it. We will give you white earth and black coals which you\nwill grind together to make black paint, and we will give you white\nsand, yellow sand, and red sand. For the blue paint you will take white\nsand and black coals with a very little red and yellow sand. These will\ngive you blue.\"\n\nAnd so the Navajo people make blue, even to this day.\n\nThe Song-hunter remained with these people until the corn was ripe.\nThere he learned to eat corn and he carried some back with him to the\nNavajos, who had not seen corn before, and he taught them how to raise\nit and how to eat it.\n\nWhen he wished to return home, the logs would not float upstream. Four\nsunbeams attached themselves to the logs, one to each cross arm, and so\ndrew the Song-hunter back to the box canon from which he had started.\nWhen he reached that point, he separated the logs. He placed the end of\nthe solid log into the hollow end of the other and planted this great\npole in the river. It may be seen there to-day by the venturesome. In\nearly days many went there to pray and make offerings.\n\n\n\n\nSand Painting of the Song-Hunter\nNavajo\n(Explanatory of frontispiece)\n\nThe black cross bars denote pine logs; the white lines the froth of the\nwater; the yellow, vegetable debris gathered by the logs; the blue and\nred lines, sunbeams. The blue spot in the centre of the cross denotes\nwater. There are four Hostjobokon, with their wives, the Hostjoboard.\nEach couple sits upon one of the cross arms of the logs. The gods carry\nin their right hands a rattle, and in their left sprigs of pinon; the\ngoddesses carry pinon sprigs in both hands.\n\nHasjelti is to the east of the painting. He carries a squirrel skin\nfilled with tobacco. His shirt is white cotton and very elastic. The\nleggings are of white deerskin, fringed, and his head is ornamented with\nan eagle's tail; at the tip of each plume there is a fluffy feather from\nthe breast of the eagle. The projection on the right of the throat is a\nfox skin.\n\nHostjoghon is at the west. His shirt is invisible, the dark being the\ndark of the body. His staff is colored black from a charred plant. Two\nstrips of beaver skin tipped with six quills of the porcupine are\nattached to the right of the throat. The four colored stars on the body\nare bead ornaments. The top of the staff is ornamented with a turkey's\ntail. Eagle and turkey plumes are alternately attached to the staff.\n\nThe Naaskiddi are north and south of the painting. They carry staffs of\nlightning ornamented with eagle plumes and sunbeams. Their bodies are\nnude except the loin skirt. The hunch upon the back is a black cloud and\nthe three groups of white lines indicate corn and other seeds. Five\neagle plumes are attached to the cloud-back, since eagles live among the\nclouds. The body is surrounded by sunlight. The lines of blue and red\nwhich border the cloud-back denote sunbeams penetrating storm clouds.\nThe black circle zig-zagged with white around the head is a cloud basket\nfilled with corn and seeds of grass. On each side of the head are five\nfeathers of the red-shafted flicker.\n\nThe Rainbow goddess, upon which these gods often travel, partly\nencircles and completes the picture.\n\nThese sand pictures are drawn upon common yellow sand, brought in\nblankets and laid in squares about three inches thick and four feet in\ndiameter. The colors used in decoration were yellow, red, and white,\nsecured from sand stones, black from charcoal, and a grayish blue made\nfrom white sand and charcoal mixed with a very small quantity of yellow\nand red sands.\n\n(From eighth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology, abridged from\ndescription of James Stevenson.)\n\n\n\n\nThe Guiding Duck and the Lake of Death\nZuni (New Mexico)\n\nNow K-yak-lu, the all-hearing and wise of speech, all alone had been\njourneying afar in the North Land of cold and white loneliness. He was\nlost, for the world in which he wandered was buried in the snow which\nlies spread there forever. So cold he was that his face became wan and\nwhite from the frozen mists of his own breath, white as become all\ncreatures who dwell there. So cold at night and dreary of heart, so lost\nby day and blinded by the light was he that he wept, and died of heart\nand became transformed as are the gods. Yet his lips called continually\nand his voice grew shrill and dry-sounding, like the voice of far-flying\nwater-fowl. As he cried, wandering blindly, the water birds flocking\naround him peered curiously at him, calling meanwhile to their comrades.\nBut wise though he was of all speeches, and their meanings plain to him,\nyet none told him the way to his country and people.\n\nNow the Duck heard his cry and it was like her own. She was of all\nregions the traveller and searcher, knowing all the ways, whether above\nor below the waters, whether in the north, the west, the south, or the\neast, and was the most knowing of all creatures. Thus the wisdom of the\none understood the knowledge of the other.\n\nAnd the All-wise cried to her, \"The mountains are white and the valleys;\nall plains are like others in whiteness, and even the light of our\nFather the Sun, makes all ways more hidden of whiteness! In brightness\nmy eyes see but darkness.\"\n\nThe Duck answered:\n\n\"Think no longer sad thoughts. Thou hearest all as I see all. Give me\ntinkling shells from thy girdle and place them on my neck and in my\nbeak. I may guide thee with my seeing if thou hear and follow my trail.\nWell I know the way to thy country. Each year I lead thither the wild\ngeese and the cranes who flee there as winter follows.\"\n\nSo the All-wise placed his talking shells on the neck of the Duck, and\nthe singing shells in her beak, and though painfully and lamely, yet he\nfollowed the sound she made with the shells. From place to place with\nswift flight she sped, then awaiting him, ducking her head that the\nshells might call loudly. By and by they came to the country of thick\nrains and mists on the borders of the Snow World, and passed from water\nto water, until wider water lay in their path. In vain the Duck called\nand jingled the shells from the midst of the waters. K-yak-lu could\nneither swim nor fly as could the Duck.\n\nNow the Rainbow-worm was near in that land of mists and waters and he\nheard the sound of the sacred shells.\n\n\"These be my grandchildren,\" he said, and called, \"Why mourn ye? Give me\nplumes of the spaces. I will bear you on my shoulders.\"\n\nThen the All-wise took two of the lightest plumewands, and the Duck her\ntwo strong feathers. And he fastened them together and breathed on them\nwhile the Rainbow-worm drew near. The Rainbow unbent himself that\nK-yak-lu might mount, then he arched himself high among the clouds. Like\nan arrow he straightened himself forward, and followed until his face\nlooked into the Lake of the Ancients. And there the All-wise descended,\nand sat there alone, in the plain beyond the mountains. The Duck had\nspread her wings in flight to the south to take counsel of the gods.\n\nThen the Duck, even as the gods had directed, prepared a litter of poles\nand reeds, and before the morning came, with the litter they went,\nsinging a quaint and pleasant song, down the northern plain. And when\nthey found the All-wise, he looked upon them in the starlight and wept.\nBut the father of the gods stood over him and chanted the sad dirge\nrite. Then K-yak-lu sat down in the great soft litter they bore for him.\n\nThey lifted it upon their shoulders, bearing it lightly, singing loudly\nas they went, to the shores of the deep black lake, where gleamed from\nthe middle the lights of the dead.\n\nOut over the magic ladder of rushes and canes which reared itself over\nthe water, they bore him. And K-yak-lu, scattering sacred prayer meal\nbefore him, stepped down the way, slowly, like a blind man. No sooner\nhad he taken four steps than the ladder lowered into the deep. And the\nAll-wise entered the council room of the gods.\n\nThe gods sent out their runners, to summon all beings, and called in\ndancers for the Dance of Good. And with these came the little ones who\nhad sunk beneath the waters, well and beautiful and all seemingly clad\nin cotton mantles and precious neck jewels.\n\n\n\n\nThe Boy Who Became A God\nNavajo (New Mexico)\n\nThe Tolchini, a clan of the Navajos, lived at Wind Mountains. One of\nthem used to take long visits into the country. His brothers thought he\nwas crazy. The first time on his return, he brought with him a pine\nbough; the second time, corn. Each time he returned he brought something\nnew and had a strange story to tell. His brothers said: \"He is crazy. He\ndoes not know what he is talking about.\"\n\nNow the Tolchini left Wind Mountains and went to a rocky foothill east\nof the San Mateo Mountain. They had nothing to eat but seed grass. The\neldest brother said, \"Let us go hunting,\" but they told the youngest\nbrother not to leave camp. But five days and five nights passed, and\nthere was no word. So he followed them.\n\nAfter a day's travel he camped near a canon, in a cavelike place. There\nwas much snow but no water so he made a fire and heated a rock, and made\na hole in the ground. The hot rock heated the snow and gave him water to\ndrink. Just then he heard a tumult over his head, like people passing.\nHe went out to see what made the noise and saw many crows crossing back\nand forth over the canon. This was the home of the crow, but there were\nother feathered people there, and the chaparral cock. He saw many fires\nmade by the crows on each side of the caeon. Two crows flew down near\nhim and the youth listened to hear what was the matter.\n\nThe two crows cried out, \"Somebody says. Somebody says.\"\n\nThe youth did not know what to make of this.\n\nA crow on the opposite side called out, \"What is the matter? Tell us!\nTell us! What is wrong?\"\n\nThe first two cried out, \"Two of us got killed. We met two of our men\nwho told us.\"\n\nThen they told the crows how two men who were out hunting killed twelve\ndeer, and a party of the Crow People went to the deer after they were\nshot. They said, \"Two of us who went after the blood of the deer were\nshot.\"\n\nThe crows on the other side of the caeon called, \"Which men got killed?\"\n\n\"The chaparral cock, who sat on the horn of the deer, and the crow who\nsat on its backbone.\"\n\nThe others called out, \"We are not surprised they were killed. That is\nwhat we tell you all the time. If you go after dead deer you must expect\nto be killed.\"\n\n\"We will not think of them longer,\" so the two crows replied. \"They are\ndead and gone. We are talking of things of long ago.\"\n\nBut the youth sat quietly below and listened to everything that was\nsaid.\n\nAfter a while the crows on the other side of the canon made a great\nnoise and began to dance. They had many songs at that time. The youth\nlistened all the time. After the dance a great fire was made and he\ncould see black objects moving, but he could not distinguish any people.\nHe recognized the voice of Hasjelti. He remembered everything in his\nheart. He even remembered the words of the songs that continued all\nnight. He remembered every word of every song. He said to himself, \"I\nwill listen until daylight.\"\n\nThe Crow People did not remain on the side of the canon where the fires\nwere first built. They crossed and recrossed the canon in their dance.\nThey danced back and forth until daylight. Then all the crows and the\nother birds flew away to the west. All that was left was the fires and\nthe smoke.\n\nThen the youth started for his brothers' camp. They saw him coming. They\nsaid, \"He will have lots of stories to tell. He will say he saw\nsomething no one ever saw.\"\n\nBut the brother-in-law who was with them said, \"Let him alone. When he\ncomes into camp he will tell us all. I believe these things do happen\nfor he could not make up these things all the time.\"\n\nNow the camp was surrounded by pinon brush and a large fire was burning\nin the centre. There was much meat roasting over the fire. When the\nyouth reached the camp, he raked over the coals and said. \"I feel cold.\"\n\nBrother-in-law replied, \"It is cold. When people camp together, they\ntell stories to one another in the morning. We have told ours, now you\ntell yours.\"\n\nThe youth said, \"Where I stopped last night was the worst camp I ever\nhad.\" The brothers paid no attention but the brother-in-law listened.\n\nThe youth said, \"I never heard such a noise.\" Then he told his story.\nBrother-in-law asked what kind of people made the noise.\n\nThe youth said, \"I do not know. They were strange people to me, but they\ndanced all night back and forth across the canon and I heard them say my\nbrothers killed twelve deer and afterwards killed two of their people\nwho went for the blood of the deer. I heard them say, 'That is what\nmust be expected. If you go to such places, you must expect to be\nkilled.'\"\n\nThe elder brother began thinking. He said, \"How many deer did you say\nwere killed?\"\n\n\"Twelve.\"\n\nElder brother said, \"I never believed you before, but this story I do\nbelieve. How do you find out all these things? What is the matter with\nyou that you know them?\"\n\nThe boy said, \"I do not know. They come into my mind and to my eyes.\"\n\nThen they started homeward, carrying the meat. The youth helped them.\n\nAs they were descending a mesa, they sat down on the edge to rest. Far\ndown the mesa were four mountain sheep. The brothers told the youth to\nkill one.\n\nThe youth hid in the sage brush and when the sheep came directly toward\nhim, he aimed his arrow at them. But his arm stiffened and became dead.\nThe sheep passed by.\n\nHe headed them off again by hiding in the stalks of a large yucca. The\nsheep passed within five steps of him, but again his arm stiffened as he\ndrew the bow.\n\nHe followed the sheep and got ahead of them and hid behind a birch tree\nin bloom. He had his bow ready, but as they neared him they became gods.\nThe first was Hasjelti, the second was Hostjoghon, the third Naaskiddi,\nand the fourth Hadatchishi. Then the youth fell senseless to the ground.\n\nThe four gods stood one on each side of him, each with a rattle. They\ntraced with their rattles in the sand the figure of a man, drawing lines\nat his head and feet. Then the youth recovered and the gods again became\nsheep. They said, \"Why did you try to shoot us? You see you are one of\nus.\" For the youth had become a sheep.\n\nThe gods said, \"There is to be a dance, far off to the north beyond the\nUte Mountain. We want you to go with us. We will dress you like\nourselves and teach you to dance. Then we will wander over the world.\"\n\nNow the brothers watched from the top of the mesa but they could not see\nwhat the trouble was. They saw the youth lying on the ground, but when\nthey reached the place, all the sheep were gone. They began crying,\nsaying, \"For a long time we would not believe him, and now he has gone\noff with the sheep.\"\n\nThey tried to head off the sheep, but failed. They said, \"If we had\nbelieved him, he would not have gone off with the sheep. But perhaps\nsome day we will see him again.\"\n\nAt the dance, the five sheep found seven others. This made their number\ntwelve. They journeyed all around the world. All people let them see\ntheir dances and learn their songs. Then the eleven talked together and\nsaid,\n\n\"There is no use keeping this youth with us longer. He has learned\neverything. He may as well go back to his people and teach them to do as\nwe do.\"\n\nSo the youth was taught to have twelve in the dance, six gods and six\ngoddesses, with Hasjelti to lead them. He was told to have his people\nmake masks to represent the gods.\n\nSo the youth returned to his brothers, carrying with him all songs, all\nmedicines, and clothing.\n\n\n\n\nOrigin of Clear Lake\nPatwin (Sacramento Valley, Cal.)\n\nBefore anything was created at all, Old Frog and Old Badger lived alone\ntogether. Old Badger wanted to drink, so Old Frog gnawed into a tree,\ndrew out all the sap and put it in a hollow place. Then he created\nLittle Frogs to help him, and working together they dug out the lake.\n\nThen Old Frog made the little flat whitefish. Some of them lived in the\nlake, but others swam down Cache Creek, and turned into the salmon,\npike, and sturgeon which swim in the Sacramento.\n\n\n\n\nThe Great Fire\nPatwin (Sacramento Valley, Cal.)\n\nLong ago a man loved two women and wished to marry both of them. But the\nwomen were magpies and they laughed at him. Therefore the man went to\nthe north, and made for himself a tule boat. Then he set the world on\nfire, and himself escaped to sea in his boat.\n\nBut the fire burned with terrible speed. It ate its way into the south.\nIt licked up all things on earth, men, trees, rocks, animals, water, and\neven the ground itself.\n\nNow Old Coyote saw the burning and the smoke from his place far in the\nsouth, and he ran with all his might to put it out. He put two little\nboys in a sack and ran north like the wind. He took honey-dew into his\nmouth, chewed it up, spat on the fire, and so put it out. Now the fire\nwas out, but there was no water and Coyote was thirsty. So he took\nIndian sugar again, chewed it up, dug a hole in the bottom of the creek,\ncovered up the sugar in it, and it turned to water and filled the creek.\nSo the earth had water again.\n\nBut the two little boys cried because they were lonesome, for there was\nnobody left on earth. Then Coyote made a sweat house, and split a number\nof sticks, and laid them in the sweat house over night. In the morning\nthey had all turned into men and women.\n\n\n\n\nOrigin of the Raven and the Macaw\n(Totems of summer and winter)\nZuni (New Mexico)\n\nThe priest who was named Yanauluha carried ever in his hand a staff\nwhich now in the daylight was plumed and covered with feathers--yellow,\nblue-green, red, white, black, and varied. Attached to it were shells,\nwhich made a song-like tinkle. The people when they saw it stretched out\ntheir hands and asked many questions.\n\nThen the priest balanced it in his hand, and struck with it a hard\nplace, and blew upon it. Amid the plumes appeared four round things-mere\neggs they were. Two were blue like the sky and two dun-red like the\nflesh of the Earth-mother.\n\nThen the people asked many questions.\n\n\"These,\" said the priests, \"are the seed of living beings. Choose which\nye will follow. From two eggs shall come beings of beautiful plumage,\ncolored like the grass and fruits of summer. Where they fly and ye\nfollow, shall always be summer. Without toil, fields of food shall\nflourish. And from the other two eggs shall come evil beings, piebald,\nwith white, without colors. And where these two shall fly and ye shall\nfollow, winter strives with summer. Only by labor shall the fields yield\nfruit, and your children and theirs shall strive for the fruits. Which\ndo ye choose?\"\n\n\"The blue! The blue!\" cried the people, and those who were strongest\ncarried off the blue eggs, leaving the red eggs to those who waited.\nThey laid the blue eggs with much gentleness in soft sand on the sunny\nside of a hill, watching day by day. They were precious of color; surely\nthey would be the precious birds of the Summer-land. Then the eggs\ncracked and the birds came out, with open eyes and pin feathers under\ntheir skins.\n\n\"We chose wisely,\" said the people. \"Yellow and blue, red and green, are\ntheir dresses, even seen through their skins.\" So they fed them freely\nof all the foods which men favor. Thus they taught them to eat all\ndesirable food. But when the feathers appeared, they were black with\nwhite bandings. They were ravens. And they flew away croaking hoarse\nlaughs and mocking our fathers.\n\nBut the other eggs became beautiful macaws, and were wafted by a toss of\nthe priest's wand to the faraway Summer-land.\n\nSo those who had chosen the raven, became the Raven People. They were\nthe Winter People and they were many and strong. But those who had\nchosen the macaw, became the Macaw People. They were the Summer People,\nand few in number, and less strong, but they were wiser because they\nwere more deliberate. The priest Yanauluha, being wise, became their\nfather, even as the Sun-father is among the little moons of the sky. He\nand his sisters were the ancestors of the priest-keepers of things.\n\n\n\n\nCoyote and the Hare\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nOne day Coyote was passing about when he saw Hare sitting before his\nhouse. Coyote thought, \"In a minute I will catch you,\" and he sprang and\ncaught Hare.\n\nHare cried, \"Man Coyote, do not eat me. Wait just a minute; I have\nsomething to tell you--something you will be glad to hear--something\nyou must hear.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Coyote, \"I will wait.\"\n\n\"Let me sit at the entrance of my house,\" said Hare. \"Then I can talk to\nyou.\"\n\nCoyote allowed Hare to take his seat at the entrance.\n\nHare said, What are you thinking of, Coyote?\n\n\"Nothing,\" said Coyote.\n\n\"Listen, then,\" said Hare. \"I am a hare and I am very much afraid of\npeople. When they come carrying arrows, I am afraid of them. When they\nsee me they aim their arrows at me and I am afraid, and oh! how I\ntremble!\"\n\nHare began trembling violently until he saw Coyote a little off his\nguard, then he began to run. It took Coyote a minute to think and then\nhe ran after Hare, but always a little behind. Hare raced away and soon\nentered a house, just in time to escape Coyote. Coyote tried to enter\nthe house but found it was hard stone. He became very angry.\n\nCoyote cried, \"I was very stupid! Why did I allow this Hare to fool me?\nI must have him. But this house is so strong, how can I open it?\"\n\nCoyote began to work, but after a while he said to himself, \"The stone\nis so strong I cannot open it.\"\n\nPresently Hare called, \"Man Coyote, how are you going to kill me?\"\n\n\"I know how,\" said Coyote. \"I will kill you with fire.\"\n\n\"Where is the wood?\" asked Hare, for he knew there was no wood at his\nhouse.\n\n\"I will bring grass,\" said Coyote, \"and set fire to it. The fire will\nenter your house and kill you.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said Hare, \"but the grass is mine. It is my food; it will not kill\nme. It is my friend. The grass will not kill me.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Coyote, \"I will bring all the trees of the wood and set\nfire to them.\"\n\n\"All the trees know me,\" said Hare. \"They are my friends. They will not\nkill me. They are my food.\" Coyote thought a minute. Then he said, \"I\nwill bring the gum of the pinon and set fire to that.\"\n\nHare said, \"Now I am afraid. I do not eat that. It is not my friend.\"\n\nCoyote rejoiced that he had thought of a plan for getting the hare. He\nhurried and brought all the gum he could carry and placed it at the door\nof Hare's house and set fire to it. In a short time the gum boiled like\nhot grease, and Hare cried,\n\n\"Now I know I shall die! What shall I do?\" Yet all the time he knew what\nhe would do.\n\nBut Coyote was glad Hare was afraid. After a while Hare called, \"The\nfire is entering my house,\" and Coyote answered, \"'Blow it out!\"\n\nBut Coyote drew nearer and blew with all his might to blow the flame\ninto Hare's house\n\nHare cried, \"You are so close you are blowing the fire on me and I will\nsoon be burned.\"\n\nCoyote was so happy that he drew closer and blew harder, and drew still\ncloser so that his face was very close to Hare's face. Then Hare\nsuddenly threw the boiling gum into Coyote's face and escaped from his\nhouse.\n\nIt took Coyote a long time to remove the gum from his face, and he felt\nvery sorrowful. He said, \"I am very, very stupid.\"\n\n\n\n\nCoyote and the Quails\nPima (Arizona)\n\nOnce upon a time, long ago, Coyote was sleeping so soundly that a covey\nof quails came along and cut pieces of fat meat out of his flesh without\narousing him. Then they went on. After they had camped for the\nevening, and were cooking the meat, Coyote came up the trail.\n\nCoyote said, \"Where did you get that nice, fat meat? Give me some.\"\n\nQuails gave him all he wanted. Then he went farther up the trail. After\nhe had gone a little way, Quails called to him,\n\n\"Coyote, you were eating your own flesh.\"\n\nCoyote said, \"What did you say?\"\n\nQuails said, \"Oh, nothing. We heard something calling behind the\nmountains.\"\n\nSoon the quails called again: \"Coyote, you ate your own meat.\"\n\n\"What did you say?\"\n\n\"Oh, nothing. We heard somebody pounding his grinding-stone.\"\n\nSo Coyote went on. But at last he began to feel where he had been cut.\nThen he knew what the quails meant. He turned back down the trail and\ntold Quails he would eat them up. He began to chase them. The quails\nflew above ground and Coyote ran about under them. At last they got\ntired, but Coyote did not because he was so angry.\n\nBy and by Quails came to a hole, and one of the keenest-witted picked up\na piece of prickly cholla cactus and pushed it into the hole; then they\nall ran in after it. But Coyote dug out the hole and reached them. When\nhe came to the first quail he said,\n\n\"Was it you who told me I ate my own flesh?\"\n\nQuail said, \"No.\"\n\nSo Coyote let him go and he flew away. When Coyote came to the second\nquail, he asked the same question. Quail said, \"No,\" and then flew away.\nSo Coyote asked every quail, until the last quail was gone, and then he\ncame to the cactus branch. Now the prickly cactus branch was so covered\nwith feathers that it looked just like a quail. Coyote asked it the same\nquestion, but the cactus branch did not answer. Then Coyote said,\n\n\"I know it was you because you do not answer.\"\n\nSo Coyote bit very hard into the hard, prickly branch, and it killed\nhim.\n\n\n\n\nCoyote and the Fawns\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nAnother day when he was travelling around, Coyote met a deer with two\nfawns. The fawns were beautifully spotted, and he said to the deer, \"How\ndid you paint your children? They are so beautiful!\"\n\nDeer replied, \"I painted them with fire from the cedar.\"\n\n\"And how did you do the work?\" asked Coyote.\n\n\"I put my children into a cave and built a fire of cedar in front of it.\nEvery time a spark flew from the fire it struck my children, making a\nbeautiful spot.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said Coyote, \"I will do the same thing. Then I will make my\nchildren beautiful.\"\n\nHe hurried to his house and put his children in a cave. Then he built a\nfire of cedar in front of it and stood off to watch the fire. But the\nchildren cried because the fire was very hot. Coyote kept calling to\nthem not to cry because they would be beautiful like the deer. After a\ntime the crying ceased and Coyote was pleased. But when the fire died\ndown, he found they were burned to death. Coyote expected to find them\nbeautiful, but instead they were dead.\n\nThen he was enraged with the deer and ran away to hunt her, but he could\nnot find her anywhere. He was much distressed to think the deer had\nfooled him so easily.\n\n\n\n\nHow the Bluebird Got its Color\nPima (Arizona)\n\nA long time ago, the bluebird was a very ugly color. But Bluebird knew\nof a lake where no river flowed in or out, and he bathed in this four\ntimes every morning for four mornings. Every morning he sang a magic\nsong:\n\n               \"There's a blue water. It lies there.\n               I went in.\n               I am all blue.\"\n\nOn the fourth morning Bluebird shed all his feathers and came out of the\nlake just in his skin. But the next morning when he came out of the lake\nhe was covered with blue feathers.\n\nNow all this while Coyote had been watching Bluebird. He wanted to jump\nin and get him to eat, but he was afraid of the water. But on that last\nmorning Coyote said,\n\n\"How is it you have lost all your ugly color, and now you are blue and\ngay and beautiful? You are more beautiful than anything that flies in\nthe air. I want to be blue, too.\" Now Coyote at that time was a bright\ngreen.\n\n\"I only went in four times on four mornings,\" said Bluebird. He taught\nCoyote the magic song, and he went in four times, and the fifth time he\ncame out as blue as the little bird.\n\nThen Coyote was very, very proud because he was a blue coyote. He was so\nproud that as he walked along he looked around on every side to see if\nanybody was looking at him now that he was a blue coyote and so\nbeautiful. He looked to see if his shadow was blue, too. But Coyote was\nso busy watching to see if others were noticing him that he did not\nwatch the trail. By and by he ran into a stump so hard that it threw him\ndown in the dirt and he was covered with dust all over. You may know\nthis is true because even to-day coyotes are the color of dirt.\n\n\n\n\nCoyote's Eyes\nPima (Arizona)\n\nWhen Coyote was travelling about one day, he saw a small bird. The bird\nwas hopping about contentedly and Coyote thought,\n\n\"What a beautiful bird. It moves about so gracefully.\"\n\nHe drew nearer to the bird and asked, \"What beautiful things are you\nworking with?\" but the bird could not understand Coyote. After a while\nthe bird took out his two eyes and threw them straight up into the air,\nlike two stones. It looked upward but had no eyes. Then the bird said,\n\n\"Come, my eyes. Come quickly, down into my head.\" The eyes fell down\ninto the bird's head, just where they belonged, but were much brighter\nthan before.\n\nCoyote thought he could brighten his eyes. He asked the bird to take out\nhis eyes. The bird took out Coyote's eyes, held them for a moment in his\nhands, and threw them straight up into the air. Coyote looked up and\ncalled,\n\n\"Come back, my eyes. Come quickly.\" They at once fell back into his head\nand were much brighter than before. Coyote wanted to try it again, but\nthe bird did not wish to. But Coyote persisted. Then the bird said,\n\n\"Why should I work for you, Coyote? No, I will work no more for you.\"\nBut Coyote still persisted, and the bird took out his eyes and threw\nthem up. Coyote cried,\n\n\"Come, my eyes, come back to me.\"\n\nBut his eyes continued to rise into the air, and the bird began to go\naway. Coyote began to weep. But the bird was annoyed, and called back,\n\n\"Go away now. I am tired of you. Go away and get other eyes.\"\n\nBut Coyote refused to go and entreated the bird to find eyes for him. At\nlast the bird gathered gum from a pinon tree and rolled it between his\nhands and put it in Coyote's eye holes, so that he could see. But his\neyes had been black and very bright. His new eyes were yellow.\n\n\"Now,\" said the bird, it \"go away. You cannot stay here any longer.\"\n\n\n\n\nCoyote and the Tortillas\nPima (Arizona)\n\nOnce upon a time, a river rose very high and spread all over the land.\nAn Indian woman was going along the trail by the river side with a\nbasket of tortillas on her head, but she was wading in water up to her\nwaist. Now Coyote was afraid of the water, so he had climbed into a\ncottonwood tree. When the woman came up the trail, Coyote called,\n\n\"Oh, come to this tree and give me some of those nice tortillas.\"\n\nThe woman said, \"No. I can't give them to you; they are for somebody\nelse.\"\n\n\"If you do not come here I will shoot you,\" said Coyote, and the woman\nreally thought he had a bow. So she came to the tree and said, \"You must\ncome down and get them. I can't climb trees.\"\n\nCoyote came down as far as he dared, but he was afraid of the deep\nwater. The woman laughed at him. She said, \"Just see how shallow it is.\nIt's only up to my ankles.\" But she was standing on a big stump. Coyote\nlooked at the water. It seemed shallow and safe enough, so he jumped.\nBut the water was deep and he was drowned. Then the woman went on up the\ntrail.\n\n\n\n\nCoyote as a Hunter\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nCoyote travelled a long distance and in the middle of the day it was\nvery hot. He sat down and rested, and thought, as he looked up to Tinia,\n\"How I wish the Cloud People would freshen my path and make it cool.\"\n\nIn just a little while the Cloud People gathered over the trail Coyote\nwas following and he was glad that his path was to be cool and shady.\n\nAfter he travelled some distance further, he sat down again and looking\nupward said, \"I wish the Cloud People would send rain. My road would be\ncooler and fresher.\" In a little while a shower came and Coyote was\ncontented.\n\nBut in a short time he again sat down and wished that the road could be\nvery moist, that it would be fresh to his feet, and almost immediately\nthe trail was as wet as though a river had passed over it. Again Coyote\nwas contented.\n\nBut after a while he took his seat again. He said to himself, \"I guess I\nwill talk again to the Cloud People.\" Then he looked up and said to\nthem,\n\n\"I wish for water over my road-water to my elbows, that I may travel on\nmy hands and feet in the cool waters; then I shall be refreshed and\nhappy.\"\n\nIn a short time his road was covered with water, and he moved on. But\nagain he wished for something more, and said to the Cloud People,\n\n\"I wish much for water to my shoulders. Then I will be happy and\ncontented.\"\n\nIn a moment the waters arose as he wished, yet after a while he looked\nup and said, \"If you will only give me water so high that my eyes, nose,\nmouth and ears are above it, I will be happy. Then indeed my road will\nbe cool.\"\n\nBut even this did not satisfy him, and after travelling a while longer\nhe implored the Cloud People to give him a river that he might float\nover the trail, and immediately a river appeared and Coyote floated down\nstream. Now he had been high in the mountains and wished to go to Hare\nLand.\n\nAfter floating a long distance, he at last came to Hare Land and saw\nmany Hares a little distance off, on both sides of the river. Coyote lay\ndown in the mud as though he were dead and listened. Soon a woman\nka-wate (mephitis) came along with a vase and a gourd for water.\n\nShe said, \"Here is a dead coyote. Where did he come from? I guess from\nthe mountains above. I guess he fell into the water and died.\"\n\nCoyote looked up and said, \"Come here, woman.\"\n\nShe said, \"What do you want?\"\n\nCoyote said, \"I know the Hares and other small animals well. In a little\nwhile they will come here and think I am dead and be happy. What do you\nthink about it?\"\n\nKa-wate said, \"I have no thoughts at all.\"\n\nSo Coyote explained his plan....\n\nSo Coyote lay as dead, and all the Hares and small animals saw him lying\nin the river, and rejoiced that he was dead. The Hares decided to go in\na body and see the dead Coyote. Rejoicing over his death, they struck\nhim with their hands and kicked him. There were crowds of Hares and they\ndecided to have a great dance. Now and then a dancing Hare would stamp\nupon Coyote who lay as if dead. During the dance the Hares clapped their\nhands over their mouth and gave a whoop like a war-whoop.\n\nThen Coyote rose quickly and took two clubs which the ka-wate had given\nhim, and together they killed all of the Hares. There was a great number\nand they were piled up like stones.\n\nCoyote said, \"Where shall I find fire to cook the hares? Ah,\" he said,\npointing across to a high rock, \"that rock gives good shade and it is\ncool. I will find fire and cook my meat in the shade of that rock.\"\n\nSo they carried all the hares to that point and Coyote made a large fire\nand threw them into it. When he had done this he was very warm and\ntired. He lay down close to the rock in the shade.\n\nAfter a while he said to Ka-wate, \"We will run a race. The one who wins\nwill have all the hares.\"\n\nShe said, \"How could I beat you? Your feet are so much larger than\nmine.\"\n\nCoyote said, \"I will allow you the start of me.\" He made a torch of the\ninner shreds of cedar bark and wrapped it with yucca thread and lighted\nit. Then he tied this torch to the end of his tail. He did this to see\nthat the ka-wate did not escape him.\n\nKa-wate started first, but when out of sight of Coyots, she slipped into\nthe house of Badger. Then Coyote started with the fire attached to his\ntail. Wherever he touched the grass, he set fire to it. But Ka-wate\nhurried back to the rock, carried all the hares on top except four tiny\nones, and then climbed up on the rock.\n\nCoyote was surprised not to overtake her. He said, \"She must be very\nquick. How could she run so fast?\" Then he returned to the rock, but did\nnot see her.\n\nHe was tired and sat down in the shade of the rock. \"Why does n't she\ncome?\" he said. \"Perhaps she will not come before night, her feet are so\nsmall.\"\n\nKa-wate sat on the rock above and heard all he said. She watched him\ntake a stick and look into the mound for the hares. He pulled out a\nsmall one which he threw away. But the second was smaller than the\nfirst. Then a third and a fourth, each tiny, and all he threw away. \"I\ndo not care for the smaller ones,\" he said. \"There are so many here, I\nwill not eat the little ones.\" But he hunted and hunted in the mound of\nashes for the hares. All were gone.\n\nHe said, \"That woman has robbed me.\" Then he picked up the four little\nones and ate them. He looked about for Ka-wate but did not see her\nbecause he did not look up. Then as he was tired and lay down to rest,\nhe looked up and saw her, with the cooked hares piled beside her.\n\nCoyote was hungry. He begged her to throw one down. She threw a very\nsmall one. Then Coyote became angry. And he was still more angry because\nhe could not climb the rock. She had gone where he could not go.\n\n\n\n\nHow the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite\nPima (Arizona)\n\nAfter people and the animals were created, they all lived together.\nRattlesnake was there, and was called Soft Child because he was so soft\nin his motions. The people liked to hear him rattle and little rest did\nhe get because they continually poked and scratched him so that he would\nshake the rattles in his tail. At last Rattlesnake went to Elder Brother\nto ask help. Elder Brother pulled a hair from his own lip, cut it in\nshort pieces, and made it into teeth for Soft Child.\n\n\"If any one bothers you,\" he said, \"bite him.\"\n\nThat very evening Ta-api, Rabbit, came to Soft Child as he had done\nbefore and scratched him. Soft Child raised his head and bit Rabbit.\nRabbit was angry and scratched again. Soft Child bit him again. Then\nRabbit ran about saying that Soft Child was angry and had bitten him.\nThen he went to Rattlesnake again, and twice more he was bitten.\n\nThe bites made Rabbit very sick. He asked for a bed of cool sea sand.\nCoyote was sent to the sea for the cool, damp sand. Then Rabbit asked\nfor the shade of bushes that he might feel the cool breeze. But at last\nRabbit died. He was the first creature which had died in this new world.\n\nThen the people were troubled because they did not know what to do with\nthe body of Rabbit. One said, \"If we bury him, Coyote will surely dig\nhim up.\"\n\nAnother said, \"If we hide him, Coyote will surely find him.\"\n\nAnd another said, \"If we put him in a tree, Coyote will surely climb\nup.\"\n\nSo they decided to burn the body of Rabbit, and yet there was no fire on\nearth.\n\nBlue Fly said, \"Go to Sun and get some of the fire which he keeps in his\nhouse,\" So Coyote scampered away, but he was sure the people were trying\nto get rid of him so he kept looking back.\n\nThen Blue Fly made the first fire drill. Taking a stick like an arrow he\ntwirled it in his hands, letting the lower end rest on a flat stick that\nlay on the ground. Soon smoke began to arise, and then fire came. The\npeople gathered fuel and began their duty.\n\nBut Coyote, looking back, saw fire ascending. He turned and ran back as\nfast as he could go. When the people saw him coming, they formed a ring,\nbut he raced around the circle until he saw two short men standing\ntogether. He jumped over them, and seized the heart of Rabbit. But he\nburned his mouth doing it, and it is black to this day.\n\n\n\n\nCoyote and the Rattlesnake\nSia (New Mexico)\n\nCoyote's house was not far from Rattlesnake's home. One morning when\nthey were out walking together, Coyote said to Rattlesnake,\n\n\"To-morrow come to my house.\"\n\nIn the morning Rattlesnake went to Coyote's house. He moved slowly along\nthe floor, shaking his rattle. Coyote sat at one side, very much\nfrightened. The movements of the snake and the rattle frightened him.\nCoyote had a pot of rabbit meat on the fire, which he placed in front of\nthe snake, saying,\n\n\"Companion, eat.\"\n\n\"I will not eat your meat. I do not understand your food,\" said\nRattlesnake.\n\n\"What food do you eat?\"\n\n\"I eat the yellow flowers of the corn.\"\n\nCoyote at once began to search for the yellow corn flowers. When he\nfound some, Rattlesnake said,\n\n\"Put some on top of my head so that I may eat it.\"\n\nCoyote stood as far off as he could and placed the pollen on the snake's\nhead.\n\nThe snake said, \"Come nearer and put enough on my head so that I may\nfind it.\"\n\nCoyote was very much afraid, but after a while he came nearer and did as\nhe was told.\n\nThen the snake went away, saying,\n\n\"Companion, to-morrow you come to my house.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said Coyote. \"To-morrow I will come.\"\n\nCoyote sat down and thought about the morrow. He thought a good deal\nabout what the snake might do. So he made a small rattle by placing tiny\npebbles in a gourd and fastened it to the end of his tail. He shook it a\nwhile and was much pleased with it.\n\nThe next morning he started for the snake's house. He shook the rattle\non the end of his tail and smiled, and said to himself,\n\n\"This is good. When I go into Rattlesnake's house, he will be very much\nafraid of me.\"\n\nCoyote did not walk into Snake's house, but moved like a snake. But\nCoyote could not shake his rattle as the snake shook his. He had to hold\nit in his hand. But when he shook his rattle, the snake seemed much\nafraid, and said,\n\n\"Companion, I am afraid of you.\"\n\nNow Rattlesnake had a stew of rats on the fire, and he placed some\nbefore Coyote. But Coyote said,\n\n\"I do not understand your food. I cannot eat it because I do not\nunderstand it.\"\n\nRattlesnake insisted upon his eating, but Coyote refused. He said,\n\n\"If you put some of the flower of the corn on my head, I will eat. I\nunderstand that food.\"\n\nThe snake took some corn pollen, but he pretended to be afraid of Coyote\nand stood off some distance. Coyote said,\n\n\"Come nearer and place it on top my head.\"\n\nSnake replied, \"I am afraid of you.\"\n\nCoyote said, \"Come nearer. I am not bad.\"\n\nThen the snake came closer and put the pollen on top of Coyote's head.\n\nBut Coyote did not have the long tongue of the snake and he could not\nget the pollen off the top of his head. He put out his tongue first on\none side of his nose and then on the other, but he could only reach to\nthe side of his nose. His efforts made the snake laugh, but the snake\nput his hand over his mouth so Coyote should not see him laugh. Really,\nthe snake hid his head in his body.\n\nAt last Coyote went home. As he left the snake's house, he held his tail\nin his hand and shook the rattle.\n\nSnake cried, \"Oh, companion! I am so afraid of you!\" but really the\nsnake shook with laughter.\n\nWhen Coyote reached his home he said to himself,\n\n\"I was such a fool. Rattlesnake had much food to eat and I would not\ntake it. Now I am very hungry.\"\n\nThen he went out in search of food.\n\n\n\n\nOrigin of the Saguaro and Palo Verde Cacti\nPima (Arizona)\n\nOnce upon a time an old Indian woman had two grandchildren. Every day\nshe ground wheat and corn between the grinding stones to make porridge\nfor them. One day as she put the water-olla on the fire outside the\nhouse to heat the water, she told the children not to quarrel because\nthey might upset the olla. But the children began to quarrel. They upset\nthe olla and spilled the water and their grandmother spanked them.\n\nThen the children were angry and ran away. They ran far away over the\nmountains. The grandmother heard them whistling and she ran after them\nand followed them from place to place, but she could not catch up with\nthem.\n\nAt last the older boy said, \"I will turn into a saguaro, so that I shall\nlive forever and bear fruit every summer.\"\n\nThe younger said, \"Then I will turn into a palo verde and stand there\nforever. These mountains are so bare and have nothing on them but rocks,\nI will make them green.\"\n\nThe old woman heard the cactus whistling and recognized the voice of her\ngrandson. So she went up to it and tried to take the prickly thing into\nher arms, but the thorns killed her.\n\nThat is how the saguaro and the palo verde came to be on the mountains\nand the desert.\n\n\n\n\nThe Thirsty Quails\nPima (Arizona)\n\nA Quail once had more than twenty children, and with them she wandered\nover the whole country in search of water and could not find it. It was\nvery hot and they were all crying, \"Where can we get some water? Where\ncan we get some water?\" but for a long time they could find none.\n\nAt last, way in the north, under a mesquite tree, the mother quail saw a\npond of water, but it was very muddy and not fit to drink. But the\nlittle quails had been wandering so many days and were so tired they\nstopped under the shade of the mesquite tree, and by and by, one by one,\nthey went down to the water and 'drank it. But the water was so bad they\nall died.\n\n\n\n\nThe Boy and the Beast\nPima (Arizona)\n\nOnce an old woman lived with her daughter and son-in-law and their\nlittle boy. They were following the trail of the Apache Indians. Now\nwhenever a Pima Indian sees the trail of an Apache he draws a ring\naround it; then he can catch him sooner. And these Pimas drew circles\naround the trail of the Apaches they were following, but one night when\nthey were asleep, the Apaches came down upon them. They took the man and\nyounger woman by the hair and shook them out of their skins, just as one\nwould shake corn out of a sack. So the boy and the old woman were left\nalone.\n\nNow these two had to live on berries and anything they could find, and\nthey wandered from place to place. In one place a strange beast, big\nenough to swallow people, camped in the bushes near them. The\ngrand-mother told the boy not to go near these bushes. But the boy took\nsome sharp stones in his hands, and went toward them. As he came near,\nthe great monster began to breathe. He began to suck in his breath and\nhe sucked the boy right into his stomach. But with his sharp stones the\nboy began to cut the beast, so that he died. Then the boy made a hole\nlarge enough to climb out of.\n\nWhen his grandmother came to look for him, the boy met her and said, \"I\nhave killed that monster.\"\n\nThe grandmother said, \"Oh, no. Such a little boy as you are to kill such\na great monster!\"\n\nThe boy said, \"But I was inside of him, just look at the stones I cut\nhim with.\"\n\nThen the grandmother went softly up to the bushes, and looked at the\nmonster. It was full of holes, just as the little boy had said.\n\nThen they moved down among the berry bushes and had all they wanted to\neat.\n\n\n\n\nWhy the Apaches are Fierce\nPima (Arizona)\n\nElder Brother, Coyote, and Earth Doctor, after the flood vanished, began\nto create people and animals. Coyote made all the animals, Elder Brother\nmade the people, and Earth Doctor made queer creatures which had only\none leg, or immense ears, or many fingers, and some having flames of\nfire in their knees.\n\nElder Brother divided his figures of people into four groups. One of the\nApaches came to life first. He shivered and said, \"Oh, it's very cold,\"\nand began to sway back and forth. Then Elder Brother said, \"I did n't\nthink you would be the first to awake,\" and he took all the Apaches up\nin his hand and threw them over the mountains. That made them angry, and\nthat is why they have always been so fierce.\n\n\n\n\nSpeech on the Warpath\nPima (Arizona)\n\nWe have come thus far, my brothers. In the east there is White Gopher,\nwho gnaws with his strong teeth. He was friendly and came to me. On his\nway he came to the surface from the underground four times. Looking in\nall four directions, he saw a magic whitish trail. Slowly following\nthis, he neared the enemy, coming to the surface from the underground\nfour times during the journey. Their power stood in their land like a\nmountain, but he bit it off short, and he sank their springs by biting\nthem. He saw that the wind of the enemy was strong and he cut it up with\nhis teeth. He gnawed in short pieces their clouds. They had good dreams\nand bright false-seeing, good bow strings and straight-flying reeds, but\nthese he grasped and bit off short. The different belongings lying about\nhe took with him, turning around homeward. On his way homeward over the\nwhitish trail, he came to the surface four times, and magic fire\nappeared around the edges. Then he came to his bed. He felt that the\nland roared rejoicingly with him.\n\nIn the south was Blue Coyote and there I sent my cry. He was friendly\nand came to me from his blue darkness, circling around and shouting,\nfour times, on his journey, making magic fire everywhere. When he\narrived, he looked in four directions, then understood. A whitish magic\ntrail lay before him. He cast his blue darkness upon the enemy and\nslowly approached them, circling around and shouting four times on the\nway. Like a mountain was their power in the land, and he sucked it in.\nThe springs of water under the trees he sucked in. The wind that was\nblowing he inhaled. He sucked in the clouds. The people dreamed of a\nwhite thing, and their dreams he sucked in, with their best bow strings\nand the straight-flying reeds. All the different belongings which lay\naround he gathered and slowly turned back. Hidden in the blue darkness,\nhe came to me, circling around, shouting, four times on his journey.\nThen he homeward took his way, circling, howling, four times, and\nshouting reached his bed. With pleasure he felt all directions thud. The\neast echoed.\n\nIn the sunset direction was Black Kangaroo Mouse, an expert robber. To\nhim I sent my cry. He was friendly to me and came hidden in black\ndarkness, sitting down four times upon his way. Magic fire covered the\nedges of his trail. When he reached me he looked in all directions. The\nmagic trail brightly lay before him. He threw black darkness around him\nand slowly reached the enemy, sitting down four times upon the trail. He\nfound a bag of the enemy, with much prized possessions. It was tied one\nknot on top of another, but he bit them off. He took from it the blue\nnecklaces, blue earrings, and the different belongings lying around\ngathered up with him. Then he slowly took his way back on the magic\ntrail, with magic fire everywhere. Hidden in his yellow darkness, he\nreturned to me. He left the others at the council and in darkness took\nhis homeward way, resting four times. He sat on his bed and felt all\ndirections of the earth rustling in the darkness. Darkness lay all\naround.\n\nI called on Owl, the white blood-sucker. To him I sent my cry. He was\nfriendly and came down to me with four thin flys (sailing) on the way.\nHe looked in all directions. The magic trail brightly before him lay. He\nflew, with four thin flys, toward the enemy. The mountain of their power\nwhich stood in the land he bit off short. The springs he bit off, and\ntheir very good dreams. The best bow strings and the straight-flying\nreeds he grasped and cut very short. He bit off their flesh and made\nholes in their bones. From the things gathered, he made a belt from a\nbowstring. Then he returned. He came through the whitish mist of dawn in\nfour flights. The people held a council. Leaving them there, he after\nfour thin flys reached his bed in the gray dawn mist. Then in all\ndirections he heard the darkness rattling, as he lay there.\n\n\n\n\nThe Spirit Land\nGallinomero (Russian River, Cal.)\n\nWhen the flames burn low on the funeral pyres of the Gallinomero, Indian\nmourners gather up handfuls of ashes and scatter them high in air. Thus\nthe good mount up into the air, or go to the Happy Western Land beyond\nthe Big Water.\n\nBut the bad Indians go to an island in the Bitter Waters, an island\nnaked and barren and desolate, covered only with brine-spattered stone,\nswept with cold winds and the biting sea-spray. Here they live always,\nbreaking stone upon one another, with no food but the broken stones and\nno drink but the salt sea water.\n\n\n\n\nSong of the Ghost Dance\nPai Ute (Kern River, Cal.)\n\n               The snow lies there--ro-rani!\n               The snow lies there--ro-rani!\n               The snow lies there--ro-rani!\n               The snow lies there--ro-rani!\n                    The Milky Way lies there.\n                    The Milky Way lies there.\n\n\"This is one of the favorite songs of the Paiute Ghost dance.... It\nmust be remembered that the dance is held in the open air at night, with\nthe stars shining down on the wide-extending plain walled in by the\ngiant Sierras, fringed at the base with dark pines, and with their peaks\nwhite with eternal snows. Under such circumstances this song of the snow\nlying white upon the mountains, and the Milky Way stretching across the\nclear sky, brings up to the Paiute the same patriotic home love that\ncomes from lyrics of singing birds and leafy trees and still waters to\nthe people of more favored regions.... The Milky Way is the road of\nthe dead to the spirit world.\"","title":"Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":32397}