{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_77804/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_77804","id":"gutenberg_77804","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77804","summary":null,"tags":["Pueblo Indians -- Folklore"],"text":"THE MAN WHO MARRIED\n THE MOON\n AND OTHER PUEBLO INDIAN FOLK-STORIES\n\n BY\n\n CHARLES F. LUMMIS\n _AUTHOR OF \u201cSOME STRANGE CORNERS OF OUR COUNTRY\u201d\n \u201cA NEW MEXICO DAVID,\u201d ETC._\n\n\n [Illustration]\n\n\n NEW YORK\n THE CENTURY CO.\n 1894\n\n\n\n\n Copyright, 1891, 1892, 1894,\n By The Century Co.\n\n The De Vinne Press.\n\n\n\n\n [Illustration: THE BOY IN THE HOUSE OF THE TRUES. (SEE PAGE\n 115.)]\n\n\n\n\n To\n the Fairy Tale that came true in\n the Home of the T\u00e9e-wahn\n My Wife and Child\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n PAGE\n Introduction: The Brown Story-Tellers 1\n\n I The Antelope Boy 12\n\n II The Coyote and the Crows 22\n\n III The War-Dance of the Mice 24\n\n IV The Coyote and the Blackbirds 27\n\n V The Coyote and the Bear 30\n\n VI The First of the Rattlesnakes 34\n\n VII The Coyote and the Woodpecker 49\n\n VIII The Man who Married the Moon 53\n\n IX The Mother Moon 71\n\n X The Maker of the Thunder-Knives 74\n\n XI The Stone-Moving Song 82\n\n XII The Coyote and the Thunder-Knife 84\n\n XIII The Magic Hide-and-Seek 87\n\n XIV The Race of the Tails 99\n\n XV Honest Big-Ears 103\n\n XVI The Feathered Barbers 106\n\n XVII The Accursed Lake 108\n\n XVIII The Moqui Boy and the Eagle 122\n\n XIX The North Wind and the South Wind 127\n\n XX The Town of the Snake-Girls 130\n\n XXI The Drowning of Pecos 137\n\n XXII The Ants that Pushed on the Sky 147\n\n XXIII The Man who Wouldn\u2019t Keep Sunday 161\n\n XXIV The Brave Bobtails 169\n\n XXV The Revenge of the Fawns 178\n\n XXVI The Sobbing Pine 194\n\n XXVII The Qu\u00e8res Diana 200\n\n XXVIII A Pueblo Bluebeard 203\n\n XXIX The Hero Twins 206\n\n XXX The Hungry Grandfathers 215\n\n XXXI The Coyote 222\n\n XXXII Doctor Field-Mouse 232\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n PAGE\n The Boy in the House of the Trues FRONTISPIECE\n\n \u201cAs I come in, kindly old Tata Lorenso is just\n beginning a Story\u201d 7\n\n The Coyote carries the Baby to the Antelope\n Mother 15\n\n Rain falls on P\u00e9e-k\u2019hoo 18\n\n \u201cThe two Runners came sweeping down the Home-stretch,\n straining every Nerve\u201d 20\n\n \u201cAs He caught the Hoop He was instantly changed\n into a poor Coyote!\u201d 37\n\n \u201cCoyote, are you People?\u201d 41\n\n \u201cAs He seized it He was changed from a tall\n young Man into a great Rattlesnake\u201d 45\n\n The Coyotes at Supper with the Woodpeckers 50\n\n The Isleta Girls grinding Corn with the\n \u201cMano\u201d on the \u201cMetate\u201d 56\n\n The Moon-Maiden 57\n\n The Yellow-Corn-Maidens throwing Meal at the\n pearl \u201cOmate\u201d 59\n\n The Grief of Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu 65\n\n \u201cThe Witch made Herself very small, and went\n behind the Foot of a big Crane\u201d 95\n\n The Hunter and the Lake-man 111\n\n The Cursing of the Lake 119\n\n South, East, North, and West in Search of\n Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo 153\n\n Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo calling the Rain 158\n\n The Wolf, and the Coyote with the Toothache 183\n\n The Wolf meets the Boys Playing with their\n Bows and Arrows 187\n\n \u201cThe Fawns appeared suddenly, and at sight of\n Them the Wolf dropped the Spoonful of Soup\u201d 191\n\n \u201cThere They Stood Side by Side\u201d 225\n\n \u201c\u2018How Shall I Get It?\u2019 said the Coyote\u201d 229\n\n These illustrations are from drawings by George Wharton Edwards,\n after photographs by the author.\n\n\n\n\nT\u00c9E-WAHN FOLK-STORIES\n\n [Illustration: T\u00c9E-WAHN FOLK-STORIES]\n\n\n\n\nTHE BROWN STORY-TELLERS\n\n\nI FANCY that if almost any of us were asked, \u201cWhen did people begin\nto make fairy stories?\u201d our first thought would be, \u201cWhy, of course,\nafter mankind had become civilized, and had invented writing.\u201d But in\ntruth the making of myths, which is no more than a dignified name for\n\u201cfairy stories,\u201d dates back to the childhood of the human race.\n\nLong before Cadmus invented letters (and I fear Cadmus himself was\nas much of a myth as was his dragon\u2019s-teeth harvest), long before\nthere were true historians or poets, there were fairy stories and\nstory-tellers. And to-day, if we would seek the place where fairy\nstories most flourish, we must go, not to the nations whose countless\neducated minds are now devoted to story-telling for the young, but\nto peoples who have no books, no magazines, no alphabets--even no\npictures.\n\nOf all the aboriginal peoples that remain in North America, none\nis richer in folk-lore than the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, who\nare, I believe, next to the largest of the native tribes left in\nthe United States. They number nine thousand souls. They have\nnineteen \u201ccities\u201d (called pueblos, also) in this Territory, and\nseven in Arizona; and each has its little outlying colonies. They\nare not cities in size, it is true, for the largest (Zu\u00f1i) has only\nfifteen hundred people, and the smallest only about one hundred; but\ncities they are, nevertheless. And each city, with its fields, is a\nwee republic--twenty-six of the smallest, and perhaps the oldest,\nrepublics in the world; for they were already such when the first\nEuropean eyes saw America. Each has its governor, its congress, its\nsheriffs, war-captains, and other officials who are elected annually;\nits laws, unwritten but unalterable, which are more respected\nand better enforced than the laws of any American community; its\npermanent and very comfortable houses, and its broad fields,\nconfirmed first by Spain and later by patents of the United States.\n\nThe architecture of the Pueblo houses is quaint and characteristic.\nIn the remote pueblos they are as many as six stories in\nheight--built somewhat in the shape of an enormous terraced pyramid.\nThe Pueblos along the Rio Grande, however, have felt the influence\nof Mexican customs, and their houses have but one and two stories.\nAll their buildings, including the huge, quaint church which each\npueblo has, are made of stone plastered with adobe mud, or of great,\nsun-dried bricks of adobe. They are the most comfortable dwellings in\nthe Southwest--cool in summer and warm in winter.\n\nThe Pueblos are divided into six tribes, each speaking a distinct\nlanguage of its own. Isleta, the quaint village where I lived five\nyears, in an Indian house, with Indian neighbors, and under Indian\nlaws, is the southernmost of the pueblos, the next largest of them\nall, and the chief city of the T\u00e9e-wahn tribe.[1] All the languages\nof the Pueblo tribes are exceedingly difficult to learn.\n\n [1] Spelled Tigua by Spanish authors.\n\nBesides the cities now inhabited, the ruins of about fifteen hundred\nother pueblos--and some of them the noblest ruins in the country--dot\nthe brown valleys and rocky mesa-tops of New Mexico. All these\nruins are of stone, and are extremely interesting. The implacable\nsavages by whom they were hemmed in made necessary the abandonment of\nhundreds of pueblos; and this great number of ruins does not indicate\na vast ancient population. The Pueblos _never_ counted above 30,000\nsouls.\n\nThe Pueblo Indians have for nearly two centuries given no trouble\nto the European sharers of their domain; but their wars of defense\nagainst the savage tribes who surrounded them completely--with the\nApaches, Navajos, Comanches, and Utes--lasted until a very few years\nago. They are valiant fighters for their homes, but prefer any\nhonorable peace. They are not indolent, but industrious--tilling\ntheir farms, tending their stock, and keeping all their affairs in\norder. The women own the houses and their contents, and do not work\noutside; and the men control the fields and crops. An unhappy home\nis almost an unknown thing among them; and the universal affection\nof parents for children and respect of children for parents are\nextraordinary. I have never seen a child unkindly treated, a parent\nsaucily addressed, or a playmate abused, in all my long and intimate\nacquaintance with the Pueblos.\n\nIsleta lies on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, upon the western\nbank of the Rio Grande, on a lava promontory which was once an\nisland--whence the town takes its Spanish name. Its T\u00e9e-wahn title is\nShee-eh-wh\u00edb-bak.[2] Its population, according to the census taken in\n1891, is a little less than twelve hundred. It is nearly surrounded\nby fertile vineyards, orchards of peaches, apricots, apples,\ncherries, plums, pears, and quinces, and fields of corn, wheat,\nbeans, and peppers, all owned by my dusky neighbors. The pueblo owns\nover one hundred and ten thousand acres of land, the greater part of\nwhich is reserved for pasturing horses and cattle.\n\n [2] The name means \u201cKnife-laid-on-the-ground-to-play-_whib_.\u201d\n _Whib_ is an aboriginal foot-race in which the runners have to\n carry a stick with their toes. The name was perhaps suggested\n by the knife-like shape of the lava ridge on which the pueblo\n is built.\n\nThe people of Isleta are, as a rule, rather short in stature, but\nstrongly built. All have a magnificent depth and breadth of chest,\nand a beautifully confident poise of the head. Most of the men are\nvery expert hunters, tireless runners, and fine horsemen. Besides\nordinary hunting they have communal hunts--for rabbits in the spring,\nfor antelope and deer in the fall--thoroughly organized, in which\ngreat quantities of game are killed.\n\nTheir amusements are many and varied. Aside from the numerous sacred\ndances of the year, their most important occasions, they have various\nraces which call for great skill and endurance, quaint social\nenjoyments, and games of many kinds, some of which are quite as\ndifficult as chess. They are very fair weavers and pottery-makers.\nThe women are good housewives, and most of them excellent\nseamstresses.\n\nYet, with all this progress in civilization, despite their mental\nand physical acuteness and their excellent moral qualities, the\nT\u00e9e-wahn are in some things but overgrown children. Their secret\ninner religion[3] is one of the most complicated systems on earth.\nBesides the highest deities, all the forces of nature, all animals,\nas well as many things that are inanimate, are invested by them with\nsupernatural powers. They do not worship idols, but images and tokens\nof unseen powers are revered. They do nothing without some reason,\ngenerally a religious one, and whatever they observe they can explain\nin their own superstitious way. Every custom they have and every\nbelief they own has a reason which to them is all-sufficient; and\nfor each they have a story. There is no duty to which a Pueblo child\nis trained in which he has to be content with the bare command, \u201cDo\nthus\u201d; for each he learns a fairy tale designed to explain how people\nfirst came to know that it was right to do thus, and detailing the\nsad results which befell those who did otherwise.\n\n [3] For they are all devout, if not entirely understanding,\n members of a Christian church; but keep also much of their\n prehistoric faiths.\n\nIt is from this wonderful folk-lore of the T\u00e9e-wahn that I have\nlearned--after long study of the people, their language, customs,\nand myths--and taken, unchanged and unembellished, this series of\nIndian fairy tales. I have been extremely careful to preserve, in\nmy translations, the exact Indian _spirit_. An absolutely literal\ntranslation would be almost unintelligible to English readers, but I\nhave taken no liberties with the real meaning.\n\nThe use of books is not only to tell, but to preserve; not only for\nto-day, but for ever. What an Indian wishes to perpetuate must be\nsaved by tongue and ear, by \u201ctelling-down,\u201d as were the world\u2019s first\nhistories and poems. This oral transmission from father to son is of\nsacred importance with the natives. Upon it depends the preservation\nof the amusements, the history, the beliefs, the customs, and the\nlaws of their nation. A people less observant, less accurate of\nspeech and of memory, would make a sad failure of this sort of\nrecord; but with them it is a wonderful success. The story goes down\nfrom generation to generation, almost without the change of a word.\nThe fact that it is told in fixed metrical form--a sort of blank\nverse--helps the memory.\n\n [Illustration: \u201cAS I COME IN, KINDLY OLD TATA LORENSO IS JUST\n BEGINNING A STORY.\u201d]\n\nHere in Isleta, the quaint pueblo of the T\u00e9e-wahn, I became\ndeeply interested not only in the folk-stories themselves, but\nalso in the manner of handing them down. Winter is the season for\nstory-telling. Then the thirsty fields no longer cry for water, the\nirrigating-ditches have ceased to gnaw at their banks, and the men\nare often at leisure. Then, of an evening, if I go over to visit\nsome _vecino_ (neighbor), I am likely to find, in the great adobe\nliving-room, a group of very old men and very young boys gathered\nabout the queer little corner fireplace with its blazing upright\nsticks. They, too, have come a-visiting. The young men are gathered\nin another corner by themselves, eating roasted corn, and talking in\nwhispers so as not to disturb their elders, for respect to age is the\ncorner-stone of all Indian training. They are not required to listen\nto the stories, being supposed to know them already.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIf in the far, sweet days when I stood at my grandmother\u2019s knee, and\nshivered over \u201cBluebeard,\u201d or thrilled at \u201cJack the Giant-killer,\u201d\nsome one could have shown us a picture of me as I was to be listening\nto other fairy tales twenty-five years later, I am sure that her eyes\nwould have opened wide as mine. Certainly neither of us ever dreamed\nthat, thousands of miles from the old New England fireplace, when the\ndear figures that sat with me before its blazing forestick had long\nbeen dust, I would be sitting where I am to-night and listening to\nthe strange, dark people who are around me.\n\nThe room is long and low, and overhead are dark, round rafters--the\ntrunks of straight pine-trees that used to purr on the sides of the\nmost famous mountain in New Mexico. The walls are white as snow,\nand you would never imagine that they are built only of cut sods,\nplastered over and whitewashed. The floor is of adobe clay, packed\nalmost as hard as a rock, and upon it are bright-hued blankets, woven\nin strange figures. Along the walls are benches, with wool mattresses\nrolled up and laid upon them. By and by these will be spread upon the\nfloor for beds, but just now they serve as cushioned seats. Over in\na corner are strange earthen jars of water, with little gourd dippers\nfloating, and here and there upon the wall hang bows and arrows in\nsheaths of the tawny hide of the mountain lion; queer woven belts of\nred and green, and heavy necklaces of silver and coral, with charms\nof turquoise--the stone that stole its color from the sky.\n\nThere is a fireplace, too, and we are gathered all about it, a dozen\nor more--for I have become an old friend here. But it is not like\nthe fireplace where the little sister and I used to roast our apples\nand pop our corn. A wee hearth of clay rises a few inches from the\nfloor; a yard above it hangs the chimney, like a big white hood; and\na little wall, four feet high, runs from it out into the room, that\nthe wind from the outer door may not blow the ashes. There is no big\nfront log, but three or four gnarled cedar sticks, standing on one\nend, crackle loudly.\n\nSome of us are seated on benches, and upon the floor. His back\nagainst the wall, squats my host, who is just going to begin\nanother fairy story. Such a wee, withered, wrinkled old man! It\nseems as though the hot winds of the Southwest had dried him as\nthey dry the forgotten last year\u2019s apples that shrivel here and\nthere upon lonely boughs. He must be a century old. His children,\ngrandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren\nare all represented here to-night. Yet his black eyes are like a\nhawk\u2019s, under their heavy brows, and his voice is musical and deep.\nI have never heard a more eloquent story-teller, and I have heard\nsome famous ones. I can tell you the words, but not the impressive\ntones, the animation of eye and accent, the eloquent gestures of this\nvenerable Indian as he tells--what? An Indian telling fairy stories?\n\nYes, indeed. He is the very man to tell them. If this dusky old\nplayground for wrinkles, who never saw the inside of a book, could\nwrite out all the fairy stories he knows, Webster\u2019s Unabridged\nDictionary would hardly hold them. His father and his father\u2019s\nfather, and so on back for countless centuries, have handed down\nthese stories by telling, from generation to generation, just as\nTata[4] Lorenso is telling his great-great-grandsons to-night. When\nthese boys grow up, they will tell these stories to their sons and\ngrandsons; and so the legends will pass on and on, so long as there\nshall be a T\u00e9e-wahn Indian left in all New Mexico.\n\n [4] \u201cFather.\u201d\n\nBut Lorenso is ready with his story. He pauses only to make a\ncigarette from the material in my pouch (they call me _Por todos_,\nbecause I have tobacco \u201cfor all\u201d), explains for my benefit that this\nis a story of the beginning of Isleta, pats the head of the chubby\nboy at his knee, and begins again.\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE ANTELOPE BOY\n\n\nONCE upon a time there were two towns of the T\u00e9e-wahn, called\nNah-bah-t\u00f3o-too-ee (white village) and Nah-choo-r\u00e9e-too-ee (yellow\nvillage). A man of Nah-bah-t\u00f3o-too-ee and his wife were attacked by\nApaches while out on the plains one day, and took refuge in a cave,\nwhere they were besieged. And there a boy was born to them. The\nfather was killed in an attempt to return to his village for help;\nand starvation finally forced the mother to crawl forth by night\nseeking roots to eat. Chased by the Apaches, she escaped to her own\nvillage, and it was several days before she could return to the\ncave--only to find it empty.\n\nThe baby had begun to cry soon after her departure. Just then a\nCoyote[5] was passing, and heard. Taking pity on the child, he picked\nit up and carried it across the plain until he came to a herd of\nantelopes. Among them was a Mother-Antelope that had lost her fawn;\nand going to her the Coyote said:\n\n [5] The small prairie-wolf.\n\n\u201cHere is an _ah-b\u00f3o_ (poor thing) that is left by its people. Will\nyou take care of it?\u201d\n\nThe Mother-Antelope, remembering her own baby, with tears said\n\u201cYes,\u201d and at once adopted the tiny stranger, while the Coyote\nthanked her and went home.\n\nSo the boy became as one of the antelopes, and grew up among them\nuntil he was about twelve years old. Then it happened that a hunter\ncame out from Nah-bah-t\u00f3o-too-ee for antelopes, and found this herd.\nStalking them carefully, he shot one with an arrow. The rest started\noff, running like the wind; but ahead of them all, as long as they\nwere in sight, he saw a boy! The hunter was much surprised, and,\nshouldering his game, walked back to the village, deep in thought.\nHere he told the Cacique[6] what he had seen. Next day the crier was\nsent out to call upon all the people to prepare for a great hunt, in\nfour days, to capture the Indian boy who lived with the antelopes.\n\n [6] The highest religious official.\n\nWhile preparations were going on in the village, the antelopes\nin some way heard of the intended hunt and its purpose. The\nMother-Antelope was very sad when she heard it, and at first would\nsay nothing. But at last she called her adopted son to her and said:\n\u201cSon, you have heard that the people of Nah-bah-t\u00f3o-too-ee are coming\nto hunt. But they will not kill us; all they wish is to take you.\nThey will surround us, intending to let all the antelopes escape\nfrom the circle. You must follow me where I break through the line,\nand your real mother will be coming on the northeast side in a white\n_manta_ (robe). I will pass close to her, and you must stagger and\nfall where she can catch you.\u201d\n\nOn the fourth day all the people went out upon the plains. They\nfound and surrounded the herd of antelopes, which ran about in a\ncircle when the hunters closed upon them. The circle grew smaller,\nand the antelopes began to break through; but the hunters paid no\nattention to them, keeping their eyes upon the boy. At last he and\nhis antelope mother were the only ones left, and when she broke\nthrough the line on the northeast he followed her and fell at the\nfeet of his own human mother, who sprang forward and clasped him in\nher arms.\n\nAmid great rejoicing he was taken to Nah-bah-t\u00f3o-too-ee, and there he\ntold the _principales_[7] how he had been left in the cave, how the\nCoyote had pitied him, and how the Mother-Antelope had reared him as\nher own son.\n\n [7] The old men who are the congress of the pueblo.\n\nIt was not long before all the country round about heard of the\nAntelope Boy and of his marvelous fleetness of foot. You must know\nthat the antelopes never comb their hair, and while among them\nthe boy\u2019s head had grown very bushy. So the people called him\n_P\u00e9e-hleh-o-wah-w\u00e9e-deh_ (big-headed little boy).\n\n [Illustration: THE COYOTE CARRIES THE BABY TO THE ANTELOPE\n MOTHER.]\n\nAmong the other villages that heard of his prowess was\nNah-choo-r\u00e9e-too-ee, all of whose people \u201chad the bad road.\u201d[8] They\nhad a wonderful runner named _P\u00e9e-k\u2019hoo_ (Deer-foot), and very soon\nthey sent a challenge to Nah-bah-t\u00f3o-too-ee for a championship race.\nFour days were to be given for preparation, to make bets, and the\nlike. The race was to be around the world.[9] Each village was to\nstake all its property and the lives of all its people on the result\nof the race. So powerful were the witches of Nah-choo-r\u00e9e-too-ee that\nthey felt safe in proposing so serious a stake; and the people of\nNah-bah-t\u00f3o-too-ee were ashamed to decline the challenge.\n\n [8] That is, were witches.\n\n [9] The Pueblos believed it was an immense plain whereon the\n racers were to race over a square course--to the extreme\n east, then to the extreme north, and so on, back to the\n starting-point.\n\nThe day came, and the starting-point was surrounded by all the people\nof the two villages, dressed in their best. On each side were huge\npiles of ornaments and dresses, stores of grain, and all the other\nproperty of the people. The runner for the yellow village was a tall,\nsinewy athlete, strong in his early manhood; and when the Antelope\nBoy appeared for the other side, the witches set up a howl of\nderision, and began to strike their rivals and jeer at them, saying,\n\u201cPooh! We might as well begin to kill you now! What can that _\u00f3o-deh_\n(little thing) do?\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nAt the word \u201c_H\u00e1i-ko!_\u201d (\u201cGo!\u201d) the two runners started toward\nthe east like the wind. The Antelope Boy soon forged ahead; but\nDeer-foot, by his witchcraft, changed himself into a hawk and flew\nlightly over the lad, saying, \u201c_We_ do this way to each other!\u201d[10]\nThe Antelope Boy kept running, but his heart was very heavy, for he\nknew that no feet could equal the swift flight of the hawk.\n\n [10] A common Indian taunt, either good-natured or bitter, to\n the loser of a game or to a conquered enemy.\n\nBut just as he came half-way to the east, a Mole came up from its\nburrow and said:\n\n\u201cMy son, where are you going so fast with a sad face?\u201d\n\nThe lad explained that the race was for the property and lives of all\nhis people; and that the witch-runner had turned to a hawk and left\nhim far behind.\n\n [Illustration: RAIN FALLS ON P\u00c9E-K\u2019HOO.]\n\n\u201cThen, my son,\u201d said the Mole, \u201cI will be he that shall help you.\nOnly sit down here a little while, and I will give you something to\ncarry.\u201d\n\nThe boy sat down, and the Mole dived into the hole, but soon came\nback with four cigarettes.[11]\n\n [11] These are made by putting a certain weed called\n _pee-\u00e9n-hleh_ into hollow reeds.\n\nHolding them out, the Mole said, \u201cNow, my son, when you have reached\nthe east and turned north, smoke one; when you have reached the north\nand turn west, smoke another; when you turn south, another, and when\nyou turn east again, another. _H\u00e1i-ko!_\u201d\n\nThe boy ran on, and soon reached the east. Turning his face to the\nnorth he smoked the first cigarette. No sooner was it finished than\nhe became a young antelope; and at the same instant a furious rain\nbegan. Refreshed by the cool drops, he started like an arrow from the\nbow. Half-way to the north he came to a large tree; and there sat the\nhawk, drenched and chilled, unable to fly, and crying piteously.\n\n\u201cNow, friend, _we_ too do this to each other,\u201d called the\nboy-antelope as he dashed past. But just as he reached the north,\nthe hawk--which had become dry after the short rain--caught up and\npassed him, saying, \u201cWe too do this to each other!\u201d The boy-antelope\nturned westward, and smoked the second cigarette; and at once another\nterrific rain began.[12] Half-way to the west he again passed the\nhawk shivering and crying in a tree, and unable to fly; but as\nhe was about to turn to the south, the hawk passed him with the\ncustomary taunt. The smoking of the third cigarette brought another\nstorm, and again the antelope passed the wet hawk half-way, and\nagain the hawk dried its feathers in time to catch up and pass him\nas he was turning to the east for the home-stretch. Here again the\nboy-antelope stopped and smoked a cigarette--the fourth and last.\nAgain a short, hard rain came, and again he passed the water-bound\nhawk half-way.\n\n [12] I should state, by the way, that the cigarette plays an\n important part in the Pueblo folk-stories,--they never had the\n pipe of the Northern Indians,--and all rain-clouds are supposed\n to come from its smoke.\n\n [Illustration: \u201cTHE TWO RUNNERS CAME SWEEPING DOWN THE\n HOME-STRETCH, STRAINING EVERY NERVE.\u201d]\n\nKnowing the witchcraft of their neighbors, the people of\nNah-bah-t\u00f3o-too-ee had made the condition that, in whatever shape\nthe racers might run the rest of the course, they must resume human\nform upon arrival at a certain hill upon the fourth turn, which was\nin sight of the goal. The last wetting of the hawk\u2019s feathers delayed\nit so that the antelope reached the hill just ahead; and there,\nresuming their natural shapes, the two runners came sweeping down\nthe home-stretch, straining every nerve. But the Antelope Boy gained\nat each stride. When they saw him, the witch-people felt confident\nthat he was their champion, and again began to push, and taunt, and\njeer at the others. But when the little Antelope Boy sprang lightly\nacross the line, far ahead of Deer-foot, their joy turned to mourning.\n\nThe people of Nah-bah-t\u00f3o-too-ee burned all the witches upon the\nspot, in a great pile of corn; but somehow one escaped, and from him\ncome all the witches that trouble us to this day.\n\nThe property of the witches was taken to Nah-bah-t\u00f3o-too-ee; and as\nit was more than that village could hold, the surplus was sent to\nShee-eh-wh\u00edb-bak (Isleta), where we enjoy it to this day; and later\nthe people themselves moved here. And even now, when we dig in that\nlittle hill on the other side of the _charco_ (pool), we find charred\ncorn-cobs, where our forefathers burned the witch-people of the\nyellow village.\n\nDuring Lorenso\u2019s story the black eyes of the boys have never left\nhis face; and at every pause they have made the customary response,\n\u201cIs that so?\u201d to show their attention; while the old men have nodded\napprobation, and smoked in deep silence.\n\nNow Lorenso turns to Desiderio,[13] who is far more wrinkled even\nthan he, and says, \u201cYou have a tail, brother.\u201d And Desiderio,\nclearing his throat and making a new cigarette with great\nimpressiveness, begins: \u201cMy sons, do you know why the Coyote and the\nCrows are always at war? No? Then I will tell you.\u201d\n\n [13] Pronounced Day-see-d\u00e1y-ree-oh.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTHE COYOTE AND THE CROWS\n\n\nONCE on a time many K\u00e1h-ahn lived in the edge of some woods. A little\nout into the plain stood a very large tree, with much sand under it.\nOne day a Coyote was passing, and heard the Crows singing and dancing\nunder this tree, and came up to watch them. They were dancing in a\ncircle, and each Crow had upon his back a large bag.\n\n\u201cCrow-friends, what are you doing?\u201d asked the Coyote, who was much\ninterested.\n\n\u201cOh, we are dancing with our mothers,\u201d said the Crows.\n\n\u201cHow pretty! And will you let me dance, too?\u201d asked the Coyote of the\n_too-whit-lah-wid-deh_ crow (captain of the dance).\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d replied the Crow. \u201cGo and put your mother in a bag and\ncome to the dance.\u201d\n\nThe Coyote went running home. There his old mother was sitting in\nthe corner of the fireplace. The stupid Coyote picked up a stick and\nstruck her on the head, and put her in a bag, and hurried back to the\ndance with her.\n\nThe Crows were dancing merrily, and singing: \u201c_Ai nana, que-\u00e9e-rah,\nque-\u00e9e-rah_.\u201d (\u201cAlas, Mama! you are shaking, you are shaking!\u201d) The\nCoyote joined the dance, with the bag on his back, and sang as the\nCrows did:\n\n\u201c_Ai nana, que-\u00e9e-rah, que-\u00e9e-rah_.\u201d[14]\n\n [14] _Ai nana_ is an exclamation always used by mourners.\n\nBut at last the Crows burst out laughing, and said, \u201cWhat do you\nbring in your bag?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy mother, as you told me,\u201d replied the Coyote, showing them.\n\nThen the Crows emptied their bags, which were filled with nothing but\nsand, and flew up into the tree, laughing.\n\nThe Coyote then saw that they had played him a trick, and started\nhome, crying \u201c_Ai nana!_\u201d When he got home he took his mother from\nthe bag and tried to set her up in the chimney-corner, always crying,\n\u201c_Ai nana_, why don\u2019t you sit up as before?\u201d But she could not, for\nshe was dead. When he found that she could not sit up any more, he\nvowed to follow the Crows and eat them all the rest of his life; and\nfrom that day to this he has been hunting them, and they are always\nat war.\n\nAs Desiderio concludes, the old men hitch their blankets around their\nshoulders. \u201cNo more stories to-night?\u201d I ask; and Lorenso says:\n\n\u201c_In-d\u00e1h_ (no). Now it is to go to bed. _T\u00f3o-kwai_ (come),\u201d to the\nboys. \u201cGood night, friends. Another time, perhaps.\u201d\n\nAnd we file out through the low door into the starry night.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE WAR-DANCE OF THE MICE\n\n\nTO-NIGHT it is withered Diego[15] who begins with his story, in the\nmusical but strange T\u00e9e-wahn tongue, of \u201cSh\u00e9e-choon t\u2019o-ah-fuar.\u201d\nSerious as that looks, it means only \u201cthe war-dance of the Mice.\u201d\n\n [15] Pronounced Dee-\u00e1y-go.\n\nOnce upon a time there was war between the people of Isleta and\nthe Mice. There was a great battle, in which the T\u00e9e-wahn killed\nmany Mice and took their scalps. Then the T\u00e9e-wahn returned to\ntheir village, and the warriors went into the _estufa_ (sacred\ncouncil-chamber) to prepare themselves by fasting for the great\nscalp-dance in twelve days. While the warriors were sitting inside,\nthe Mice came secretly by night to attack the town, and their spies\ncrept up to the _estufa_. When all the T\u00e9e-wahn warriors had fallen\nasleep, the Mice came stealing down the big ladder into the room, and\ncreeping from sleeper to sleeper, they gnawed every bowstring and cut\nthe feathers from the arrows and the strap of every sling. When this\nwas done, the Mice raised a terrible war-whoop and rushed upon the\nwarriors, brandishing their spears. The T\u00e9e-wahn woke and caught up\ntheir bows and arrows, but only to find them useless. So the warriors\ncould do nothing but run from their tiny foes, and up the ladder\nto the roof they rushed pell-mell and thence fled to their homes,\nleaving the Mice victorious.\n\nThe rest of the town made such fun of the warriors that they refused\nto return to the fight; and the elated Mice held a public dance\nin front of the _estufa_. A brave sight it was, the army of these\nlittle people, singing and dancing and waving their spears. They were\ndressed in red blankets, with leather leggings glistening with silver\nbuttons from top to bottom, and gay moccasins. Each had two eagle\nfeathers tied to the top of his spear--the token of victory. And as\nthey danced and marched and counter-marched, they sang exultingly:\n\n _Sh\u00e9e-oh-pah ch\u2019-\u00f3t-im!\n Neh-m\u00e1h-hlee-oh ch\u2019-ot-im!\n Hl\u00f3-tu fe\u00e9-ny p\u2019-\u00f3h-teh!_\n\nover and over again--which means\n\n Quick we cut the bowstring!\n Quick we cut the sling-strap!\n We shaved the arrow-feathers off!\n\nFor four days they danced and sang, and on the night of the fourth\nday danced all night around a big bonfire. The next morning they\nmarched away. That was the time when the Mice conquered men; and that\nis the reason why we have never been able to drive the Mice out of\nour homes to this day.\n\n\u201cIs _that_ the reason?\u201d ask all the boys, who have been listening\nwith big black eyes intent.\n\n\u201cThat is the very reason,\u201d says withered Diego. \u201cNow, _compadre_\nAntonio, there is a tail to you.\u201d\n\nAntonio, thus called upon, cannot refuse. Indian etiquette is very\nstrict upon this point--as well as upon all others. So he fishes in\nhis memory for a story, while the boys turn expectant faces toward\nhim. He is not nearly so wrinkled as Diego, but he is very, very old,\nand his voice is a little tremulous at first. Wrapping his blanket\nabout him, he begins:\n\nThen I will tell you why the Coyote and the Blackbirds are\nenemies--for once they were very good friends in the old days.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE COYOTE AND THE BLACKBIRDS\n\n\nONCE upon a time a Coyote lived near an open wood. As he went to\nwalk one day near the edge of the wood, he heard the Blackbirds (the\nIndian name means \u201cseeds of the prairie\u201d) calling excitedly:\n\n\u201cBring my bag! Bring my bag! It is going to hail!\u201d\n\nThe Coyote, being very curious, came near and saw that they all had\nbuckskin bags to which they were tying lassos, the other ends of\nwhich were thrown over the boughs of the trees. Very much surprised,\nthe Coyote came to them and asked:\n\n\u201cBlackbird-friends, what are you doing?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, friend Coyote,\u201d they replied, \u201cwe are making ourselves ready,\nfor soon there will be a very hard hail-storm, and we do not wish\nto be pelted to death. We are going to get into these bags and pull\nourselves up under the branches, where the hail cannot strike us.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is very good,\u201d said the Coyote, \u201cand I would like to do so,\ntoo, if you will let me join you.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes! Just run home and get a bag and a lasso, and come back here\nand we will help you,\u201d said the Pah-t\u00e1hn, never smiling.\n\nSo the Coyote started running for home, and got a large bag and a\nlasso, and came back to the Blackbirds, who were waiting. They fixed\nthe rope and bag for him, putting the noose around the neck of the\nbag so that it would be closed tight when the rope was pulled. Then\nthey threw the end of the lasso over a strong branch and said:\n\n\u201cNow, friend Coyote, you get into your bag first, for you are so big\nand heavy that you cannot pull yourself up, and we will have to help\nyou.\u201d\n\nThe Coyote crawled into the bag, and all the Blackbirds taking hold\nof the rope, pulled with all their might till the bag was swung clear\nup under the branch. Then they tied the end of the lasso around the\ntree so the bag could not come down, and ran around picking up all\nthe pebbles they could find.\n\n\u201cMercy! How the hail comes!\u201d they cried excitedly, and began to throw\nstones at the swinging bag as hard as ever they could.\n\n\u201cMercy!\u201d howled the Coyote, as the pebbles pattered against him. \u201cBut\nthis is a terrible storm, Blackbird-friends! It pelts me dreadfully!\nAnd how are you getting along?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is truly very bad, friend Coyote,\u201d they answered, \u201cbut you are\nbigger and stronger than we, and ought to endure it.\u201d And they kept\npelting him, all the time crying and chattering as if they, too, were\nsuffering greatly from the hail.\n\n\u201cOuch!\u201d yelled the Coyote. \u201cThat one hit me very near the eye,\nfriends! I fear this evil storm will kill us all!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut be brave, friend,\u201d called back the Blackbirds. \u201cWe keep our\nhearts, and so should you, for you are much stronger than we.\u201d And\nthey pelted him all the harder.\n\nSo they kept it up until they were too tired to throw any more; and\nas for the Coyote, he was so bruised and sore that he could hardly\nmove. Then they untied the rope and let the bag slowly to the ground,\nand loosened the noose at the neck and flew up into the trees with\nsober faces.\n\n\u201cOw!\u201d groaned the Coyote, \u201cI am nearly dead!\u201d And he crawled weeping\nand groaning from the bag, and began to lick his bruises. But when\nhe looked around and saw the sun shining and the ground dry, and not\na hailstone anywhere, he knew that the Blackbirds had given him a\ntrick, and he limped home in a terrible rage, vowing that as soon as\never he got well he would follow and eat the Blackbirds as long as he\nlived. And ever since, even to this day, he has been following them\nto eat them, and that is why the Coyote and the Blackbirds are always\nat war.\n\n\u201cIs that so?\u201d cried all the boys in chorus, their eyes shining like\ncoals.\n\n\u201cOh, yes, that is the cause of the war,\u201d said old Antonio, gravely.\n\u201cAnd now, brother, there is a tail to you,\u201d turning to the tall,\ngray-haired Felipe[16]; and clearing his throat, Felipe begins about\nthe Coyote and the Bear.\n\n [16] Pronounced Fay-l\u00e9e-peh.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE COYOTE AND THE BEAR[17]\n\n [17] The Coyote, you must know, is very stupid about some\n things; and in almost all Pueblo fairy stories is the victim of\n one joke or another. The bear, on the other hand, is one of the\n wisest of animals.\n\n\nONCE upon a time Ko-\u00edd-deh (the Bear) and Too-wh\u00e1y-deh (the Coyote)\nchanced to meet at a certain spot, and sat down to talk. After a\nwhile the Bear said:\n\n\u201cFriend Coyote, do you see what good land this is here? What do you\nsay if we farm it together, sharing our labor and the crop?\u201d\n\nThe Coyote thought well of it, and said so; and after talking, they\nagreed to plant potatoes in partnership.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the Bear, \u201cI think of a good way to divide the crop. I\nwill take all that grows below the ground, and you take all that\ngrows above it. Then each can take away his share when he is ready,\nand there will be no trouble to measure.\u201d\n\nThe Coyote agreed, and when the time came they plowed the place\nwith a sharp stick and planted their potatoes. All summer they\nworked together in the field, hoeing down the weeds with stone hoes\nand letting in water now and then from the irrigating-ditch. When\nharvest-time came, the Coyote went and cut off all the potato-tops at\nthe ground and carried them home, and afterward the Bear scratched\nout the potatoes from the ground with his big claws and took them to\nhis house. When the Coyote saw this his eyes were opened, and he said:\n\n\u201cBut this is not fair. You have those round things, which are good to\neat, but what I took home we cannot eat at all, neither my wife nor\nI.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, friend Coyote,\u201d answered the Bear, gravely, \u201cdid we not make an\nagreement? Then we must stick to it like men.\u201d\n\nThe Coyote could not answer, and went home; but he was not satisfied.\n\nThe next spring, as they met one day, the Bear said:\n\n\u201cCome, friend Coyote, I think we ought to plant this good land\nagain, and this time let us plant it in corn. But last year you were\ndissatisfied with your share, so this year we will change. You take\nwhat is below the ground for your share, and I will take only what\ngrows above.\u201d\n\nThis seemed very fair to the Coyote, and he agreed. They plowed\nand planted and tended the corn; and when it came harvest-time the\nBear gathered all the stalks and ears and carried them home. When\nthe Coyote came to dig his share, he found nothing but roots like\nthreads, which were good for nothing. He was very much dissatisfied;\nbut the Bear reminded him of their agreement, and he could say\nnothing.\n\nThat winter the Coyote was walking one day by the river (the Rio\nGrande), when he saw the Bear sitting on the ice and eating a fish.\nThe Coyote was very fond of fish, and coming up, he said:\n\n\u201cFriend Bear, where did you get such a fat fish?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I broke a hole in the ice,\u201d said the Bear, \u201cand fished for them.\nThere are many here.\u201d And he went on eating, without offering any to\nthe Coyote.\n\n\u201cWon\u2019t you show me how, friend?\u201d asked the Coyote, fainting with\nhunger at the smell of the fish.\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d said the Bear. \u201cIt is very easy.\u201d And he broke a hole in\nthe ice with his paw. \u201cNow, friend Coyote, sit down and let your tail\nhang in the water, and very soon you will feel a nibble. But you must\nnot pull it till I tell you.\u201d\n\nSo the Coyote sat down with his tail in the cold water. Soon the ice\nbegan to form around it, and he called:\n\n\u201cFriend Bear, I feel a bite! Let me pull him out.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no! Not yet!\u201d cried the Bear, \u201cwait till he gets a good hold,\nand then you will not lose him.\u201d\n\nSo the Coyote waited. In a few minutes the hole was frozen solid, and\nhis tail was fast.\n\n\u201cNow, friend Coyote,\u201d called the Bear, \u201cI think you have him. Pull!\u201d\n\nThe Coyote pulled with all his might, but could not lift his tail\nfrom the ice, and there he was--a prisoner. While he pulled and\nhowled, the Bear shouted with laughter, and rolled on the ice and\nha-ha\u2019d till his sides were sore. Then he took his fish and went\nhome, stopping every little to laugh at the thought of the Coyote.\n\nThere on the ice the Coyote had to stay until a thaw liberated him,\nand when he got home he was very wet and cold and half starved. And\nfrom that day to this he has never forgiven the Bear, and will not\neven speak to him when they meet, and the Bear says, politely, \u201cGood\nmorning, friend Too-wh\u00e1y-deh.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs that so?\u201d cry the boys.\n\n\u201cThat is so,\u201d says Felipe. \u201cBut now it is time to go home.\n_T\u00f3o-kwai!_\u201d\n\nThe story-telling is over for to-night. Grandmother Reyes is\nunrolling the mattresses upon the floor; and with pleasant\n\u201cgood-nights\u201d we scatter for our homes here and there in the quaint\nadobe village.\n\n\n\n\n [Illustration: THE FIRST OF THE RATTLESNAKES]\n\nVI\n\nTHE FIRST OF THE RATTLESNAKES\n\n\n\u201cNOW there is a tail to you, _compadre_ [friend],\u201d said old\nDesiderio, nodding at Patricio[18] after we had sat awhile in silence\naround the crackling fire.\n\n [18] Pronounced Pah-tr\u00e9e-see-oh.\n\nPatricio had a broad strip of rawhide across his knee, and was\nscraping the hair from it with a dull knife. It was high time to be\nthinking of new soles, for already there was a wee hole in the bottom\nof each of his moccasins; and as for Benito, his shy little grandson,\n_his_ toes were all abroad.\n\nBut shrilly as the cold night-wind outside hinted the wisdom of\nspeedy cobbling, Patricio had no wish to acquire that burro\u2019s tail,\nso, laying the rawhide and knife upon the floor beside him, he\ndeliberately rolled a modest pinch of the aromatic _koo-ah-r\u00e9e_ in a\ncorn-husk, lighted it at the coals, and drew Benito\u2019s tousled head to\nhis side.\n\n\u201cYou have heard,\u201d he said, with a slow puff, \u201cabout Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu,\nthe mighty medicine-man who lived here in Isleta in the times of the\nancients?\u201d\n\n\u201c_Ah-h!_\u201d (Yes) cried all the boys. \u201cYou have promised to tell us how\nhe married the moon!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnother time I will do so. But now I shall tell you something that\nwas before that--for Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu had many strange adventures\nbefore he married P\u00e1h-hlee-oh, the Moon-Mother. Do you know why the\nrattlesnake--which is the king of all snakes and alone has the power\nof death in his mouth--always shakes his _guaje_[19] before he bites?\u201d\n\n [19] The Pueblo sacred rattle.\n\n\u201c_Een-dah!_\u201d chorused Ram\u00f3n and Benito, and Fat Juan, and Tom\u00e1s,[20]\nvery eagerly; for they were particularly fond of hearing about the\nexploits of the greatest of T\u00e9e-wahn medicine-men.\n\n [20] Pronounced Rah-m\u00f3hn, Bay-n\u00e9e-toh, Whahn, Toh-m\u00e1hs.\n\n\u201cListen, then, and you shall hear.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn those days Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu had a friend who lived in a pueblo\nnearer the foot of the Eagle-Feather Mountain than this, in the Place\nof the Red Earth, where still are its ruins; and the two young men\nwent often to the mountain together to bring wood and to hunt. Now,\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu had a white heart, and never thought ill; but the\nfriend had the evil road and became jealous, for Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu was\na better hunter. But he said nothing, and made as if he still loved\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu truly.\n\nOne day the friend came over from his village and said:\n\n\u201cFriend Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu, let us go to-morrow for wood and to have a\nhunt.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well,\u201d replied Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu. Next morning he started very\nearly and came to the village of his friend; and together they went\nto the mountain. When they had gathered much wood, and lashed it in\nbundles for carrying, they started off in opposite directions to\nhunt. In a short time each returned with a fine fat deer.\n\n\u201cBut why should we hasten to go home, friend Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu?\u201d said\nthe friend. \u201cIt is still early, and we have much time. Come, let us\nstop here and amuse ourselves with a game.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well, friend,\u201d answered Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu; \u201cbut what game shall\nwe play? For we have neither _pa-toles_, nor hoops, nor any other\ngame here.\u201d\n\n\u201cSee! we will roll the _mah-kh\u00far_,[21] for while I was waiting for\nyou I made one that we might play\u201d--and the false friend drew from\nbeneath his blanket a pretty painted hoop; but really he had made\nit at home, and had brought it hidden, on purpose to do harm to\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu.\n\n [21] The game of _mah-kh\u00far_, which the Pueblos learned from\n the Apaches many centuries ago, is a very simple one, but is\n a favorite with all witches as a snare for those whom they\n would injure. A small hoop of willow is painted gaily, and has\n ornamental buckskin thongs stretched across it from side to\n side, spoke-fashion. The challenger to a game rolls the hoop\n rapidly past the challenged, who must throw a lance through\n between the spokes before it ceases to roll.\n\n [Illustration: \u201cAS HE CAUGHT THE HOOP HE WAS INSTANTLY CHANGED\n INTO A POOR COYOTE!\u201d]\n\n\u201cNow go down there and catch it when I roll it,\u201d said he; and\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu did so. But as he caught the hoop when it came\nrolling, he was no longer Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu the brave hunter, but a poor\nCoyote with great tears rolling down his nose!\n\n\u201cHu!\u201d said the false friend, tauntingly, \u201cwe do this to each other!\nSo now you have all the plains to wander over, to the north, and\nwest, and south; but you can never go to the east. And if you are not\nlucky, the dogs will tear you; but if you are lucky, they may have\npity on you. So now good-by, for this is the last I shall ever see of\nyou.\u201d\n\nThen the false friend went away, laughing, to his village; and the\npoor Coyote wandered aimlessly, weeping to think that he had been\nbetrayed by the one he had loved and trusted as a brother. For four\ndays he prowled about the outskirts of Isleta, looking wistfully at\nhis home. The fierce dogs ran out to tear him; but when they came\nnear they only sniffed at him, and went away without hurting him. He\ncould find nothing to eat save dry bones, and old thongs or soles of\nmoccasins.\n\nOn the fourth day he turned westward, and wandered until he came to\nMesita.[22] There was no town of the Lagunas there then, and only a\nshepherd\u2019s hut and corral, in which were an old Qu\u00e8res Indian and his\ngrandson, tending their goats.\n\n [22] An outlying colony of Laguna, forty miles from Isleta.\n\nNext morning when the grandson went out very early to let the goats\nfrom the corral, he saw a Coyote run out from among the goats. It\nwent off a little way, and then sat down and watched him. The boy\ncounted the goats, and none were missing, and he thought it strange.\nBut he said nothing to his grandfather.\n\nFor three more mornings the very same thing happened; and on the\nfourth morning the boy told his grandfather. The old man came out,\nand set the dogs after the Coyote, which was sitting a little way\noff; but when they came near they would not touch him.\n\n\u201cI suspect there is something wrong here,\u201d said the old shepherd; and\nhe called: \u201cCoyote, are you coyote-true, or are you people?\u201d\n\nBut the Coyote could not answer; and the old man called again:\n\u201cCoyote, are you people?\u201d\n\nAt that the Coyote nodded his head, \u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf that is so, come here and be not afraid of us; for we will be the\nones to help you out of this trouble.\u201d\n\nSo the Coyote came to them and licked their hands, and they gave it\nfood--for it was dying of hunger. When it was fed, the old man said:\n\n\u201cNow, son, you are going out with the goats along the creek, and\nthere you will see some willows. With your mind look at two willows,\nand mark them; and to-morrow morning you must go and bring one of\nthem.\u201d\n\nThe boy went away tending the goats, and the Coyote stayed with the\nold man. Next morning, when they awoke very early, they saw all the\nearth wrapped in a white _manta_.[23]\n\n [23] This figure is always used by the Pueblos in speaking of\n snow in connection with sacred things.\n\n [Illustration: \u201cCOYOTE, ARE YOU PEOPLE?\u201d]\n\n\u201cNow, son,\u201d said the old man, \u201cyou must wear only your moccasins\nand breech-clout, and go like a man to the two willows you marked\nyesterday. To one of them you must pray; and then cut the other and\nbring it to me.\u201d\n\nThe boy did so and came back with the willow stick. The old man\nprayed, and made a _mah-kh\u00far_ hoop; and bidding the Coyote stand a\nlittle way off and stick his head through the hoop before it should\nstop rolling, rolled it toward him. The Coyote waited till the hoop\ncame very close, and gave a great jump and put his head through it\nbefore it could stop. And lo! there stood Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu, young and\nhandsome as ever; but his beautiful suit of fringed buckskin was all\nin rags. For four days he stayed there and was cleansed with the\ncleansing of the medicine-man; and then the old shepherd said to him:\n\n\u201cNow, friend Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu, there is a road.[24] But take with you\nthis _faja_,[25] for though your power is great, you have submitted\nto this evil. When you get home, he who did this to you will be first\nto know, and he will come pretending to be your friend, as if he had\ndone nothing; and he will ask you to go hunting again. So you must\ngo; and when you come to the mountain, with this _faja_ you shall\nrepay him.\u201d\n\n [24] That is, you can go home.\n\n [25] A fine woven belt, with figures in red and green.\n\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu thanked the kind old shepherd, and started home. But\nwhen he came to the Bad Hill and looked down into the valley of the\nRio Grande, his heart sank. All the grass and fields and trees were\ndry and dead--for Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu was the medicine-man who controlled\nthe clouds, so no rain could fall when he was gone; and the eight\ndays he had been a Coyote were in truth eight years. The river was\ndry, and the springs; and many of the people were dead from thirst,\nand the rest were dying. But as Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu came down the hill, it\nbegan to rain again, and all the people were glad.\n\nWhen he came into the pueblo, all the famishing people came out to\nwelcome him. And soon came the false friend, making as if he had\nnever bewitched him nor had known whither he disappeared.\n\nIn a few days the false friend came again to propose a hunt; and\nnext morning they went to the mountain together. Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu had\nthe pretty _faja_ wound around his waist; and when the wind blew his\nblanket aside, the other saw it.\n\n\u201cAy! What a pretty _faja_!\u201d cried the false friend. \u201cGive it to me,\nfriend Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Een-dah!_\u201d (No) said Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu. But the false friend begged so\nhard that at last he said:\n\n\u201cThen I will roll it to you; and if you can catch it before it\nunwinds, you may have it.\u201d\n\nSo he wound it up,[26] and holding by one end gave it a push so that\nit ran away from him, unrolling as it went. The false friend jumped\nfor it, but it was unrolled before he caught it.\n\n [26] Like a roll of tape.\n\n\u201c_Een-dah!_\u201d said Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu, pulling it back. \u201cIf you do not\ncare enough for it to be spryer than that, you cannot have it.\u201d\n\n [Illustration: \u201cAS HE SEIZED IT HE WAS CHANGED FROM A TALL\n YOUNG MAN INTO A GREAT RATTLESNAKE.\u201d]\n\nThe false friend begged for another trial; so Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu\nrolled it again. This time the false friend caught it before it was\nunrolled; and lo! instead of a tall young man, there lay a great\nrattlesnake with tears rolling from his lidless eyes!\n\n\u201cWe, too, do this to each other!\u201d said Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu. He took from\nhis medicine-pouch a pinch of the sacred meal and laid it on the\nsnake\u2019s flat head for its food; and then a pinch of the corn-pollen\nto tame it.[27] And the snake ran out its red forked tongue, and\nlicked them.\n\n [27] This same spell is still used here by the _Hee-but-h\u00e1i_,\n or snake-charmers.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu, \u201cthis mountain and all rocky places shall\nbe your home. But you can never again do to another harm, without\nwarning, as you did to me. For see, there is a _guaje_[28] in your\ntail, and whenever you would do any one an injury, you must warn them\nbeforehand with your rattle.\u201d\n\n [28] Pronounced Gw\u00e1h-heh.\n\n\u201cAnd is that the reason why Ch\u2019ah-rah-r\u00e1h-deh always rattles to give\nwarning before he bites?\u201d asked Fat Juan, who is now quite as often\ncalled Juan Biscocho (John Biscuit), since I photographed him one day\ncrawling out of the big adobe bake-oven where he had been hiding.\n\n\u201cThat is the very reason. Then Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu left his false friend,\nfrom whom all the rattlesnakes are descended, and came back to his\nvillage. From that time all went well with Isleta, for Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu\nwas at home again to attend to the clouds. There was plenty of rain,\nand the river began to run again, and the springs flowed. The people\nplowed and planted again, as they had not been able to do for several\nyears, and all their work prospered. As for the people who lived in\nthe Place of the Red Earth, they all moved down here,[29] because the\nApaches were very bad; and here their descendants live to this day.\u201d\n\n [29] It is a proved fact that there was such a migration.\n\n\u201cIs that so?\u201d sighed all the boys in chorus, sorry that the story was\nso soon done.\n\n\u201cThat is so,\u201d replied old Patricio. \u201cAnd now, _compadre_ Antonio,\nthere is a tail to you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, then, I will tell a story which they showed me in Taos[30]\nlast year,\u201d said the old man.\n\n [30] The most northern of the Pueblo cities. Its people are\n also T\u00e9e-wahn.\n\n\u201cAh-h!\u201d said the boys.\n\n\u201cIt is about the Coyote and the Woodpecker.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nTHE COYOTE AND THE WOODPECKER\n\n\nWELL, once upon a time a Coyote and his family lived near the\nedge of a wood. There was a big hollow tree there, and in it\nlived an old Woodpecker and his wife and children. One day as the\nCoyote-father was strolling along the edge of the forest he met the\nWoodpecker-father.\n\n\u201c_Hin-no-kah-k\u00e9e-ma_\u201d (Good evening), said the Coyote; \u201chow do you do\nto-day, friend Hloo-r\u00e9e-deh?\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, thank you; and how are you, friend Too-wh\u00e1y-deh?\u201d\n\nSo they stopped and talked together awhile; and when they were about\nto go apart the Coyote said:\n\n\u201cFriend Woodpecker, why do you not come as friends to see us? Come to\nour house to supper this evening, and bring your family.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you, friend Coyote,\u201d said the Woodpecker; \u201cwe will come with\njoy.\u201d\n\n [Illustration: THE COYOTES AT SUPPER WITH THE WOODPECKERS.]\n\nSo that evening, when the Coyote-mother had made supper ready, there\ncame the Woodpecker-father and the Woodpecker-mother with their\nthree children. When they had come in, all five of the Woodpeckers\nstretched themselves as they do after flying, and by that showed\ntheir pretty feathers--for the Hloo-r\u00e9e-deh has yellow and red marks\nunder its wings. While they were eating supper, too, they sometimes\nspread their wings, and displayed their bright under-side. They\npraised the supper highly, and said the Coyote-mother was a perfect\nhousekeeper. When it was time to go, they thanked the Coyotes very\nkindly and invited them to come to supper at their house the\nfollowing evening. But when they were gone, the Coyote-father could\nhold himself no longer, and he said:\n\n\u201cDid you see what airs those Woodpeckers put on? Always showing off\ntheir bright feathers? But I want them to know that the Coyotes are\nequal to them. _I\u2019ll_ show them!\u201d\n\nNext day, the Coyote-father had all his family at work bringing wood,\nand built a great fire in front of his house. When it was time to go\nto the house of the Woodpeckers he called his wife and children to\nthe fire, and lashed a burning stick under each of their arms, with\nthe burning end pointing forward; and then he fixed himself in the\nsame way.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201cwe will show them! When we get there, you must lift\nup your arms now and then, to show them that we are as good as the\nWoodpeckers.\u201d\n\nWhen they came to the house of the Woodpeckers and went in, all the\nCoyotes kept lifting their arms often, to show the bright coals\nunderneath. But as they sat down to supper, one Coyote-girl gave a\nshriek and said:\n\n\u201cOh, _tata_! My fire is burning me!\u201d\n\n\u201cBe patient, my daughter,\u201d said the Coyote-father, severely, \u201cand do\nnot cry about little things.\u201d\n\n\u201cOw!\u201d cried the other Coyote-girl in a moment, \u201cmy fire has gone out!\u201d\n\nThis was more than the Coyote-father could stand, and he reproved her\nangrily.\n\n\u201cBut how is it, friend Coyote,\u201d said the Woodpecker, politely, \u201cthat\nyour colors are so bright at first, but very soon become black?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, that is the beauty of our colors,\u201d replied the Coyote,\nsmothering his rage; \u201cthat they are not always the same--like other\npeople\u2019s--but turn all shades.\u201d\n\nBut the Coyotes were very uncomfortable, and made an excuse to hurry\nhome as soon as they could. When they got there, the Coyote-father\nwhipped them all for exposing him to be laughed at. But the\nWoodpecker-father gathered his children around him, and said:\n\n\u201cNow, my children, you see what the Coyotes have done. Never in your\nlife try to appear what you are not. Be just what you really are, and\nput on no false colors.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\n\u201cIs that so?\u201d cried the boys.\n\n\u201cThat is so; and it is as true for people as for birds. Now,\n_t\u00f3o-kwai_--for it is bedtime.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n [Illustration: THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON]\n\nVIII\n\nTHE MAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON\n\n\nAMONG the principal heroes of the T\u00e9e-wahn folk-lore, I hear of none\nmore frequently in the winter story-tellings to which my aboriginal\nneighbors admit me, than the mighty Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu. To this day his\nname, which means \u201cThe Bluish Light of Dawn,\u201d is deeply revered by\nthe quaint people who claim him as one of their forefathers. He had\nno parents, for he was created by the Trues themselves, and by them\nwas given such extraordinary powers as were second only to their own.\nHis wonderful feats and startling adventures--as still related by\nthe believing Islete\u00f1os--would fill a volume. One of these fanciful\nmyths has interested me particularly, not only for its important\nbearing on certain ethnological matters, but for its intrinsic\nqualities as well. It is a thoroughly characteristic leaf from the\nlegendary lore of the Southwest.\n\nLong before the first Spaniards came to New Mexico (and _that_ was\nthree hundred and fifty years ago) Isleta stood where it stands\nto-day--on a lava ridge that defies the gnawing current of the Rio\nGrande.[31] In those far days, Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu dwelt in Isleta, and\nwas a leader of his people. A weaver by trade,[32] his rude loom hung\nfrom the dark rafters of his room; and in it he wove the strong black\n_mantas_ which are the dress of Pueblo women to this day.\n\n [31] Bandelier has published a contrary opinion, to which I do\n not think he would now cling. The folk-lore and the very name\n of the town fully prove to me that its site has not changed in\n historic times.\n\n [32] In the ancient days, weaving was practised only by the\n men, among the Pueblos. This old usage is now reversed, and it\n is the women who weave, except in the pueblos of Moqui.\n\nBesides being very wise in medicine, Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu was young, and\ntall, and strong, and handsome; and all the girls of the village\nthought it a shame that he did not care to take a wife. For him the\nshyest dimples played, for him the whitest teeth flashed out, as the\nowners passed him in the plaza; but he had no eyes for them. Then,\nin the na\u00efve custom of the T\u00e9e-wahn, bashful fingers worked wondrous\nfringed shirts of buckskin, or gay awl-sheaths, which found their way\nto his house by unknown messengers--each as much as to say, \u201cShe\nwho made this is yours, if you will have her.\u201d But Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu\npaid no more attention to the gifts than to the smiles, and just kept\nweaving and weaving such _mantas_ as were never seen in the land of\nthe T\u00e9e-wahn before or since.\n\nThe most persistent of his admirers were two sisters who were called\n_Ee-eh-ch\u00f3o-ri-ch\u2019\u00e1hm-nin_--the Yellow-Corn-Maidens. They were both\nyoung and pretty, but they \u201chad the evil road\u201d--which is the Indian\nway of saying that they were possessed of a magic power which they\nalways used for ill. When all the other girls gave up, discouraged at\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu\u2019s indifference, the Yellow-Corn-Maidens kept coming\nday after day, trying to attract him. At last the matter became\nsuch a nuisance to Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu that he hired the deep-voiced\ntown-crier to go through all the streets and announce that in four\ndays Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu would choose a wife.\n\nFor dippers, to take water from the big earthen _tinajas_, the\nT\u00e9e-wahn used then, as they use to-day, queer little ladle-shaped\n_omates_ made of a gourd; but Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu, being a great\nmedicine-man and very rich, had a dipper of pure pearl, shaped like\nthe gourds, but wonderfully precious.\n\n\u201cOn the fourth day,\u201d proclaimed the crier, \u201cNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu will hang\nhis pearl _omate_ at his door, where every girl who will may throw a\nhandful of corn-meal at it. And she whose meal is so well ground that\nit sticks to the _omate_, she shall be the wife of Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu!\u201d\n\nWhen this strange news came rolling down the still evening air, there\nwas a great scampering of little moccasined feet. The girls ran out\nfrom hundreds of gray adobe houses to catch every word; and when the\ncrier had passed on, they ran back into the store-rooms and began\nto ransack the corn-bins for the biggest, evenest, and most perfect\nears. Shelling the choicest, each took her few handfuls of kernels\nto the sloping _metate_,[33] and with the _mano_, or hand-stone,\nscrubbed the grist up and down, and up and down, till the hard corn\nwas a soft, blue meal. All the next day, and the next, and the next,\nthey ground it over and over again, until it grew finer than ever\nflour was before; and every girl felt sure that her meal would stick\nto the _omate_ of the handsome young weaver. The Yellow-Corn-Maidens\nworked hardest of all; day and night for four days they ground and\nground, with all the magic spells they knew.\n\n [33] The slab of lava which still serves as a hand-mill in\n Pueblo houses.\n\n [Illustration: THE ISLETA GIRLS GRINDING CORN WITH THE \u201cMANO\u201d\n ON THE \u201cMETATE.\u201d]\n\nNow, in those far-off days the Moon had not gone up into the sky\nto live, but was a maiden of Shee-eh-wh\u00edb-bak. And a very beautiful\ngirl she was, though blind of one eye. She had long admired\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu, but was always too maidenly to try to attract his\nattention as other girls had done; and at the time when the crier\nmade his proclamation, she happened to be away at her father\u2019s ranch.\nIt was only upon the fourth day that she returned to town, and in a\nfew moments the girls were to go with their meal to test it upon the\nmagic dipper. The two Yellow-Corn-Maidens were just coming from their\nhouse as she passed, and told her of what was to be done. They were\nvery confident of success, and told the Moon-girl only to pain her;\nand laughed derisively as she went running to her home.\n\n [Illustration: THE MOON-MAIDEN.]\n\nBy this time a long file of girls was coming to Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu\u2019s\nhouse, outside whose door hung the pearl _omate_. Each girl carried\nin her left hand a little jar of meal; and as they passed the door\none by one, each took from the jar a handful and threw it against\nthe magic dipper. But each time the meal dropped to the ground, and\nleft the pure pearl undimmed and radiant as ever.\n\nAt last came the Yellow-Corn-Maidens, who had waited to watch\nthe failure of the others. As they came where they could see\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu sitting at his loom, they called: \u201cAh! Here we have\nthe meal that will stick!\u201d and each threw a handful at the _omate_.\nBut it did not stick at all; and still from his seat Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu\ncould see, in that mirror-like surface, all that went on outside.\n\nThe Yellow-Corn-Maidens were very angry, and instead of passing on as\nthe others had done, they stood there and kept throwing and throwing\nat the _omate_, which smiled back at them with undiminished luster.\n\nJust then, last of all, came the Moon, with a single handful of meal\nwhich she had hastily ground. The two sisters were in a fine rage by\nthis time, and mocked her, saying:\n\n\u201cHoh! _P\u2019\u00e1h-hlee-oh_,[34] you poor thing, we are very sorry for you!\nHere we have been grinding our meal four days and still it will not\nstick, and you we did not tell till to-day. How, then, can you ever\nhope to win Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu? Pooh, you silly little thing!\u201d\n\n [34] T\u00e9e-wahn name of the moon; literally, \u201cWater-Maiden.\u201d\n\nBut the Moon paid no attention whatever to their taunts. Drawing back\nher little dimpled hand, she threw the meal gently against the pearl\n_omate_, and so fine was it ground that every tiniest bit of it clung\nto the polished shell, and not a particle fell to the ground.\n\n [Illustration: THE YELLOW-CORN-MAIDENS THROWING MEAL AT THE\n PEARL \u201cOMATE.\u201d]\n\nWhen Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu saw that, he rose up quickly from his loom and\ncame and took the Moon by the hand, saying, \u201cYou are she who shall be\nmy wife. You shall never want for anything, since I have very much.\u201d\nAnd he gave her many beautiful _mantas_, and cotton wraps, and fat\nboots of buckskin that wrap round and round, that she might dress as\nthe wife of a rich chief. But the Yellow-Corn-Maidens, who had seen\nit all, went away vowing vengeance on the Moon.\n\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu and his sweet Moon-wife were very happy together.\nThere was no other such housekeeper in all the pueblo as she, and\nno other hunter brought home so much buffalo-meat from the vast\nplains to the east, nor so many antelopes, and black-tailed deer,\nand jack-rabbits from the Manzanos as did Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu. But he\nconstantly was saying to her:\n\n\u201cMoon-wife, beware of the Yellow-Corn-Maidens, for they have the evil\nroad and will try to do you harm, but you must always refuse to do\nwhatever they propose.\u201d And always the young wife promised.\n\nOne day the Yellow-Corn-Maidens came to the house and said:\n\n\u201cFriend Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu, we are going to the _llano_[35] to gather\n_amole_.[36] Will you not let your wife go with us?\u201d\n\n [35] Plain.\n\n [36] The soapy root of the palmilla, used for washing.\n\n\u201cOh, yes, she may go,\u201d said Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu; but taking her aside, he\nsaid, \u201cNow be sure that you refuse whatever they may propose.\u201d\n\nThe Moon promised, and started away with the Yellow-Corn-Maidens.\n\nIn those days there was only a thick forest of cottonwoods where are\nnow the smiling vineyards, and gardens, and orchards of Isleta, and\nto reach the _llano_ the three women had to go through this forest.\nIn the very center of it they came to a deep _pozo_--a square well,\nwith steps at one side leading down to the water\u2019s edge.\n\n\u201cAy!\u201d said the Yellow-Corn-Maidens, \u201chow hot and thirsty is our walk!\nCome, let us get a drink of water.\u201d\n\nBut the Moon, remembering her husband\u2019s words, said politely that she\ndid not wish to drink. They urged in vain, but at last, looking down\ninto the _pozo_, called:\n\n\u201cOh, Moon-friend! Come and look in this still water, and see how\npretty you are!\u201d\n\nThe Moon, you must know, has always been just as fond of looking\nat herself in the water as she is to this very day, and forgetting\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu\u2019s warning, she came to the brink, and looked down upon\nher fair reflection. But at that very moment, the two witch-sisters\npushed her head foremost into the _pozo_, and drowned her; and then\nfilled the well with earth, and went away as happy as wicked hearts\ncan be.\n\n * * * * *\n\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu began to look oftener from his loom to the door as\nthe sun crept along the adobe floor, closer and closer to his seat;\nand when the shadows were very long, he sprang suddenly to his feet,\nand walked to the house of the Yellow-Corn-Maidens with long, strong\nstrides.\n\n\u201c_Ee-eh-ch\u00f3o-ri-ch\u2019\u00e1hm-nin_,\u201d he said, very sternly, \u201cwhere is my\nlittle wife?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, isn\u2019t she at home?\u201d asked the wicked sisters as if in great\nsurprise. \u201cShe got enough _amole_ long before we did, and started\nhome with it. We supposed she had come long ago.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d groaned Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu within himself; \u201cit is as I\nthought--they have done her ill.\u201d But without a word to them he\nturned on his heel and went away.\n\nFrom that hour all went ill with Isleta, for Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu held\nthe well-being of all his people, even unto life and death. Paying\nno attention to what was going on about him, he sat motionless upon\nthe very crosspiece of the _estufa_ ladder--the highest point in\nall the town--with his head bowed upon his hands. There he sat for\ndays, never speaking, never moving. The children that played along\nthe streets looked up to the motionless figure, and ceased their\nboisterous play. The old men shook their heads gravely, and muttered:\n\u201cWe are in evil times, for Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu is mourning, and will not\nbe comforted. And there is no more rain, so that our crops are drying\nin the fields. What shall we do?\u201d\n\nAt last all the councilors met together, and decided that there must\nbe another effort made to find the lost wife. It was true that the\ngreat Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu had searched for her in vain, and the people had\nhelped him; but perhaps some one else might be more fortunate. So\nthey took some of the sacred smoking-weed wrapped in a corn-husk and\nwent to Sh\u00e9e-wid-deh, who has the sharpest eyes in all the world.\nGiving him the sacred gift they said:\n\n\u201cEagle-friend, we see Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu in great trouble, for he has\nlost his Moon-wife. Come, search for her, we pray you, if she be\nalive or dead.\u201d\n\nSo the Eagle took the offering, and smoked the smoke-prayer; and then\nhe went winging upward into the very sky. Higher and higher he rose,\nin great upward circles, while his keen eyes noted every stick, and\nstone, and animal on the face of all the world. But with all his\neyes, he could see nothing of the lost wife; and at last he came back\nsadly, and said:\n\n\u201cPeople-friends, I went up to where I could see the whole world, but\nI could not find her.\u201d\n\nThen the people went with an offering to the Coyote, whose nose is\nsharpest in all the world; and besought him to try to find the Moon.\nThe Coyote smoked the smoke-prayer, and started off with his nose to\nthe ground, trying to find her tracks. He trotted all over the earth;\nbut at last he too came back without finding what he sought.\n\nThen the troubled people got the Badger to search, for he is best of\nall the beasts at digging--and he it was whom the Trues employed to\ndig the caves in which the people first dwelt when they came to this\nworld. The Badger trotted and pawed, and dug everywhere, but he could\nnot find the Moon; and he came home very sad.\n\nThen they asked the Osprey, who can see farthest under water, and\nhe sailed high above all the lakes and rivers in the world, till he\ncould count the pebbles and the fish in them, but he too failed to\ndiscover the lost Moon.\n\n [Illustration: THE GRIEF OF NAH-CHU-R\u00da-CHU.]\n\nBy now the crops were dead and sere in the fields, and thirsty\nanimals walked crying along the dry river. Scarcely could the people\nthemselves dig deep enough to find so much water as would keep them\nalive. They were at a loss which way to turn; but at last they\nthought: We will go to P\u2019ah-k\u00fa-ee-teh-\u00e1y-deh,[37] who can find the\ndead--for surely she is dead, or the others would have found her.\n\n [37] Turkey-buzzard; literally, \u201cwater-goose-grandfather.\u201d\n\nSo they went to him and besought him. The Turkey-buzzard wept when\nhe saw Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu still sitting there upon the ladder, and said:\n\u201cTruly it is sad for our great friend; but for me, I am afraid to\ngo, since they who are more mighty than I have already failed; but\nI will try.\u201d And spreading his broad wings he went climbing up the\nspiral ladder of the sky. Higher he wheeled, and higher, till at last\nnot even the Eagle could see him. Up and up, till the hot sun began\nto singe his head, and not even the Eagle had ever been so high. He\ncried with pain, but still he kept mounting--until he was so close to\nthe sun that all the feathers were burned from his head and neck. But\nhe could see nothing; and at last, frantic with the burning, he came\nwheeling downward. When he got back to the _estufa_ where all the\npeople were waiting, they saw that his head and neck had been burnt\nbare of feathers--and from that day to this the feathers would never\ngrow out again.\n\n\u201cAnd did you see nothing?\u201d they all asked, when they had bathed his\nburns.\n\n\u201cNothing,\u201d he answered, \u201cexcept that when I was half-way down I saw\nin the middle of yon cottonwood forest a little mound covered with\nall the beautiful flowers in the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d cried Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu, speaking for the first time. \u201cGo, friend,\nand bring me one flower from the very middle of that mound.\u201d\n\nOff flew the Buzzard, and in a few minutes returned with a little\nwhite flower. Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu took it, and descending from the ladder\nin silence, walked to his house, while all the wondering people\nfollowed.\n\nWhen Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu came inside his home once more, he took a new\n_manta_ and spread it in the middle of the room; and laying the wee\nwhite flower tenderly in its center, he put another new _manta_ above\nit. Then, dressing himself in the splendid buckskin suit the lost\nwife had made him, and taking in his right hand the sacred _guaje_\n(rattle), he seated himself at the head of the _mantas_ and sang:\n\n \u201c_Sh\u00fa-nah, sh\u00fa-nah!\n A\u00ed-ay-ay, a\u00ed-ay-ay, a\u00ed-ay-ay!_\u201d\n\n (Seeking her, seeking her!\n There-away, there-away!)\n\nWhen he had finished the song, all could see that the flower had\nbegun to grow, so that it lifted the upper _manta_ a little. Again\nhe sang, shaking his gourd; and still the flower kept growing. Again\nand again he sang; and when he had finished for the fourth time, it\nwas plain to all that a human form lay between the two _mantas_. And\nwhen he sang his song the fifth time, the form sat up and moved.\nTenderly he lifted away the over-cloth, and there sat his sweet\nMoon-wife, fairer than ever, and alive as before![38]\n\n [38] Nah-chu-r\u00fa-chu\u2019s incantation followed the exact form\n still used by the Indian conjurors of the Southwest in their\n wonderful trick of making corn grow and mature from the kernel\n in one day.\n\nFor four days the people danced and sang in the public square.\nNah-chu-r\u00fa-chu was happy again; and now the rain began to fall. The\nchoked earth drank and was glad and green, and the dead crops came to\nlife.\n\nWhen his wife told him how the witch-sisters had done, he was very\nangry; and that very day he made a beautiful hoop to play the\n_mah-kh\u00far_. He painted it, and put strings across it, decorated with\nbeaded buckskin.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201cthe wicked Yellow-Corn-Maidens will come to\ncongratulate you, and will pretend not to know where you were. You\nmust not speak of that, but invite them to go out and play a game\nwith you.\u201d\n\nIn a day or two the witch-sisters did come, with deceitful words;\nand the Moon invited them to go out and play a game. They went up to\nthe edge of the _llano_, and there she let them get a glimpse of the\npretty hoop.\n\n\u201cOh, give us that, Moon-friend,\u201d they teased. But she refused. At\nlast, however, she said:\n\n\u201cWell, we will play the hoop-game. I will stand here, and you there;\nand if, when I roll it to you, you catch it before it falls upon its\nside, you may have it.\u201d\n\nSo the witch-sisters stood a little way down the hill, and she\nrolled the bright hoop. As it came trundling to them, both grasped\nit at the same instant; and lo! instead of the Yellow-Corn-Maidens,\nthere were two great snakes, with tears rolling down ugly faces. The\nMoon came and put upon their heads a little of the pollen of the\ncorn-blossom (still used by Pueblo snake-charmers) to tame them, and\na pinch of the sacred meal for their food.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said she, \u201cyou have the reward of treacherous friends. Here\nshall be your home among these rocks and cliffs forever, but you must\nnever be found upon the prairie; and you must never bite a person.\nRemember you are women, and must be gentle.\u201d\n\nAnd then the Moon went home to her husband, and they were very happy\ntogether. As for the sister snakes, they still dwell where she bade\nthem, and never venture away; though sometimes the people bring them\nto their houses to catch the mice, for these snakes never hurt a\nperson.\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nTHE MOTHER MOON\n\n\nAND do you know why it is that the Moon has but one eye? It is a\nshort story, but one of the most poetic and beautiful in all the\npretty folk-lore of the Pueblos.\n\nP\u2019\u00e1h-hlee-oh, the Moon-Maiden, was the T\u00e9e-wahn Eve[39]--the first\nand loveliest woman in all the world. She had neither father nor\nmother, sister nor brother; and in her fair form were the seeds of\nall humanity--of all life and love and goodness. The Trues, who are\nthe unseen spirits that are above all, made T\u2019hoor-\u00edd-deh, the Sun,\nwho was to be father of all things; and because he was alone, they\nmade for him a companion, the first to be of maids, the first to be a\nwife. From them began the world and all that is in it; and all their\nchildren were strong and good. Very happy were the Father-all and the\nMother-all, as they watched their happy brood. He guarded them by day\nand she by night--only there _was_ no night, for then the Moon had\ntwo eyes, and saw as clearly as the Sun, and with glance as bright.\nIt was all as one long day of golden light. The birds flew always,\nthe flowers never shut, the young people danced and sang, and none\nknew how to rest.\n\n [39] She is honored in almost every detail of the Pueblo\n ceremonials. The most important charm or implement of the\n medicine-men, the holiest fetish of all, is typical of her. It\n is called Mah-pah-r\u00f3o, the Mother, and is the most beautiful\n article a Pueblo ever fashioned. A flawless ear of pure white\n corn (a type of fertility or motherhood) is tricked out with a\n downy mass of snow-white feathers, and hung with ornaments of\n silver, coral, and the precious turquoise.\n\nBut at last the Trues thought better. For the endless light grew\nheavy to the world\u2019s young eyes that knew no tender lids of night.\nAnd the Trues said:\n\n\u201cIt is not well, for so there is no sleep, and the world is very\ntired. We must not keep the Sun and Moon seeing alike. Let us put\nout one of his eyes, that there may be darkness for half the time,\nand then his children can rest.\u201d And they called T\u2019hoor-\u00edd-deh and\nP\u2019\u00e1h-hlee-oh before them to say what must be done.\n\nBut when she heard that, the Moon-Mother wept for her strong and\nhandsome husband, and cried:\n\n\u201cNo! No! Take my eyes, for my children, but do not blind the Sun! He\nis the father, the provider--and how shall he watch against harm,\nor how find us game without his bright eyes? Blind me, and keep him\nall-seeing.\u201d\n\nAnd the Trues said: \u201cIt is well, daughter.\u201d And so they took away one\nof her eyes, so that she could never see again so well. Then night\ncame upon the tired earth, and the flowers and birds and people slept\ntheir first sleep, and it was very good. But she who first had the\nlove of children, and paid for them with pain as mother\u2019s pay, she\ndid not grow ugly by her sacrifice. Nay, she is lovelier than ever,\nand we all love her to this day. For the Trues are good to her, and\ngave her in place of the bloom of girlhood the beauty that is only in\nthe faces of mothers.\n\n So mother-pale above us\n She bends, her watch to keep,\n Who of her sight dear-bought the night\n To give her children sleep.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nTHE MAKER OF THE THUNDER-KNIVES\n\n\nYOU have perhaps seen the beautiful arrow-heads of moss-agate,\npetrified wood, or volcanic glass which were used, until very\nrecently, by the Indians of the Southwest, and are still treasured\nby them. At least you are familiar with the commoner flint ones left\nby the aboriginal tribes farther eastward. And seeing them, you must\nhave wondered how they were ever made from such fearfully stubborn\nstone--always the very hardest that was accessible to the maker. I\nhave tried for six hours, with the finest drills, to make a little\nhole in the thinnest part of an agate arrow-head, to put it on a\ncharm-ring; but when the drill and I were completely worn out, there\nwas not so much as a mark on the arrow-head to show what we had been\ndoing. If you will take one to your jeweler, he will have as poor\nluck.\n\nBut the _making_ of the arrow-heads is really a very simple matter;\nand I have fashioned many very fair ones. The only implements are\npart of a peculiarly shaped bone--preferably from the thigh of the\nelk--and a stick about the size of a lead-pencil, but of double the\ndiameter. The maker of _puntas_ takes the bone in his left hand;\nin his right is the stick, against which the selected splinter of\nstone is firmly pressed by the thumb. With a firm, steady pressure\nagainst the sharp edge of the bone, a tiny flake is nicked from the\nsplinter. Then the splinter is turned, and a nick is similarly made\non the other side, just a little ahead of the first; and so on. It is\nby this alternate nicking from opposite sides that the stone-splinter\ngrows less by tiny flakes, and is shaped by degrees to a perfect\narrow-head. If you will notice the edge of an arrow-head, you will\nsee plainly that the work was done in this way, for the edge is not\na straight but a wavy line--sometimes even a zigzag, recalling the\nmanner in which saw-teeth are \u201cset.\u201d\n\nEvery Indian, and every one who has studied the Indian, knows this.\nBut if I ask one of my brown old _compadres_ here, where he got the\narrow-head which he wears as a charm about his wrinkled neck, he will\nnot tell me any such story as that. No, indeed!\n\nQu\u00e1h-le-kee-ra\u00ed-deh, the Horned Toad, gave it to him. So? Oh, yes! He\ntalked so nicely to a Horned Toad on the mesa[40] the other day, that\nthe little creature put a _punta_ where he could find it the next\ntime he went thither.\n\n [40] Table-land.\n\nWhenever a Pueblo sees a Qu\u00e1h-le-kee-ra\u00ed-deh, he jumps from his\nhorse or his big farm-wagon, and makes every effort to capture the\n_animalito_ before it can reach a hole. If successful, he pulls from\nhis blanket or his legging-garters a red thread--no other color will\ndo--and ties it necklace-fashion around the neck of his little\nprisoner. Then he invokes all sorts of blessings on the Horned Toad,\nassures it of his sincere respect and friendship, begs it to remember\nhim with a _punta_, and lets it go. Next time he goes to the mesa,\nhe fully expects to find an arrow-head, and generally _does_ find\none--doubtless because he then searches more carefully on that broad\nreach where so many arrow-heads have been lost in ancient wars and\nhunts. Finding one, he prays to the Sun-Father and the Moon-Mother\nand all his other deities, and returns profound thanks to the Horned\nToad. Some finders put the arrow-head in the pouch which serves\nIndians for a pocket.[41] Some wear it as an amulet on the necklace.\nIn either case, the belief is that no evil spirit can approach the\nwearer while he has that charm about him. In fact, it is a sovereign\nspell against witches.\n\n [41] The \u201cleft-hand-bag,\u201d _shur-ta\u00ed-moo_, because it always\n hangs from the right shoulder and under the left arm.\n\nThe common belief of the Pueblos is that the Horned Toad makes these\narrow-heads only during a storm, and deposits them at the very\ninstant when it thunders. For this reason an arrow-head is always\ncalled _K\u00f3h-un-sh\u00e9e-eh_, or thunder-knife. The strange appearance\nof this quaint, spiked lizard--which is really not a \u201chop-toad\u201d at\nall--doubtless suggested the notion; for his whole back is covered\nwith peculiar points which have very much the shape and color of\nIndian arrow-heads.\n\nQu\u00e1h-le-kee-ra\u00ed-deh is a very important personage in the Pueblo\nfolk-lore. He not only is the inventor and patentee of the arrow-head\nand the scalping-knife,[42] but he also invented irrigation, and\ntaught it to man; and is a general benefactor of our race.\n\n [42] Which were formerly about the same thing--a large and\n sharp-edged arrow-head or similar stone being the only knife of\n the Pueblos in prehistoric times.\n\nThere is one very sacred folk-story which tells why boys must never\nsmoke until they have proved their manhood. Pueblo etiquette is very\nstrict on all such points.[43]\n\n [43] See my \u201cStrange Corners of Our Country\u201d (The Century Co.),\n chap. xviii.\n\nOnce upon a time there lived in Isleta two boys who were cousins. One\nday their grandfather, who was a True Believer (in all the ancient\nrites), caught them in a corner smoking the _weer_. Greatly shocked,\nhe said to them:\n\n\u201cSons, I see you want to be men; but you must prove yourselves before\nyou are thought to be. Know, then, that nobody is born with the\nfreedom of the smoke, but every one must earn it. So go now, each of\nyou, and bring me Qu\u00e9e-hla-k\u00fa-ee, the skin of the oak.\u201d\n\nNow, in the talk of men, Qu\u00e9e-hla-k\u00fa-ee is another thing; but\nthe boys did not know. They got their mothers to give them some\ntortillas,[44] and with this lunch they started for the Bosque (a\n10,000-foot peak twenty miles east of Isleta). Reaching the mountain,\nthey went to every kind of tree and cut a little piece of its\nbark--for they were not sure which was the oak. Then they came home,\nvery tired, and carried the bark to their grandfather. But when he\nhad looked at it all he said:\n\n [44] A cake of unleavened batter cooked on a hot stone. They\n look something like a huge flapjack, but are very tough and\n keep a long time.\n\n\u201cYoung men, you have not yet proved yourselves. So now it is for you\nto go again and look for the _oak_-bark.\u201d\n\nAt this their hearts were heavy, but they took tortillas and started\nagain. On the way they met an old Horned Toad, who stopped them and\nsaid:\n\n\u201cYoung-men-friends, I know what trouble you are in. Your _tata_ has\nsent you for the skin of the oak, but you do not know the oak he\nmeans. But I will be the one to help you. Take these,\u201d and he gave\nthem two large thunder-knives, \u201cand with these in hand go up that\nca\u00f1on yonder. In a little way you will see a great many of your\nenemies, the Navajos, camping. On the first hill from which you see\ntheir fire, there stop. In time, while you wait there, you will hear\na Coyote howling across the ca\u00f1on. Then is the time to give your\nenemy-yell [war-whoop] and attack them.\u201d\n\nThe boys thanked the Horned Toad and went. Presently they saw the\ncamp-fire of the Navajos, and waiting till the Coyote called they\ngave the enemy-yell and then attacked. They had no weapons except\ntheir thunder-knives, but with these they killed several Navajos, and\nthe others ran away. In the dark and their hurry they made a mistake\nand scalped a woman (which was never customary with the Pueblos).\n\nTaking their scalps, they hurried home to their grandfather, and\nwhen he saw that they had brought the real oak-skin (which is an\nIndian euphemy for \u201cscalp\u201d), he led them proudly to the Cacique, and\nthe Cacique ordered the T\u2019u-a-f\u00fa-ar (scalp-dance). After the inside\ndays, when the takers of scalps must stay in the _estufa_, was the\ndance. And when it came to the round dance at night the two boys were\ndancing side by side.\n\nThen a young woman who was a stranger came and pushed them apart and\ndanced between them. She was very handsome, and both fell in love\nwith her. But as soon as their hearts thought of love, a skeleton was\nbetween them in place of the girl--for they who go to war or take a\nscalp have no right to think of love.\n\nThey were very frightened, but kept dancing until they were too\ntired, and then went to the singers inside the circle to escape. But\nthe skeleton followed them and stood beside them, and they could not\nhide from it.\n\nAt last they began to run away, and went to the east. Many moons they\nkept running, but the skeleton was always at their heels. At last\nthey came to the Sunrise Lake, wherein dwell the Trues of the East.\n\nThe guards let them in, and they told the Trues all that had\nhappened, and the skeleton stood beside them. The Trues said: \u201cYoung\nmen, if you are men, sit down and we will protect you.\u201d\n\nBut when the boys looked again at the skeleton they could not stop,\nbut ran away again. Many moons they ran north till they came to where\nthe Trues of the North dwell in the Black Lake of Tears.\n\nThe Trues of the North promised to defend them, but again the\nskeleton came and scared them away; and they ran for many\nmoons until they came to the Trues of the West, who dwell in\nT\u2019hoor-k\u00edm-p\u2019ah-wh\u00e9e-ay, the Yellow Lake Where the Sun Sets. And\nthere the same things happened; and they ran away again to the south,\ntill they found the Trues of the South in P\u2019ah-ch\u00e9er-p\u2019ah-wh\u00e9e-ay,\nthe Lake of Smooth Pebbles.\n\nBut there again it was the same, and again they ran many moons till\nthey came to the Trues of the Center, who live here in Isleta. And\nhere the skeleton said to them:\n\n\u201cWhy do you run from me now? For when you were dancing you looked at\nme and loved me, but now you run away.\u201d\n\nBut they could not answer her, and ran into the room of the Trues of\nthe Center, and told their story. Then the Trues gave power to the\nCum-pa-huit-la-wid-deh[45] to see the skeleton,--which no one else\nin the world could see, except the Trues and the two young men,--and\nsaid to him:\n\n [45] Guard at the door of the gods.\n\n\u201cShoot this person who follows these two.\u201d\n\nSo the Cum-pa-huit-la-wid-deh shot the skeleton through with an arrow\nfrom the left side to the right side,[46] and took the scalp.\n\n [46] The only official method of killing a witch, which is one\n of the chief duties of the Cum-pa-huit-la-wen.\n\nThat was the end of the skeleton, and the young men were free. And\nwhen the Trues had given them counsel, they came to their people, and\ntold the Cacique all. He made a new scalp-dance, because they had not\nstayed to finish the first one.\n\nAnd when the dance was done, they told all the people what had\nhappened. Then the principals had a meeting and made a rule which is\nto this day, that in the twelve days of the scalp[47] no warrior\nshall think thoughts of love.\n\n [47] The period of fasting and purification before and during\n the scalp-dance.\n\nFor it was because they had love-thoughts of the Navajo girl that\nher skeleton haunted them. And at the same time it was made the law,\nwhich still is, that no one shall smoke till he has taken a scalp to\nprove himself a man.\n\nFor if the boys had not been smoking when they had not freedom to,\ntheir grandfather would not have sent them, and all that trouble\nwould not have come. And that is why.\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nTHE STONE-MOVING SONG\n\n\nTHE Horned Toad is also a famous musician--a sort of Pueblo Orpheus,\nwhose song charms the very stones and trees. A short folk-story of\nIsleta refers to this.\n\nOne day Qu\u00e1h-le-kee-ra\u00ed-deh was working in his field. There were many\nvery large rocks, and to move them he sang a strong song as he pulled:\n\n _Yah \u00e9h-ah, h\u00e9h-ah h\u00e1y-na,\n Yah, \u00e9h-ah, heh-ah hay-na,\n Wha-na\u00ed-kee-ay hee-e-wid-deh\n Ah-kwe-\u00e9e-hee ai-y\u00e9n-cheh,\n Yahb-k\u2019y\u00e1y-queer ah-ch\u00f3o-hee._\n\nWhen he sang this and touched the heaviest stone, it rose up from the\nground, and went over his head and fell far behind him.\n\nWhile he worked so, Too-wh\u00e1y-deh came along; and seeing what\nhappened, he wished to meddle, as his way is. So he said:\n\n\u201cFriend Qu\u00e1h-le-kee-ra\u00ed-deh, let _me_ do it.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, friend,\u201d said the Horned Toad. \u201cIt is better for every one to do\nwhat he knows, and not to put himself in the work of others.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not think so,\u201d answered the Coyote. \u201cFor I can do this also. It\nis very easy.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well, then--but see that you are not afraid; for so it will be\nbad.\u201d\n\nToo-wh\u00e1y-deh laid off his blanket and took hold of the largest rock\nthere was, and sang the song. When he sang, the rock rose up in the\nair to go over his head; but he, being scared, ducked his head. Then\nat once the rock fell on him, and he had no bones left. Then the\nHorned Toad laughed, and gave the enemy-yell (war-whoop), saying: \u201cWe\ndo this to one another!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nTHE COYOTE AND THE THUNDER-KNIFE\n\n\nANOTHER Isleta myth tells of an equally sad misadventure of the\nCoyote.\n\nOnce upon a time an old Coyote-father took a walk away from home; for\nin that season of the year his babies were so peevish they would not\nlet him sleep. It happened that a Locust was making pottery, under a\ntree; and every time she moved the molding-spoon around the soft clay\njar, she sang a song. The Coyote, coming near and hearing, thought:\n\u201cNow that is the very song I need to put my _\u00f3o-un_ to sleep.\u201d And\nfollowing the sound he came to the tree, and found Cheech-w\u00e9e-deh at\nwork. But she had stopped singing.\n\n\u201cLocust-friend,\u201d said he, \u201ccome teach me that song, so that I can\nsoothe my children to sleep.\u201d But the Locust did not move to answer;\nand he repeated:\n\n\u201cLocust-friend, come teach me that song.\u201d\n\nStill she did not answer, and the Coyote, losing his patience, said:\n\n\u201cLocust, if you don\u2019t teach me that song, I will eat you up!\u201d\n\nAt that, the Locust showed him the song, and he sang with her until\nhe knew how.\n\n\u201cNow I know it, thank you,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I will go home and sing it\nto my children, and they will sleep.\u201d\n\nSo he went. But as he came to a pool, half-way home, a flock of\nAfraids-of-the-Water[48] flew up at his very nose, and drove out his\nmemory. He went looking around, turning over the stones and peeping\nin the grass; but he could not find the song anywhere. So he started\nback at last to get the Locust to teach him again.\n\n [48] The ironical T\u00e9e-wahn name for ducks.\n\nBut while he was yet far, the Locust saw him, so she shed her skin,\nleaving a dry husk, as snakes do, and filled it with sand. Then she\nmade it to sit up, and put the molding-spoon in its hands, and the\nclay jars in front of it; and she herself flew up into the tree.\n\nComing, the Coyote said: \u201cFriend Locust, show that song again; for\nI got scared, and the song was driven out of me.\u201d But there was no\nanswer.\n\n\u201cHear, Locust! I will ask just once more; and if you do not show me\nthe song, I\u2019ll swallow you!\u201d\n\nStill she did not reply; and the Coyote, being angry, swallowed the\nstuffed skin, sand, spoon, and all, and started homeward, saying:\n\u201c_Now_ I think I have that song in me!\u201d\n\nBut when he was half-way home he stopped and struck himself, and\nsaid: \u201cWhat a fool, truly! For now I am going home without a song.\nBut if I had left the Locust alive, and bothered her long enough, she\nwould have shown me. I think now I will take her out, to see if she\nwill not sing for me.\u201d\n\nSo he ran all around, hunting for a black thunder-knife,[49] and\nsinging:\n\n [49] One of obsidian, or volcanic glass.\n\n Where can I find Sh\u00e9e-eh-f\u00f3on?\n Where can I find Sh\u00e9e-eh-f\u00f3on?\n\nAt last he found a large piece of the black-rock, and broke it until\nhe got a knife. He made a mark on his breast with his finger, saying:\n\u201cHere I will cut, and take her out.\u201d\n\nThen he cut. \u201cMercy!\u201d said he, \u201cbut it bites!\u201d He cut again, harder.\n\u201cGoodness! but how it bites!\u201d he cried, very loud. And cutting a\nthird time, he fell down and died. So he did not learn the song of\nthe pottery-making.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe Qu\u00e8res Pueblos have exactly the same folk-story, except that\nthey make the Horned Toad, instead of the Locust, the music-teacher.\nIn their version, the Horned Toad, after being swallowed, kills the\nCoyote by lifting its spines. Remembering what I have said of the\nmaker of the thunder-knives, you will readily see the analogy between\nthis and the obsidian splinter of the T\u00e9e-wahn story. It is, indeed,\none of the most characteristic and instructive examples of the manner\nin which a folk-story becomes changed.\n\n\n\n\n [Illustration: THE MAGIC HIDE-AND-SEEK]\n\nXIII\n\nTHE MAGIC HIDE-AND-SEEK\n\n\nI FANCY I must have been dozing after that hard ride; for when a\nfar-away, cracked voice that could be none other than Grandfather\nYsidro\u2019s said, \u201c_Kah-whee-c\u00e1-me, Lorenso-ka\u00ed-deh!_\u201d I started up\nso hastily as to bump my head against the whitewashed wall. That\nmay seem a queer sentence to rouse one so sharply; and especially\nwhen you know what it means. It meant that old Ysidro[50] had just\nfinished a story, which I had altogether missed, and was now calling\nupon the old man next him to tell one, by using the customary Pueblo\nsaying:\n\n [50] Pronounced Ee-se\u00e9-droh.\n\n\u201cThere is a tail to you, Father Lorenso!\u201d\n\n_Kah-whee-c\u00e1-me_ is what a Te\u00e9-wahn Indian always says in such a\ncase, instead of \u201cNow _you_ tell a story, friend.\u201d It is not intended\nas an impolite remark, but merely refers to the firm belief of these\nquaint people that if one were to act like a stubborn donkey, and\nrefuse to tell a story when called on, a donkey\u2019s tail would grow\nupon him!\n\nWith such a fate in prospect, you may be sure that the roundabout\ninvitation thus conveyed is never declined.\n\nGrandfather Lorenso bows his head gravely, but seems in no haste.\nHe is indeed impressively deliberate as he slowly makes a cigarette\nfrom a bit of corn-husk and a pinch of tobacco, lights it upon a coal\nraked out of the fireplace by his withered fingers, blows a slow puff\neastward, then one to the north, another to the west, a fourth to the\nsouth, one straight above his head, and one down toward the floor.\nThere is one part of the United States where the compass has _six_\ncardinal points (those I have just named), and that is among these\nIndians, and in fact all the others of the Southwest. The cigarette\nplays a really important part in many sacred ceremonies of the\nPueblos; for, as I have explained, its collective smoke is thought to\nbe what makes the rain-clouds and brings the rain; and it is also a\ncharm against witches.\n\nHaving thus propitiated the divinities who dwell in the directions\nnamed, Lorenso looks about the circle to see if all are listening.\nThe glance satisfies him--as well it may. There are no heedless eyes\nor ears in the audience, of which I am the only white member--and a\nvery lucky one, in that I, an \u201cAmericano,\u201d am allowed to hear these\njealously guarded stories, and to see the silent smoke-prayer which\nwould never be made if a stranger were present. There are seven ag\u00e8d\nmen here, and nine bright-eyed boys--all _Islete\u00f1os_ (inhabitants of\nIsleta). We are huddled around the fireplace in the corner of the\nbig, pleasant room, against whose dark rafters and farther white\nwalls the shadows dance and waver.\n\nAnd now, taking a deep puff, Lorenso exclaims:\n\n\u201c_Nah-t\u2019 h\u00f3o-ai!_\u201d (In a house.) It has nothing to do with the story;\nbut is the prologue to inform the hearers that the story is about to\nopen.\n\n\u201cAh-h-h!\u201d we all responded, which is as much as to say, \u201cWe are\nlistening--go on\u201d; and Lorenso begins his story.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOnce upon a time there was a Te\u00e9-wahn village on the other side of\nthe mountain, and there lived a man and his wife who thought more\nof the future of their children than did the others. To care better\nfor the children they moved to a little ranch some distance from the\nvillage, and there taught their two little sons all they could. Both\nboys loved the outdoors, and games, and hunting; and the parents were\nwell pleased, saying to each other:\n\n\u201cPerhaps some day they will be great hunters!\u201d\n\nBy the time the elder boy was twelve and the younger ten, they\nboth were very expert with the little bows and arrows their father\ncarefully made them; and already they began to bring home many\nrabbits when they were allowed to go a little way from home. There\nwas only one command their parents gave about their hunts; and that\nwas that they must never, never go south. They could hunt to the\neast, north, and west, but not south.\n\nDay after day they went hunting, and more and more rabbits they\nkilled, growing always more expert.\n\nOne day when they had hunted eastward, the elder boy said:\n\n\u201cBrother, can you say any reason why we must not go south?\u201d\n\n\u201cI know nothing,\u201d replied the younger, \u201cexcept what I overheard our\nparents saying one day. They spoke of an old woman who lives in the\nsouth who eats children; and for that they said they would never let\nus go south.\u201d\n\n\u201cPooh!\u201d said the elder, \u201cI think nothing of _that_. The real reason\nmust be that they wish to save the rabbits in the south, and are\nafraid we would kill them all. There must be many rabbits in that\n_bosque_ [forest] away down there. Let\u2019s go and see--_they_ won\u2019t\nknow!\u201d\n\nThe younger boy being persuaded, they started off together, and after\na long walk came to the _bosque_. It was full of rabbits, and they\nwere having great sport, when suddenly they heard a motherly voice\ncalling through the woods. In a moment they saw an old woman coming\nfrom the south, who said to the boys:\n\n\u201c_Mah-k\u00f3o-oon_ [grandchildren], what are you doing here, where no one\never thinks to come?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are hunting, Grandmother,\u201d they replied. \u201cOur parents would never\nlet us come south; but to-day we came to see if the rabbits are more\nnumerous here than above.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the old woman, \u201cthis game you see here is _nothing_. Come,\nand I will show you where there is much, and you can carry very large\nrabbits home to your parents.\u201d But she was deceiving them.\n\nShe had a big basket upon her back, and stooping for the boys to get\ninto it, she carried them farther and farther into the woods. At last\nthey came to an old, battered house; and setting the basket down, she\nsaid:\n\n\u201cNow we have come all the way here, where no one ever came before,\nand there is no way out. You can find no trail, and you will have to\nstay here contented, or I will eat you up!\u201d\n\nThe boys were much afraid, and said they would stay and be contented.\nBut the old woman went into the house and told her husband--who\nwas as wicked as she--to get wood and build a big fire in the\n_horno_.[51] All day long the fire burned, and the oven became hotter\nthan it had ever been. In the evening the old witch-woman raked out\nthe coals, and calling the boys seized them and forced them into the\nfiery oven.\n\n [51] An outdoor bake-oven, made of clay, and shaped like a\n beehive.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\u201c_Tahb-k\u00f3on-nahm?_\u201d (Is that so?) we all exclaimed--that being the\nproper response whenever the narrator pauses a moment.\n\n\u201cThat is so,\u201d replied Lorenso, and went on.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThen the old woman put a flat rock over the little door of the oven,\nand another over the smoke-hole, and sealed them both tight with\nclay. All that night she and her husband were chuckling to think what\na nice breakfast they would have--for both of them were witch-people,\nand ate all the children they could find.\n\nBut in the morning when she unsealed the oven, there were the two\nboys, laughing and playing together unhurt--for the Wh\u00e1y-nin[52] had\ncome to their aid and protected them from the heat.\n\n [52] \u201cThe Trues,\u201d as the Pueblos call their highest divinities.\n\nLeaving the boys to crawl out, the old woman ran to the house and\nscolded the old man terribly for not having made the oven hot enough.\n\u201cGo this minute,\u201d she said, \u201cand put in the oven all the wood that it\nwill hold, and keep it burning all day!\u201d\n\nWhen night came, the old woman cleaned the oven, which was twice as\nhot as before; and again she put in the boys and sealed it up. But\nthe next morning the boys were unhurt and went to playing.\n\nThe witch-woman was very angry then; and giving the boys their bows\nand arrows, told them to go and play. She stayed at home and abused\nthe old witch-man all day for a poor fire-maker.\n\nWhen the boys returned in the evening, she said:\n\n\u201cTo-morrow, grandchildren, we will play _Nah-oo-p\u2019ah-ch\u00e9e_\n(hide-and-seek), and the one who is found three times by the other\nshall pay his life.\u201d\n\nThe boys agreed,[53] and secretly prayed to the Trues to help\nthem--for by this time they knew that the old man and the old woman\n\u201chad the bad road.\u201d\n\n [53] For such a challenge, which was once a common one with the\n Indians, could not possibly be declined.\n\n [Illustration]\n\nThe next day came; and very soon the old woman called them to begin\nthe game. The boys were to hide first; and when the old woman had\nturned her eyes and vowed not to look, they went to the door and hid,\none against each of its jambs. There you could look and look, and\nsee the wood through them--for the Trues, to help them, made them\ninvisible. When they were safely hidden they whooped, \u201c_Hee-t\u00e1h!_\u201d\nand the old woman began to hunt, singing the hide-and-seek song:\n\n _Hee-t\u00e1h yahn\n Hee choo-ah-k\u00f3o\n Mee, mee, mee?_\n\n (Now, now,\n Which way\n Went they, went they, went they?)\n\nAfter hunting some time she called:\n\n\u201cYou little fellows are on the door-posts. Come out!\u201d\n\nSo the boys came out and \u201cmade blind\u201d (covered their eyes) while the\nold woman went to hide. There was a pond close by, with many ducks on\nit; and making herself very little, she went and hid under the left\nwing of the duck with a blue head.[54]\n\n [54] I should tell you that, being a witch, she could not\n possibly have gone under the right wing. Everything that is to\n the left belongs to the witches.\n\nWhen they heard her \u201c_Hee-t\u00e1h!_\u201d the boys went searching and singing;\nand at last the elder cried out:\n\n\u201cOld woman, you are under the left wing of the whitest duck on the\nlake--the one with the blue head. Come out!\u201d\n\nThis time the boys made themselves small and crawled into the quivers\nbeside their bows and arrows. The old woman had to sing her song over\na great many times, as she went hunting all around; but at last she\ncalled:\n\n\u201cCome out of the quivers where you are!\u201d\n\nThen the witch made herself very small indeed, and went behind the\nfoot of a big crane that was standing on one leg near the lake. But\nat last the boys found her even there.\n\n [Illustration: \u201cTHE WITCH MADE HERSELF VERY SMALL, AND WENT\n BEHIND THE FOOT OF A BIG CRANE.\u201d]\n\nIt was their last turn now, and the old woman felt very triumphant\nas she waited for them to hide. But this time they went up and hid\nthemselves under the right arm of the Sun.[55] The old witch hunted\neverywhere, and used all her bad power, but in vain; and when she was\ntired out she had to cry, \u201c_Hee-t\u00e1h-ow!_\u201d And then the boys came\ndown from under the Sun\u2019s arm rejoicing.\n\n [55] Who is, in the Pueblo belief, the father of all things.\n\nThe old witch, taking her last turn, went to the lake and entered\ninto a fish, thinking that there she would be perfectly safe from\ndiscovery. It did take the boys a great while to find her; but at\nlast they shouted:\n\n\u201cOld woman, you are in the biggest fish in the lake. Come out!\u201d\n\nAs she came walking toward them in her natural shape again, they\ncalled: \u201cRemember the agreement!\u201d and with their sharp arrows they\nkilled the old witch-woman and then the old witch-man. Then they took\naway the two wicked old hearts, and put in place of each a kernel of\nspotless corn; so that if the witches should ever come to life again\nthey would no longer be witches, but people with pure, good hearts.\nThey never did come to life, however, which was just as well.\n\nTaking their bows and arrows, the boys--now young men, for the\nfour \u201cdays\u201d they had been with the witches were really four\nyears--returned home. At the village they found their anxious\nparents, who had come to ask the Cacique to order all the people out\nto search.\n\nWhen all saw the boys and heard their story, there was great\nrejoicing, for those two witch-people had been terrors to the village\nfor years. On their account no one had dared go hunting to the south.\nAnd to this day the game is thicker there than anywhere else in the\ncountry, because it has not been hunted there for so long as in other\nplaces. The two young men were forgiven for disobedience (which is\na very serious thing at any age, among the Pueblos), and were made\nheroes. The Cacique gave them his two daughters for wives, and all\nthe people did them honor.[56]\n\n [56] This story seems to be one of the myths about the Hero\n Twin Brothers, the children of the Sun. They are, next to\n Sun-Father and Moon-Mother, the chief deities of all the\n southwestern tribes. In the Qu\u00e8res folk-lore they figure very\n prominently; but in the T\u00e9e-wahn are more disguised.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\u201cIs that so?\u201d we responded; and Lorenso replied, \u201cThat is so,\u201d\ngathering his blanket and rising to go without \u201cputting a tail\u201d to\nany one, for it was already late.\n\nI may add that the game of hide-and-seek is still played by my dusky\nlittle neighbors, the Pueblo children, and the searching-song is\nstill sung by them, exactly as the boys and the old witch played and\nsang--but of course without their magical talent at hiding.\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nTHE RACE OF THE TAILS\n\n\nNEARLY every people has its own version of the race of the Hare and\nthe Tortoise. That current among the Pueblos makes the Rabbit the\nhero, by a trick rather cleverer than \u00c6sop\u2019s.\n\nOnce the Coyote came where Pee-oo-\u00e9e-deh, the little \u201ccotton-tail\u201d\nrabbit, sat at the door of his house, thinking.\n\n\u201cWhat do you think, friend Pee-oo-\u00e9e-deh?\u201d said the Coyote.\n\n\u201cI am thinking, friend Too-wh\u00e1y-deh, why some have large tails like\nyou; but we have no tails. Perhaps if we had tails like yours, we\ncould run straight; but now we have to hop.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is true, _ah-b\u00f3o_,\u201d[57] said the Coyote, not knowing that the\nRabbit laughed in his heart. \u201cFor I can run faster than any one, and\nnever did any gain from me in the foot-races. But _you_,--you just\nhop like a bird.\u201d\n\n [57] Poor thing.\n\nThe Rabbit made a sad face, and the Coyote said: \u201cBut come, friend\nPee-oo-\u00e9e-deh, let us run a race. We will run around the world, and\nsee who will win. And whichever shall come in first, he shall kill\nthe other and eat him.\u201d[58]\n\n [58] A challenge of this sort, with life as the stake, was\n very common among all Indians; and it was impossible for the\n challenged to decline. This story recalls that of the Antelope\n Boy. Four days always elapsed between the challenge and the\n race.\n\n\u201cIt is well,\u201d answered the Rabbit. \u201cIn four days we will run.\u201d\n\nThen the Coyote went home very glad. But Pee-oo-\u00e9e-deh called a\n_junta_ of all his tribe, and told them how it was, and the way he\nthought to win the race. And when they had heard, they all said: \u201cIt\nis well. Fear not, for we will be the ones that will help you.\u201d\n\nWhen the fourth day came, the Coyote arrived smiling, and threw down\nhis blanket, and stood ready in only the dark blue _taparabo_,[59]\nsaying: \u201cBut what is the use to run? For I shall win. It is better\nthat I eat you now, before you are tired.\u201d\n\n [59] Breech-clout, which is the only thing worn in a foot-race.\n\nBut the Rabbit threw off his blanket, and tightened his _taparabo_,\nand said: \u201cPooh! For the end of the race is far away, and _there_ is\ntime to talk of eating. Come, we will run around the four sides of\nthe world.[60] But _I_ shall run underground, for so it is easier for\nme.\u201d\n\n [60] Which the Pueblos believe to be flat and square.\n\nThen they stood up side by side. And when they were ready, the\nCapitan shouted \u201c_Ha\u00ed-koo!_\u201d and they ran. The Coyote ran with all\nhis legs; but the Rabbit jumped into his hole and threw out sand, as\nthose who dig very fast.\n\nNow for many days the Coyote kept running to the east, and saw\nnothing of Pee-oo-\u00e9e-deh. But just as he came to the east and was\nturning to the north, up jumped a rabbit from under the ground in\nfront of him, and shouted: \u201cWe do this to one another\u201d; and jumped\nback in the hole and began to throw out dirt very hard.\n\n\u201cAi!\u201d said the Coyote. \u201cI wish I could run under the ground like\nthat, for it seems very easy. For all these days I have run faster\nthan ever any one ran; yet Pe-oo-\u00e9e-deh comes to the east ahead of\nme.\u201d But he did not know it was the brother of Pee-oo-\u00e9e-deh, who had\ncome out to the east to wait for him.\n\nSo Too-wh\u00e1y-deh ran harder; and after many days he came to the end of\nthe world, to the north. But just as he was to turn west, up sprang a\nrabbit in front of him, and taunted him, and went back in its hole,\ndigging.\n\nThe Coyote\u2019s heart was heavy, but he ran _very_ hard. \u201cSurely,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201cno one can run so fast as _this_.\u201d\n\nBut when he came to the west, a rabbit sprang up ahead of him, and\nmocked him, and went again under the ground. And when he had run to\nthe south, there was the same thing. At last, very tired and with his\ntongue out, he came in sight of the starting-point, and there was\nPee-oo-\u00e9e-deh, sitting at the door of his house, smoothing his hair.\nAnd he said: \u201cPooh! Coyote-friend, we do this to one another. For now\nit is clear that big tails are not good to run with, since I have\nbeen waiting here a long time for you. Come here, then, that I may\neat you, though you are tough.\u201d\n\nBut Too-wh\u00e1y-deh, being a coward, ran away and would not pay his\nbet. And all the brothers of Pee-oo-\u00e9e-deh laughed for the trick they\nhad put upon the Coyote.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn a case which I knew of, years ago, this folk-story seems to have\ngiven a hint to human racers. A Mexican who owned a large and very\nfleet-footed burro, challenged a young Indian of Acoma to a ten-mile\nrace. The Indian was a very famous runner, and the challenger\ndepended on the distance alone to wear him out. In accordance with\nthe conditions the rivals started together from the goal, the Indian\non foot, the Mexican on his burro. For about four miles the Indian\nleft the galloping donkey far behind; but he could not keep up such\na tremendous pace, and the burro began to gain. About midway of the\ncourse where the trail touches a great lava-flow, the Indian dove\ninto a cave. Just as the Mexican was passing, out came an Indian,\npassed the burro with a magnificent spurt, and after a long run\nreached the farther goal about a hundred feet ahead. Unfortunately\nfor him, however, the trick was detected--he was the twin brother of\nthe challenged man, and had awaited him in the cave, taking up the\nrace fresh when the first runner was tired!\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nHONEST BIG-EARS\n\n\nNEARLY all of you have seen pictures of the Burro, the quaint little\ndonkey of the Southwest. He is very small,--not more than half the\nweight of a smallish mule,--but very strong, very sure-footed,\nand very reliable. And he is one of the drollest, \u201ccutest,\u201d\nwisest-looking creatures on earth.\n\nT\u2019ah-hl\u00e1-a-hloon, or Big-ears, as the T\u00e9e-wahn call him, does not\nappear very often in their folk-lore--and for a very natural reason.\nMost of these myths were made centuries before a white man ever saw\nthis country; and until Europeans came, there were neither horses,\ndonkeys, sheep, goats, cats, nor cattle (except the buffalo) in\neither America. It was the Spanish pioneers who gave all these\nanimals to the Pueblos. Nor did the Indians have milk, cheese, wheat,\nor metals of any sort. So when we see a story in which any of these\nthings are mentioned, we may know that it was made within the last\nthree hundred and fifty years--or that an old story has been modified\nto include them.\n\nThere is one of these comparatively modern nursery-tales which is\ndesigned to show the honesty and wisdom of the Burro.\n\nOnce Big-ears was coming alone from the farm of his master to Isleta,\ncarrying a load of curd cheeses done up in buckskin bags. As he came\nthrough the hills he met a Coyote, who said:\n\n\u201cFriend Big-ears, what do you carry on your back?\u201d\n\n\u201cI carry many cheeses for my master, friend Too-wh\u00e1y-deh,\u201d answered\nthe Burro.\n\n\u201cThen give me one, friend, for I am hunger-dying.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the Burro, \u201cI cannot give you one, for my master would\nblame me--since they are not mine but his, and a man of the pueblo\nwaits for them.\u201d\n\nMany times the Coyote asked him, with soft words; but Big-ears would\nnot, and went his way. Then Too-wh\u00e1y-deh followed him behind, without\nnoise, and slyly bit the bag and stole a cheese. But Big-ears did not\nknow it, for he could not see behind.\n\nWhen he came to the pueblo, the man who awaited him unloaded the\ncheeses and counted them. \u201cThere lacks one,\u201d he said; \u201cfor thy master\nsaid he would send _so_ many. Where is the other?\u201d\n\n\u201cTruly, I know not,\u201d answered Big-ears, \u201cbut I think Too-wh\u00e1y-deh\nstole it; for he asked me on the way to give him a cheese. But\nwait--I will pay him!\u201d\n\nSo Big-ears went back to the hills and looked for the house of\nToo-wh\u00e1y-deh. At last he found it, but the Coyote was nowhere. So he\nlay down near the hole, and stretched his legs out as if dead, and\nopened his mouth wide, and was very still.\n\nTime passing so, the Old-Woman-Coyote came out of the house to bring\na jar of water. But when she saw the Burro lying there, she dropped\nher _tinaja_, and ran in crying:\n\n\u201c_Hloo-hli!_[61] come out and see! For a _buffalo_ has died out here,\nand we must take in some meat.\u201d\n\n [61] Old Man.\n\nSo Old-Man-Coyote came out, and was very glad, and began to sharpen\nhis knife.\n\nBut his wife said: \u201cBut before you cut him up, get me the liver, for\nI am very hungry\u201d--and the liver is that which all the foxes like\nbest.\n\nThen the Old-Man-Coyote, thinking to please her, went into the\nBurro\u2019s mouth to get the liver; but Big-ears shut his teeth on\nToo-wh\u00e1y-deh\u2019s head, and jumped up and ran home. The Old-Woman-Coyote\nfollowed running, crying: \u201c_Ay, Nana!_ Let go!\u201d But Big-ears would\nnot listen to her, and brought the thief to his master. When the\nmaster heard what had been, he killed the Coyote, and thanked\nBig-ears, and gave him much grass. And this is why, ever since,\nBig-ears strikes with his hind feet if anything comes behind him\nslyly; for he remembers how Too-wh\u00e1y-deh stole the cheese.\n\n\n\n\nXVI\n\nTHE FEATHERED BARBERS\n\n\nTHE coyote, one summer day, having taken a bath in the river, lay\ndown in the hot sand to dry himself. While he was sleeping there, a\ncrowd of Quails came along; and seeing that he was asleep, they said:\n\n\u201cHuh! Here is that foolish Too-wh\u00e1y-deh. Let us give him a trick!\u201d\n\nSo they cut off all his hair, which makes one to be laughed at, and\nran away.\n\nWhen the Coyote woke up he was ashamed, and wished to punish those\nwho had made him _pelado_; and he ran around to see if he could find\nthe tracks of an enemy. There were only the tracks of the Quails, so\nhe knew they had done it. Very angry, he followed the trail until it\nwent into a large hole. He went all around to see if they had come\nout; but there were no other tracks, so he went in. First the hole\nwas big, but then it grew small, and he had to dig. When he had dug a\nlong time, he caught a Quail, and he said:\n\n\u201cHo, Ch\u2019um-n\u00edd-deh! It is you that cut my hair and left me a\nlaughed-at. But I am going to eat you this very now!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, friend Too-wh\u00e1y-deh, it was another who did it. You will find\nhim farther in, with the scissors[62] still in his hand.\u201d\n\n [62] This indicates that the tale is comparatively modern.\n\nSo the Coyote let that Quail go, and dug and dug till he caught\nanother. But that one said the same thing; and Too-wh\u00e1y-deh let him\ngo, and dug after the next one. So it was, until he had let them all\ngo, one by one; and when he came to the very end of the hole, there\nwere no more.\n\nWith this, the Coyote was very angry, and ran out of the hole,\npromising to catch and eat them all. As he came out he met the\nCotton-tail, and cried with a fierce face:\n\n\u201cHear, you Pee-oo-\u00e9e-deh! If you don\u2019t catch me the Ch\u2019\u00fam-nin that\ncut my hair, I\u2019ll eat _you_!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I can catch them, friend Coyote,\u201d said the Rabbit. \u201cSee, here is\ntheir trail!\u201d\n\nWhen they had followed the trail a long way, they saw the birds\nsitting and laughing under a bush.\n\n\u201cNow you wait here while I go and catch them,\u201d said Pee-oo-\u00e9e-deh. So\nthe Coyote sat down to rest. As soon as the Rabbit was near them, the\nQuails flew a little way, and he kept running after them. But as soon\nas they were over a little hill, he turned aside and ran home, and\nthe Coyote never knew if the Quails were caught or not.\n\n\n\n\n [Illustration: THE ACCURSED LAKE]\n\nXVII\n\nTHE ACCURSED LAKE\n\n\nAWAY to the southeast of the Manzano Mountains, two days\u2019 journey\nfrom my pueblo of Isleta, are the shallow salt lakes. For scores of\nmiles their dazzling sheen is visible--a strange patch of silver on\nthe vast brown plains. They are near the noblest ruins in our North\nAmerica--the wondrous piles of massive masonry of Ab\u00f3, Cuaray, and\nthe so-called \u201cGran Quivira\u201d--the latter the home of the silliest\ndelusion that ever lured treasure-hunters to their death. The whole\nregion has a romantic history, and is important to the scientific\nstudent. From that locality came, centuries ago, part of the people\nwho then founded Isleta, and whose descendants dwell here to this\nday. Perhaps you would like to know _why_ those lakes are salt\nnow--for my Indian neighbors say that once they were fresh and full\nof fish, and that the deer and buffalo came from all the country\nround to drink there. The story is very important ethnologically,\nfor it tells much of the strange secret religion of the Pueblos, and\nmore concerning the method of initiating a young Indian into one of\nthe orders of medicine-men--both matters which men of science have\nfound extremely difficult to be learned. Here is the story as it is\nbelieved by the T\u00e9e-wahn, and as it was related to me by one of them.\n\n * * * * *\n\nLong ago there was still a village east of Shoo-paht-h\u00f3o-eh, the\nEagle-Feather (Manzano) Mountains, and in it lived a famous hunter.\nOne day, going out on the plains to the east, he stalked a herd of\nantelopes, and wounded one with his arrows. It fled eastward, while\nthe herd went south; and the hunter began to trail it by the drops of\nblood. Presently he came to the largest lake, into which the trail\nled. As he stood on the bank, wondering what to do, a fish thrust its\nhead from the water and said:\n\n\u201cFriend Hunter, you are on dangerous ground!\u201d and off it went\nswimming. Before the Hunter could recover from his surprise, a\nLake-Man came up out of the water and said:\n\n\u201cHow is it that you are here, where no human ever came?\u201d\n\nThe Hunter told his story, and the Lake-Man invited him to come in.\nWhen he had entered the lake, he came to a house with doors to the\neast, north, west, and south, and a trap-door in the roof, with a\nladder; and by the latter door they entered. In their talk together\nthe Lake-Man learned that the Hunter had a wife and little son at\nhome.\n\n\u201cIf that is so,\u201d said he, \u201cwhy do you not come and live with me? I\nam here alone, and have plenty of other food, but I am no hunter. We\ncould live very well here together.\u201d And opening doors on four sides\nof the room he showed the Hunter four other huge rooms, all piled\nfrom floor to ceiling with corn and wheat and dried squash and the\nlike.\n\n\u201cThat is a very good offer,\u201d said the astonished Hunter. \u201cI will come\nagain in four days; and if my Cacique will let me, I will bring my\nfamily and stay.\u201d\n\nSo the Hunter went home--killing an antelope on the way--and told\nhis wife all. She thought very well of the offer; and he went to ask\npermission of the Cacique. The Cacique demurred, for this was the\nbest hunter in all the pueblo,[63] but at last consented and gave him\nhis blessing.\n\n [63] All hunters give the Cacique a tenth of their game, for\n his support.\n\nSo on the fourth day the Hunter and his wife and little boy came to\nthe lake with all their property. The Lake-Man met them cordially,\nand gave the house and all its contents into the charge of the\nwoman.[64]\n\n [64] As is the custom among all Pueblo Indians.\n\n [Illustration: THE HUNTER AND THE LAKE-MAN.]\n\nSome time passed very pleasantly, the Hunter going out daily and\nbringing back great quantities of game. At last the Lake-Man, who\nwas of an evil heart, pretended to show the Hunter something in the\neast room; and pushing him in, locked the great door and left him\nthere to starve--for the room was full of the bones of men whom he\nhad already entrapped in the same way.\n\nThe boy was now big enough to use his bow and arrows so well that he\nbrought home many rabbits; and the witch-hearted Lake-Man began to\nplot to get him, too, out of the way.\n\nSo one morning when the boy was about to start for a hunt, he heard\nhis mother groaning as if about to die; and the Lake-Man said to him:\n\n\u201cMy boy, your mother has a terrible pain, and the only thing that\nwill cure her is some ice from T\u2019hoor-p\u2019ah-wh\u00e9e-ai [Lake of the\nSun],[65] the water from which the sun rises.\u201d\n\n [65] Located \u201csomewhere to the east\u201d; perhaps the ocean.\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said the boy, straightway, \u201cif that is so, I will take the\nheart of a man [that is, be brave] and go and get the ice for my\nlittle mother.\u201d And away he started toward the unknown east.\n\nFar out over the endless brown plains he trudged bravely; until at\nlast he came to the house of Shee-ch\u00f3o-hlee-oh, the Old-Woman-Mole,\nwho was there all alone--for her husband had gone to hunt. They were\ndreadfully poor, and the house was almost falling down, and the poor,\nwrinkled Old-Woman-Mole sat huddled in the corner by the fireplace,\ntrying to keep warm by a few dying coals. But when the boy knocked,\nshe rose and welcomed him kindly and gave him all there was in the\nhouse to eat--a wee bowl of soup with a patched-up snowbird in it.\nThe boy was very hungry, and picking up the snowbird bit a big piece\nout of it.\n\n\u201cOh, my child!\u201d cried the old woman, beginning to weep. \u201cYou have\nruined me! For my husband trapped that bird these many years ago, but\nwe could never get another; and that is all we have had to eat ever\nsince. So we never bit it, but cooked it over and over and drank the\nbroth. And now not even that is left.\u201d And she wept bitterly.\n\n\u201cNay, Grandmother, do not worry,\u201d said the boy. \u201cHave you any long\nhairs?\u201d--for he saw many snowbirds lighting near by.\n\n\u201cNo, my child,\u201d said the old woman sadly. \u201cThere is no other living\nanimal here, and you are the first human that ever came here.\u201d\n\nBut the boy pulled out some of his own long hair and made snares, and\nsoon caught many birds. Then the Old-Woman-Mole was full of joy; and\nhaving learned his errand, she said:\n\n\u201cMy son, fear not, for I will be the one that shall help you. When\nyou come into the house of the Trues, they will tempt you with a\nseat; but you must sit down only on what you have.[66] Then they will\ntry you with smoking the _weer_, but I will help you.\u201d\n\n [66] That is, upon his blanket and moccasins, the unvarying\n etiquette of the Medicine House.\n\nThen she gave him her blessing, and the boy started away to the east.\nAt last, after a weary, weary way, he came so near the Sun Lake, that\nthe _Whit-lah-w\u00edd-deh_[67] of the Trues saw him coming, and went in\nto report.\n\n [67] One of an order of medicine-men, who among other duties,\n act as guards of the Medicine House.\n\n\u201cLet him be brought in,\u201d said the Trues; and the Whit-lah-w\u00edd-deh\ntook the boy in and in through eight rooms, until he stood in the\npresence of all the gods, in a vast room. There were all the gods\nof the East, whose color is white, and the blue gods of the North,\nthe yellow gods of the West, the red gods of the South, and the\nrainbow-colored gods of the Up, the Down, and the Center, all in\nhuman shape. Beyond their seats were all the sacred animals--the\nbuffalo, the bear, the eagle, the badger, the mountain lion, the\nrattlesnake, and all the others that are powerful in medicine.\n\nThen the Trues bade the boy sit down, and offered him a white _manta_\n(robe) for a seat; but he declined respectfully, saying that he had\nbeen taught, when in the presence of his elders, to sit on nothing\nsave what he brought, and he sat upon his blanket and moccasins. When\nhe had told his story, the Trues tried him, and gave him the sacred\n_weer_ to smoke--a hollow reed rammed with _pee-en-hleh_.[68] He\nsmoked, and held the smoke bravely. But just then the Old-Woman-Mole,\nwho had followed him underground all this way, dug a hole up to his\nvery toes; and the smoke went down through his feet into the hole,\nand away back to the Old-Woman-Mole\u2019s house, where it poured out in\na great cloud. And not the tiniest particle escaped into the room of\nthe Trues. He finished the second _weer_[69] without being sick at\nall; and the Trues said, \u201cYes, he is our son. But we will try him\nonce more.\u201d So they put him into the room of the East with the bear\nand the lion; and the savage animals came forward and breathed on\nhim, but would not hurt him. Then they put him into the room of the\nNorth, with the eagle and the hawk; then into the room of the West,\nwith the snakes; and lastly, into the room of the South, where were\nthe Apaches and all the other human enemies of his people. And from\neach room he came forth unscratched.\n\n [68] The smoking of the pungent _weer_ is a very severe ordeal;\n and it is a disgrace to let any of the smoke escape from the\n mouth or nose.\n\n [69] Two being the usual number given a candidate for\n initiation into a medicine order.\n\n\u201cSurely,\u201d said the Trues, \u201cthis is our son! But once more we will try\nhim.\u201d\n\nThey had a great pile of logs built up (\u201ccob-house\u201d fashion), and the\nspace between filled with pine-knots. Then the Whit-lah-w\u00edd-deh set\nthe boy on the top of the pile and lighted it.\n\nBut in the morning, when the guard went out, there was the boy\nunharmed and saying: \u201cTell the Trues I am cold, and would like more\nfire.\u201d\n\nThen he was brought again before the Trues, who said: \u201cSon, you have\nproved yourself a True Believer, and now you shall have what you\nseek.\u201d\n\nSo the sacred ice was given him, and he started homeward--stopping on\nthe way only to thank the Old-Woman-Mole, to whose aid he owed his\nsuccess.\n\nWhen the wicked Lake-Man saw the boy coming, he was very angry, for\nhe had never expected him to return from that dangerous mission. But\nhe deceived the boy and the woman; and in a few days made a similar\nexcuse to send the boy to the gods of the South after more ice for\nhis mother.\n\nThe boy started off as bravely as before. When he had traveled a\ngreat way to the south, he came to a drying lake; and there, dying in\nthe mud, was a little fish.\n\n\u201c_Ah-b\u00f3o_ [poor thing], little fish,\u201d said the boy; and picking it\nup, he put it in his gourd canteen of water. After awhile he came\nto a good lake; and as he sat down to eat his lunch the fish in his\ngourd said:\n\n\u201cFriend Boy, let me swim while you eat, for I love the water.\u201d\n\nSo he put the fish in the lake; and when he was ready to go on, the\nfish came to him, and he put it back in his gourd. At three lakes he\nlet the fish swim while he ate; and each time the fish came back to\nhim. But beyond the third lake began a great forest which stretched\nclear across the world, and was so dense with thorns and brush that\nno man could pass it. But as the boy was wondering what he should\ndo, the tiny fish changed itself into a great Fish-Animal with a\nvery hard, strong skin,[70] and bidding the boy mount upon its back,\nit went plowing through the forest, breaking down big trees like\nstubble, and bringing him through to the other side without a scratch.\n\n [70] It is quite possible that this \u201cFish-Animal with a hard,\n strong skin,\u201d living far to the south, is the alligator. Of\n course, the Pueblos never saw that strange saurian; but they\n probably heard of it in the earliest days from nomad tribes,\n and as a great scientist has pointed out, we may always\n depend upon it that there is a nucleus of truth in all these\n folk-myths. Such a strange animal, once heard of, would be very\n sure to figure in some story.\n\n\u201cNow, Friend Boy,\u201d said the Fish-Animal, \u201cyou saved my life, and I\nwill be the one that shall help you. When you come to the house of\nthe Trues, they will try you as they did in the East. And when you\nhave proved yourself, the Cacique will bring you his three daughters,\nfrom whom to choose you a wife. The two eldest are very beautiful,\nand the youngest is not; but you ought to choose her, for beauty does\nnot always reach to the heart.\u201d\n\nThe boy thanked his fish-friend and went on, until at last he came\nto the house of the Trues of the South. There they tried him with\nthe _weer_ and the fire, just as the Trues of the East had done, but\nhe proved himself a man, and they gave him the ice. Then the Cacique\nbrought his three daughters, and said:\n\n\u201cSon, you are now old enough to have a wife,[71] and I see that you\nare a true man who will dare all for his mother. Choose, therefore,\none of my daughters.\u201d\n\n [71] For it must be remembered that all these travels had taken\n many years.\n\nThe boy looked at the three girls; and truly the eldest were very\nlovely. But he remembered the words of his fish friend, and said:\n\n\u201cLet the youngest be my wife.\u201d\n\nThen the Cacique was pleased, for he loved this daughter more than\nboth the others. And the boy and the Cacique\u2019s daughter were married\nand started homeward, carrying the ice and many presents.\n\nWhen they came to the great forest, there was the Fish-Animal waiting\nfor them, and taking both on his back he carried them safely through.\nAt the first lake he bade them good-by and blessed them, and they\ntrudged on alone.\n\n [Illustration: THE CURSING OF THE LAKE.]\n\nAt last they came in sight of the big lake, and over it were great\nclouds, with the forked lightning leaping forth. While they were yet\nfar off, they could see the wicked Lake-Man sitting at the top of his\nladder, watching to see if the boy would return, and even while they\nlooked they saw the lightning of the Trues strike him and tear him to\nshreds.\n\nWhen they came to the lake the boy found his mother weeping for him\nas dead. And taking his wife and his mother,--but none of the things\nof the Lake-Man, for those were bewitched,--the boy came out upon the\nshore. There he stood and prayed to the Trues that the lake might be\naccurst forever; and they heard his prayer, for from that day its\nwaters turned salt, and no living thing has drunk therefrom.\n\n\n\n\nXVIII\n\nTHE MOQUI[72] BOY AND THE EAGLE\n\n [72] Pronounced M\u00f3h-kee.\n\n\nSOME of the folk-stories told in Isleta were evidently invented\nin other pueblos, whence the T\u00e9e-wahn have learned them in their\ntrading-trips. There is even a story from the far-off towns of Moqui,\nthree hundred miles west of here and ninety miles from the railroad.\nThe Moquis live in northeast Arizona, in strange adobe towns,[73]\nperched upon impregnable islands of rock, rising far above the bare,\nbrown plain. They are seldom visited and little known by white men.\nAll the other Pueblo towns and tribes have changed somewhat in the\npresent era of American occupation; but the Moquis remain very much\nas they were when the first Spaniard found them--three hundred and\nfifty years ago. They retain many customs long extinct among their\nkindred, and have some of which no trace is to be found elsewhere.\nOne of the minor differences, but one which would be almost the first\nto strike a stranger, is the absence of captive eagles in Moqui; and\nthis is explained by the following folk-story:\n\n [73] See \u201cSome Strange Corners of Our Country.\u201d The Century\n Co., New York.\n\nThe Eagle is Kah-b\u00e1y-deh (commander) of all that flies, and his\nfeathers are strongest in medicine.\n\nSo long ago that no man can tell how long, there lived in Moqui an\nold man and an old woman, who had two children--a boy and a girl. The\nboy, whose name was T\u00e1i-oh, had a pet Eagle, of which he was very\nfond; and the Eagle loved its young master. Despite his youth, T\u00e1i-oh\nwas a capital hunter; and every day he brought home not only rabbits\nenough for the family, but also to keep the Eagle well fed.\n\nOne day when he was about to start on a hunt, he asked his sister to\nlook out for the Eagle during his absence. No sooner was he out of\nsight than the girl began to upbraid the bird bitterly, saying: \u201cHow\nI hate you, for my brother loves you so much. If it were not for you,\nhe would give me many more rabbits, but now you eat them up.\u201d\n\nThe Eagle, feeling the injustice of this, was angry; so when she\nbrought him a rabbit for breakfast the Eagle turned his head and\nlooked at it sidewise, and would not touch it. At noon, when she\nbrought him his dinner, he did the same thing; and at night, when\nT\u00e1i-oh returned, the Eagle told him all that had happened.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the Eagle, \u201cI am very tired of staying always here in\nMoqui, and I want to go home to visit my people a little. Come and go\nalong with me, that you may see where the Eagle-people live.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well,\u201d replied T\u00e1i-oh. \u201cTo-morrow morning we will go together.\u201d\n\nIn the morning they all went out into the fields, far down in the\nvalley, to hoe their corn, leaving T\u00e1i-oh at home.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the Eagle, \u201cuntie this thong from my leg, friend, and get\nastride my neck, and we will go.\u201d\n\nThe string was soon untied, and T\u00e1i-oh got astride the neck of the\ngreat bird, which rose up into the air as though it carried no weight\nat all. It circled over the town a long time, and the people cried\nout with wonder and fear at seeing an Eagle with a boy on his back.\nThen they sailed out over the fields, where T\u00e1i-oh\u2019s parents and his\nsister were at work; and all the three began to cry, and went home in\ngreat sorrow.\n\nThe Eagle kept soaring up and up until they came to the very sky.\nThere in the blue was a little door, through which the Eagle flew.\nAlighting on the floor of the sky, he let T\u00e1i-oh down from his back,\nand said:\n\n\u201cNow, you wait here, friend, while I go and see my people,\u201d and off\nhe flew.\n\nT\u00e1i-oh waited three days, and still the Eagle did not return; so\nhe became uneasy and started out to see what he could find. After\nwandering a long way, he met an old Spider-woman.\n\n\u201cWhere are you going, my son?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cI am trying to find my friend, the Eagle.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, then, I will help you. Come into my house.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how can I come into so small a door?\u201d objected T\u00e1i-oh.\n\n\u201cJust put your foot in, and it will open big enough for you to enter.\u201d\n\nSo T\u00e1i-oh put his foot in, and, sure enough, the door opened wide,\nand he went into the Spider\u2019s house and sat down.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said she, \u201cyou will have some trouble in getting to the house\nof your friend, the Eagle, for to get there you will have to climb a\ndreadful ladder. It is well that you came to me for help, for that\nladder is set with sharp arrow-heads and knives of flint, so that\nif you tried to go up it, it would cut your legs off. But I will\ngive you this sack of sacred herbs to help you. When you come to the\nladder, you must chew some of the herbs and spit the juice on the\nladder, which will at once become smooth for you.\u201d[74]\n\n [74] This recalls a superstition of the Peruvian mountain\n Indians, ancient and modern. The latter I have often seen\n throwing upon a stone at the crest of a mountain pass the quid\n of coca-leaves they had been chewing. They believe such use\n of this sacred herb propitiates the spirits and keeps off the\n terrible _soroche_, or mountain-sickness; and that it also\n makes veins of metal easier to be worked--softening the stone,\n even as it did for T\u00e1i-oh.\n\nT\u00e1i-oh thanked the Spider-woman and started off with the sack. After\nawhile he came to the foot of a great ladder, which went away up out\nof sight. Its sides and rungs were bristling with keen arrow-heads,\nso that no living thing could climb it; but when T\u00e1i-oh chewed some\nof the magic herb and spat upon the ladder, all the sharp points fell\noff, and it was so smooth that he climbed it without a single scratch.\n\nAfter a long, long climb, he came to the top of the ladder, and\nstepped upon the roof of the Eagles\u2019 house. But when he came to the\ndoor he found it so bristling with arrow-points that whoever might\ntry to enter would be cut to pieces. Again he chewed some of the\nherb, and spat upon the door; and at once all the points fell off,\nand he entered safely, and inside he found his Eagle-friend, and all\nthe Eagle-people. His friend had fallen in love with an Eagle-girl\nand married her, and that was the reason he had not returned sooner.\n\nT\u00e1i-oh stayed there some time, being very nicely entertained, and\nenjoyed himself greatly in the strange sky-country. At last one of\nthe wise old Eagle-men came to him and said:\n\n\u201cNow, my son, it is well that you go home, for your parents are very\nsad, thinking you are dead. After this, whenever you see an Eagle\ncaught and kept captive, you must let it go; for now you have been\nin our country, and know that when we come home we take off our\nfeather-coats and are people like your own.\u201d\n\nSo T\u00e1i-oh went to his Eagle-friend and said he thought he must go\nhome.\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said the Eagle; \u201cget on my neck and shut your eyes, and\nwe will go.\u201d\n\nSo he got on, and they went down out of the sky, and down and down\nuntil at last they came to Moqui. There the Eagle let T\u00e1i-oh down\namong the wondering people, and, bidding him an affectionate good-by,\nflew off to his young wife in the sky.\n\nT\u00e1i-oh went to his home loaded down with dried meat and tanned\nbuckskin, which the Eagle had given him; and there was great\nrejoicing, for all had given him up as dead. And this is why, to this\nvery day, the Moquis will not keep an Eagle captive, though nearly\nall the other Pueblo towns have all the Eagle-prisoners they can get.\n\n\n\n\nXIX\n\nTHE NORTH WIND AND THE SOUTH WIND\n\n\nNEARLY every nation has its folk-lore concerning Jack Frost and his\nanti-type. The cold North Wind is always the enemy of man, and the\nwarm South Wind always his friend. The Qu\u00e8res pueblos of Acoma and\nLaguna have an allegorical folk-story, in which the good spirit of\nheat defeats his icy-hearted rival.\n\nOnce, long ago, the _ta-p\u00f3-pe_ (governor) of Acoma had a beautiful\ndaughter, for whom many of the young men had asked in vain, for she\nwould have none of them. One day there came climbing up the stone\nladder to the cliff-built pueblo a tall and handsome stranger. His\ndress glistened with white crystals, and his face, though handsome,\nwas very stern. The fair _kot-chin-\u00e1-ka_ (chief\u2019s daughter), bending\nat a pool in the great rock to fill her water-jar, saw and admired\nhim as he came striding proudly to the village; and he did not fail\nto notice the dusky beauty. Soon he asked for her in due form; and in\na little while they were to be married.\n\nBut, with the coming of Sh\u00f3-kee-ah--for that was the name of the\nhandsome stranger--a sad change befell Acoma. The water froze in the\nsprings and the corn withered in the fields. Every morning Sh\u00f3-kee-ah\nleft the town and went away to his home in the far North; and every\nevening he returned, and the air grew chill around. The people could\nraise no crops, for the bitter cold killed all that they planted, and\nnothing would grow but the thorny cactus. To keep from starving, they\nhad to eat the cactus-leaves, roasting them first to remove the sharp\nthorns. One day, when the _kot-chin-\u00e1-ka_ was roasting cactus-leaves,\nthere came another handsome stranger with a sunny smile and stood\nbeside her.\n\n\u201cWhat dost thou there?\u201d he asked; and she told him.\n\n\u201cBut do not so,\u201d said the young man, giving her an ear of green corn.\n\u201cEat this, and I will bring thee more.\u201d\n\nSo saying, he was gone; but very soon he returned with such a load of\ngreen corn as the strongest man could not lift, and carried it to her\nhouse.\n\n\u201cRoast this,\u201d he said, \u201cand when the people come to thee, give them\neach two ears, for hereafter there shall always be much corn.\u201d\n\nShe roasted the corn and gave it to the people, who took it eagerly,\nfor they were starving. But soon Sh\u00f3-kee-ah returned, and the warm,\nbright day grew suddenly cold and cloudy. As he put his foot on the\nladder to come down into the house (all Pueblo rooms used to be\nentered only from the roof, and thousands are so yet) great flakes\nof snow fell around him; but M\u00ed-o-chin, the newcomer, made it very\nwarm, and the snow melted.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said Sh\u00f3-kee-ah, \u201cwe will see which is more powerful; and\nhe that is shall have the _kot-chin-\u00e1-ka_.\u201d M\u00ed-o-chin accepted\nthe challenge, and it was agreed that the contest should begin on\nthe morrow and last three days. M\u00ed-o-chin went to consult an old\nSpider-woman as to the best way to conquer his powerful rival, and\nshe gave him the necessary advice.\n\nNext day the people all gathered to see the trial of strength between\nthe two wizards. Sh\u00f3-kee-ah \u201cmade medicine,\u201d and caused a driving\nsleet and a bitter wind that froze all waters. But M\u00ed-o-chin built\na fire and heated small stones in it, and with them caused a warm\nSouth Wind, which melted the ice. On the second day, Sh\u00f3-kee-ah\nused more powerful incantations, and made a deep snow to cover the\nworld; but again M\u00ed-o-chin brought his South Wind and chased away\nthe snow. On the third day Sh\u00f3-kee-ah used his strongest spell, and\nit rained great icicles, until everything was buried under them. But\nwhen M\u00ed-o-chin built his fire and heated the stones, again the warm\nSouth Wind drove away the ice and dried the earth. So it remained to\nM\u00ed-o-chin; and the defeated Sh\u00f3-kee-ah went away to his frozen home\nin the North, leaving M\u00ed-o-chin to live happy ever after with the\n_kot-chin-\u00e1-ka_, whom he married amid the rejoicing of all the people\nof Acoma.\n\n\n\n\nXX\n\nTHE TOWN OF THE SNAKE-GIRLS\n\n\nIN the times that were farthest back, the forefathers of those who\nnow dwell in Isleta were scattered about in many small villages.\nYou have already heard the myths of how the inhabitants of several\nvillages finally abandoned their homes and came to live in the\none big town of the T\u00e9e-wahn. Three miles north of Isleta, amid\nthe sandy plain of Los Padillas, stands the strange round mesa of\nShee-em-t\u00f3o-ai. It is a circular \u201cisland\u201d of hard, black lava, cut\noff from the long lava cliffs which wall the valley of the Rio Grande\non the west. Its level top, of over fifty acres, is some two hundred\nfeet above the plain; the last fifty feet being a stern and almost\nunbroken cliff. Upon its top are still visible the crumbling ruins of\nthe pueblo of Poo-reh-t\u00fa-ai--a town deserted, as we are historically\nsure, over three hundred and fifty years ago. The mound outlines of\nthe round _estufa_, the houses and the streets, are still easy to be\ntraced, and bits of pottery, broken arrow-heads, and other relics,\nstill abound there. In history we know no more of the pueblo than\nthat it was once there, but had been abandoned already when Coronado\npassed in 1540; but my aboriginal friends and fellow-citizens\nof Shee-eh-wh\u00edb-bahk have an interesting legend of the pueblo of\nPoo-reh-t\u00fa-ai and the cause which led to its abandonment.\n\nWhen the mesa town was inhabited, so was Isleta; and, being but three\nmiles apart, the intercommunication was constant. At one time, four\nhundred years ago or more, there lived in Isleta a very handsome\nyouth whose name was K\u2019oo-ah-m\u00e1h-koo-h\u00f3o-oo-a\u00ed-deh--which means\nYoung-Man-Who-Embraces-a-Corncob.\n\nIn spite of this serious burden of a title, the young man was greatly\nadmired, and had many friends. Probably they called him something\nelse \u201cfor short,\u201d or people wouldn\u2019t have had time to associate\nwith him. There were two sisters, very pretty girls, living in\nPoo-reh-t\u00fa-ai, and they fell very seriously in love, both with this\nsame youth. But he had never really found out how handsome he was,\nand so thought little about girls anyhow, caring more to run fastest\nin the races and to kill the most game in the hunts. The sisters,\nfinding that he would not notice their shy smiles, began to make it\nin their way to pass his house whenever they came to Isleta, and to\nsay _hin-a-k\u00fa-pui-yoo_ (good morning) as they met him on the road.\nBut he paid no attention to them whatever, except to be polite; and\neven when they sent him the modest little gift which means \u201cthere is\na young lady who loves you!\u201d he was as provokingly indifferent as\never.\n\nAfter long coquetting in vain, the girls began to hate him as hard\nas before they had loved him. They decided, no doubt, that he was\n_o\u00f3-teh_, the T\u00e9e-wahn word for \u201ca mean old thing\u201d; and finally one\nproposed that they put him out of the way, for both sisters, young\nand pretty as they were, were witches.\n\n\u201cWe will teach him,\u201d said one.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the other, \u201che ought to be punished; but how shall we do\nit?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, we will invite him to play a game of _mah-kh\u00far_, and then we\u2019ll\nfix him. I\u2019ll go now and make the hoop.\u201d\n\nThe witch-sisters made a very gay hoop, and then sent word to the\nyouth to meet them at the sacred sand-hill, just west of Isleta, as\nthey had important business with him. Wondering what it could be, he\nmet them at the appointed time and place.\n\n\u201cNow, Brother Young-Man-Who-Embraces-a-Corncob,\u201d said the eldest\nsister, \u201cwe want to amuse ourselves a little, so let us have a game\nof _mah-kh\u00far_. We have a very nice hoop to play it. You go half-way\ndown the hill and see if you can catch it when we roll it to you. If\nyou can, you may have the hoop; but if you fail, you come and roll it\nto us and we\u2019ll see if we can catch it.\u201d\n\nSo he went down the hill and waited, and the girls sent the bright\nwheel rolling toward him. He was very nimble, and caught it \u201con the\nfly\u201d; but that very instant he was no longer the tall, handsome\nYoung-Man-Who-Embraces-a-Corncob, but a poor little Coyote, with\ngreat tears rolling down his cheeks. The witch-sisters came laughing\nand taunting him, and said:\n\n\u201cYou see it would have been better to marry us! But now you will\nalways be a Coyote and an outcast from home. You may roam to the\nnorth and to the south and to the west, but never to the east\u201d (and\ntherefore not back to Isleta).\n\nThe Coyote started off, still weeping; and the two wicked sisters\nwent home rejoicing at their success. The Coyote roamed away to\nthe west, and at last turned south. After a time he came across a\nparty of Islete\u00f1os[75] returning from a trading-trip to the Apache\ncountry. He sneaked about their camp, snapping up odd scraps--for\nhe was nearly starved. In the morning the Indians spied this Coyote\nsitting and watching them at a little distance, and they set their\ndogs on him. But the Coyote did not run; and when the dogs came to\nhim they merely sniffed and came away without hurting him--though\nevery one knows that the dog and the Coyote have been enemies almost\never since the world began. The Indians were greatly astonished; and\none of them, who was a medicine-man, began to suspect that there\nwas something wrong. So, without saying anything to the others, he\nwalked over to the Coyote and said: \u201cCoyote, are you Coyote-true,\nor somebody bewitched?\u201d But the Coyote made no reply. Again the\nmedicine-man asked: \u201cCoyote, are you a man?\u201d At this the Coyote\nnodded his head affirmatively, while tears rolled from his eyes.\n\n [75] Pronounced Eez-lay-t\u00e1yn-yos.\n\n\u201cVery well, then,\u201d said the medicine-man, \u201ccome with me.\u201d So the\nCoyote rose and followed him to the camp; and the medicine-man fed\nand cared for him as the party journeyed toward Isleta. The last\nnight they camped at the big barranca, just below the village;\nand here the medicine-man told his companions the story of the\nbewitchment,--for the Coyote had already told him,--and they were all\ngreatly astonished, and very sad to learn that this poor Coyote was\ntheir handsome friend, K\u2019oo-ah-m\u00e1h-koo-h\u00f3o-oo-a\u00ed-deh.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the medicine-man, \u201cwe will make a nice hoop and try a\ngame.\u201d He made it, and said to the Coyote: \u201cFriend, go and stand over\nthere; and when I roll this hoop toward you, you must jump and put\nyour head through it before it stops rolling or falls over upon its\nside.\u201d\n\nThe Coyote stood off, and the medicine-man sent the hoop rolling\ntoward him very hard. Just as it came near enough the Coyote\nmade a wonderful jump and put his head squarely through the\nmiddle of it--and there, instead of the gaunt Coyote, stood the\nYoung-Man-Who-Embraces-a-Corncob, handsome and well and strong as\never. They all crowded around to congratulate him and to listen to\nwhat had befallen him.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the medicine-man, \u201cwhen we get home, the two\nwitch-sisters will come to congratulate you, and will pretend not to\nknow anything of the trouble that befell you, and when you see them\nyou must invite _them_ to a game of _mah-kh\u00far_.\u201d\n\nIt all came about as he said. When the party got back to Isleta all\nthe people welcomed the young man whose mysterious disappearance had\nmade all sad. The news of his return spread rapidly, and soon reached\nthe village of Poo-reh-t\u00fa-ai. In a day or two the witch-sisters came\nto Isleta, bringing on their heads baskets of the choicest foods and\nother gifts, which they presented to him in the most cordial manner.\nTo see how they welcomed him, one would never fancy that they had\nbeen the wicked causes of his suffering. He played his part equally\nwell, and gave no sign that he saw through their duplicity. At last,\nwhen they were about to start home, he said: \u201cSisters, let us come to\nthe sand-hill to-morrow to play a little game.\u201d\n\nAn invitation--or rather a challenge--of that sort must be accepted\nunder all Indian etiquette; and the witch-sisters agreed. So at the\nappointed hour they met him at the sacred hill. He had made a very\nbeautiful hoop, and when they saw it they were charmed, and took\ntheir positions at the foot of the declivity. \u201cOne, two, three!\u201d\nhe counted; and at the word \u201cthree!\u201d sent the hoop rolling down to\nthem. They both grabbed it at the same instant, and lo! instead of\nthe pretty, but evil-minded sisters of Poo-reh-t\u00fa-ai, there lay\ntwo huge rattlesnakes, with big tears falling from their eyes.\nYoung-Man-Who-Embraces-a-Corncob laid upon their ugly, flat heads a\npinch of the sacred meal, and they ran out their tongues and licked\nit.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d he said, \u201cthis is what happens to the treacherous. Here in\nthese cliffs shall be your home forever. You must never go to the\nriver, so you will suffer with thirst and drag yourselves in the dust\nall the days of your life.\u201d\n\nThe Young-Man-Who-Embraces-a-Corncob went back to Isleta, where he\nlived to a ripe old age. As for the snakes, they went to live in the\ncliffs of their own mesa. The people of Poo-reh-t\u00fa-ai soon learned\nof the fate of the witch-sisters, and knew that those two great\nsnakes, with tears in their eyes, were they. That was the beginning\nof the downfall of Poo-reh-t\u00fa-ai; for the people grew fearful of\none another, lest there might be many more witches, unbeknown,\namong them. The distrust and discontent grew rapidly--for to this\nday nothing on earth will disrupt any Indian community so quickly\nor so surely as the belief that some of the people are witches.\nIn a very short time the people decided to abandon Poo-reh-t\u00fa-ai\naltogether. Most of them migrated to the Northwest, and I have not\nas yet found even a legend to tell what became of them. The rest\nsettled in Isleta, where their descendants dwell to this day. There\nare old men here now who claim that their great-grandfathers used to\nsee the two huge rattlesnakes basking on the cliffs of the mesa of\nShee-em-t\u00f3o-ai, and that the snakes always wept when people came near\nthem.\n\n\n\n\nXXI\n\nTHE DROWNING OF PECOS\n\n\nTWENTY-FIVE miles southeast of Santa F\u00e9, New Mexico, lie the deserted\nruins of the ancient Pueblo town of Pecos. The village was finally\nabandoned by the Indians in 1840; and their neat houses of adobe\nbricks and stone, and their quaint adobe church, have sadly fallen\nto decay. The history of the abandonment of Pecos is by no means\nstartling; but the Indian tradition--for they have already added this\nto their countless myths--is decidedly so. The story is related by\ntwo aged Pecos Indians who still live in the pueblo of Jemez.\n\n\u201cNow, this is a true story,\u201d said my informant, an Islete\u00f1o, who had\noften heard it from them.\n\nOnce Pecos was a large village, and had many people.[76] But it came\nthat nearly all of them had the evil road, and in the whole town were\nbut five True Believers (in the Indian religion). These were an old\nwoman, her two sons, and two other young men. Agostin, her elder son,\nwas a famous hunter, and very often went to the mountains with a\nfriend of his who had an evil spirit--though Agostin was not aware of\nthat.\n\n [76] It was, indeed, the largest pueblo in New Mexico, having\n at one time a population of about 2000.\n\nOne day the friend invited Agostin to go hunting, and next day they\nwent to the mountains. Just at the foot they found a herd of deer,\none of which Agostin wounded. The deer fled up the mountain, and the\ntwo friends followed by the drops of blood. Half-way to the top they\ncame to a second herd, which ran off to the right of the trail they\nwere following, and the evil-spirited friend went in pursuit of them,\nwhile Agostin kept on after the one he had wounded.\n\nHe came at last to the very top of the mountain, and there of a\nsudden the trail ceased. Agostin hunted all about, but in vain, and\nat last started down the other side of the mountain.\n\nAs he came to a deep ca\u00f1on he heard singing, and, peering cautiously\nthrough the bushes, he saw a lot of witch-men sitting around a fallen\npine and singing, while their chief was trying to raise the tree.\n\nAgostin recognized them all, for they were of Pecos, and he was much\ngrieved when he saw his friend among them. Then he knew that the deer\nhad all been witches, and that they had led him off on a false trail.\n\nGreatly alarmed, he crept back to a safe distance, and then hurried\nhome and told his aged mother all that had happened, asking her if he\nshould report it to the Cacique.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said she, with a sigh, \u201cit is of no use; for he, too, has the\nevil road. There are but few True Believers left, and the bad ones\nare trying to use us up.\u201d\n\nAmong the five good people was one of the Cum-pah-whit-lah-wen\n(guards of the medicine-men); and to him Agostin told his story. But\nhe also said: \u201cIt is of no use. We are too few to do anything.\u201d\n\nAt last the bad people falsely accused the old woman, saying that\nher power was more than that of all the medicine-men put together\n(which is a very serious charge, even to-day, among the Indians); and\nchallenged her to come before all the people in the medicine-house\nand perform miracles with them, well knowing that she could not. The\nchallenge was for life or death; whichever side won was to kill the\nothers without being resisted.\n\nThe poor old woman told her sons, with tears, saying: \u201cAlready we are\nkilled. We know nothing of these things, and we may make ready to\ndie.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, Nana,\u201d said Agostin.[77] \u201cDespair not yet, but prepare lunch\nfor Pedro[77] and me, that we go to other villages for advice.\nPerhaps there the medicine-men will tell us something.\u201d\n\n [77] Pronounced Ah-gohs-t\u00e9en and P\u00e1y-droh.\n\nSo the mother, still weeping, made some tortillas, and, strapping\nthese to their belts, the young men set out.\n\nPedro, the younger, went east, and Agostin took the road to the\nnorth. Whatever person they met, or to whatever village they came,\nthey were to seek advice.\n\nWhen Agostin came to the foot of the mountains, he was very\nthirsty, but there was no water. As he entered a gorge he saw\nHyo-kw\u00e1h-kwah-b\u00e1y-deh, a little bird which builds its nest with\npebbles and clay in the crannies of the cliffs, and is of exactly the\nsame color as the sandstones. He thought, \u201cAh, little bird, if you\ncould speak I would ask you where there is water, for I am fainting\nwith thirst, and dare not eat, for that would make it worse!\u201d\n\nBut the little bird, knowing his thought, said:\n\n\u201cFriend Agostin, I see that you are one of the True Believers, and I\nwill show you where there is water; or wait, I will go and bring you\nsome, for it is very far.\u201d And off he flew.\n\nAgostin waited, and presently the little bird came back, bringing an\nacorn-cup full of water. Then Agostin\u2019s heart sank, and he thought:\n\u201cAlas! what good will that drop do me?\u201d\n\nBut the little bird replied: \u201cDo not think that way, friend. Here is\nenough, and even more; for when you drink all you wish, there will\nstill be some left.\u201d\n\nAnd so it was. Agostin drank and drank, then ate some tortillas and\ndrank again; and when he was satisfied, the acorn-cup was still\nnearly full.\n\nThen the little bird said: \u201cNow come, and I will lead you. But when\nwe come to the top of the mountain, and I say, \u2018We are at the top,\u2019\nyou must say, \u2018No, we are down in the mountain--at the bottom of it.\u2019\nDo not forget.\u201d\n\nAgostin promised, and the little bird flew in front of him. At last\nthey were at the top, and the little bird said:\n\n\u201cHere we are, friend, at the top.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d answered Agostin, \u201cwe are down in the mountain--at the bottom\nof it.\u201d\n\nThree times the little bird repeated his words, and three times\nAgostin made the same answer.\n\nAt the third reply they found themselves in a room in the\nmountain. There was a door in front of them, and beside it stood a\nCum-pah-whit-lah-w\u00edd-deh (guard), who said to Agostin--for the little\nbird had disappeared:\n\n\u201cSon, how came you here, where none ever think of coming? Do you\nthink you are a man?\u201d\n\nAgostin told the whole story of the witches\u2019 challenge, and of how he\nhad gone out to seek advice, and of how the little bird had brought\nhim here, and the guard said:\n\n\u201cYou are coming with the thought of a man; so now come in,\u201d and he\nopened the door.\n\nBut when Agostin entered the inner room, which was so large that no\nend could be seen, he found himself in the presence of the Trues in\nhuman shape.\n\nThere sat the divinities of the East, who are white; and of the\nNorth, who are blue; and beyond them were the sacred animals--the\nmountain lion, the eagle, bear, buffalo, badger, hawk, rabbit,\nrattlesnake, and all the others that are of the Trues. Agostin was\nvery much afraid, but the guard said to him:\n\n\u201cDo not fear, son, but take the heart of a man, and pray to all\nsides.\u201d So he faced to the six sides, praying. When he had finished,\none of the Trues spoke to him, and said:\n\n\u201cWhat can it be that brought you here? Take the heart of a man and\ntell us.\u201d\n\nThen Agostin told his whole story; after which the Trues said to him:\n\n\u201cDo not be worried, son. We will help you out of that.\u201d\n\nThe principal True of the East said:\n\n\u201cSon, I will give you the clothes you must wear when you are in\nthe medicine-house for the contest of power\u201d; and he gave Agostin\nfour dark-blue breech-clouts and some moccasins for himself and the\nthree other good young men, and a black _manta_ (robe) and pair of\nmoccasins for his mother.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the True, \u201cthe evil-spirited ones will have this\nmedicine-making contest in the _estufa_,[78] and when you enter, you\nfive, you must all be dressed in these clothes. The people will all\nbe there, old and young, and there will hardly be room for you to\nstand; and they will all sneer at you and spit upon you. But do not\nbe sorry. And take this cane to hold between you. Let your mother\ntake it with one hand at the bottom, then the Whit-lah-w\u00edd-deh\u2019s\nhand, then her other hand, and then his other hand; and last your\nbrother\u2019s hand, your hand, then his other hand, and your other hand\nat the top of all. And when you say, \u2018We are at the top of the\nmountain,\u2019 he must answer, \u2018No, we are down in the mountain--at the\nbottom of it.\u2019 This you must keep saying. Now go, son, with the heart\nof a man.\u201d\n\n [78] Where it is sacrilegious to make medicine.\n\nThen the Whit-lah-w\u00edd-deh led Agostin out, and the little bird showed\nhim the way down the mountain.\n\nWhen he reached home it was the afternoon of the appointed day, and\nin the evening the medicine-making contest for life or death was to\ncome.\n\nIn a little while the younger brother arrived, with his new clothes\nand moccasins torn to shreds; for he had traveled far in a rough\ncountry, without meeting a soul from whom to ask advice.\n\nAgostin called together the four other True Believers, and told them\nall that had happened and what they must do, giving them the sacred\nclothing.\n\nIn the evening they went to the _estufa_, which was crowded with the\nwitch-people, so that they had barely room to stand.\n\nThen the evil-spirited ones began to make medicine, and turned\nthemselves into bears, coyotes, crows, owls, and other animals. When\nthey were done, they said to the old woman:\n\n\u201cNow it is your turn. We will see what you can do.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know nothing about these things,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I will do what I\ncan, and the Trues will help me.\u201d\n\nThen she and the four young men took hold of the sacred cane as the\nTrues had showed Agostin.\n\n\u201cWe are on the top of the mountain,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d answered his brother, \u201cwe are down in the mountain--at the\nbottom of it.\u201d\n\nThis they said three times. At the third saying the people heard\non all sides the _guajes_ of the Trues.[79] At the same moment the\nladder[80] was jerked violently up out of the room, so that no one\ncould get out.\n\n [79] The thunder is said by the T\u00e9e-wahn to be the sacred\n dance-rattle of their gods.\n\n [80] The only entrance to any _estufa_ is by a ladder let down\n through a door in the roof.\n\nThen the two brothers repeated their words again, and at the\nthird saying the thunder began to roar outside, and all could hear\nplainly the singing and the _guajes_ of the Trues. It began to rain\nviolently, and the water poured down through the roof-door, and the\nlightning stuck its tongue in. The brothers kept repeating their\nwords, and soon the water was knee-deep. But where the five True\nBelievers stood, holding the cane, the floor was dusty. Soon the\nflood came to the waists of the witch-people, and then to their\nnecks, and the children were drowning. Then they cried out to the old\nwoman:\n\n\u201cTruly, mother, your power is greater than ours. We submit.\u201d\n\nBut she paid no attention to them, and her sons continued their\nwords, and the water kept pouring in until it touched the very\nceiling. But all around the five it stood back like a wall, and they\nwere on dry ground.\n\nAt last all the evil-spirited ones were drowned. Then the rain ceased\nand the water departed as fast as it had come. The ladder came down\nthrough the roof-door again, and the five True Believers climbed out\nand went to their homes.\n\nBut it was very desolate, for they were the only survivors. Their\nnearest relatives and dearest friends had perished with the other\nwitch-people. At last they could no longer bear to live in the lonely\nvalley, and they decided to live elsewhere. On the way the old mother\nand one of the men died. Agostin went to the pueblo of Cochit\u00ed, and\nPedro and the Whit-lah-w\u00edd-deh settled in the pueblo of Jemez, where\nthey are still living (or were in the spring of 1891).\n\nSuch is the Indian version of the abandonment of the great pueblo\nwhich Coronado--that wonderful Spanish explorer--found in 1540. As a\nmatter of fact, the Hy\u00f3-qua-hoon, or people of Pecos, had dwindled\naway by war, epidemics, and the like, until only five were left; and\nin 1840 these lonely survivors moved to other pueblos, and abandoned\ntheir ruined town forever. But the story is very valuable, not only\nfor the glimpse it affords of some of their most secret beliefs, but\nalso as showing how folk-stories of the most aboriginal stamp are\nstill coined.\n\nWitchcraft is still a serious trouble in all the pueblos, despite\nthe efforts of the medicine-men, whose special duty it is to keep\ndown the witches. One little pueblo called Sandia is dying out--as\nmany others have done before it--because the medicine-men are\nquietly killing those whom they suspect of being witches. In 1888 a\nvery estimable Indian woman of that town was slain by them in the\ncustomary way,--shot through from side to side with an arrow,--and\nthis form of execution is still practised.\n\nIn Isleta they fear the Americans too much to indulge in\nwitch-killing, for Albuquerque is only a few miles away. But it is\nonly a little while ago that a young Isletan who was accused spent\nthree months in the neck-stocks in our aboriginal prison, and much\nof the time had to \u201cride the horse,\u201d sitting with his legs crossed\nupon the adobe floor and the heavy weight of the stocks pressing him\ndown, a torture worthy of the Inquisition. The case was kept out of\nthe American courts only by the payment of a large sum to his parents\nby his accusers.\n\nOne whose eyes or lids look red is always regarded with suspicion\nhere, for witch-people are supposed not to sleep at night, but to\nchange themselves into animals and roam over the world. Eccentric\nactions also lay one open to accusation; and when I first came here I\nwas dangerously near being classed with the witches because, to amuse\nmy dusky little neighbors, I imitated various animal cries to their\ngreat edification, but to the very serious doubt of their elders. The\nfact that they doubt whether Americans know enough to be first-class\nwitches was largely instrumental in saving me from serious danger.\n\n\n\n\n [Illustration: The Ants that Pushed on the Sky]\n\nXXII\n\nTHE ANTS THAT PUSHED ON THE SKY\n\n\nA VERY ancient and characteristic story about the origin of Isleta is\nbased on the historic fact that part of its founders came from east\nof the Manzano Mountains, from one of the prehistoric pueblos whose\nruins are now barely visible in those broad plains.\n\nOnce upon a time there lived in one of those villages (so runs the\nstory) a young Indian named Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo, the Corn-stalk Young\nMan. He was not only a famous hunter and a brave warrior against\nthe raiding Comanches, but a great wizard; and to him the Trues\nhad given the power of the clouds. When Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo willed it,\nthe glad rains fell, and made the dry fields laugh in green; and\nwithout him no one could bring water from the sky. His father was\nOld-Black-Cane, his mother was Corn-Woman, and his two sisters were\nYellow-Corn-Maiden, and Blue-Corn-Maiden.\n\nKahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo had a friend, a young man of about the same age. But,\nas is often true, the friend was of a false heart, and was really a\nwitch, though Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo never dreamed of such a thing.\n\nThe two young men used to go together to the mountains to get wood,\nand always carried their bows and arrows, to kill deer and antelopes,\nor whatever game they might find.\n\nOne day the false friend came to Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo, and said:\n\n\u201cFriend, let us go to-morrow for wood, and to hunt.\u201d\n\nThey agreed that so they would do. Next day they started before\nsunrise, and came presently to the spot where they gathered wood.\nJust there they started a herd of deer. Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo followed part\nof the herd, which fled to the northwest, and the friend pursued\nthose that went southwest. After a long, hard chase, Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo\nkilled a deer with his swift arrows, and brought it on his strong\nback to the place where they had separated. Presently came the\nfriend, very hot and tired, and with empty hands; and seeing the\ndeer, he was pinched with jealousy.\n\n\u201cCome, friend,\u201d said Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo. \u201cIt is well for brothers to\nshare with brothers. Take of this deer and cook and eat; and carry a\npart to your house, as if you had killed it yourself.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you,\u201d answered the other coldly, as one who will not; but he\ndid not accept.\n\nWhen they had gathered each a load of wood, and lashed it with\nrawhide thongs in bundles upon their shoulders, they trudged\nhome--Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo carrying the deer on top of his wood. His\nsisters received him with joy, praising him as a hunter; and the\nfriend went away to his house, with a heavy face.\n\nSeveral different days when they went to the mountain together, the\nvery same thing came to pass. Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo killed each time a\ndeer; and each time the friend came home with nothing, refusing all\noffers to share as brothers. And he grew more jealous and more sullen\nevery day.\n\nAt last he came again to invite Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo to go; but this time\nit was with an evil purpose that he asked. Then again the same things\nhappened. Again the unsuccessful friend refused to take a share of\nKahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo\u2019s deer; and when he had sat long without a word, he\nsaid:\n\n\u201cFriend Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo, now I will prove you if you are truly my\nfriend, for I do not think it.\u201d\n\n\u201cSurely,\u201d said Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo, \u201cif there is any way to prove myself,\nI will do it gladly, for truly I am your friend.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen come, and we will play a game together, and with that I will\nprove you.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well! But what game shall we play, for here we have nothing?\u201d\n\nNear them stood a broken pine-tree, with one great arm from its\ntwisted body. And looking at it, the false friend said:\n\n\u201cI see nothing but to play the _gallo_ race; and because we have no\nhorses[81] we will ride this arm of the pine-tree--first I will ride,\nand then you.\u201d\n\n [81] This mention of the horse is, of course, modern. I think\n it is an interpolation. The rest of the story bears traces of\n great antiquity.\n\nSo he climbed the pine-tree, and sat astride the limb as upon a\nhorse, and rode, reaching over to the ground as if to pick up the\nchicken.[82]\n\n [82] In imitation of one of the most popular and exciting\n sports of the Southwestern Indians and Mexicans.\n\n\u201cNow you,\u201d he said, coming down; and Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo climbed the\ntree and rode on the swinging branch. But the false friend bewitched\nthe pine, and suddenly it grew in a moment to the very sky, carrying\nKahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo.\n\n\u201cWe do this to one another,\u201d taunted the false friend, as the tree\nshot up; and taking the wood, and the deer which Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo had\nkilled, he went to the village. There the sisters met him, and asked:\n\n\u201cWhere is our brother?\u201d\n\n\u201cTruly I know not, for he went northwest and I southwest; and though\nI waited long at the meeting-place, he did not come. Probably he will\nsoon return. But take of this deer which I killed, for sisters should\nshare the labors of brothers.\u201d\n\nBut the girls would take no meat, and went home sorrowful.\n\nTime went on, and still there was no Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo. His sisters and\nhis old parents wept always, and all the village was sad. And soon\nthe crops grew yellow in the fields, and the springs failed, and the\nanimals walked like weary shadows; for Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo, he who had\nthe power of the clouds, was gone, and there was no rain. And then\nperished all that is green; the animals fell in the brown fields; and\nthe gaunt people who sat to warm themselves in the sun began to die\nthere where they sat. At last the poor old man said to his daughters:\n\n\u201cLittle daughters, prepare food, for again we will go to look for\nyour brother.\u201d\n\nThe girls made cakes of the blue corn-meal for the journey; and on\nthe fourth day they started. Old-Black-Cane hobbled to the south, his\nwife to the east, the elder girl to the north, and the younger to the\nwest.\n\nFor a great distance they traveled; and at last Blue-Corn-Maiden, who\nwas in the north, heard a far, faint song. It was so little that she\nthought it must be imaginary; but she stopped to listen, and softly,\nsoftly it came again:\n\n _T\u00f3-ai-f\u00f3o-ni-hl\u00f3o-hlim,\n Eng-k\u2019hai k\u2019h\u00e1hm;\n E\u00e9-eh-b\u00f3ori-k\u00f3on-hlee-oh,\n Ing-k\u2019hai k\u2019h\u00e1hm.\n Ah-ee-\u00e1i, ah-hee-\u00e1i,\n Aim!_\n\n (Old-Black-Cane\n My father is called;\n Corn-Woman\n My mother is called.\n _Ah-ee-\u00e1i, ah-hee-\u00e1i,\n Aim!_)\n\nWhen she heard this, Blue-Corn-Maiden ran until she came to her\nsister, and cried:\n\n\u201cSister! Sister! I think I hear our brother somewhere in captivity.\nListen!\u201d\n\nTrembling, they listened; and again the song came floating to them,\nso soft, so sad that they wept--as to this day their people weep when\na white-haired old man, filled with the memories of Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo,\nsings that plaintive melody.\n\n\u201cSurely it is our brother!\u201d they cried; and off they went running to\nfind their parents. And when all listened together, again they heard\nthe song.\n\n\u201cOh, my son!\u201d cried the poor old woman, \u201cin what captivity do you\nfind yourself? True it is that your father is Old-Black-Cane, and I,\nyour mother, am called Corn-Woman. But why do you sing thus?\u201d\n\nThen all four of them began to follow the song, and at last they came\nto the foot of the sky-reaching pine; but they could see nothing\nof Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo, nor could their cries reach him. There, on the\nground, were his bow and arrows, with strings and feathers eaten away\nby time; and there was his pack of wood, tied with the rawhide thong,\nready to be taken home. But after they had searched everywhere, they\ncould not find Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo; and finally they went home heavy at\nheart.\n\nAt last it happened that P\u2019ah-wh\u00e1-yoo-\u00f3o-deh, the Little Black Ant,\ntook a journey and went up the bewitched pine, even to its top in the\nsky. When he found Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo there a prisoner, the Little Black\nAnt was astonished, and said:\n\n\u201cGreat _Kah-b\u00e1y-deh_ [Man of Power], how comes it that you are up\nhere in such a condition, while your people at home are suffering and\ndying for rain, and few are left to meet you if you return? Are you\nhere of your free will?\u201d\n\n [Illustration: SOUTH, EAST, NORTH, AND WEST IN SEARCH OF\n KAHP-TOO-\u00d3O-YOO.]\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d groaned Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo; \u201cI am here because of the jealousy\nof him who was as my brother, with whom I shared my food and labor,\nwhose home was my home, and my home his. He is the cause, for he was\njealous and bewitched me hither. And now I am dying of famine.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf that is so,\u201d said the Little Black Ant, \u201cI will be the one to\nhelp you\u201d; and he ran down to the world as fast as he could. When he\ngot there he sent out the crier to summon all his nation, and also\nthat of the _In-toon_, the Big Red Ants. Soon all the armies of the\nLittle Black Ants and the Big Red Ants met at the foot of the pine,\nand held a council. They smoked the _weer_ and deliberated what\nshould be done.\n\n\u201cYou Big Red Ants are stronger than we who are small,\u201d said the\nWar-Captain of the Little Black Ants, \u201cand for that you ought to take\nthe top of the tree to work.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Een-dah!_\u201d (No) said the War-Captain of the Big Red Ants. \u201cIf you\nthink we are the stronger, give us the bottom, where we can work\nmore, and you go to the top.\u201d\n\nSo it was agreed, and the captains made their armies ready. But\nfirst the Little Black Ants got the cup of an acorn, and mixed in it\ncorn-meal and water and honey, and carried it up the tree. They were\nso many that they covered its trunk all the way to the sky.\n\n [Illustration]\n\nWhen Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo saw, his heart was heavy, and he thought: \u201cBut\nwhat good will that very little do me, for I am dying of hunger and\nthirst?\u201d \u201cNay, friend,\u201d answered the Captain of the Little Black\nAnts, who knew his thought. \u201cA person should not think so. This\nlittle is enough, and there will be some left.\u201d\n\nAnd it was so; for when Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo had eaten all he could, the\nacorn-cup was still nearly full. Then the ants carried the cup to the\nground and came back to him.\n\n\u201cNow, friend,\u201d said the Captain, \u201cwe will do our best. But now you\nmust shut your eyes till I say \u2018_Ahw!_\u2019\u201d\n\nKahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo shut his eyes, and the Captain sent signals down to\nthose at the foot of the tree. And the Little Black Ants above put\ntheir feet against the sky and pushed with all their might on the top\nof the pine; and the Big Red Ants below caught the trunk and pulled\nas hard as they could; and the very first tug drove the great pine a\nquarter of its length into the earth.\n\n\u201c_Ahw!_\u201d shouted the Captain of the Little Black Ants, and\nKahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo opened his eyes; but he could see nothing below.\n\n\u201cShut your eyes again,\u201d said the Captain, giving the signal. Again\nthe Little Black Ants pushed mightily against the sky, and the Big\nRed Ants pulled mightily from below; and the pine was driven another\nfourth of its length into the earth.\n\n\u201c_Ahw!_\u201d cried the Captain; and when Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo opened his eyes\nhe could just see the big, brown world.\n\nAgain he closed his eyes. There was another great push and pull,\nand only a quarter of the pine was left above the ground. Now\nKahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo could see, far below, the parched fields strewn with\ndead animals, and his own village full of dying people.\n\nAgain the Little Black Ants pushed and the Big Red Ants pulled, and\nthis time the tree was driven clear out of sight, and Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo\nwas left sitting on the ground. He hastily made a bow and arrows and\nsoon killed a fat deer, which he brought and divided among the Little\nBlack Ants and the Big Red Ants, thanking them for their kindness.\n\nThen he made all his clothing to be new, for he had been four years\na prisoner in the bewitched tree, and was all in rags. Making for\nhimself a flute from the bark of a young tree, he played upon it as\nhe strode homeward and sang:\n\n _Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo t\u00fa-mah-quee,\n Nah-ch\u00f3or kw\u00e9-shay-tin,\n Nah-sh\u00far kw\u00e9-shay-tin;\n Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo t\u00fa-mah-quee!_\n\n (Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo has come to life again,\n Is back to his home coming,\n Blowing the yellow and the blue;\n Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo has come to life again!)\n\n [Illustration: KAHP-TOO-\u00d3O-YOO CALLING THE RAIN.]\n\nAs he walked and sang, the forgotten clouds came over him, and the\nsoft rain began to fall, and all was green and good. But only so far\nas his voice reached came the rain; and beyond all was still death\nand drought. When he came to the end of the wet, he played and sang\nagain; and again the rain fell as far as his voice was heard. This\ntime the Fool-Boy, who was wandering outside the dying village, saw\nthe far storm and heard the singing. He ran to tell Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo\u2019s\nparents; but nobody would believe a Foolish, and they sent him away.\n\nWhen the Fool-Boy went out again, the rain fell on him and gave him\nstrength, and he came running a second time to tell. Then the sisters\ncame out of the house and saw the rain and heard the song; and they\ncried for joy, and told their parents to rise and meet him. But the\npoor old people were dying of weakness, and could not rise; and the\nsisters went alone. When they met him they fell on their knees,\nweeping; but Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo lifted them up and blessed them, gave an\near of blue corn to Blue-Corn-Maiden, and to Yellow-Corn-Maiden an\near of yellow corn, and brought them home.\n\nAs he sang again, the rain fell in the village; and when it touched\nthe pinched faces of the dead they sat up and opened their mouths to\ncatch it. And the dying crawled out to drink, and were strong again;\nand the withered fields grew green and glad.\n\nWhen they came to the house, Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo blessed his parents, and\nthen said:\n\n\u201cLittle sisters, give us to eat.\u201d\n\nBut they answered, \u201cHow? For you have been gone these four years, and\nthere was none to give us rain. We planted, but nothing came, and\nto-day we ate the last grain.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, little sisters,\u201d he said. \u201cA person should not think so. Look\nnow in the store-rooms, if there be not something there.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut we have looked and looked, and turned over everything to try to\nfind one grain.\u201d\n\n\u201cYet look once more,\u201d he said; and when they opened the door, lo!\nthere was the store-room piled to the roof with corn, and another\nroom was full of wheat. Then they cried for joy, and began to roast\nthe blue ears, for they were dying of hunger.\n\nAt the sweet smell of the roasting corn came the starving neighbors,\ncrowding at the door, and crying:\n\n\u201cO Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo! Give us to taste one grain of corn, and then we\nwill go home and die.\u201d\n\nBut Kahp-too-\u00f3o-yoo handed to each an ear, and said:\n\n\u201cFathers, brothers, go now to your own houses, for there you will\nfind corn as much as here.\u201d And when they went, it was so. All began\nto roast corn and to eat; and the dead in the houses awoke and were\nstrong again, and all the Village sang and danced.\n\nFrom that time there was plenty of rain, for he who had the power\nof the clouds was at home again. In the spring the people planted,\nand in the fall the crops were so great that all the town could not\nhold them; so that which was left they brought to Shee-eh-wh\u00edb-bak\n(Isleta), where we enjoy it to this day.\n\nAs for the false friend, he died of shame in his house, not daring to\ncome out; and no one wept for him.\n\n\n\n\nXXIII\n\nTHE MAN WHO WOULDN\u2019T KEEP SUNDAY\n\n\nAMONG the folk-stories of the Pueblos which show at once that they\nare not of such antiquity as the rest, is this. It is plain that the\nstory is post-Spanish--that it has been invented within the last\nthree hundred and fifty years. That seems to us a long time to go\nback in the history of America, but to the Pueblos it is a trifling\ndot on the long line of their antiquity.\n\nThe following tale is an amusing instance of the fashion in which\nsome of the myth-makers have mixed things. It is an Indian fairy\ntale, but with a Christian moral--which was learned from the noble\nand effective Spanish missionaries who toiled here.\n\nOnce upon a time, in a pueblo south of Isleta,--one of its old\ncolonies known as P\u2019ah-que-t\u00f3o-ai, the Rainbow Town, but deserted\nlong ago,--there were two Indians who were great friends. They\nstarted in life with equal prospects, married young, and settled in\nthe same town. But though friends, their natures were very different.\nOne was a good man in his heart, and the other was bad. The good man\nalways observed Sunday, but the other worked every day. The good\nman had better luck than the bad; and the latter became jealous. At\nlast he said: \u201cFriend, tell me, why is it that you always make more\nsuccess than I?\u201d\n\n\u201cPerhaps,\u201d answered Good, \u201cbecause I keep Sunday, but work hard all\nthe other days of the week, while you work every day.\u201d\n\nTime went on, and both the friends accumulated considerable wealth in\nservants, stock, and ornaments. The good man let his servants rest on\nSunday, but the bad made his work every day, and did not even give\nthem time to smoke. Good prospered most, and had more servants, more\nstock, and more ornaments than Bad, who grew more jealous daily.\nAt last Bad said to Good: \u201cFriend, you say that you have good luck\nbecause you keep Sunday, but I\u2019ll bet I am right in _not_ keeping it.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied Good; \u201cI\u2019ll bet _I_ am right, and that Sunday ought to\nbe kept.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I will bet all my stock against all your stock, and all my\nlands against your lands, and everything we have except our wives.\nTo-morrow, be ready about breakfast-time, and we will go out into the\npublic road and ask the first three men we meet which of us is right.\nAnd whichever gets the voice of the majority, he shall be the winner,\nand shall take all that is of the other.\u201d\n\nGood agreed--for an Indian cannot back out of a challenge,--and so\nthe next morning the two friends took the public road. In a little\nwhile they met a man, and said to him: \u201cFriend, we want your voice.\nWhich of us is right, the one who observes Sunday and lets his\n_peons_ rest then, or he who does not?\u201d\n\nNow it happened that this person was not a man, but an old devil who\nwas taking a walk in human form; and he promptly answered: \u201cWithout\ndoubt he is right who does not keep Sunday,\u201d and went his road.\n\n\u201cAha!\u201d said Bad to Good. \u201cYou see I got the first voice.\u201d\n\nThey started on again and soon met another man, to whom they asked\nthe same. But it was the same old devil, and he gave them the same\nanswer.\n\n\u201cAha!\u201d said Bad. \u201cNow I have the second voice, you see.\u201d\n\nPresently they met a third man, and asked him the same, and he\nanswered the same; for it was the same old devil in another body.\n\n\u201cAha!\u201d said Bad, \u201cI am the winner! Get down from that burro, and let\nme have her and her colt, for now all that was yours is mine, as we\nagreed.\u201d\n\nGood got down from the burro with tears in his eyes, for he was\nthinking of his wife, and said:\n\n\u201cNow, friend, having gained all, you are going back to our home; but\nI shall not. Tell my wife that I am going to the next pueblo to seek\nwork, and that I will not be back until I have earned as much as I\nhave lost in this bet, or more; but tell her not to be sad.\u201d\n\nThen they shook hands and parted, Bad riding home full of joy, and\nGood trudging off through the sand toward Isleta, which was the\nlargest and wealthiest pueblo of the tribe. On the road night\novertook him, and seeing an abandoned house in a field, he hastened\nto it for shelter from the cold of night. A portion of the roof still\nremained, with the _fogon_ (corner fireplace) and chimney, and he\nbegan to brush a place to lie down. Now it happened that this house\nwas the place where all the devils of that country used to meet at\nnight; and before Good went to sleep he heard noises of the devils\ncoming. He was very much frightened, and to hide himself climbed up\ninto the chimney and stood upon its crosspiece.\n\nIn a moment the devils began to arrive singly or in pairs; and at\nlast came the old devil--the very one who had played the trick on\nGood. He called the meeting to order, and asked them what they had\nbeen doing. A young devil arose and said:\n\n\u201cThe next pueblo is the largest and wealthiest of this nation. For\nthree weeks now, all its people, and all the people along that river,\nhave been working at the spring from which the river comes, but have\nnot been able to undo me. Three weeks ago I came to that spring and\nthought how nice it would be to stop up the spring, and how the\npeople would swear if their gods did not send rain. So I stuck a big\nstone in the spring and stopped all the water; and ever since, the\nwater will not come out, and the people work in vain, and they are\ndying of thirst, and all their stock. Now they will either forsake\ntheir gods and serve us, or die like the animals, thinking nothing of\ntheir past or future.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood!\u201d said the old devil, rubbing his hands. \u201cYou have done well!\nBut tell me--is there no way to open the spring?\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is only one way,\u201d said the young devil, \u201cand one man could do\nthat--but they will never think of it. If a man took a long stick,\nshaped like a sword, and went and stood on top of the stone, and\nstruck it with the full length of the stick first east and west, and\nthen north and south, the water would come out so hard that the stone\nwould be thrown out upon the banks and the spring could never be\nstopped again.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs _that_ the only way?\u201d said the old devil. \u201cYou have done very\nwell, for they certainly will never think to do that. Now for the\nnext.\u201d\n\nThen another young devil arose and reported this:\n\n\u201cI, too, have done something. In the pueblo across the mountain I\nhave the daughter of the wealthiest man sick in bed, and she will\nnever get well. All the medicine-men have tried in vain to cure her.\nShe, too, will be ours.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood!\u201d said the old devil. \u201cBut is there no way in which any one may\ncure her?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, there is one way, but they never will think of that. If a\nperson should carry her to the door just as the sun is rising, and\nhold her so that its very first rays would touch the top of her head,\nshe would be well at once, and never could be made sick again.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d said the old devil, \u201cthey will never think of that.\nYou have done well.\u201d\n\nJust then a rooster crowed, and the old devil cried, \u201cYou have a\nroad!\u201d--which means, \u201can adjournment is in order.\u201d All the devils\nhurried away; and when they were gone, poor Good crawled down from\nthe chimney half dead with fright, and hurried on toward Isleta. When\nhe got there he found the people in great trouble, for their crops\nwere withering and their cattle dying for want of water.\n\n\u201cI see,\u201d thought Good to himself, \u201cthat these devils told the truth\nabout one thing, and so perhaps they did about all. I will try to\nundo them, even if I fail.\u201d Going to the Cacique he asked what\nthey would give him if he would open the spring. The Cacique told\nthe _principales_, and they held a _junta_, and decided to let the\nstranger name his own price.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said he, \u201cI will do this if you will give me half the value\nof the whole village.\u201d\n\nThey agreed, and asked how many men he would need to help him, and\nwhen he would begin.\n\n\u201cI need no men. Lend me only a hard stick the length of my\noutstretched arms, and a horse.\u201d\n\nThese were given him, and he went to the spring alone. Leaping upon\nthe stone he struck it with the full length of the stick east and\nwest, and then north and south, and sprang nimbly to the bank. At\nthat very instant the water rushed out harder than it had ever done.\nAll the people and cattle along the river came to the banks and drank\nand revived. They began to irrigate their fields again, and the dying\ncrops grew green.[83] When Good got back to the pueblo, half of all\nthe grain and money and dresses and ornaments were piled up in a\nhuge pile waiting for him, and half the horses and cattle and sheep\nwere waiting in big herds. It was so that he had to hire a great many\nmen to help him home with his wealth, which was more than any one\nperson ever had before. He appointed a mayordomo to take charge of\nthis caravan, and to meet him at a certain point on the way home. He\nhimself, taking a horse, rode away at once to the other pueblo, where\nthe rich man\u2019s daughter was sick. Arriving at nightfall, he stopped\nat the house of an old woman. While he ate, she told him how sad was\nall the village; for the girl who had been so kind to all was dying.\n\n [83] Here, as in several other stories in this volume, is a\n touch of the arid character of the Southwest. The country is\n always so dry that irrigation is necessary in farming, and in\n very bad years the streams have not water even for that. The\n Rio Grande itself frequently disappears in September between\n certain points in its course in sandy New Mexico; and within\n ten miles below Isleta I have seen its bed bone-dry. Ignorance\n of this fact has caused serious blunders on the part of\n historians unfamiliar with the country of which they wrote.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said he, \u201cI can cure her.\u201d\n\n\u201c_In-dah_,\u201d said the crone; \u201cfor all the medicine men have tried\nvainly, and how shall you?\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I can,\u201d he insisted; and at last the old woman went to the rich\nman, and said there was a stranger at her house who was sure he could\ncure the girl.\n\nThe _rico_ said: \u201cGo and tell him to come here quickly,\u201d and the old\nwoman did so. When Good came, the rich man said: \u201cAre you he who says\nhe can cure my daughter?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am the one.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor how much will you cure her?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat will you give?\u201d\n\n\u201cHalf of all I have, which is much.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well. To-morrow be ready, for I will come just before the sun.\u201d\n\nIn the blue of the morning Good came and waked the girl, and carried\nher to the door. In a moment came the sun, and its first ray fell\nupon her bent head. In an instant she was perfectly well, and\nstronger and prettier than ever.\n\nThat very day her father gladly divided all his wealth into two\nequal shares, and gave half to Good, who again had to hire many\ncow-boys and men with _carretas_ to help him transport all this. At\nthe appointed spot he found his mayordomo; and putting all the stock\ntogether, with many herders, and all the wagons full of corn and\ndresses and ornaments and money together, started homeward, sending\nahead a messenger on a beautiful horse to apprise his wife.\n\nWhen the jealous Bad saw this fine horse going to the house of his\nfriend, he ran over to see what it meant; and while he was still\nthere, Good arrived with all his wealth. Filled with envy, Bad asked\nhim where he had got all this; and Good told the whole story.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Bad, \u201cI will go there too, and perhaps I will hear\nsomething.\u201d So off he rode on the burro he had won from Good, till he\ncame to the deserted house, and climbed up in the chimney.\n\nSoon the devils met, and the two young ones told their chief that the\nspring had been opened and the girl cured, and that neither could\never be bewitched again.\n\n\u201cSomebody must have listened to us last night,\u201d said the old devil,\ngreatly troubled. \u201cSearch the house.\u201d In a little while they found\nthe jealous friend in the chimney, and supposing him to be the one\nwho had undone them, without mercy puffed him to the place where\ndevils live.\n\n\n\n\nXXIV\n\nTHE BRAVE BOBTAILS\n\n\nWHEN it came old Anastacio\u2019s turn, one night, to tell a story to\nthe waiting circle, it was several minutes before he responded to\nthe quaint summons; and at last Lorenso repeated: \u201cThere is a tail\nto you, _compadre_ Anastacio!\u201d The words seemed to remind him of\nsomething; for he turned to his fat grandson, and said:\n\n\u201cJuan! Knowest thou why the Bear and the Badger have short tails? For\nonce they had them long as K\u00e9em-ee-deh, the Mountain Lion. _In-dah?_\nThen I will tell thee.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nOnce in the Days of the Old, it was that a young man lived here in\nShee-eh-wh\u00edb-bak whom they called T\u2019hoor-hl\u00f3h-ah, the Arrow of the\nSun. He was not of the T\u00e9e-wahn, but a Ute, who was taken in war\nwhile yet a child. When the warriors brought him here, a Grandmother\nwho was very poor took him for her son, and reared him, loving him\ngreatly, and teaching him all the works of men. Coming to be a young\nman, he was a mighty hunter; but so good in his heart that he loved\nthe animals as brothers, and they all loved him. When he went out to\nhunt, the first game he killed he always dressed and left there for\nhis animal-friends to eat. Sometimes it was K\u00e9em-ee-deh, king of the\nfour-feet, who came to the feast Sun-Arrow had made; and sometimes\nKahr-na\u00ed-deh, the Badger, who is best of all to dig, and who showed\nThose of Old how to make their caves; and sometimes the smaller ones.\nThey were all grateful; for no other was so kind to feed them.\n\nNow the Grandmother would never let Sun-Arrow go to war, fearing\nthat he would be killed; and all the other young men laughed at\nhim, because he had never taken the sacred _oak-bark_. And when the\nothers danced the great round-dance, he had to stand alone. So he\nwas ashamed, and vowed that he would prove himself a man; and taking\nsecretly his bow and arrows and his thunder-knife, he went away by\nnight alone, and crossed the Eagle-Feather Mountains.\n\nNow in that time there was always great war with the Comanches,\nwho lived in the plains. They came often across the mountains and\nattacked Isleta by night, killing many people. Their chief was\nP\u2019ee-k\u00fa-ee-fa-y\u00edd-deh, or Red Scalp, the strongest and largest\nand bravest of men. For many years all the warriors of Isleta had\ntried to kill him, for he was the head of the war; but he slew all\nwho came against him. He was very brave, and painted his scalp red\nwith _p\u00e1h-ree_, so that he might be known from far; and left his\nscalp-lock very long, and braided it neatly, so that an enemy might\ngrasp it well.\n\nNow Sun-Arrow met this great warrior; and with the help of an old\nSpider-woman,[84] slew him and took his scalp. When the people of\nIsleta saw Sun-Arrow returning, the young men began to laugh and say:\n\u201cVa! T\u2019hoor-hl\u00f3h-ah has gone to make war again on the rabbits!\u201d\n\n [84] About equivalent to our \u201cfairy godmother.\u201d\n\nBut when he came into the plaza, saying nothing, and they saw that\n_oak-bark_ which all knew, all cried out: \u201cCome and look! For here is\nSun-Arrow, who was laughed at--and now he has brought the bark of Red\nScalp, whom our bravest have tried in vain to kill.\u201d\n\nSo when he had taken the scalp to the Cacique, and they had had the\nround-dance, and the days of purification were over, they called\nSun-Arrow the greatest warrior of the T\u00e9e-wahn, and made him second\nto the Cacique. Then all who had daughters looked at him with good\neyes, and all the maidens wished for so brave a husband. But he saw\nnone of them, except the youngest daughter of the Cacique; for he\nloved her. When the Grandmother had spoken to the Cacique, and it was\nwell, they brought the young people together, and gave them to eat of\nthe betrothal corn--to Sun Arrow an ear of the blue corn, and to her\nan ear of the white corn, because the hearts of maidens are whiter\nthan those of men. When both had eaten the raw corn, every seed of\nit, the old folks said: \u201cIt is well! For truly they love each other.\nAnd now let them run the marrying-race.\u201d\n\nThen all the people gathered yonder where are the ashes of the\nevil-hearted ones who were burned when Antelope Boy won for his\npeople. And the elders marked a course, as of three miles, from\nthere to the sacred sand-hill beside the K\u00fa-mai. When they said\nthe word, Sun-Arrow and the girl went running like young antelope,\nside by side. Up to the Place of the Bell they ran, and turned back\nrunning; and when they came to the people, the girl was a little in\nfront, and all cried:\n\n\u201cIt is well! For now E\u00e9-eh-chah has won a husband, and she shall\nalways be honored in her own house.\u201d\n\nSo they were married, and the Cacique blessed them. They made a house\nby the plaza,[85] and Sun-Arrow was given of the fields, that he\nmight plant.\n\n [85] Public square in the center of the pueblo.\n\nBut of the maidens there was one who did not forgive Sun-Arrow that\nhe would not look at her; and in her heart she thought to pay him. So\nshe went to a Spider-woman,[86] and said: \u201cGrandmother, help me! For\nthis young man despised me, and now I will punish him.\u201d\n\n [86] Here equivalent to a witch.\n\nThen the Spider-woman made an accursed prayer-stick of the feathers\nof the woodpecker, and spoke to the Ghosts, and said to the girl:\n\n\u201cIt is well, daughter! For I am the one that will help you. Take\nonly this Toad, and bury it in your floor, _this_ way, and then ask\nT\u2019hoor-hl\u00f3h-ah to come to your house.\u201d\n\nThe girl made a hole in her floor, and buried P\u2019ah-foo-\u00e9e-deh, the\nToad. Then she went to Sun-Arrow and said: \u201cFriend T\u2019hoor-hl\u00f3h-ah,\ncome to my house a little; for I have to talk to you.\u201d\n\nBut when Sun-Arrow sat down in her house, his feet were upon the\nfloor over the hole; and in a moment the Toad grew very great, and\nbegan to swallow him by the feet. Sun-Arrow kicked and fought, for\nhe was very strong. But he could do nothing; and in a little, he was\nswallowed to the knees. Then he called in a great voice for his wife;\nand all the people of the T\u00e9e-wahn came running with her. When they\nsaw him so, they were very sad; and E\u00e9-eh-chah took his hand, and the\nGrandmother took his other, and all the people helped them. But all\nwere not so strong as the great Toad; and fast it was swallowing him,\nuntil he was at the waist. Then he said:\n\n\u201cGo, my people! Go, my wife! For it is in vain. Go from this place,\nthat you may not see me. And pray to the Trues if they will help me.\u201d\nSo they all went, mourning greatly.\n\nIn that time it came that Shee-\u00edd-deh, the House-Mouse, stirred from\nhis hole; and seeing Sun-Arrow _so_, he came to him, weeping.\n\n\u201cOh, Friend Sun-Arrow!\u201d he cried. \u201cYou who have been a father to us\nall, you who have fed us, and have proved yourself so brave--it is\nnot deserved that you should be thus. But we for whom you have cared,\nwe will be the ones to help you!\u201d\n\nThen Shee-\u00edd-deh ran from the house until he found the Dog, and to\nhim told it all. And Quee-ah-n\u00edd-deh, whose voice was big, ran out\ninto the plains, up and down, _pregonando_[87] to all the animals;\nand they came hurrying from all places. Soon all the birds and all\nthe four-feet were met in council in the room where Sun-Arrow was;\nand the Mountain Lion was captain. When he had listened to them, he\nsaid:\n\n [87] The technical (Spanish) word for the official heralding by\n which all announcements are still made among the Pueblos.\n\n\u201cNow let each tribe of you choose from it one who is young and\nstrong, to give help to him who has fed us. For we cannot leave him\nto die so.\u201d\n\nWhen every kind that walks or flies had chosen its strongest one, the\nchosen stood out; K\u00e9em-ee-deh called them by name to take their turns.\n\n\u201cK\u00f3o-ah-ra\u00ed-deh!\u201d he called; and the Bluebird of the mountains came\nto Sun-Arrow, who was now swallowed up to his armpits. Sun-Arrow\ngrasped her long tail with both hands, and she flew and flew with all\nher might, not caring for the pain, until her tail was pulled off.\nBut Sun-Arrow was not budged a hair.\n\nThen the captain called Ku-\u00edd-deh, the Bear, to try. He gave his\nlong tail to Sun-Arrow to hold; and when he had counted \u201cOne, two,\n_three_!\u201d he pulled with a great pull, so hard that his whole tail\ncame off. And still Sun-Arrow was not stirred.\n\nThen it was to the Coyote. But _he_ said: \u201cMy ears are stronger\u201d; for\nhe was a coward, and would not give to pull on his pretty tail, of\nwhich he is proud. So he gave to Sun-Arrow to hold by his ears, and\nbegan to pull backward. But soon it hurt him, and he stopped when his\nears were pulled forward.\n\n\u201cNow it is to you, Kahr-na\u00ed-deh,\u201d said the Mountain Lion; and the\nBadger came out to try. First he dug around Sun-Arrow, and gave him\nto hold his tail. Then he counted _three_, and pulled greatly, so\nthat his tail came off--and Sun-Arrow was moved a very little. But\nthe Badger did not fear the pain, and said:\n\n\u201cLet it be to me twice again, Kah-b\u00e1y-deh.\u201d[88]\n\n [88] Commander.\n\n\u201cIt is well!\u201d said the Mountain Lion. \u201cSo let it be.\u201d\n\nSo the Badger dug again, and gave the stump of his tail, and pulled.\nAnd Sun-Arrow was loosened a little more; but the stump slipped\nthrough his hands, for it was very short.\n\n\u201c_Around_ me, friend,\u201d said the Badger, when he had dug a third time;\nand Sun-Arrow clasped his hands around the Badger\u2019s body, behind the\nfore legs. Then for the third time Kahr-na\u00ed-deh pulled--so mightily\nthat he dragged Sun-Arrow clear out from the Toad\u2019s mouth. At that,\nall the animals fell upon the wicked Toad, and killed it; and gave\nthanks to Those Above for the deliverance of their friend.\n\nWhen they had prayed, Sun-Arrow thanked all the animals, one by one;\nand to the Bluebird, the Bear, and the Badger, he said:\n\n\u201cFriends, how shall I thank you who have suffered so much for me?\nAnd how can I pay you for your help, and for the tails that you have\nlost?\u201d But to the Coyote he did not say a word.\n\nThen said the Badger:\n\n\u201cFriend T\u2019hoor-hl\u00f3h-ah, as for me, your hand has always been held out\nto me. You have fed me, and have been as a father: I want no pay for\nthis tail that I have lost.\u201d\n\nAnd the Bear and the Bluebird both answered the same thing.\n\nSo Sun-Arrow again gave them many thanks, and they went away to\ntheir homes. As for Sun-Arrow, he hurried to the Medicine House,\nwhere all the T\u00e9e-wahn were making medicine[89] that he might be\nsaved. And when they saw him entering, his wife ran and cried on his\nshoulder, and all the people gave thanks to the Trues.\n\n [89] Not compounding remedies, but going through the magic\n dance and incantations to which the Indians always resort in\n time of trouble. For a description of a medicine-making, see\n \u201cSome Strange Corners of Our Country.\u201d\n\nSun-Arrow told them all that was; and when the Father-of-all-Medicine\nlooked in the sacred _cajete_[90] he saw the evil-hearted girl paying\nthe Spider-woman. Then the Cum-pah-wh\u00edt-la-wen[91] went running with\ntheir bows and arrows, and brought the girl; and she was punished as\nare they that have the evil road. As for the Spider-woman, she was\nalready dead of shame; for she knew all that had been.\n\n [90] A jar of magic water, in which the chief conjuror is\n supposed to see all that is going on in the world.\n\n [91] Armed guards of the Medicine House.\n\nIn a time it came that his father-in-law the Cacique died; and they\nmade Sun-Arrow Cacique in his place. For many years he was so,\nbringing great good to his people; for he was very wise.\n\nAs for the Bear, the Badger, and the Bluebird, they would never\ngo to the medicine-men of their tribes to have their tails mended\nto grow again; for they were proud that they had suffered to help\ntheir friend. And to this very day they go with short tails, and\nare honored by all the animals, and by all True Believers. But\nToo-wh\u00e1y-deh, the coward, he who would not hurt himself with\npulling--he is a laughed-at to this day. For his ears cannot lie\nback, as is well for beasts, but always point straight forward, as\nSun-Arrow pulled them.\n\n * * * * *\n\nAny one who has ever seen the Coyote, or any other of the wolf or\nfox tribe, must have noticed the alert forward pricking of the ears.\nAmong the Pueblos, any such peculiarity of nature--and particularly\nof animal life--is very sure to have a folk-story hung to it. It has\nalways seemed to me that the boy who always wants to know \u201cwhy?\u201d has\na better time of it among my Indian friends than anywhere else. For\nthere is always sure to be a why, and an interesting one--which is\nmuch more satisfactory than only learning that \u201cit\u2019s bedtime now,\u201d or\nthat \u201cI\u2019m busy.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n [Illustration: THE REVENGE of the FAWNS]\n\nXXV\n\nTHE REVENGE OF THE FAWNS\n\n\n\u201cDON CARLOS,\u201d said Vitorino, throwing another log upon the fire,\nwhich caught his tall shadow and twisted it and set it dancing\nagainst the rocky walls of the ca\u00f1on in which we were camped for the\nnight, \u201cdid you ever hear why the Wolf and the Deer are enemies?\u201d And\nas he spoke he stretched out near me, looking up into my face to see\nif I were going to be interested.\n\nA few years ago it would have frightened me very seriously to find my\nself thus--alone in one of the remotest corners of New Mexico save\nfor that swarthy face peering up into mine by the weird light of the\ncamp-fire. A stern, quiet but manly face it seems to me now; but once\nI would have thought it a very savage one, with its frame of long,\njet hair, its piercing eyes, and the broad streak of red paint across\nits cheeks. By this time, however, having lived long among the kindly\nPueblos, I had shaken off that strange, ignorant prejudice against\nall that is unknown--which seems to be inborn in all of us--and\nwondered that I could ever have believed in that brutal maxim, worthy\nonly of worse than savages, that \u201cA good Indian is a dead Indian.\u201d\nFor Indians are men, after all, and astonishingly like the rest of us\nwhen one really comes to know them.\n\nI pricked up my ears--very glad at his hint of another of these\nfolk-stories.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d I answered. \u201cI have noticed that the Wolf and the Deer are not\non good terms, but never knew the reason.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Si, se\u00f1or_,\u201d said he,--for Vitorino knows no English, and most of\nour talk was in Spanish, which is easier to me than the T\u00e9e-wahn\nlanguage,--\u201cthat was very long ago, and now all is changed. But once\nthe Wolf and the Deer were like brothers; and it is only because\nthe Wolf did very wickedly that they are enemies. _Con su licencia,\nse\u00f1or._\u201d[92]\n\n [92] \u201cWith your permission, sir.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Bueno; anda!_\u201d[93]\n\n [93] \u201cAll right; go ahead!\u201d\n\nSo Vitorino leaned his shoulders against a convenient rock and began.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOnce upon a time, when the Wolf and the Deer were friends, there\nwere two neighbors in the country beyond the Rio Puerco, not far\nfrom where the pueblo of Laguna (a Qu\u00e8res town) now is. One was a\nDeer-mother who had two fawns, and the other a Wolf-mother with two\ncubs. They had very good houses of adobe, just such as we live in\nnow, and lived like real people in every way. The two were great\nfriends, and neither thought of going to the mountain for firewood or\nto dig _amole_[94] without calling for the other to accompany her.\n\n [94] The root of the palmilla, generally used for soap\n throughout the Southwest.\n\nOne day the Wolf came to the house of the Deer and said:\n\n\u201cFriend Pe\u00e9-hlee-oh [Deer-woman], let us go to-day for wood and\n_amole_, for I must wash to-morrow.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well, friend K\u00e1hr-hlee-oh,\u201d replied the Deer. \u201cI have nothing\nto do, and there is food in the house for the children while I am\ngone. _To\u00f3-kwai!_ [Let us go].\u201d\n\nSo they went together across the plain and into the hills till they\ncame to their customary spot. They gathered wood and tied it in\nbundles to bring home on their backs, and dug _amole_, which they put\nin their shawls to carry. Then the Wolf sat down under a cedar-tree\nand said:\n\n\u201c_Ai!_ But I am tired! Sit down, friend Deer-woman, and lay your head\nin my lap, that we may rest.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I am not tired,\u201d replied the Deer.\n\n\u201cBut just to rest a little,\u201d urged the Wolf. The Deer good-naturedly\nlay down with her head in the lap of her friend. But soon the Wolf\nbent down and caught the trusting Deer by the throat, and killed\nher. That was the first time in the world that any one betrayed a\nfriend, and from that deed comes all the treachery that is.\n\nThe false Wolf took off the hide of the Deer, and cut off some of the\nmeat and carried it home on her load of _amole_ and wood. She stopped\nat the house of the Deer, and gave the Fawns some of the accursed\nmeat, saying:\n\n\u201cFriends, Deer-babies, do not fear, but eat; your mother met\nrelatives and went to their house, and she will not come to-night.\u201d\n\nThe Fawns were very hungry, and as soon as the Wolf had gone home\nthey built a big fire in the fireplace and set the meat to cook. But\nat once it began to sputter and to hiss, and the Fawn who was tending\nit heard it cry, \u201cLook out! look out! for this is your mother!\u201d\n\nHe was greatly frightened, and called his brother to listen, and\nagain the same words came from the meat.\n\n\u201cThe wicked old Wolf has killed our _nana_! [mama],\u201d they cried, and,\npulling the meat from the fire, they laid it gently away and sobbed\nthemselves to sleep.\n\nNext morning the Wolf went away to the mountain to bring the rest of\nthe deer-meat; and when she was gone her Cubs came over to play with\nthe Fawns, as they were used to doing. When they had played awhile,\nthe Cubs said:\n\n\u201c_Pee-oo-we\u00e9-deh_ [little Deer], why are you so prettily spotted, and\nwhy do you have your eyelids red, while we are so ugly?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the Fawns, \u201cthat is because when we were little, like\nyou, our mother put us in a room and smoked us, and made us spotted.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, Fawn-friends, can\u2019t you spot us, too, so that we may be pretty?\u201d\n\nSo the Fawns, anxious to avenge the death of their mother, built a\nbig fire of corn-cobs in the fireplace, and threw coyote-grass on it\nto make a great smoke. Then, shutting the Cubs into the room, they\nplastered up the door and windows with mud, and laid a flat rock on\ntop of the chimney and sealed it around with mud; and climbing down\nfrom the roof, they took each other\u2019s hands and ran away to the south\nas fast as ever they could.\n\nAfter they had gone a long way, they came to a Coyote. He was walking\nback and forth with one paw to his face, howling dreadfully with the\ntoothache. The Fawns said to him very politely:\n\n\u201c_Ah-b\u00f3o!_ [poor thing]. Old-man friend, we are sorry your tooth\nhurts. But an old Wolf is chasing us, and we cannot stay. If she\ncomes this way, asking about us, do not tell her, will you?\u201d\n\n\u201c_Een-dah._ Little-Deer-friends, I will not tell her\u201d--and he began\nto howl again with pain, while the Fawns ran on.\n\nWhen the Wolf came to her home with the rest of the meat, the Cubs\nwere not there; and she went over to the house of the Deer. It was\nall sealed and still; and when she pushed in the door, there were her\nCubs dead in the smoke! When she saw that, the old Wolf was wild with\nrage, and vowed to follow the Fawns and eat them without mercy. She\nsoon found their tracks leading away to the south, and began to\nrun very swiftly in pursuit.\n\n [Illustration: THE WOLF, AND THE COYOTE WITH THE TOOTHACHE.]\n\nIn a little while she came to the Coyote, who was still walking up\nand down, howling so that one could hear him a mile away. But not\npitying his pain, she snarled at him roughly:\n\n\u201cSay, old man! have you seen two Fawns running away?\u201d\n\nThe Coyote paid no attention to her, but kept walking with his hand\nto his mouth, groaning, \u201c_Mm-m-p\u00e1h! Mm-m-p\u00e1h!_\u201d\n\nAgain she asked him the same question, more snappishly, but he only\nhowled and groaned. Then she was very angry, and showed her big teeth\nas she said:\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t care about your \u2018_Mm-m-p\u00e1h! Mm-m-p\u00e1h!_\u2019 Tell me if you saw\nthose Fawns, or I\u2019ll eat you this very now!\u201d\n\n\u201cFawns? _Fawns?_\u201d groaned the Coyote--\u201cI have been wandering with the\ntoothache ever since the world began. And do you think I have had\nnothing to do but to watch for Fawns? Go along, and don\u2019t bother me.\u201d\n\nSo the Wolf, who was growing angrier all the time, went hunting\naround till she found the trail, and set to running on it as fast as\nshe could go.\n\nBy this time the Fawns had come to where two Indian boys were playing\n_k\u2019wah-t\u2019h\u00edm_[95] with their bows and arrows, and said to them:\n\n [95] A sort of walking archery.\n\n\u201cFriends boys, if an old Wolf comes along and asks if you have seen\nus, don\u2019t tell her, will you?\u201d\n\nThe boys promised that they would not, and the Fawns hurried on. But\nthe Wolf could run much faster, and soon she came to the boys, to\nwhom she cried gruffly:\n\n\u201cYou boys! did you see two Fawns running this way?\u201d\n\nBut the boys paid no attention to her, and went on playing their game\nand disputing: \u201cMy arrows nearest!\u201d \u201cNo; mine is!\u201d \u201c\u2019T ain\u2019t! Mine\nis!\u201d She repeated her question again and again, but got no answer\ntill she cried in a rage:\n\n\u201cYou little rascals! Answer me about those Fawns, or I\u2019ll eat you!\u201d\n\nAt that the boys turned around and said:\n\n\u201cWe have been here all day, playing _k\u2019wah-t\u2019h\u00edm_, and not hunting\nFawns. Go on, and do not disturb us.\u201d\n\nSo the Wolf lost much time with her questions and with finding the\ntrail again; but then she began to run harder than ever.\n\nIn the mean time the Fawns had come to the bank of the Rio Grande,\nand there was _P\u2019ah-chah-hl\u00f3o-hli_, the Beaver, hard at work cutting\ndown a tree with his big teeth. And they said to him very politely:\n\n\u201cFriend Old-Crosser-of-the-Water, will you please pass us over the\nriver?\u201d\n\nThe Beaver took them on his back and carried them safely across to\nthe other bank. When they had thanked him, they asked him not to tell\nthe old Wolf about them. He promised he would not, and swam back to\nhis work. The Fawns ran and ran, across the plain, till they came to\na big black hill of lava that stands alone in the valley southeast of\nTom\u00e9.\n\n [Illustration: THE WOLF MEETS THE BOYS PLAYING WITH THEIR BOWS\n AND ARROWS.]\n\n\u201cHere!\u201d said one of the Fawns, \u201cI am sure this must be the place\nour mother told us about, where the Trues of our people live. Let us\nlook.\u201d\n\nAnd when they came to the top of the hill, they found a trap-door\nin the solid rock. When they knocked, the door was opened and a\nvoice called, \u201cEnter!\u201d They went down the ladder into a great room\nunderground; and there they found all the Trues of the Deer-people,\nwho welcomed them and gave them food.\n\nWhen they had told their story, the Trues said:\n\n\u201cFear not, friends, for we will take care of you.\u201d\n\nAnd the War-captain picked out fifty strong young bucks for a guard.\n\nBy this time the Wolf had come to the river, and there she found the\nBeaver hard at work and grunting as he cut the tree.\n\n\u201cOld man!\u201d she snarled, \u201cdid you see two Fawns here?\u201d\n\nBut the Beaver did not notice her, and kept on walking around the\ntree, cutting it and grunting, \u201c_Ah-o\u00f3-mah! Ah-o\u00f3-mah!_\u201d\n\nShe was in a terrible rage now, and roared:\n\n\u201cI am not talking \u2018_Ah-o\u00f3-mah!_\u2019 to you. I\u2019m asking if you saw two\nFawns.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Beaver, \u201cI have been cutting trees here by the river\never since I was born, and I have no time to think about Fawns.\u201d\n\nThe Wolf, crazy with rage, ran up and down the bank, and at last came\nback and said:\n\n\u201cOld man, if you will carry me over the river I will pay you; but if\nyou don\u2019t, I\u2019ll eat you up.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, wait then till I cut around the tree three times more,\u201d said\nthe Beaver; and he made her wait. Then he jumped down in the water\nand took her on his neck, and began to swim across. But as soon as\nhe came where the water was deep, he dived to the bottom and stayed\nthere as long as he could.\n\n\u201cAh-h-h!\u201d sputtered the Wolf when he came to the surface. As soon as\nthe Beaver got a breath, down he went again; and so he kept doing all\nthe way across, until the Wolf was nearly drowned--but she clung to\nhis neck desperately, and he could not shake her off.\n\nWhen they came to the shore the old Wolf was choking, coughing, and\ncrying, and so mad that she would not pay the Beaver as she had\npromised--and from that day to this the Beaver will never again ferry\na Wolf across the river.\n\nPresently she found the trail, and came running to the hill. When she\nknocked on the trap-door a voice from within called, \u201cWho?\u201d\n\n\u201cWolf-woman,\u201d she answered as politely as she could, restraining her\nanger.\n\n\u201cCome down,\u201d said the voice, and hearing her name the fifty young\nDeer-warriors--who had carefully whetted their horns--stood ready.\nThe door flew open, and she started down the ladder. But as soon as\nshe set her foot on the first rung, all the Deer-people shouted:\n\n\u201cLook what feet!\u201d For, though the Deer is so much larger than the\nWolf, it has smaller feet.\n\nAt this she was very much ashamed, and pulled back her foot; but soon\nher anger was stronger, and she started down again. But each time\nthe Deer-people laughed and shouted, and she drew back.\n\n [Illustration: \u201cTHE FAWNS APPEARED SUDDENLY, AND AT SIGHT OF\n THEM THE WOLF DROPPED THE SPOONFUL OF SOUP.\u201d]\n\nAt last they were quiet, and she came down the ladder. When she had\ntold her story the old men of the Deer-people said:\n\n\u201cThis is a serious case, and we must not judge it lightly. Come,\nwe will make an agreement. Let soup be brought, and we will eat\ntogether. And if you eat all your soup without spilling a drop, you\nshall have the Fawns.\u201d\n\n\u201cHo!\u201d thought the Wolf. \u201c_That_ is easy enough, for I will be very\ncareful.\u201d And aloud she said: \u201cIt is well. Let us eat.\u201d\n\nSo a big bowl of soup was brought, and each took a _guayave_[96] and\nrolled it like a spoon to dip up the soup. The old Wolf was very\ncareful, and had almost finished her soup without spilling a drop.\nBut just as she was lifting the last sup to her mouth the Fawns\nappeared suddenly in the door of the next room, and at sight of them\nshe dropped the soup in her lap.\n\n [96] An Indian bread made by spreading successive films of\n blue corn-meal batter on a flat hot stone. It looks more like\n a piece of wasp\u2019s nest than anything else, but is very good to\n eat.\n\n\u201cShe spilled!\u201d shouted all the Deer-people, and the fifty chosen\nwarriors rushed upon her and tore her to pieces with their sharp\nhorns.\n\nThat was the end of the treacherous Wolf; and from that day the Wolf\nand the Deer have been enemies, and the Wolf is a little afraid of\nthe Deer. And the two Fawns? Oh, they still live with the Deer-people\nin that black hill below Tom\u00e9.\n\n\n\n\nXXVI\n\nTHE SOBBING PINE\n\n\nANOTHER folk-story told by the Qu\u00e8res colony in Isleta also relates\nto Acoma, perched upon the great round cliff in its far, fair valley.\n\nAmong the folk-lore heroes of whom every Qu\u00e8res lad has heard is\nEes-t\u00e9e-ah Muts, the Arrow Boy. He was a great hunter and did many\nremarkable things, but there was once a time when all his courage\nand strength were of no avail,--when but for the help of a little\nsquirrel he would have perished miserably.\n\nOn reaching manhood Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts married the daughter of\nthe Kot-chin (chief). She was a very beautiful girl and her\nhunter-husband was very fond of her. But, alas! she was secretly a\nwitch and every night when Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts was asleep she used to fly\naway to the mountains, where the witches held their uncanny meetings.\nYou must know that these witches have dreadful appetites, and that\nthere is nothing in the world of which they are so fond as boiled\nbaby.\n\nEes-t\u00e9e-ah Muts, who was a very good man, had no suspicion that his\nwife was guilty of such practices, and she was very careful to keep\nhim in ignorance of it.\n\nOne day, when the witch-wife was planning to go to a meeting, she\nstole a fat young baby and put it to cook in a great _olla_ (earthen\njar) in the dark inner room. But before night she found she must go\nfor water, and as the strange stone reservoir at Acoma is a laborious\nhalf-mile from the houses, she would be gone some time. So, as she\ndeparted with a bright-painted _tinaja_ upon her head, she charged\nher husband on no account to enter the inner room.\n\nWhen she was gone Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts began to ponder what she had said,\nand he feared that all was not well. He went to the inner room and\nlooked around, and when he found the baby cooking he was grieved,\nas any good husband would be, for then he knew that his wife was a\nwitch. But when his wife returned with water, he said not a word,\nkeeping only a sharp lookout to see what would come.\n\nVery early that night Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts pretended to go to sleep, but\nhe was really very wide awake. His wife was quiet, but he could feel\nthat she was watching him. Presently a cat came sneaking into the\nroom and whispered to the witch-wife:\n\n\u201cWhy do you not come to the meeting, for we await you?\u201d\n\n\u201cWait me yet a little,\u201d she whispered, \u201cuntil the man is sound\nasleep.\u201d\n\nThe cat crept away, and Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts kept very still. By and by\nan owl came in and bade the woman hurry. And at last, thinking her\nhusband asleep, the witch-wife rose noiselessly and went out. As\nsoon as she was gone, Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts got up and followed her at a\ndistance, for it was a night of the full moon.\n\nThe witch-wife walked a long way till she came to the foot of the\nBlack Mesa, where was a great dark hole with a rainbow in its mouth.\nAs she passed under the rainbow she turned herself into a cat and\ndisappeared within the cave. Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts crept softly up and\npeered in. He saw a great firelit room full of witches in the shapes\nof ravens and vultures, wolves and other animals of ill omen. They\nwere gathered about their feast and were enjoying themselves greatly,\neating and dancing and singing and planning evil to mankind.\n\nFor a long time Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts watched them, but at last one caught\nsight of his face peering in at the hole.\n\n\u201cBring him in!\u201d shouted the chief witch, and many of them rushed out\nand surrounded him and dragged him into the cave.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the chief witch, who was very angry, \u201cwe have caught you\nas a spy and we ought to kill you. But if you will save your life\nand be one of us, go home and bring me the hearts of your mother and\nsister, and I will teach you all our ways, so that you shall be a\nmighty wizard.\u201d\n\nEes-t\u00e9e-ah Muts hurried home to Acoma and killed two sheep; for he\nknew, as every Indian knows, that it was useless to try to escape\nfrom the witches. Taking the hearts of the sheep, he quickly returned\nto the chief witch, to whom he gave them. But when the chief witch\npricked the hearts with a sharp stick they swelled themselves out\nlike a frog. Then he knew that he had been deceived, and was very\nangry, but pretending not to care he ordered Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts to go\nhome, which the frightened hunter was very glad to do.\n\nBut next morning when Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts awoke he was not in his own\nhome at all, but lying on a tiny shelf far up a dizzy cliff. To jump\nwas certain death, for it was a thousand feet to the ground; and\nclimb he could not, for the smooth rock rose a thousand feet above\nhis head. Then he knew that he had been bewitched by the chief of\nthose that have the evil road, and that he must die. He could hardly\nmove without falling from the narrow shelf, and there he lay with\nbitter thoughts until the sun was high overhead.\n\nAt last a young Squirrel came running along the ledge, and, seeing\nhim, ran back to its mother, crying:\n\n\u201c_Nana! Nana!_ Here is a dead man lying on our ledge!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, he is not dead,\u201d said the Squirrel-mother when she had looked,\n\u201cbut I think he is very hungry. Here, take this acorn-cup and carry\nhim some corn-meal and water.\u201d\n\nThe young Squirrel brought the acorn-cup full of wet corn-meal, but\nEes-t\u00e9e-ah Muts would not take it, for he thought:\n\n\u201cPah! What is so little when I am fainting for food?\u201d\n\nBut the Squirrel-mother, knowing what was in his heart, said:\n\n\u201cNot so, _Sau-k\u00e9e-ne_ [friend]. It looks to be little, but there will\nbe more than enough. Eat and be strong.\u201d\n\nStill doubting, Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts took the cup and ate of the blue\ncorn-meal until he could eat no longer, and yet the acorn-cup was not\nempty. Then the young Squirrel took the cup and brought it full of\nwater, and though he was very thirsty he could not drain it.\n\n\u201cNow, friend,\u201d said the Squirrel-mother, when he was refreshed by his\nmeal, \u201cyou cannot yet get down from here, where the witches put you;\nbut wait, for I am the one that will help you.\u201d\n\nShe went to her store-room and brought out a pine-cone, which she\ndropped over the great cliff. Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts lay on the narrow ledge\nas patiently as he could, sleeping sometimes and sometimes thinking\nof his strange plight. Next morning he could see a stout young\npine-tree growing at the bottom of the cliff, where he was very sure\nthere had been no tree at all the day before. Before night it was a\nlarge tree, and the second morning it was twice as tall. The young\nSquirrel brought him meal and water in the acorn-cup twice a day, and\nnow he began to be confident that he would escape.\n\nBy the evening of the fourth day the magic pine towered far above his\nhead, and it was so close to the cliff that he could touch it from\nhis shelf.\n\n\u201cNow, Friend Man,\u201d said the Squirrel-mother, \u201cfollow me!\u201d and she\nleaped lightly into the tree. Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts seized a branch and\nswung over into the tree, and letting himself down from bough to\nbough, at last reached the ground in safety.\n\nThe Squirrel-mother came with him to the ground, and he thanked her\nfor her kindness.\n\n\u201cBut now I must go back to my home,\u201d she said. \u201cTake these seeds\nof the pine-tree and these pi\u00f1on-nuts which I have brought for you,\nand be very careful of them. When you get home, give your wife the\npine-seeds, but you must eat the pi\u00f1ons. So now, good-by,\u201d and off\nshe went up the tree.\n\nWhen Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts had come to Acoma and climbed the dizzy stone\nladder and stood in the adobe town, he was very much surprised.\nFor the four days of his absence had really been four years, and\nthe people looked strange. All had given him up for dead, and his\nwitch-wife had married another man, but still lived in the same\nhouse, which was hers[97]. When Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts entered she seemed\nvery glad to see him, and pretended to know nothing of what had\nbefallen him. He said nothing about it, but talked pleasantly while\nhe munched the pi\u00f1on-nuts, giving her the pine-seeds to eat. Her new\nhusband made a bed for Ees-t\u00e9e-ah Muts, and in the morning very early\nthe two men went away together on a hunt.\n\n [97] It is one of the fundamental customs of the Pueblos that\n the house and its general contents belong to the wife; the\n fields and other outside property to the husband.\n\nThat afternoon the mother of the witch-wife went to visit her\ndaughter, but when she came near the house she stopped in terror, for\nfar up through the roof grew a great pine-tree, whose furry arms came\nout at doors and windows. That was the end of the witch-wife, for\nthe magic seed had sprouted in her stomach, and she was turned into\na great, sad Pine that swayed above her home, and moaned and sobbed\nforever, as all her Pine-children do to this day.\n\n\n\n\nXXVII\n\nTHE QU\u00c8RES DIANA\n\n\nTHERE is a fragmentary Qu\u00e8res folk-story which bears internal\nevidence that its heroine was the mother of the Hero Twins--that is,\nthe Moon. The adventure described here is one of those which befell\nthe Moon-Mother, as related in several myths; though it has been\nvaried, evidently by some later story-teller, and the identity of the\nheroine does not appear at first sight. It is a story common to all\nthe Qu\u00e8res, and is undoubtedly ancient; but as I heard it first in\nIsleta its scene is laid in Laguna, a pueblo only two hundred years\nold.\n\nOnce upon a time the Tah-p\u00f3h-pee[98] of Laguna had a daughter, who\nwas the belle of the village. She was very fond of hunting, and\nkilled as much game as any of the young men. Several miles south of\nLaguna is a very large sandstone dome rising in the plain, and in the\nheart of this rock the Governor\u2019s daughter had hollowed out a room in\nwhich she used to camp when on her hunting-expeditions.\n\n [98] Governor.\n\nOne day there came a snow that covered the ground so that one could\neasily track rabbits, and taking her bow and arrows she started off\nto hunt.\n\nShe had unusual luck, and by the time she reached the hunting-lodge\nshe was loaded down with rabbits. The evening was very cold, and she\nwas hungry; so, going into the rock-house, she built a fire on the\nhearth and began to roast a rabbit. Just as it was cooking a strong\nwest wind came up and carried the savory smell from her chimney far\nto the east, till it reached a dark cavern in the Sandia Mountains,\nfifty miles away. There lived an old giantess, the terror of all the\nworld, and when she caught a whiff of that sweet meat she started up\nand rubbed her big red eye.\n\n\u201cUm!\u201d she cried, \u201cthat is good! I am going to see where it is, for I\nhave had nothing to eat to-day.\u201d\n\nIn two steps she was at the rock-house, and, stooping down, she\ncalled at the door: \u201cQu\u00e1h-tzee? [How are you?] What are you cooking\nin there?\u201d\n\n\u201cRabbits,\u201d said the girl, dreadfully scared at that great voice.\n\n\u201cThen give me one,\u201d shouted the old giantess. The girl threw one out\nat the door, and the giantess swallowed it at a gulp and demanded\nmore. The girl kept throwing them out until all were gone. Then\nthe giantess called for her _manta_ (dress), and her shawl and her\nbuckskin leggings, and ate them all, and at last said:\n\n\u201cLittle girl, now you come out, and let me eat you.\u201d\n\nThe girl began to cry bitterly when she saw that great savage eye\nat the door, which was so small that the giantess could not get\nher huge hand in. She repeated her commands thrice, and when the\ngirl still refused to come out, picked up a great boulder and began\nto hammer the rock-house to pieces. But just as she had broken off\nthe roof and stooped to pick out the girl, two hunters chanced to\npass and hear the noise. They crept up and shot the giantess through\nthe neck with their strong arrows and killed her, and, bringing new\nclothes for the girl, took her home safely to K\u00f3-iks (the native name\nfor Laguna), where she lived for many years.\n\n\n\n\nXXVIII\n\nA PUEBLO BLUEBEARD\n\n\nANOTHER fragmentary story of the Qu\u00e8res seems to refer to this same\nremarkable woman. You will see the connection when you remember\nthat the Moon disappears every month; and I should judge that the\nfollowing myth means that the Storm-King steals her.\n\nOnce upon a time a chief of Acoma had a lovely daughter. One day a\nhandsome stranger stole her and took her away to his home, which\nwas in the heart of the Snow Mountain (Mt. San Mateo). He was none\nother than Mast-Truan, one of the Storm-Gods. Bringing his captive\nhome, the powerful stranger gave her the finest clothing and treated\nher very nicely. But most of the time he had to be away from home,\nattending to the storms, and she became very lonesome, for there was\nno one to keep her company but Mast-Truan\u2019s wrinkled old mother.\n\nOne day when she could stand the loneliness no longer, she decided to\ntake a walk through the enormous house and look at the rooms which\nshe had not seen. Opening a door she came into a very large room\ntoward the east; and there were a lot of women crying and shivering\nwith cold, for they had nothing to wear. Going through this room\nshe came to another, which was full of gaunt, starving women, and\nhere and there one lay dead upon the floor; and in the next room\nwere scores of bleached and ghastly skeletons. And this was what\nMast-Truan did with his wives when he was tired of them. The girl saw\nher fate, and, returning to her room, sat down and wept--but there\nwas no escape, for Mast-Truan\u2019s old hag of a mother forever guarded\nthe outer door.\n\nWhen Mast-Truan came home again, his wife said: \u201cIt is now long that\nI have not seen my fathers. Let me go home for a little while.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said he, \u201chere is some corn which must be shelled. When you\nhave shelled it and ground it, I will let you out\u201d; and he showed her\nfour great rooms piled from floor to ceiling with ears of corn. It\nwas more than one could shell in a year; and when her husband went\nout, she sat down again to cry and bemoan her fate.\n\nJust then a queer little old woman appeared before her, with a kindly\nsmile. It was a _cum\u00fash-quio_ (fairy-woman).\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter, my daughter?\u201d asked the old fairy, gently, \u201cand\nwhy do you weep?\u201d\n\nThe captive told her all, and the fairy said: \u201cDo not fear, daughter,\nfor I will help you, and we will have all the corn shelled and ground\nin four days.\u201d\n\nSo they fell to work. For two days the girl kept shelling; and though\nshe could not see the old fairy at all, she could always hear at her\nside the click of the ears together. Then for two days she kept\ngrinding on her _metate_, apparently alone, but hearing the constant\ngrind of another _metate_ close beside her. At the end of the fourth\nday the last kernel had been scrubbed into blue meal, and she was\nvery happy. Then the old fairy-woman appeared again, bringing a large\nbasket and a rope. She opened the doors to all the rooms where the\npoor women were prisoners, and bade them all get into the basket one\nby one. Mast-Truan had taken away the ladder from the house when he\nleft, that no one might be able to get out; but with her basket and\nrope the good old fairy-woman let them all down to the ground, and\ntold them to hurry home--which they did as fast as ever their poor,\nstarved legs could carry them. Then the fairy-woman and the girl\nescaped, and made their way to Acoma. So there was a Moon again--and\nthat it _was_ the Moon, we may be very sure; since this same girl\nbecame the mother of the Hero Twins, who were assuredly Children of\nthe Moon.\n\n\n\n\nXXIX\n\nTHE HERO TWINS\n\n\nTHAT the heroes of \u201cThe Magic Hide-and-Seek\u201d were really the Pueblo\nCastor and Pollux, the twin offspring of the Sun-Father and the\nMoon-Mother, is more than probable. For some reason which I do not\nknow, these demigods do not figure as clearly in the T\u00e9e-wahn myths\nas among the other Pueblos, the Navajos and the Apaches; but that\nthey are believed in, even in Isleta, there can be no doubt. They\nwere the ones who led mankind forth from its first home in the dark\ncenter of the earth.[99] The rainbow is their bow, the lightnings\nare their arrows. Among the other Pueblos there are countless\nfolk-stories about these Hero Twins; and the following example myth\nwill quickly remind you of the boys who played hide-and-seek. It\nis told in Isleta, though I have never heard it from the T\u00e9e-wahn\npeople there. Ever since the great drouth of a generation ago, about\none hundred and fifty Qu\u00e8res, starved out from the pueblos of Acoma\nand Laguna, have dwelt in Isleta, and they are now a permanent\npart of the Village, recognized by representation in the civil\nand religious government, though speaking an altogether different\nlanguage. T\u00e9e-wahn and Qu\u00e8res cannot understand each other in their\nown tongues, so they have to communicate in Spanish.\n\n [99] They are represented in the sacred dances by the\n K\u00e1h-pee-\u00f3o-nin, \u201cthe Dying-of-Cold\u201d (because they are always\n naked except for the breech-clout).\n\nM\u00e1w-Sahv and O\u00f3-yah-wee, as the Hero Twins are named in Qu\u00e8res, had\nthe Sun for a father. Their mother died when they were born, and lay\nlifeless upon the hot plain. But the two wonderful boys, as soon as\nthey were a minute old, were big and strong, and began playing.\n\nThere chanced to be in a cliff to the southward a nest of white\ncrows; and presently the young crows said: \u201c_Nana_, what is that over\nthere? Isn\u2019t it two babies?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d replied the Mother-Crow, when she had taken a look. \u201cWait and\nI will bring them.\u201d So she brought the boys safely, and then their\ndead mother; and, rubbing a magic herb on the body of the latter,\nsoon brought her to life.\n\nBy this time M\u00e1w-Sahv and O\u00f3-yah-wee were sizable boys, and the\nmother started homeward with them.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said she when they reached the edge of the valley and could\nlook across to that wondrous rock whereon stands Acoma, \u201cgo to yonder\ntown, my sons, for that is Ah-ko, where live your grandfather and\ngrandmother, my parents; and I will wait here. Go ye in at the west\nend of the town and stand at the south end of the council-grounds\nuntil some one speaks to you; and ask them to take you to the\nCacique, for he is your grandfather. You will know his house, for\nthe ladder to it has three uprights instead of two. When you go in\nand tell your story, he will ask you a question to see if you are\nreally his grandchildren, and will give you four chances to answer\nwhat he has in a bag in the corner. No one has ever been able to\nguess what is in it, but there are birds.\u201d\n\nThe Twins did as they were bidden, and presently came to Acoma and\nfound the house of the old Cacique. When they entered and told their\nstory, he said: \u201cNow I will try you. What is in yonder bag?\u201d\n\n\u201cA rattlesnake,\u201d said the boys.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the Cacique, \u201cit is not a rattlesnake. Try again.\u201d\n\n\u201cBirds,\u201d said the boys.\n\n\u201cYes, they are birds. Now I know that you are truly my grandchildren,\nfor no one else could ever guess.\u201d And he welcomed them gladly, and\nsent them back with new dresses and jewelry to bring their mother.\n\nWhen she was about to arrive, the Twins ran ahead to the house and\ntold her father, mother, and sister to leave the house until she\nshould enter; but not knowing what was to come, they would not go\nout. When she had climbed the big ladder to the roof and started down\nthrough the trap-door by the room-ladder, her sister cried out with\njoy at seeing her, and she was so startled that she fell from the\nladder and broke her neck, and never could be brought to life again.\n\nM\u00e1w-Sahv and O\u00f3-yah-wee grew up to astounding adventures and\nachievements. While still very young in years, they did very\nremarkable things; for they had a miraculously rapid growth, and at\nan age when other boys were toddling about home, these Hero Twins\nhad already become very famous hunters and warriors. They were very\nfond of stories of adventure, like less precocious lads; and after\nthe death of their mother they kept their grandmother busy telling\nthem strange tales. She had a great many anecdotes of a certain\nogre-giantess who lived in the dark gorges of the mountains to the\nSouth, and so much did M\u00e1w-Sahv and O\u00f3-yah-wee hear of this wonderful\npersonage--who was the terror of all that country--that their boyish\nambition was fired.\n\nOne day when their grandmother was busy they stole away from home\nwith their bows and arrows, and walked miles and miles, till they\ncame to a great forest at the foot of the mountain. In the edge of it\nsat the old Giant-woman, dozing in the sun, with a huge basket beside\nher. She was so enormous and looked so fierce that the boys\u2019 hearts\nstood still, and they would have hidden, but just then she caught\nsight of them, and called: \u201cCome, little boys, and get into this\nbasket of mine, and I will take you to my house.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said M\u00e1w-Sahv, bravely hiding his alarm. \u201cIf you will\ntake us through this big forest, which we would like to see, we will\ngo with you.\u201d\n\nThe Giant-woman promised, and the lads clambered into her basket,\nwhich she took upon her back and started off. As she passed through\nthe woods, the boys grabbed lumps of pitch from the tall pines and\nsmeared it all over her head and back so softly that she did not\nnotice it. Once she sat down to rest, and the boys slyly put a lot of\nbig stones in the basket, set fire to her pitched hair, and hurriedly\nclimbed a tall pine.\n\nPresently the Giant-woman got up and started on toward home; but in\na minute or two her head and _manta_ were all of a blaze. With a\nhowl that shook the earth, she dropped the basket and rolled on the\nground, grinding her great head into the sand until she at last got\nthe fire extinguished. But she was badly scorched and very angry, and\nstill angrier when she looked in the basket and found only a lot of\nstones. She retraced her steps until she found the boys hidden in the\npine-tree, and said to them: \u201cCome down, children, and get into my\nbasket, that I may take you to my house, for now we are almost there.\u201d\n\nThe boys, knowing that she could easily break down the tree if they\nrefused, came down. They got into the basket, and soon she brought\nthem to her home in the mountain. She set them down upon the ground\nand said: \u201cNow, boys, go and bring me a lot of wood, that I may make\na fire in the oven and bake you some sweet cakes.\u201d\n\nThe boys gathered a big pile of wood, with which she built a roaring\nfire in the adobe oven outside the house. Then she took them and\nwashed them very carefully, and taking them by the necks, thrust them\ninto the glowing oven and sealed the door with a great, flat rock,\nand left them there to be roasted.\n\nBut the Trues were friends of the Hero Twins, and did not let the\nheat harm them at all. When the old Giant-woman had gone into the\nhouse, M\u00e1w-Sahv and O\u00f3-yah-wee broke the smaller stone that closed\nthe smoke-hole of the oven, and crawled out from their fiery prison\nunsinged. They ran around and caught snakes and toads and gathered up\ndirt and dropped them down into the oven through the smoke-hole; and\nthen, watching when the Giant-woman\u2019s back was turned, they sneaked\ninto the house and hid in a huge _olla_ on the shelf.\n\nVery early in the morning the Giant-woman\u2019s baby began to cry for\nsome boy-meat. \u201cWait till it is well cooked,\u201d said the mother; and\nhushed the child till the sun was well up. Then she went out and\nunsealed the oven, and brought in the sad mess the boys had put\nthere. \u201cThey have cooked away to almost nothing,\u201d she said; and she\nand the Giant-baby sat down to eat. \u201cIsn\u2019t this nice?\u201d said the baby;\nand M\u00e1w-Sahv could not help saying, \u201cYou nasty things, to like that!\u201d\n\n\u201cEh? Who is that?\u201d cried the Giant-woman, looking around till she\nfound the boys hidden in the _olla_. So she told them to come down,\nand gave them some sweet cakes, and then sent them out to bring her\nsome more wood.\n\nIt was evening when they returned with a big load of wood, which\nM\u00e1w-Sahv had taken pains to get green. He had also picked up in the\nmountains a long, sharp splinter of quartz.[100] The evening was\ncool, and they built a big fire in the fireplace. But immediately, as\nthe boys had planned, the green wood began to smoke at a dreadful\nrate, and soon the room was so dense with it that they all began to\ncough and strangle. The Giant-woman got up and opened the window and\nput her head out for a breath of fresh air; and M\u00e1w-Sahv, pulling out\nthe white-hot splinter of quartz from the fire, stabbed her in the\nback so that she died. Then they killed the Giant-baby, and at last\nfelt that they were safe.\n\n [100] A thunder-knife.\n\nNow the Giant-woman\u2019s house was a very large one, and ran far back\ninto the very heart of the mountain. Having got rid of their enemies,\nthe Hero Twins decided to explore the house; and, taking their bows\nand arrows, started boldly down into the deep, dark rooms. After\ntraveling a long way in the dark, they came to a huge room in which\ncorn and melons and pumpkins were growing abundantly. On and on they\nwent, till at last they heard the growl of distant thunder. Following\nthe sound, they came presently to a room in the solid rock, wherein\nthe lightning was stored. Going in, they took the lightning and\nplayed with it awhile, throwing it from one to the other, and at last\nstarted home, carrying their strange toy with them.\n\nWhen they reached Acoma and told their grandmother of their wonderful\nadventures, she held up her withered old hands in amazement. And\nshe was nearly scared to death when they began to play with the\nlightning, throwing it around the house as though it had been a\nharmless ball, while the thunder rumbled till it shook the great rock\nof Acoma. They had the blue lightning which belongs in the West; and\nthe yellow lightning of the North; and the red lightning of the\nEast; and the white lightning of the South; and with all these they\nplayed merrily.\n\nBut it was not very long till Sh\u00e9e-wo-nah, the Storm-King, had\noccasion to use the lightning; and when he looked in the room\nwhere he was wont to keep it, and found it gone, his wrath knew no\nbounds. He started out to find who had stolen it; and passing by\nAcoma he heard the thunder as the Hero Twins were playing ball with\nthe lightning. He pounded on the door and ordered them to give him\nhis lightning, but the boys refused. Then he summoned the storm,\nand it began to rain and blow fearfully outside; while within the\nboys rattled their thunder in loud defiance, regardless of their\ngrandmother\u2019s entreaties to give the Storm-King his lightning.\n\nIt kept raining violently, however, and the water came pouring down\nthe chimney until the room was nearly full, and they were in great\ndanger of drowning. But luckily for them, the Trues were still\nmindful of them; and just in the nick of time sent their servant,\nTe\u00e9-oh-pee, the Badger, who is the best of diggers, to dig a hole up\nthrough the floor; all the water ran out, and they were saved. And so\nthe Hero Twins outwitted the Storm-King.\n\n * * * * *\n\nSouth of Acoma, in the pine-clad gorges and mesas, the world was\nfull of Bears. There was one old She-Bear in particular, so huge and\nfierce that all men feared her; and not even the boldest hunter dared\ngo to the south--for there she had her home with her two sons.\n\nM\u00e1w-sahv and O\u00f3-yah-wee were famous hunters, and always wished to go\nsouth; but their grandmother always forbade them. One day, however,\nthey stole away from the house, and got into the ca\u00f1on. At last\nthey came to the She-Bear\u2019s house; and there was old Qu\u00e9e-ah asleep\nin front of the door. M\u00e1w-sahv crept up very carefully and threw in\nher face a lot of ground _chile_,[101] and ran. At that the She-Bear\nbegan to sneeze, _ah-h\u00fatch! ah-h\u00fatch!_ She could not stop, and kept\nmaking _ah-h\u00fatch_ until she sneezed herself to death.\n\n [101] The fiery red-pepper of the Southwest.\n\nThen the Twins took their thunder-knives and skinned her. They\nstuffed the great hide with grass, so that it looked like a Bear\nagain, and tied a buckskin rope around its neck.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said M\u00e1w-sahv, \u201cWe will give our grandma a trick!\u201d\n\nSo, taking hold of the rope, they ran toward Acoma, and the Bear came\nbehind them as if leaping. Their grandmother was going for water; and\nfrom the top of the cliff she saw them running so in the valley, and\nthe Bear jumping behind them. She ran to her house and painted one\nside of her face black with charcoal, and the other side red with the\nblood of an animal;[102] and, taking a bag of ashes, ran down the\ncliff and out at the Bear, to make it leave the boys and come after\nher.\n\n [102] Ancient tokens of mourning.\n\nBut when she saw the trick, she reproved the boys for their\nrashness--but in her heart she was very proud of them.\n\n\n\n\nXXX\n\nTHE HUNGRY GRANDFATHERS\n\n\nA DISOBEDIENT child is something I have never seen among the Pueblos,\nin all the years I have lived with them. The parents are very kind,\ntoo. My little _amigos_ in Isleta and the other Pueblo towns--for\nthey are my friends in all--are never spoiled; but neither are they\npunished much.[103] Personal acquaintance with a spanking is what\nvery few of them have. The idea of obedience is inborn and inbred.\nA word is generally enough; and for extreme cases it only needs the\nthreat: \u201cLook out, or I will send for the Grandfathers!\u201d\n\n [103] I must qualify this now. In the last two years I have\n seen one spoiled child--just one, in ten years\u2019 acquaintance\n with 9000 Pueblos!\n\nNow, perhaps you do not know who the Grandfathers are; but every\nPueblo youngster does. It has nothing to do with the \u201ctruly\u201d grandpa,\nwho is as lovely an institution among the T\u00e9e-wahn as anywhere else.\nNo, the _Abuelos_ were of an altogether different sort. That name is\nSpanish, and has three applications in Isleta: real grandparents;\nthe remarkable masked officials of a certain dance; and the bad Old\nOnes. These last are called in the T\u00e9e-wahn tongue _T\u2019ai-k\u00e1r-nin_\n(Those-Who-Eat-People). They were, in fact, aboriginal Ogres, who\nonce sadly ravaged Isleta.\n\nThe _T\u2019ai-k\u00e1r-nin_ had no town, but dwelt in caves of the lava\nmountain a couple of miles west of this village--the _K\u00fa-mai_ hill.\nIt is a bad place at best: bleak, black, rough, and forbidding--just\nthe place that a properly constituted Ogre would choose for his\nhabitation. In the first place, it is to the west of the town,\nwhich is \u201cbad medicine\u201d in itself to any Indian, for that point\nof the compass belongs to the dead and to bad spirits. Then its\ncolor is against it; and, still worse, it is to this day the common\nstamping-ground of all the witches in this part of the country,\nwhere they gather at night for their diabolical caucuses. Of its\nserious disrepute I can convey no better idea to the enlightened and\nsuperstitionless American mind than by saying that it is a sort of\naboriginal \u201chaunted house.\u201d\n\nSo the hill of _K\u00fa-mai_ was a peculiarly fit place for the Ogres to\ndwell in. Deep in its gloomy bowels they huddled on the white sand\nwhich floors all the caves there; and crannies overhead carried away\nthe smoke from their fires, which curled from crevices at the top of\nthe peak far above them. Ignorant Americans would probably have taken\nit for a volcanic emission; but the good people of Shee-eh-wh\u00edb-bak\nknew better.\n\nThese Ogres were larger than ordinary men, but otherwise carried no\noutward sign of their odious calling. Their teeth were just like\nanybody\u2019s good teeth, and they had neither \u201ctushes\u201d nor horns nor\nhoofs. Indeed, except for their unusual size, they would have been\neasily mistaken for Indians of some distant tribe. But, _ay de mi_!\nHow strong they were! One could easily whip five common men in a\nbunch--\u201cmen even as strong as my son, Francisco,\u201d says Desiderio; and\nFrancisco is as stout as a horse.\n\nThey were people of very fastidious palates, these Ogres. Nothing\nwas good enough for them except human flesh--and young at that.\nTheir fare was entirely baby--baby young, baby brown, and baby very\nfat. They never molested the adults; but as often as they found an\nappetite they descended upon the village, scooped up what children\nthey could lay their hands upon, and carried them off to their caves.\nThere they had enormous _ollas_, into which half a dozen children\ncould be thrown at once.\n\nThere seemed to be some spell about these Ogres--besides their\nfrequent hungry spells--for the Pueblos, who were so brave in the\nface of other foes, never dared fight these terrible cave-dwellers.\nThey continued to devastate the village, until babies were at a\npremium, and few to be had at any price; and the only way the people\ndared to try to circumvent them was by strategy. In time it came\nabout that every house where there were children, or a reasonable\nhope of them, had secret cubby-holes back of the thick adobe walls;\nwith little doors which shut flush with the wall and were also\nplastered with adobe, so that when they were shut a stranger--even if\nhe were a sharp-eyed Indian--would never dream of their existence.\nAnd whenever arose the dreaded cry, \u201cHere come the _T\u2019ai-k\u00e1r-nin_!\u201d\nthe children were hustled, shivering and noiseless, into the secret\nrecesses, and the doors were shut. Then Mr. Ogre could come in\nand peer and sniff about as he liked, but no chance to fill his\nmarket-basket could he find. And when parents were forced to go away\nand leave the babies behind, the poor young ones were inclosed in\ntheir safe but gloomy prisons, and there in darkness and silence had\nto await the parental home-coming. These inconveniences were gladly\nborne, however, since they preserved the children--and we all know\nthat preserved baby is better than baby-stew. It was, of course,\nrather rough on the Ogres, who began to find all their belts most\ndistressfully loose; but no one seemed to consider their feelings.\nThey were pretty well starved when the Spaniards came and delivered\nthe suffering Islete\u00f1os by driving off these savage neighbors. This\nlooks suspiciously as if the whole myth of the Ogres had sprung from\nthe attacks of the cruel Apaches and Navajos in the old days.\n\nThere was one queer thing about these Ogres--on their forages they\nalways wore buckskin masks, just like those of the _Abuelos_ of the\nsacred dance. Their bare faces were seen sometimes by hunters who\nencountered them on the _llano_, but never here in town. It was\nin connection with these masks that Isleta had a great sensation\nrecently. The Hungry Grandfathers had been almost forgotten, except\nas a word to change the minds of children who had about quarter of a\nmind to be naughty; but interest was revived by a discovery of which\nmy venerable friend Desiderio Peralta was the hero.\n\nThis dear old man--news of his death has come to me as I write this\nvery chapter--was a remarkable character. He was one of \u201cthe oldest\ninhabitants\u201d of New Mexico--older than any other Indian among the\ntwelve hundred of Isleta, except tottering Diego; and that is saying\na great deal. His hair was very gray, and his kindly old face such\nan incredible mass of wrinkles that I used to fancy Father Time\nhimself must have said: \u201cNo, no! You apprentices never do a thing\nright! Here, _this_ is the way to put on wrinkles!\u201d and that he then\nand there took old Desiderio for a model, and showed the journeymen\nwrinkle-makers a trick they never dreamed of. Certainly the job was\nnever so well done before. From chin to hair-roots, from ear to\near, was such a crowded, tangled, inextricable maze of furrows and\ncross-harrow lines as I firmly believe never dwelt together on any\nother one human face. Why, Desiderio could have furnished an army of\nold men with wrinkles! I never saw him smile without fearing that\nsome of those wrinkles were going to fall off the edge, so crowded\nwere they at best!\n\nBut if his face was _arrugada_, his brain was not. He was bright\nand chipper as a young blackbird, and it was only of late that a\ntouch of rheumatism took the youth out of his legs. Until recently\nhe held the important position of Captain of War for the pueblo;\nand only two years ago I had the pleasure of going with two hundred\n_other_ Indians on a huge rabbit-hunt which was under his personal\nsupervision, and in which he was as active as any one, both on his\nfeet and with the unerring boomerang. His eyes were good to find\nabout as much through the sights of a rifle as anybody\u2019s; and on the\nwhole he was worth a good deal more than I expect to be some seventy\nyears from now. He was a good neighbor, too; and I had few pleasanter\nhours than those spent in talking with this genial old shrivel, who\nwas _muy sabio_ in all the folk-lore and wisdom of his unfathomable\nrace; and very close-mouthed about it, too--as they all are. Still,\nthere were some things which he seemed willing to confide to me; and\nhe always had an attentive listener.\n\nDesiderio was not yet too old to herd his own cattle during the\nseason when they roam abroad; and, while thus engaged, he made a\ndiscovery which set the whole quiet village agog, though no other\noutsider ever heard of it.\n\nOne day in 1889 Desiderio started out from the village, driving\nhis cattle. Having steered them across the _acequia_ and up the\nsand-hills to the beginning of the plain, he climbed to the top of\nthe _K\u00fa-mai_ to watch them through the day--as has been the custom\nof Isleta herders from time immemorial. In wandering over the rocky\ntop of the peak, he came to a ledge of rocks on the southeast spur of\nthe hill; and there found a fissure, at one end of which was a hole\nas large as a man\u2019s head. Desiderio put his face and his wrinkles\ndown to the hole to see what he could see; and all was dark inside.\nBut if his eyes strained in vain, his ears did not. From far down in\nthe bowels of the mountain came a strange roaring, as of a heavy\nwind. Desiderio was somewhat dismayed at this; for he knew at once\nthat he had found one of the chimneys of the Ogres; but he did not\nrun away. Hunting around awhile, he found in the fissures of the\nrocks some ancient buckskin masks--the very ones worn by the Ogres,\nof course. He put them back, and coming to town straightway told the\nmedicine-men of the Black Eyes--one of the two parties here. They\nheld a _junta_; and after mature deliberation decided to go and get\nthe masks. This was done, and the masks are now treasured in the\nBlack Eye medicine-house.\n\nI have several times carefully explored the _K\u00fa-mai_--a difficult and\ntiresome task, thanks to the knife-like lava fragments which cover it\neverywhere, and which will cut a pair of new strong shoes to pieces\nin an afternoon. It is true that in this hill of bad repute there\nare several lava-caves, with floors of white sand blown in from the\n_llano_; and that in these caves there are a few human bones. No\ndoubt some of the savage nomads camped or lived there. None of those\nfamous _ollas_ are visible; nor have I ever been able to find any\nother relics of the Hungry Grandfathers.\n\n\n\n\n [Illustration: THE COYOTE.]\n\nXXXI\n\nTHE COYOTE\n\n\nALL the animals with which the T\u00e9e-wahn are familiar--the buffalo\n(which they used to hunt on the vast plains to the eastward), the\nbear, deer, antelope, mountain lion, badger, wild turkey, fox,\neagle, crow, buzzard, rabbit, and so on--appear in their legends and\nfairy tales, as well as in their religious ceremonials and beliefs.\nToo-wh\u00e1y-deh, the Coyote,[104] or little prairie wolf, figures in\ncountless stories, and always to his own disadvantage. Smart as he\nis in some things, he believes whatever is told him; and by his\ncredulity becomes the butt of all the other animals, who never tire\nof \u201cApril-fooling\u201d him. He is also a great coward. To call an Indian\nhere \u201c_Too-wh\u00e1y-deh_\u201d is one of the bitterest insults that can be\noffered him.\n\n [104] Pronounced Coy-\u00f3h-ty.\n\nYou have already heard how the Coyote fared at the hands of the\nfun-loving Bear, and of the Crows and the Blackbirds. A very popular\ntale is that of his adventure with a bright cousin of his.\n\nOnce upon a time Too-wh\u00e1y-shur-w\u00e9e-deh, the Little-Blue-Fox,[105] was\nwandering near a pueblo, and chanced to come to the threshing-floors,\nwhere a great many crows were hopping. Just then the Coyote passed,\nvery hungry; and while yet far off, said: \u201cAi! how the stomach cries!\nI will just eat Little-Blue-Fox.\u201d And coming, he said:\n\n [105] He is always a hero, and as smart as the Coyote is\n stupid. His beautiful pelt is an important part of the costume\n worn in many of the sacred dances of the T\u00e9e-wahn.\n\n\u201cNow, Little-Blue-Fox, you have troubled me enough! You are the cause\nof my being chased by the dogs and people, and now I will pay you. I\nam going to eat you up this very now!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Coyote-friend,\u201d answered the Little-Blue-Fox, \u201c_don\u2019t_ eat me\nup! I am here guarding these chickens, for there is a wedding in\nyonder house, which is my master\u2019s, and these chickens are for the\nwedding-dinner. Soon they will come for the chickens, and will invite\nme to the dinner--and you can come also.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Coyote, \u201cif _that_ is so, I will not eat you, but\nwill help you watch the chickens.\u201d So he lay down beside him.\n\nAt this, Little-Blue-Fox was troubled, thinking how to get away; and\nat last he said:\n\n\u201cFriend Too-wh\u00e1y-deh, I make strange that they have not before now\ncome for the chickens. Perhaps they have forgotten. The best way is\nfor me to go to the house and see what the servants are doing.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well,\u201d said the Coyote. \u201cGo, then, and I will guard the\nchickens for you.\u201d\n\nSo the Little-Blue-Fox started toward the house; but getting behind\na small hill, he ran away with fast feet. When it was a good while,\nand he did not come back, the Coyote thought: \u201cWhile he is gone, I\nwill give myself some of the chickens.\u201d Crawling up on his belly to\nthe threshing-floor, he gave a great leap. But the chickens were\nonly crows, and they flew away. Then he began to say evil of the\nLittle-Blue-Fox for giving him a trick, and started on the trail,\nvowing: \u201cI will eat him up wherever I catch him.\u201d\n\nAfter many miles he overtook the Little-Blue-Fox, and with a bad face\nsaid: \u201cHere! Now I am going to eat you up!\u201d\n\nThe other made as if greatly excited, and answered: \u201cNo, friend\nCoyote! Do you not hear that _tomb\u00e9_[106]?\u201d\n\n [106] Pronounced tom-b\u00e1y. The sacred drum used in Pueblo dances.\n\nThe Coyote listened, and heard a drum in the pueblo.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Little-Blue-Fox, \u201cI am called for that dance,[107]\nand very soon they will come for me. Won\u2019t you go too?\u201d\n\n [107] In all such Indian dances the participants are named by\n the officials.\n\n\u201cIf that is so, I will not eat you, but we will go to the dance.\u201d And\nthe Coyote sat down and began to comb his hair and to make himself\npretty with face-paint. When no one came, the Little-Blue-Fox said:\n\n [Illustration: \u201cTHERE THEY STOOD SIDE BY SIDE.\u201d]\n\n\u201cFriend Coyote, I make strange that the _alguazil_ does not come.\nIt is best for me to go up on this hill, whence I can see into the\nvillage. You wait here.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe will not dare to give me another trick,\u201d thought the Coyote. So\nhe replied: \u201cIt is well. But do not forget to call me.\u201d\n\nSo the Little-Blue-Fox went up the hill; and as soon as he was out of\nsight, he began to run for his life.\n\nVery long the Coyote waited; and at last, being tired, went up on the\nhill--but there was no one there. Then he was very angry, and said:\n\u201cI will follow him, and eat him surely! _Nothing_ shall save him!\u201d\nAnd finding the trail, he began to follow as fast as a bird.\n\nJust as the Little-Blue-Fox came to some high cliffs, he looked\nback and saw the Coyote coming over a hill. So he stood up on his\nhind feet and put his fore paws up against the cliff, and made many\ngroans, and was as if much excited. In a moment came the Coyote, very\nangry, crying: \u201cNow you shall not escape me! I am going to eat you up\nnow--now!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no, friend Too-wh\u00e1y-deh!\u201d said the other; \u201cfor I saw this cliff\nfalling down, and ran to hold it up. If I let go, it will fall and\nkill us both. But come, help me to hold it.\u201d\n\nThen the Coyote stood up and pushed against the cliff with his fore\npaws, very hard; and there they stood side by side.\n\nTime passing so, the Little-Blue-Fox said:\n\n\u201cFriend Too-wh\u00e1y-deh, it is long that I am holding up the cliff,\nand I am very tired and thirsty. You are fresher. So you hold up\nthe cliff while I go and hunt water for us both; for soon you too\nwill be thirsty. There is a lake somewhere on the other side of this\nmountain; I will find it and get a drink, and then come back and hold\nup the cliff while you go.\u201d\n\nThe Coyote agreed, and the Little-Blue-Fox ran away over the mountain\ntill he came to the lake, just as the moon was rising.\n\nBut soon the Coyote was very tired and thirsty, for he held up the\ncliff with all his might. At last he said: \u201cAi! how hard it is! I am\nso thirsty that I will go to the lake, even if I die!\u201d\n\nSo he began to let go of the cliff, slowly, slowly--until he held\nit only with his finger-nails; and then he made a great jump away\nbackward, and ran as hard as he could to a hill. But when he looked\naround and saw that the cliff did not fall, he was very angry, and\nswore to eat Too-wh\u00e1y-shur-w\u00e9e-deh the very minute he should catch\nhim.\n\nRunning on the trail, he came to the lake; and there the\nLittle-Blue-Fox was lying on the bank, whining as if greatly excited.\n\u201cNow I _will_ eat you up, this minute!\u201d cried the Coyote. But the\nother said: \u201cNo, Friend Too-wh\u00e1y-deh! Don\u2019t eat _me_ up! I am waiting\nfor some one who can swim as well as you can. I just bought a big\ncheese[108] from a shepherd to share with you; but when I went to\ndrink, it slipped out of my hands into the water. Come here, and I\nwill show you.\u201d He took the Coyote to the edge of the high bank, and\npointed to the moon in the water.\n\n [108] Of course chickens and cheeses were not known to the\n Pueblos before the Spanish conquest; and the cheese is so\n vital a part of the story that I hardly think it can be an\n interpolation. So this tale, though very old, is probably not\n ancient--that is, it has been invented since 1600.\n\n [Illustration: \u201c\u2018HOW SHALL I GET IT?\u2019 SAID THE COYOTE.\u201d]\n\n\u201cM--m!\u201d said the Coyote, who was fainting with hunger. \u201cBut how shall\nI get it? It is very deep in the water, and I shall float up before I\ncan dive to it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is true, friend,\u201d said the other. \u201cThere is but one way. We\nmust tie some stones to your neck, to make you heavy so you can go\ndown to it.\u201d\n\nSo they hunted about until they found a buckskin thong and some large\nstones; and the Little-Blue-Fox tied the stones to the Coyote\u2019s neck,\nthe Coyote holding his chin up, to help.\n\n\u201cNow, friend Too-wh\u00e1y-deh, come here to the edge of the bank and\nstand ready. I will take you by the back and count _weem_, _w\u00e9e-si_,\n_p\u2019\u00e1h-chu_! And when I say _three_, you must jump and I will\npush--for now you are very heavy.\u201d\n\nSo he took the Coyote by the back of the neck, swaying him back and\nforth as he counted. And at \u201c_p\u2019\u00e1h-chu!_\u201d he pushed hard, and the\nCoyote jumped, and went into the deep water, and--never came out\nagain!\n\n\n\n\nXXXII\n\nDOCTOR FIELD-MOUSE\n\n\nIT was the evening of the 14th of March. In the valley of the Rio\nGrande, that stands at the end of the winter. Now it is to open the\nbig mother-canal that comes from the river to all the fields, giving\nthem to drink after their long thirst; and now to plow the _milpas_,\nand to uncover the buried grape-vines, and make ready for the\nfarmer\u2019s work.\n\nAs the door opened to admit stalwart Francisco to the big flickering\nroom where we were all sitting in silence, the long, shrill wail\nof a Coyote, away up on the Accursed Hill, blew in after him on\nthe boisterous March wind. The boys pricked up their ears; and\nbright-faced Manuelito[109] turned to his white-headed grandfather,\nand said:\n\n [109] Pronounced Mahn-way-l\u00e9e-to.\n\n\u201c_Tata_, why is it that Too-wh\u00e1y-deh always howls so? Perhaps he\nhas a pain; for he has been crying ever since the beginning of the\nworld--as they told us in the story of the Fawns and the She-Wolf.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat, Unknowing!\u201d answered the old man, kindly. \u201cHast thou never\nheard of the Coyote\u2019s toothache, and who was the first medicine-man\nin all the world? It is not well not to know that; for from that\ncomes all that we know to cure the sick. And for that, I will\ntell--but it is the last story of the year. For to-morrow is\n_Tu-sh\u00e9e-wim_, the Spring Medicine-Dance; and the snakes are coming\nout from their winter houses. After that, we must not tell of the\nThings of Old. For it is very long ago; and if one made a mistake in\ntelling, and said that which was not all true, _Ch\u2019\u00e1h-rah-r\u00e1h-deh_\nwould bite him, and he would die.[110] But this one I will tell thee.\u201d\n\n [110] A fixed belief among the Pueblos, who will tell none of\n their myths between the Spring Medicine-Making, in March, and\n the Fall Medicine-Making, in October, lest the rattlesnake\n punish them for some slip from the truth.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn the First Days, when the people had broken through the crust of\nthe earth, and had come up out of their dark prison, underground, and\ncrossed Shee-p\u2019ah-p\u00f3on, the great Black Lake of Tears, they came to\nthe shore on this side. Then it came that all the animals were made;\nand very soon the Coyote was sent by the Trues to carry a buckskin\nbag far south, and not to open it until he should come to the Peak\nof the White Clouds. For many days he ran south, with the bag on his\nback. But there was nothing to eat, and he grew very hungry. At last\nhe thought: \u201cPerhaps in this bag there is to eat.\u201d So he took it from\nhis back, and untied the thongs, and looked in. But there was nothing\nin it except the stars; and as soon as the bag was opened they all\nflew up into the sky, where they are to this day.\n\nWhen the Trues saw that Too-wh\u00e1y-deh had disobeyed, they were angry,\nand made it that his punishment should be to wander up and down\nforever, howling with the toothache and finding no rest.\n\nSo Too-wh\u00e1y-deh went out with his toothache, running all over the\nworld groaning and crying; and when the other four-feet slept he\ncould only sit and howl. Because he came to talk with the other\nanimals, if they could not cure him, they caught the toothache too;\nand that is the reason why they sometimes cry. But none have it like\nthe Coyote, who can find no rest.\n\nIn those times there were no medicine-men in the world,--not even of\nthe people,--and the animals found no cure.\n\nTime passing so, it came one day that T\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh, the smallest of\nMice, who lives in the little mounds around the chapparo-bush, was\nmaking his road underground, when he came to a kind of root with a\nsweet smell. T\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh was very wise; and he took the root, and\nput it with others in a buckskin pouch he carried under his left arm.\n\nIn a few days Kee-oo-\u00e9e-deh, the Prairie-Dog, came with his head all\nfat with toothache, and said:\n\n\u201cFriend Field-Mouse, can you not cure me of this pain? For all say\nyou are very wise with herbs.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not know,\u201d answered T\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh. \u201cBut we will try. For I\nhave found a new root, and perhaps it is good.\u201d\n\nSo he mixed it with other roots, all pounded, and put it on the cheek\nof Kee-oo-\u00e9e-deh; and in a little, the toothache was gone.\n\nIn that time it was that there was so much toothache among the\nanimals that the Mountain Lion, Commander of Beasts, called a council\nto see what should be done. When every kind that walks on the ground\nhad met, he asked each of them if they had found no cure; but none of\nthem knew any. The Coyote was there, howling with pain; but all the\nother sick were at home.\n\nAt last it was to the Field-Mouse, who is the smallest of\nall animals, and who did not wish to seem wise until all the\ngreater ones had spoken. When the Mountain Lion said, \u201cAnd thou,\nT\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh--hast thou a cure?\u201d he rose in his place and came\nforward modestly, saying: \u201cIf the others will allow me, and with the\nhelp of the Trues, I will try what I found last.\u201d\n\nThen he drew from his left-hand bag the roots one by one; and last\nof all, the root of the _chee-ma-h\u00e1r_, explaining what it had done\nfor Kee-oo-\u00e9e-deh. He pounded it to powder with a stone, and mixed\nit with fat; and spreading it on flat leaves, put it to the Coyote\u2019s\njaw. And in a little the pain was gone.[111]\n\n [111] This cure is still practised among the T\u00e9e-wahn. The\n sovereign remedy for toothache, however, is to go to the\n _estufa_ after dark, carrying food in the left hand, march\n round inside the big circular room three times, leave the food\n under the secret recess in the wall where the scalps taken in\n old wars are kept, and then come out. The toothache is always\n left behind!\n\nAt that the Mountain Lion, the Bear, the Buffalo, and all\nthe other Captains of Four-feet, declared T\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh the\nFather-of-All-Medicine. They made a strong law that from that time\nthe body of the Field-Mouse should be held sacred, so that no animal\ndares to kill him or even to touch him dead. And so it remains to\nthis day. But only the birds and the snakes, who were not at the\nCouncil of the Four feet, they do not respect T\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh.\n\nSo the Field-Mouse was the first medicine-man. He chose one of each\nkind of four-feet to be his assistants, and taught them the use of\nall herbs, and how to cure pain, so that each might practise among\nhis own people--a Bear-doctor for the Bears, and a Wolf-doctor for\nthe Wolves, and so to all the tribes of the animals.\n\nOf those he taught, there was one who was not a True Believer--the\nBadger. But he listened also, and made as if he believed all.\nWith time, the teaching was done; and T\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh sent all his\nassistant doctors home to their own peoples to heal. But whenever one\nof them was asked with the sacred corn-meal[112] to come and cure a\nsick one, he always came first to get the Father, the Field-Mouse, to\naccompany and help him.\n\n [112] The necessary accompaniment, among the Pueblos, of a call\n for the doctor. In some cases, the sacred smoking-herb was\n used. Either article was wrapped in corn-husk. See, also, \u201cSome\n Strange Corners of Our Country,\u201d chapters xviii and xx.\n\nBut all this time Kahr-na\u00ed-deh, the Badger, was not believing; and at\nlast he said to his wife:\n\n\u201cNow I will _see_ if Old T\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh is really a medicine-man. If\nhe finds me, I will believe him.\u201d\n\nSo from that day for four days the Badger touched no food, until he\nwas almost dead. And on the fifth day he said:\n\n\u201c_In-hlee-oo w\u00e1y-ee_, wife of me, go now and call T\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh, to\nsee if he will cure me.\u201d\n\nSo the Badger-wife went with meal to the house of the Field-Mouse,\nmaking to be very sad; and brought him back with her. When they came,\nthe Badger was as if very sick and in great pain.\n\nT\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh asked nothing; but took off the little pouch of roots\nand laid it beside him. And then rubbing a little wood-ashes on his\nhands, he put them on the stomach and breast of the Badger, rubbing\nand feeling. When he had felt the Badger\u2019s stomach, he began to sing:\n\n _K\u00e1hr-nah-hl\u00f3o-hlee wee-end-t\u2019h\u00fa\n Beh-h\u00fa hoo-b\u00e1hn,\n Ah-n\u00e1h k\u00e1h-chah-him-a\u00ed\n T\u2019h\u00f3o-ch\u00e9e-hl\u00f3o-hlee t\u2019oh-ah-yin-\u00e1hb\n Wee-end-t\u2019h\u00fa beh-h\u00fa hoo-b\u00e1hn._\n\n (Badger-Old-Man four days\n Has the hunger-killing,\n To know, to know surely\n If Field-Mouse-Old-Man\n Has the Medicine Power.\n Four days, four days,\n He has the hunger-killing.)\n\nWhen he had finished rubbing and singing, he said to the Badger:\n\n\u201cThere is no need of a remedy. In my teaching I found you\nattentive--now be true. You have wasted, in trying my power. Now get\nup and eat, to make up for the lost. And do not think that way again.\u201d\n\nWith that, he took his pouch of roots and went home. As soon as he\nwas out of the house, the Badger said to his wife:\n\n\u201cMy wife, now I believe that Mouse-Old-Man _has_ the Power; and never\nagain will I think _that_ way.\u201d\n\nThen the Badger-wife brought food, and he ate--for he was dying of\nhunger. When he had eaten, the animals came in to see him, for they\nhad heard that he was very sick. He told them all that had been, and\nhow T\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh had known his trick. At that, all the animals were\nafraid of the Field-Mouse, and respected him more than ever--for it\nwas plain that he indeed had the Power.\n\nTime passing so, it came that one day the Men of the Old made\n_nah-k\u00fa-ah-shu_, the great round-hunt. When they had made a great\ncircle on the _llano_, and killed many rabbits, some of them found\nT\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh, and made him prisoner. They brought him before the\n_principales_, who questioned him, saying:\n\n\u201cHow do you gain your life?\u201d\n\n\u201cI gain it,\u201d he answered, \u201cby going about among the animals who are\nsick, and curing them.\u201d\n\nThen the elders said: \u201cIf that is so, teach us your Power, and we\nwill set you free; but if not, you shall die.\u201d\n\nT\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh agreed, and they brought him to town with honor.\nFor twelve days and twelve nights he and the men stayed shut up\nin the _estufa_, for two days fasting, and one day making the\nmedicine-dance, and then fasting and then dancing again, as our\nmedicine-men do to this day.\n\nOn the last night, when he had taught the men all the herbs and\nhow to use them, and they had become wise with practice, they sent\nT\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh out with a strong guard, that nothing should harm him.\nThey set him down at the door of his own house under the chapparo.\nA law was made, giving him full liberty of all that is grown in the\nfields. To this day, all True Believers honor him, so that he is not\ncalled small any more. When they sing of him in the sacred places,\nthey make his house great, calling it _koor-\u00f3o-hlee naht-h\u00f3o_, the\nMountain of the Chapparo. And him they call not T\u2019hoo-ch\u00e9e-deh, the\nField-Mouse, but _Pee-\u00edd-deh p\u2019ah-hl\u00e1h-queer_, the Deer-by-the-River,\nthat he may not seem of little honor.[113] For he was the Father of\nMedicine, and taught us how to cure the sick.\n\n [113] This is not an exception. Nearly all the animals known to\n the T\u00e9e-wahn have not only their common name, but a ceremonial\n and sacred one, which is used exclusively in the songs and\n rites.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\u201c_Tahb-k\u00f3on-ahm?_\u201d cried the boys. \u201cIs _that_ why the Coyote always\ncries? And is that why we must never hurt the Field-Mouse, but show\nhim respect, as to elders?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is the very why,\u201d said Manuelito\u2019s grandfather, gravely; and\nall the old men nodded.\n\n\u201cAnd why--\u201d began \u2019Tonio. But his father shook his head.\n\n\u201c_Tah!_ It is enough. _T\u00f3o-kwai!_\u201d\n\nSo we stepped out into the night to our homes. And from the _K\u00fa-mai_,\nblack against the starry sky, the howl of Too-wh\u00e1y-deh, wandering\nwith his toothache, swelled across the sleeping village of the\nT\u00e9e-wahn.\n\n [Illustration: Is that so?\n\n Yes; that is so.\n\n The End]\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Note\n\nAll inconsistencies in hyphenation and accent use are preserved as\nprinted.\n\nMinor punctuation errors have been repaired.\n\nThe following typographic errors have been fixed:\n\n Page 79--stanger amended to stranger--Then a young woman who\n was a stranger ...\n\n Page 126--seen amended to see--After this, whenever you see an\n Eagle ...\n\nThe frontispiece has been moved to follow the title page. Other\nillustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are not\nin the middle of a paragraph.","title":"The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":50977}