Part 8

And when it was nearly noon Nooee shot again, and it became terribly hot, and Ee-ee-toy ran for a rock which had always been cold, but just before he got there the heat made the rock burst.

And he ran to a tree, whose cool shade he often enjoyed, but as he came near it the tree began to burst into flame, and he had to turn back. And now it was noon, and Nooee shot again.

And Ee-ee-toy ran to a great post, all striped around with black and white, which had been made by his power, and which had a hollow that was always cool inside, and was about to put his arms around it when he fell down and died.

So Ee-ee-toy was dead, and Nooee went down to his setting, and returned the weapon to the Sun, and then went home to his vahahkkee.

THE SONG OF NOOEE WHEN HE WENT TO THE SUN

The Rising (Sun) I am going to meet.

(Repeated many times)

WHEN NOOEE KILLED EE-EE-TOY [4]

(A Song)

The gun, he gave it to me as a cane; With it I killed the Brother's heart.

NOTES ON HOW NOOEE KILLED EE-EE-TOY

The hot arrows of Ee-ee-toy, that withered the crops, remind us of Apollo.

The idea often comes up in these stories that a person possessing the powers of a mahkai was hard to kill, having as many lives as a cat. It would also appear that there was a confusion as to what constituted killing, anyway. They perhaps regarded mere unconsciousness as death. Both Ee-ee-toy and Nooee are "killed," but after an interval are alive again. And Whittemore relates: "An Apache, seeing Louis, the Pima interpreter, came to him in high glee. Taking his hand, he said: 'You are the Pima who killed me years ago.' Louis then recognized him as the man to whom he had dealt a heavy blow with a warclub, and then left him for dead on the battle-field."

Is there any connection between the the fact that when Nooee wore a nose-ring of turquoise the earth looked green, and that when he wore a nose-ring of glittering shell the earth looked dry to him?

Could this whole story have been a myth of some great drouth?

EE-EE-TOY'S RESURRECTION AND SPEECH TO JUHWERTA MAHKAI

And after Ee-ee-toy was dead he lay there, as some say for four months, and some say for four years. He was killed, but his winds were not killed, nor his clouds and they were sorry for him, and his clouds rained on him.

And he lay there so long that the little children played on him, jumping from him.

But at last he began to come to life again, holding down the ground--as a wounded man does, moaning, and there was thunder, and an earthquake.

And Ahahnheeattoepahk Mahkai's daughter was grinding corn when this happened, and the corn rolled in the basket, and she said: "How is it that it thunders when there are no clouds, none to be seen, and that the corn rolls in the basket?"

And her father said: "You may think this is only thunder, but I tell you wonderful things are going to happen."

Ee-ee-toy, when he got a little stronger, picked up some stones and examined them, and threw them away. He did this four times, throwing away the stones each time, not liking any of them. And the children went there to play, and found him alive, and asked each other: "Why is that old man doing that, picking up stones, and throwing them away, and picking up more?"

And he began then to cut up all kinds of sticks, four at a time, and to lay them down and look at them, but he liked none of them. Then he cut arrow weeds, four of them, and he liked their look. And he lit his pipe and blew the smoke over them, and spread his hand above them, and he liked the light of them which came thru his fingers.

And he put those sticks away in his pouch. And then he rose and took a few steps, and began to walk. And all his springs of water had been dried up while he was dead, but when he walked the earth again they gushed forth, and he dipped his fingers in them and stroked his wet fingers over his breast and he did the same to the trees.

And he went on and came to the cliff, where Vandaih once was, and he did the same to it, putting his hand to it and rubbing it. And he went to see the Sun.

He came to where the Sun starts, but the Sun was not there, but he could see the road the Sun takes, and he followed it. And that road was fringed with beautiful feathers and flowers and turquoises.

And he came to the tree which is called The Talking Tree. And the Tree took of its bark thin strips, which curled as owl feathers do when split, and tied them on a little stick, and put them in Ee-ee-toy's hair. And it gave him four sticks, made from that one of its branches which dipped to the south. And from its middle branch it made him a war club, and from a gall, or excrescence, which grew on its limb, it made him a vah-quah, or canteen.

After that he went along the beautiful fringed road which the Sun travels, and came to the place where the Sun drinks. And he took a drink there himself, putting his knee in the spot where the Sun's knee-print is, and his hand where the Sun rests his hand. And in the clear water he saw a stone like the Doctors' Stone, somewhat, but of the color of slate, with a zigzag pattern around it. And he took his four arrow-weeds and placed them under this stone and left them there.

And he went on, and went down where the Sun goes down. And he went to see Juhwerta Mahkai, to the place where he lived with his people, those who sank thru the earth before the flood.

And when Ee-ee-toy came to where Juhwerta Mahkai was, he said to him:--

"There was an Older Brother, and his people were against him; And he had made an earth that was like your earth; And he had made mountains that were like your mountains; And he had made springs of water, like yours, that were satisfactory; And he made trees like yours, and everything that he made worked well. And they shot him till he bounced, four times on the open ground; And threw him with his face to the earth. And he lay there, dead, but when he came to life he used the strength of his right arm and rose up. But things were changed, and looked different from the old times. He examined the sticks, but none suited him; He eyed along the river, that green snake, which he had made, and found the sticks that pleased him. And he cut those arrow-weeds, he found there, into four pieces, and blew the smoke over them. And out of them came sparks of light, that almost reached the Opposite World, the World of the Enemy, where things are different. And when he saw the light from the sticks he smiled within himself; He was so pleased he had found the sticks that suited him. And he brought the Black Fog from the West, and stroked the sticks with it, and so finished them, And from the Ocean he brought the Blue Fog, and stroked the sticks with it, and finished them; And from the East he brought the Fog of Light, and stroked the sticks with it and finished them; And from Above brought the Green Fog, and put it in hiding, and there secretly stroked the sticks with it, and finished them; From the West he brought the Black Snake, which he had made, and bound the sticks together, and finished them. And from the Ocean he brought the Blue Snake, and bound the sticks together, and finished them; From the East he brought the Snake of Light, and bound the sticks together, and finished them; And from Above he brought the Green Snake, and bound them together and finished them. And then he rose up, and with the first step he stepped on the great doctors of the earth and sank them down; The next step he stepped on the Speaker, and sank him down; The next step he stepped on the Slayer, and sank him down; And the next step he stepped on the rushing young maid who gathers the fruit to feed the family, and sank her down. And then he sank down himself, and walked under the earth's crust a little way, and then came out and found the Light's Road, his own proper way, and walked in it. Where he found his springs of water, which he had made, with their green moss growing, and dipped his hand in them and moistened his heart; And every mountain he came to, which he had made, he entered and there he cooled his heart; And rested his hand on every tree he had made, and so freshened his heart; And came like a ghost to the place, the cliff, where he had killed the man-eagle, and sat there. And there was Someone there, whom he did not know, who asked him what he wanted, coming there like a ghost; Who said: 'I told you that you would be against my people and the earth!' And from there he went to the East and strengthened himself four times; When he arrived at where the Sun arises; Where he came to the four notches which the Sun uses when he is rising. And where the Sun steps it is full of wind; And where the Sun puts his hands it is full of wind. In spite of that he climbed the way, the way in which the Sun rises. And he went Westward, stopping and taking his breath four times; Even at the fourth time, still going, still breathing westward. It was the west-bound road he followed, the road adorned with all beautiful fringes; Fringes of soft feathers, and large feathers; and flowers made from beautiful trees, and turquoises. And he went along this road, pulling all the fringes, and whenever he came to the doctors, tossing them up in the air. And there he came to Nee-yaw-kee-tom Oas, The Talking Tree; And he came to it like a ghost, and fell down on his knees toward it; And the Tree asked him why he came like a ghost, and what he wanted:-- 'I have told you that some day you would be the enemy to my people and to the earth.' There the Tree pulled off its bark and stuck it in his head, like split owl feathers; And it was its middle branch which it cut down in fine shape for a club and slipped under his belt; And it was a nut-gall from its limbs which it made into a canteen for him. And these two together it slipped under his belt. And it was the branch toward the ocean which it broke into four pieces, equally, and handed to him. And from thence he travelled on, on the Middle Road, and where there were beautiful fringes he examined them as he went along. And from the Middle Road he could see the road on either side, the Road of the Enemy. And it was among the fringes, where he was pulling the flowers made from sticks, that he reached the Speaker and tossed him, too. And there he reached the place where the Sun drinks. And tho the print of the Sun's knee was full of wind, and the print of his hand full of wind, there he knelt and drank as the Sun drinks. And there, in the clear water, he found the Doctor's stone, the Dab-nam-hawteh, which is square, and there, under it, left the arrow-weeds. And he started on from thence and went to the Sunset Place. Going down as the Sun goes down, and slid down from there four times, to the home of Juhwerta Mahkai. When he sat down there a strong wind came from the West and carried him to the East and brought him back and sat him down again; And from Above a strong wind came and tossed him up toward the sky, and returned him back and sat him down again. And the Black Gopher, his pet from the West, was rolling over; And the Blue Gopher, his pet from the South, was rolling over; And the Gopher of Light, his pet from the East, was rolling over; And the Yellow Gopher, his pet from the North, was rolling over; Because of their trouble about him." And Juwerta Mahkai picked up Ee-ee-toy like a baby, and held him in his arms, and swept the ground, and set him down upon it. And blew smoke over him, till he felt refreshed like a green tree. One kind of smoke was the ghost-smoke, which he blew over him; And the other kind was the smoke of the root called bah-wiss-dhack. And there they built the O-num of Light: Which means the circle of those great ones around the fire. And thence they sent the Gray Owl, to go around the enemy and breathe over them. Who, when they heard him, were shaking with fear; A fear that pulled out their thoughts so that they knew nothing and were weak in arms and legs, And they could not remember their dreams, and their skins became like the skins of sick people; And their lice became many, and their hair became coarse, and their eyes became sore. And they chose the little Blue Owl and sent him to the enemy, and he breathed over them. And he was invisible because of his blue darkness, and he breathed over them quietly. And they selected a Green Road Runner, and sent him to breathe over them. And the people could not see him because of his green darkness, and he breathed over them quietly. And they selected the small Gray Night Hawk; And he blew a gray dust all thru the enemy's houses and swept their ground. And their springs of water were left dry, choked with driftwood and covered with cobwebs. And their kees, their houses, were full of soot, and their trails like old trails; And after that the fresh foot-tracks could be seen-- And they went out and found the enemy by his fresh tracks and captured him, for he had no weapons. And from the sending out of the birds, even to the end, all this is a prophecy.

NOTES ON EE-EE-TOY'S RESURRECTION

The Story of Ee-ee-toy's Resurrection is perhaps the most poetic in the series, and the opening picture of him lying on the ground, lifeless, with the elements lamenting over him and the little children playing on him, might challenge the genius of a great artist.

It is particularly rich in the mystical element also.

I confess that I am not very confident of my rendering of those of the opening sentences of Ee-ee-toy's speech between "And he had made an earth" and the statement "And they shot him," etc. My Indians seemed to get hopelessly tangled over archaic words and other impediments here and not at all sure of what they told me. The rest I think is correct.

Here we came to the mystic colors of the four quarters, North, South, East and West and of the zenith, the Above, which the Pimas reckoned evidently as a cardinal point. If their mystic power was derived from the cardinal points, might not their inclusion of the zenith make five also sometimes a mystic number? I think that it perhaps was.

Brinton says that among the Mayas of Yucatan, East is Red, West is Black, North is White and South is Yellow.

The Speaker: It was customary in the villages of the Awawtam for some individual, perhaps a chief, or a mahkai, or some representative of these, to mount on a kee, or other high place, and in a loud voice shout news, orders, advice, or other important matters to the people. This was the Speaker, a sort of town crier.

To step on the rushing young maid who gathered the cactus fruit was a blow at the enemy's subsistence.

It seems to have been a custom among the mahkais to have pet animals to assist them in their magic.

A circle of bushes, stood up in the earth, forming a screen for shelter or privacy, was called an onum. One or more may be found near almost any Pima hut.

To work witchcraft on a foe, so that he be left weaponless and helpless, and off his guard against attack, seems to have been the favorite dream of whoso went to war. Treachery was idolized. There was no notion of a fair fight.

Stories of mythical beings who, tho repeatedly killed, persist in coming to life again, are common among many Indian tribes.

STORIES OF THE THIRD NIGHT

THE STORY OF EE-EE-TOY'S ARMY

And after Ee-ee-toy was thru speaking Juhwerta Mahkai addressed him, and promised him his help, and that he would lead out to earth again his people, who had sunk down before the flood, that these might fight against the people whom Ee-ee-toy had made and who now had turned against him.

So when his people heard this they gathered together all their property that they could carry, to take to earth with them.

And Juhwerta Mahkai said to Ee-ee-toy: "You go ahead of the people and I will follow."

And they went out in bands.

The first band was called the Mah-mahk-Gum. These were led by Ee-ee-toy, and their color was red.

The second band was called Ah-pah-pah Gum. And their colors were white and yellow.

The third band was called Vah-vah Gum. And their color was red.

The fourth band was called Ah-pah-kee Gum. And their colors were white and yellow.

The fifth band was called Aw-glee Gum. And their color was red.

And the sixth band was called Ah-pel-ee Gum. And their colors were white and yellow.

And these bands were so called because it was by these names they called their fathers.

As they were going to start they sent the Yellow Gopher ahead to open a way for them to this earth.

And the gyih-haws were loaded with their belongings, and stood up beside the ranks. And the bands went thru, one by one.

And when the fifth band was partly thru Toe-hahvs looked back and saw the gyih-haws walking beside the ranks, and he was amused and said: "I don't think there will be enemies enuf for us to kill, we are so many, and there are these other things, beside us, that look so funny." And he began to laugh.

And as soon as he laughed the gyih-haws stopped walking, and ever since they have never walked, and the women have been obliged to carry them.

And after these words, too, the earth closed up, so that the sixth band and part of the fifth band were left behind. And Juhwerta Mahkai was left behind, also, and only Ee-ee-toy and Toe-hahvs, and some other powerful men, went thru to lead the people.

And after they had come out a little way they came to a place called the White Earth. And Ee-ee-toy stopped then and the others camped with him.

And there the powerful men all sang, and the people joined in, and all dressed themselves in their war-bonnets, and attired themselves for war, and had a great war dance together.

And they went on again, another journey, and camped at the place called Black Mountain, and again sang and danced a war dance.

So they went on, slowly, camping at one place, sometimes, for many days or several weeks, making their living by hunting game.

And whenever they stopped they sent scouts and spies ahead to look out for the next stopping-place, so that they might go ahead safely. And this went on for many years.

And there were no deer in those days, and Ee-ee-toy said to the wood-rat: "Let me make a deer of you." And the wood-rat said: "Moevah Sophwah" (all right). But when Ee-ee-toy took out his knife and began to cut at his skin to change him into a deer, he cried out so hard that Ee-ee-toy let him go. And you may see the knife mark on his chest and neck to this day.

And Ee-ee-toy asked another rat, the little one with coarse hair, called Geo-wauk-kuh-wah-paw-kum, if he might make him into a deer, and the little rat said "Moevah Sophwah!" And this little rat was brave, and let Ee-ee-toy cut and change him, and he became a deer. And Ee-ee-toy said: "You shall not be like some animals, that love to roam all over, you shall love only one spot and wish to stay there." And that is why, to this day, the deer do not care to leave their own places and wander as coyotes do.

So there were now plenty of deer, and the people had something new to live upon.

And there were two brothers who were especially good at hunting the deer. Their names were Hay-mohl and Soo-a-dack Cee-a-vawt. And they hunted as the people marched, and kept them well supplied with deer-meat.

And there was a doctor among them who took the ears and tail of the deer and worked such witchcraft on them that the deer could hide away so well that the hunters could not see them. They hunted, as the people journeyed along, but all in vain.

And the hunters in their trouble sought to get help from a doctor, and they happened to go to the very one who had helped the deer, and they told him they wanted help to find the deer, for the children were crying and hungry and they wanted meat to feed them. And the doctor said: "I guess the trouble is that you look for the deer in the old places, where you have already killed them. If you will hunt for them in the 'cheeks' (the outlying flanks) of our line of march, you will find them." And the hunters hunted for the deer in the cheeks but could not find them.

And they went that evening to the same doctor and told him of their bad luck, and the doctor said: "If you will look for them next time in the little valleys between the hills, I think, you will find them, for they like to go there."

And the hunters went the next day and looked in the little valleys, but could not find the deer, and they came that evening and told the doctor of their bad luck. And he said: "If you hear of anyone who chances to kill a deer, even if it is only a fawn, bring me the tips of its ears, and of its tail, and of its nose."

And the doctor said: "I want you to bring me these because a deer feels first with his tail that some one is after him, and, second, hears with his ears that some one is near, and, third, smells danger with his nose. And that is why I want you to bring me these."

The next day these brothers were in a crowd and heard that a fawn had been killed, and went to it and cut off the tips of its tail and of its ears and of its nose and brought these to the doctor. And the doctor took these, and then he took those which he had used at first to hide the deer with, and with these in his hand he began to sing.

And in his song he asked one of the brothers, Haymohl, for the turquoise earrings which he wore; and then he asked Sooadack Ceeavawt for the beads which were around his neck. But the brothers kept on listening to his song and did not understand what he meant.

And he told them to hunt the next day near the crowd of people, and they did so and killed a fawn, and took it home and had meat with their family. And then they went again to the doctor; who again sang his song, asking for the same gifts. And this time the brothers understood him and Haymohl said: "O, I never thought of these," and took off his ear rings and gave them to him. And Sooadack Ceeavawt took off his necklace of beads and gave them to him. And the doctor told them that the next day they were to hunt near the crowd, and they would find plenty of deer anywhere they might hunt for them. And he went to where the fawn skin was, and took pieces of its skin and made medicine-bags for the brothers, out of the cheek pieces of the fawn stretched out and made into soft buckskin, and filled these with the scrapings of the buckskin and the tips of the fawn's ears and of his tail and nose and gave one to each of the brothers.

And the brothers took these bags, and wore them at their belts, and the next day they went out hunting and in a little while killed a deer, and went on a little further and killed another, and after that found plenty of deer; and from that time on the people had plenty of venison again.

And the people marched on in the order of their villages; and a member of one village, a woman, was taken sick, and her fellow-villagers stayed with her to take care of her, and the rest of the army marched on, leaving this village behind. And these remained with her till she died, and buried her, and then journeyed on till they overtook the others.

And as they traveled a pestilence broke out, a sickness which spread thru all the villages and delayed them. But a doctor told them to kill a doe and have a big dance, the dance that is called "Tramping Down the Sickness," that the sick might get well. And they did this and all their sick ones recovered.

THE FIRST SONG OF EE-EE-TOY'S ARMY

The White Earth I come to and sing; Where many war-bonnets are shaking with the wind; There we come together to dance and to sing.

THE DOCTOR'S SONG TO THE HUNTERS

Sahn-a-mahl! [5] Haymohl give me the necklace! Sooadack Ceeavawt give me the turquoise ear-rings!

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE VAHAHKKEES