Part 4

When the Sun rose, Spider-old-woman went out-of-doors. “It is not yet time, my grandson,” she said. She held up five fingers horizontally and said it would be time when the Sun shone over them.[39] When the time came to go, they set out toward the house of the Sun. He came to the front of the house where there were twelve doors and all of them were shut. Without anyone opening a door for him, he came to Sun's wife. “What sort of a person are you?” she asked. He replied he had come to see his father. The woman warned him that no one was allowed around there. She rolled him up in a blanket,[40] which she tied with lightning, and hid him by the head of the bed.

When the sun set, he heard the noise of the Sun's arrival. The Sun came inside his house. “I do not see anyone,” he said, “but from the mountain where I go down some man had gone along.” “You tell me you do not have love affairs where you go around. This morning your son came here.” She went to the head of the bed, undid the lightning with which he was tied up and took the boy out. The Sun saw it was his boy. There were twelve pipes in which tobacco was burned. The Sun fixed a smoke for him in one of these. It was not the Sun's proper tobacco, but a kind that killed whoever smoked it. The boy drew on the pipe just once and the tobacco was burned out. The Sun prepared another pipeful, which was gone when the boy had drawn on the pipe twice. He filled a third pipe; this time the boy drew on it three times and the tobacco was consumed. The last time the pipe was filled, the boy drew four times before the tobacco was burned out.

Toward the east, there was a blazing fire of black _yabeckon_ into which the Sun threw the boy. He turned into a downy feather and landed in front of his father who expressed his surprise. There was a fire of blue _yabeckon_ toward the south into which the boy was next thrown. He again turned into a feather and landed in front of his father. The fire toward the west was of yellow _yabeckon_ from which the boy escaped in the same manner. Finally, the boy was thrown into a white fire of _yabeckon_ which blazed up in the north. He escaped in the same manner as before. Each time when the boy was thrown in, the fire had been poked with lightning of the corresponding color.

When the boy had successfully withstood this last test, the Sun directed his wife to prepare a sweatbath. She did this by spreading four blankets of cloud: black, blue, yellow, and white. She put on the four blankets from the four sides in proper rotation. The Sun went in with all his boys. While they were in the bath, the skin between the boy's fingers and toes was pulled back and joints made in his fingers. He was also provided with hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, nose, and ears. Hair was placed on his body and nails supplied for his fingers and toes. Counting this boy, the Sun had twelve sons with whom he formed a line. He then asked his wife to find him in the line, but this she was unable to do because they all looked alike, she said.

The Sun then placed a gun and a panther-skin quiver on a shelf and asked his son to choose which he would have. After sighting the gun, he concluded he did not like it. He put the quiver over his shoulder and took out two arrows. When he tried these, he hit the target in the center. He chose the panther-skin quiver saying he liked it.[41] All the other sons of the Sun had guns. The Sun had them shoot at each other in fun. Those who had guns beat the boy who had arrows and drove him off.

On one side, horses were being made and on the other deer. The one who was in charge of making these is named Iltca'nailt'ohn.

They put, for him, a light brown mountain, inside of which, cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, mules, and donkeys were living. All these are the food of white people. In this mountain also were guns, blankets, and all kinds of metals.

On the other side he put, for him, a mountain on which century plants were growing with their yellow flower stalks standing all around the edges. On this mountain, too, were sunflowers, yellow with blossoms, cactus, yucca, piñon, oaks, junipers, the fruit of all of which was perpetually ripe. All the other wild vegetable foods of the Indians grew there also. The mountain was always yellow with flowers.

The Sun asked the boy which of these two mountains he would choose. He decided to take the one which was yellow with flowers where fruit was always ripe. He did not care for the light brown mountain which stood toward the east. He announced that the yellow mountain would be his and would belong in the future to the Indians.

They then opened a door in the side of the brown mountain and drove out cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys, and mules. These became the property of your white people's nation. The Sun's son asked that some horses be given him. The Sun reminded him he had asked for the other mountain, and wanted to know why he had not then asked for horses.

From the east, mirage people rounded up some horses for him. The red dust of the round-up covered the ground. “There are no horses,” the Sun said. The boy asked again for horses only to be told he should have asked before when he chose between the two mountains. He asked, that notwithstanding, he be given some horses. The Sun took up a rope and led back a chestnut stallion from the east. He tied the horse which stood pawing the ground and nickering. The boy rode back on it to the place where I suppose Toxastin and his grandmother lived. He rode back in a single day and tied his horse. The horse kept nickering and pawing the earth all the time; he would not graze and the boy was not satisfied. He rode back to the house of the Sun, took off the rope; and the horse ran off toward the east kicking up his heels.

The boy told his father, the Sun, that the stallion he had given him was not satisfactory, and that he had come to ask for a different horse. His father went away and returned with two horses, a stallion and a mare. “These are what you want, I suppose,” the Sun said, and gave the boy a rope, a halter, a saddle blanket, and a saddle.

The boy led the horse back to the place where Toxastin, his grandmother, and his mother lived. He led the horses back to a place called Cottonwood-branches-hang-down. To the south, blue cottonwood branches hung down; to the west, yellow cottonwood branches hung down; to the north, white cottonwood branches hung down. The place was named the center of the earth. The saddle was placed at the east; the saddle blanket at the south; the halter, at the west; and the rope, at the north.

In the dry stream bed to the east, black burdocks grew; to the south, blue burdocks grew; to the west, yellow burdocks; and to the north, white burdocks. He turned out the two horses here to the east. Each time the Sun's son came back there, he found the two horses playing. After four days, he drove the horses up the valley a little way four times. When he went the fourth day to see them he found the tracks of a colt.

That cottonwood tree stood in the center. On the east side of it a black stallion stood; on the south side, a blue stallion; on the west side, a yellow stallion; on the north side, a white stallion. Horses were walking around in the valleys to the east, south, west, and north. Thus there came to be horses here on the earth.

Footnote 36:

Told by the father of Frank Crockett, February, 1910. Frank's father was of the Bissaxa clan and was about sixty years old in 1910. He was still a growing youth when he left the White River country.

Footnote 37:

These in part are the obstacles mentioned in the Navajo account. They are overcome in a different manner. Matthews, 109-110.

Footnote 38:

Spider-woman is of considerable importance in the mythology of the Hopi. Voth, 2, 11. The Navajo account (Matthews, 109) omits the clothing-making episode. Spider-woman is the originator of spinning, Franciscan Fathers, 222. She is sometimes said to be the mother of the Sun and therefore Naiyenezgani's paternal grandmother.

Footnote 39:

An Apache method of indicating time when the Sun is near the horizon.

Footnote 40:

The blanket was probably a cloud. The word _caziz_ ought to mean “sun-sack.”

Footnote 41:

Had Naiyenezgani taken the gun Indians would have been armed as white men are.

THE PLACING OF THE EARTH.[42]

They did not put this large one (the earth) that lies here in place before my eyes.

The wind blew from four directions. When there was no way to make the earth lie still, Gopher, who lives under the earth, put his black ropes under the earth. Here his black rope lies under it; here his blue rope; here his yellow rope; and here his white rope.

Over here (east) they made a black whirlwind stand with black metal inside of it. Here (south) a blue whirlwind and blue metal were placed; here (west) a yellow whirlwind and yellow metal; and here (north) a white whirlwind and white metal. With these standing on all sides, the earth came to its proper place and was stable.

“Now that this is as it should be, what shall we do next?” said one of them. “To what purpose have we had such a hard time making this earth lie properly which otherwise would have been unstable?” Then he began to pat it with his hand. “Let a black cloud move about sprinkling,” he said.

“There will be life from this; the world will be alive from the dampness,” he said. “They did well by us, what shall we do? Now thank you,” they said.

The people had nothing. The one who was in charge (the Sun); that one only was walking around. “It will turn out well with him walking about,” they said. They looked well at the one they meant. “That one is the Sun,” they said. “We did it in the presence of that one walking about.”

Then Ests'unnadli said she would do something unseemly. Thinking she would do it where the Sun first shone in the morning, she seated herself there. She was doing this only that people might live. There were no people and she thought there should be many and she did it for that reason.

She became pregnant. She and the one walking around were the only ones who understood about generation. She gave birth to a child there where she sat. She went back to the child early each morning for four mornings and on the fourth, the child walked back with her. He was entirely dressed as he walked back with her.

“It is not good that there should be only this one,” she said. “It will be well for me to do an improper thing again.” She sat repeatedly where the water was dripping and became pregnant again. She gave birth a second time to a child. “I will do as I did before,” she said. She went to her child early each morning for four mornings. The fourth morning after he was born, the child returned with her. He was dressed in buckskin, shoes and all.

She had given birth to two children. The latter one she named Tobate'isteini and the first one Bilnajnollije.[43] They were the children of this one (the Sun).

A black water vessel by the door of the sun's house was flecked with sunshine. He caused dark lightning to dart under it from four directions. He caused it to thunder out of it in four directions. He caused it to thunder in four directions. He caused male rain to fall in four directions. He caused fruits to stand on the earth in lines pointing in four directions. “Thanks,” they said, “he has treated us well.”

A yellow water vessel by Ests'unnadlehi's door was flecked with light. She caused yellow lightning to pass under it from four directions. She caused it to thunder from it toward four directions. She caused female rain to fall four times in four directions. She caused fruits to stand in lines converging from four directions. “Thanks, she has treated us well,” they said. “Because of her, things are well with us.” “She caused the wind to agitate the grass from four directions for us,” they said. “With no trouble for us it comes to its place. The earth will remain well for us,” they said. “It is still the same way for us that it was long ago. We are thankful yet.”

“Mother, where does our father live?” the boys asked. “Do not ask, for he lives in a dangerous place,” Ests'unnadlehi replied. “Do not say he lives in a dangerous place but show us where it is, for we are going there,” they replied. “If you go you must travel only by night. During the day one must sit still,” she told them. She said this, for she meant for them to make the journey without being seen by the Sun.

They wondered why she told them to go only at night and resolved to travel by day. They came near where the ground was black with mosquitoes that had teeth of _becdiłxił_, and there was no way to pass through them. They caused a rain, yellow with sunshine, to fall on them and wet their wings so that they stuck to the trees. By this means, they passed beyond them. “This is why she said it is dangerous,” they said to each other. They came where the earth was crossed with a stripe of cactus which had spines of _becdiłxił_. A black whirlwind with a core of _becdiłxił_ passed, twisting through the cactus; the boys got by it. “This was surely the bad place of which our mother told us,” they said. As they were going on toward their father's house, they came to sand which, if one stepped on it, rolled back with him. There was no way to get through it. A big black measuring worm having his back striped with a rainbow, bent himself over the sand for them and they crossed over. They were now approaching their destination when they found the house surrounded by thirty-two lakes which could not be avoided.

A turquoise bird sat in the ear of one of them and directed them on their way. The Sun's wife saw the two men pass through, avoiding the four bodies of water that surrounded the house. She concealed them under the bed which stood in the house. When the Sun returned, he saw the tracks of two men and asked where they had gone. The Sun's wife replied that they were not there. “You are always saying you have made no visits and yet your two sons come here,” she said. The Sun directed that they should come to him. They sat facing him. He had tobacco hanging in sacks in four places. It was black tobacco which grew on stalks of _becdiłxił_. He had a turquoise pipe with thirty-two[44] holes for the tobacco to burn in. With this tobacco, he killed those who were not really his children. They heard him draw on the pipe once and then he tapped it on something and the ashes rolled out. “Fix me a smoke, that is why I came,” one of the boys said.

They two went to the sack which was hanging on this side. It was filled with large blue tobacco which grew on stalks of _becdoł'ije_. He filled a pipe with thirty-two bowls and lighted it again. Having drawn on the pipe, he passed it to them. He heard them draw on the pipe once and then the ashes fell out.

“Prepare a smoke for me, for I came for that purpose,” one of the boys said again. When the other kinds, yellow, and white had been tried from the remaining world-quarters, one of the boys produced some tobacco and a pipe made of clay with a hole through it. “This is my pipe and my tobacco,” the boy announced. “Why did you not tell me before that you had tobacco?” the Sun said. He had chairs placed and took a seat between the two boys. The three looked just alike. “Come, Djingona'ai,[45] move yourself,” the Sun's wife said, so that she might distinguish him from the others. “They are surely my children,” the Sun declared. “What do you desire?” he asked them. The boys said they had come to hear him ask that. The Sun urged them to ask for what they wished without delay as he had many things.

The Sun had domesticated animals in four corrals on four sides of his house. He had four kinds which were bad. They were bear, coyote, panther, and wolf, of which one is afraid. He led a bear from the eastern corral, remarking that this was probably the sort they meant, that it was his pet. The boys refused it, saying they had come for his horse. In turn he led animals from corrals at the south and west which were refused each time on the advice of the monitor that sat in the ear of one of the boys. The Sun pretended he had no other horse, that he was poor. The monitor urged them to persist in their request, saying that the Sun could not refuse. He finally led to them one of the horses which was walking around unconfined. He was just skin and bones. The rope also was poor. “Did you ask for this one?” the Sun said. “That is the one,” they replied. The Sun told them the horse could not travel far, but the boys said that was the animal they wanted.

He gave them the horse with the admonition that they must not let Ests'unnadlehi see it or she would send them away with it, it looked so bad. The boys assured him it would be all right. He replied that she would be surprised at least. He requested them to tell Ests'unnadlehi that he, the Sun, always told the truth. He charged the two boys that they should not lie to each other. “This is a good day for you both,” he told them. “Thank you, Ests'unnadlehi, my mother, thanks.” “Thank you, Djingona'ai, my father. It is true that it is fortunate for us. It was for that reason you raised us,” they said.[46]

Footnote 42:

Told in 1910 by a very dignified man, C. G. 2, of about sixty years. He is a leader of the Naiyenezgani songs used for adolescent girls.

Footnote 43:

The lightning strikes with him, evidently a poetic name.

Footnote 44:

It was explained that four was the real number, thirty-two being presumably a ceremonial or poetic exaggeration.

Footnote 45:

“Goes by day,” the Sun.

Footnote 46:

This fragment of the culture-hero story having been told, the narrator refused to proceed, perhaps because he knew it had already been several times recorded.

THE ADOLESCENCE CEREMONY.[47]

The Sun was the one who arranged the ceremony for unclean women. She (Ests'unnadlehi) sat thus on her knees and the red light from the sun shone into her. She was living alone.

When she becomes a woman they straighten her. The people stand in a line and sing while the drum is beaten. They dance four nights. They paint her with white clay that she may live a long time, and that her hair may get white on one side of her head. They put up a cane with a curved top for her around which she is to run. At one side a basket stands in which there is tobacco and on the other side a basket containing corn.

When she has run around the cane in its first position, it is put up again farther away, where she runs around it again and returns to the line of singers. Again, the cane and basket of corn are moved out and the girl runs around them. When she returns to the singers she dances, having a downy feather tied at the crown of her head. The cane is put up again and the basket of corn moved once more. The girl runs around them returning to the singers. This cane is said to be the sun's cane and the chief's cane.

The corn is poured from the basket over the crown of the girl's head. The people all try to get a handful of the corn. After that, she throws the blankets in every direction and the people pick them up, saying, “May her blankets be many.” They plant the corn and all say they raise large crops in consequence.

They prepare Gans and dance four nights. They do not allow anyone to sleep during the dancing.

The girl, Ests'unnadlehi, has a skirt and a shirt of dressed skin. The shirt is spoken of as fringed shirt and the skirt, a fringed skirt.

When the Gans dance, the girl dances behind them. She does not sleep during the four nights.

On the morning after the fourth night all the people gather around to insure good luck in the future. The sun's songs, the chief's songs, are sung and with them they dance. After the four nights they paint the girl white with gypsum mixed with water which is in a shallow basket. The girl stands here and a woman whose husband is rich in horses and other property stirs the gypsum and water with a hairbrush. She applies this white mixture to the girl's head, and brushes her downward until she is whitened all over. The girl then sprinkles the men, women, and children who stand around in a large circle. This is done that they may be fortunate in the future. If some of the white mixture falls on the hair, that person will have gray hair at that spot.

Footnote 47:

Told by Frank Crockett's father in part, and extended by Frank who was interpreting.

THE MIGRATION OF THE GANS.[48]

They say they moved about from place to place under the cliffs. “We will move to a place where we will not die,” they said. They went to a place halfway between the earth and sky, and lighted on a mirage. They were dying there too. They came back to this world. Wind and rain ceased.

Mocking bird said he wanted to be chief. Gopher said he wanted to be chief. When someone remarked that the chief's eyes were small, Gopher was angry and went under the ground, taking with him the wind and rain.

Humming bird started over the earth, hunting in vain for the wind and rain. He came where Gopher had gone underground and went in there and came where the Gans were living. They had much corn and ripe crops. It rained there all the time. Humming bird came back and reported that he had been where there were many ripe crops and where rain fell all the time. He also said those who live there do not die. The Gans started to move down there and on their way came to a place called “Two-mountains-go-around-each-other-in-opposite-directions.” Rocks, white and all colors, lie there, one above the other. The Indians went there and came where the Gans were living.

A small mountain stood at the east and on it Black Gan stood every dawn and talked as a chief. When he had spoken as chief four mornings, they asked why Black Gan was talking that way. All the Gans came together and he talked to them. “May one of your children remain here?” he asked. All the Gans said, “No. Our children are all going with us.” Then Black Gan decided that one of his should stay. He left the youngest little girl, putting a turquoise water jar by her pillow. He covered this with earth. They started away where people do not die. His little girl returned to the place where her water jar had been put. While she was gone for it the others moved away and left her.

Some Indians found the baby, who was running about crying, and took her to raise. When she was grown, she married, and gave birth to a boy. Then Black Gan had a son-in-law and many people came to see him because he was Black Gan's son-in-law. They crowded into the house and kept saying, “Move over a little, Donaildihi.” He, Eats-a-long-time-without-being-satisfied, moved over; and they kept coming in until the house was stretched over to one side.

Black Gan's son-in-law lay down with one leg over the other, and called for the baby. When its grandmother brought it, he tossed it up and down on his chest and sang to it. When he was done playing with it, he called to them to take it again.

After a time another boy was born. When they were both grown they were hunting birds and came where the Gans were living. When they returned, food was offered them in vain. They had eaten where the Gans lived while away, and would not eat on their return.

A man fell sick. His eyes and mouth were crooked, as were also his arms and legs. The people were asking what they should do about it. The man told the mother of the boys to prepare a deerskin which had no holes in it with a piece of turquoise fastened at the forehead. To the turquoise he asked that downy feathers be tied. She directed that _bacinϵ_ with downy feathers be tied between the eyes. In addition _tsϵltcϵϵ_ and _yołgai_ each with downy feathers were to be tied to the skin. She asked that the skin prepared thus be placed on the top of the feet of the children (Gan's grandchildren).