Navaho Legends

547. The host thanked him for having slain the bears, and went out to call the players and all the crowd that stood around them to come to his tent. They came, for he was their...

523. The old man then went to see his son-in-law and said: "I thank you for the fine food you have brought us, and I am glad to hear you have such a beautiful farm. You know how...

501. He pushed aside the curtain and saw, sitting inside, a young woman making a fine buckskin shirt which she was garnishing beautifully with fringes and shells. Ashamed of his...

169. Once they killed a little deer, and some one among them thought that perhaps they might make, from the skin of the head, a mask, by means of which they could approach other...

319. When the pipe was smoked out and Tsóhanoai saw the boys were not killed by it, he was satisfied and said: "Now, my children, what do you want from me? Why do you seek me?"...

258. Next morning the brothers proposed to go out hunting. While they were getting ready Coyote came and asked leave to join them, but they said to him tauntingly: "No; stay at...

232. Soon after this Coyote visited Maítso,[80] the Wolf. The latter took down, from among the rafters of his hut, two of the old-fashioned reed arrows with wooden heads, such a...

340. Together they plucked the two Tse`na'hale, put the feathers in her basket, and got the basket on her back. He reserved only the largest feather from one wing of each bird f...

583. Soon the Eagles were all ready for the fray. They raised their war-cry, and charged over the hill into the sandy plain. The Navaho remained behind the hill, peeping over to...

289. On the morning of the appointed day they ascended the mountain by a holy trail,[93] and on a level spot, near the summit, they met a party that awaited them there. They fou...

415. Estsánatlehi had not been long in her western home when she began to feel lonely. She had no companions there. The people who had accompanied her thither did not stay with...

480. The next thing they had to think about was how they should carry the heavy log to the river with the man inside of it. They put under the log (first) a rope of crooked ligh...

449. It happened about this time, while some of the Thá`paha were sojourning at Agála, that they sent two children, one night, to a spring to get water. The children carried out...

133. Medical Practice.--Often have the shamans come to the author for treatment for themselves and their friends, and they never made any secret of this, but asked for medicine...

73. The name Has-tsé-yal-ti, spelled according to the alphabet of the Bureau of Ethnology "Qastcéyalçi" may be translated Talking God, or Talking Elder of the Gods. Hastséyalti...

194. Depe'ntsa, the mountain in the north, they fastened with a rainbow. They adorned it with black beads (pászini), with the dark mist, with different kinds of plants, and many...

108. These dances of the Navaho, although accompanied with religious symbolism, and performed often by men wearing sacred costumes, are undoubtedly intended largely to entertain...

383. The next morning after the arrival of the Tse`tláni, Hastséyalti came once more to the lodge of the White Shell Woman; but he talked with her apart from the others, and whe...

80. Alien Gods.--Such are the gods that are friendly to the human race; but man has his enemies, too, among the mysterious powers. Chief among the latter are the anáye,[7] the a...

363. Next day he went again to the north and climbed high among the peaks of Depe'ntsa, where no trees grow and where the snow lies white through all the summer. Here he found a...

19. The language of the Navaho undoubtedly belongs in the main to the Athapascan family. Hubert Howe Bancroft, in his "Native Races of the Pacific States" (vol. iii. p. 583),[29...

206. Has-tsé-ol-to-i means the Shooting Hastsé (par. 78), or Shooting Deity. As the personator of this character always wears a female mask (fig. 28), it would seem that this di...

250. Yó-i ha-tál, or yói-dze ha-tál (bead chant), is a nine days' ceremony, which is becoming obsolete. The author has been informed that there is only one priest of the rite re...

109. Version A in describing the adventure with Spider Woman adds: There were only four rungs to the ladder. She had many seats in her house. The elder brother sat on a seat of...

"In the interesting account entitled 'Some Deities and Demons of the Navajos,' by Dr. W. Matthews, in the October issue of the "Naturalist" (note 306), he mentions the fact that...

In cutting the reed used for a series of cigarettes, they cut off a piece first from the end nearest the root, and they continue to cut off as many pieces as may be necessary fr...

Maid Who Becomes a Bear Sought the gods and found them, On the summits of the mountains Sought the gods and found them, Truly with my sacrifice Sought the gods and found them. S...

43. A small lake situated somewhere in the San Juan Mountains is said to be the place through which the people came from the fourth world to this world. It is surrounded, the In...

Alíl or alíli means a show, dance, or other single exhibition of the rites (see fig. 30). It also means a wand or other sacred implement used in the rites. It is thought that th...

I. Navaho Gods as represented in the dry-paintings Frontispiece II. San Francisco Mountain, Arizona 63 III. Distant view of San Mateo Mountain, New Mexico 76 IV. Nayénezgani 104...

I do not care at present to go into any speculations as to why this is so. No matter now what may be the influence of sonant rhythm; what may be the relations of the psychical,...

This Indian howls so that it is much more difficult than usual to be sure of the pitch-relations. Also it is hard to tell, in many places, whether he means a double or a triple...