Part 26

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 obsidian; the younger, on a seat of turquoise. She offered them food of four kinds to eat; they only accepted one kind. When they had eaten, a small image of obsidian came out from an apartment in the east and stood on a serrated platform, or platform of serrate knives. The elder brother stood on the platform beside the image. Spider Woman blew a strong breath four times on the image in the direction of the youth, and the latter became thus endowed with the hard nature of the obsidian, which was to further preserve him in his future trials. From the south room came a turquoise image, and stood on a serrated platform. The younger brother stood beside this. Spider Woman blew on the turquoise image toward him, and he thus acquired the hard nature of the blue stone. To-day in the rites of hozóni hatál they have a prayer concerning these incidents beginning, "Now I stand on pésdolgas." (See note 264.)

110. In describing the journey of the War Gods to the house of the Sun, version A adds something. At Tó`sato or Hot Spring (Ojo Gallina, near San Rafael), the brothers have an adventure with Tiéholtsodi, the water monster, who threatens them and is appeased with prayer. They encounter Old Age People, who treat them kindly, but bid them not follow the trail that leads to the house of Old Age. They come to Hayolkál, Daylight, which rises like a great range of mountains in front of them. (Songs.) They fear they will have to cross this, but Daylight rises from the ground and lets them pass under.... They come to Tsalyél, Darkness. Wind whispers into their ears what songs to sing. They sing these songs and Tsalyél rises and lets them pass under. They come to water, which they walk over. On the other side they meet their sister, the daughter of the Sun, who dwells in the house of the Sun. She speaks not, but turns silently around, and they follow her to the house.

111. According to version A, there were four sentinels of each kind, and they lay in the passageway or entrance to the house. A curtain hung in front of each group of four. In each group the first sentinel was black, the second blue, the third yellow, the fourth white. The brothers sang songs to the guardians and sprinkled pollen on them.

112. Version A gives the names of these two young men as Black Thunder and Blue Thunder.

113. The teller of the version has omitted to mention that the brothers, when they entered the house, declared that they came to seek their father, but other story-tellers do not fail to tell this.

114. Four articles of armor were given to each, and six different kinds of weapons were given to them. The articles of armor were: peské (knife moccasins), pesistlê' (knife leggings), pesê' (knife shirt), and pestsá (knife hat). The word "pes" in the above names for armor, is here translated knife. The term was originally applied to flint knives, and to the flakes from which flint knives were made. After the introduction of European tools, the meaning was extended to include iron knives, and now it is applied to any object of iron, and, with qualifying suffixes, to all kinds of metal. Thus copper is peslitsí, or red metal, and silver, peslakaí, or white metal. Many of the Navahoes now think that the mythic armor of their gods was of iron. Such the author believed it to be in the earlier years of his investigation among the Navahoes, and he was inclined to believe that they borrowed the idea of armored heroes from the Spanish invaders of the sixteenth century. Later studies have led him to conclude that the conception of armored heroes was not borrowed from the whites, and that the armor was supposed to be made of stone flakes such as were employed in making knives in the prehistoric days. The Mokis believe that their gods and heroes wore armor of flint.

115. The weapons were these:--

atsinikli'ska (chain-lightning arrows) hatsilki'ska or hadilki'ska (sheet-lightning arrows) sa`bitlólka (sunbeam arrows) natsili'tka (rainbow arrows) peshál (stone knife-club) hatsoilhál, which some say was a thunderbolt, and others say was a great stone knife, with a blade as broad as the hand. Some say that only one stone knife was given, which was for Nayénezgani, and that only two thunderbolts were given, both of which were for To`badzistsíni. The man who now personates Nayénezgani in the rites carries a stone knife of unusual size (plate IV.); and he who personates To`badzistsíni carries in each hand a wooden cylinder (one black and one red) to represent a thunderbolt. (Plate VII.)

116. Version A adds that when they were thus equipped they were dressed exactly like their brothers Black Thunder and Blue Thunder, who dwelt in the house of the Sun.

117. The man who told this tale explained that there were sixteen poles in the east and sixteen in the west to join earth and sky. Others say there were thirty-two poles on each side. The Navahoes explain the annual progress of the sun by saying that at the winter solstice he climbs on the pole farthest south in rising; that as the season advances he climbs on poles farther and farther north, until at the summer solstice he climbs the pole farthest north; that then he retraces his way, climbing different poles until he reaches the south again. He is supposed to spend about an equal number of days at each pole.

118. Many versions relate that the bearer of the sun rode a horse, or other pet animal. The Navaho word here employed is lin, which means any domesticated or pet animal, but now, especially, a horse. Version A says the animal he rode was made of turquoise and larger than a horse. Such versions have great difficulty in getting the horse up to the sky. Version A makes the sky dip down and touch the earth to let the horse ascend. Of course the horse is a modern addition to the tale. They never saw horses until the sixteenth century, and previous to that time it is not known that any animal was ridden on the western continent. Version B merely says that the Sun "put on his robe of cloud, and, taking one of his sons under each arm, he rose into the heavens."

119. Version B says they all ate a meal on their journey to the sky-hole. Version A says that they ate for food, at the sky-hole, before the brothers descended, a mixture of five kinds of pollen, viz.: pollen of white corn, pollen of yellow corn, pollen of dawn, pollen of evening twilight, and pollen of the sun.[11] These were mixed with tó`lanastsi, all kinds of water.[67]

120. Tó`-sa-to or Warm Spring is at the village of San Rafael, Valencia County, New Mexico. It is about three miles in a southerly direction from Grant's, on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, five miles from the base and eighteen miles from the summit of Mount Taylor, in a southwesterly direction from the latter. The lake referred to in the myth lies about two miles southeast of the spring.

121. According to Version A, the monsters or anáye were all conceived in the fifth world and born of one woman (a granddaughter of First Woman), who travelled much and rarely stayed at home. According to Version B, the monsters were sent by First Woman, who became offended with man.

122. Version A gives, in addition to Tsótsil, the names of the other three hills over which Yéitso appeared. These were: in the east, Sa`akéa`; in the south, Dsilsitsí (Red Mountain); in the west, Tse`lpaináli (Brown Rock Hanging Down).

123. Version A.--"Hragh!" said he, with a sigh of satisfaction (pantomimically expressed), "I have finished that."

124. Yiniketóko! No etymology has been discovered for this expression. It is believed to be the equivalent of the "Fee Fa Fum!" of the giants in our nursery tales.

125. Version B.--This bolt rent his armor.

126. It is common in this and all other versions to show that evil turns to good (see pars. 338, 345, 349, et al.) and that the demons dead become useful to man in other forms. How the armor of Yéitso became useful to man, the narrator here forgot to state; but it may be conjectured that he should have said that it furnished flint flakes for knives and arrow-heads.

127. Other versions state, more particularly, that, in accordance with the Indian custom, these names were given when the brothers returned to their home, and the ceremony of rejoicing (the "scalp-dance") was held for their first victory. Nayénezgani is derived from na, or aná (alien or enemy: see note 7); yéi, ye or ge (a genius or god; hence anáye, an alien god or giant: see par. 80); nezgá` (to kill with a blow or blows, as in killing with a club); and the suffix ni (person). The name means, therefore, Slayer of the Alien Gods, or Slayer of Giants. As the sounds of g and y before e are interchangeable in the Navaho language, the name is heard pronounced both Nayénezgani and Nagénezgani,--about as often one way as the other. In previous essays the author has spelled it in the latter way; but in this work he gives preference to the former, since it is more in harmony with his spelling of other names containing the word "ye" or "yéi." (See par. 78.) To`-ba-dzis-tsí-ni is derived from to` (water), ba (for him), dzistsín (born), and the suffix ni. The name therefore means, literally, Born for the Water; but the expression badzistsín (born for him) denotes the relation of father and child,--not of a mother and child,--so that a free translation of the name is Child of the Water. The second name of this god, Naídikisi, is rarely used.

128. About 40 miles to the northeast of the top of Mt. San Mateo there is a dark, high volcanic hill called by the Mexicans El Cabezon, or The Great Head. This is the object which, according to the Navaho story-tellers, was the head of Yéitso. Around the base of San Mateo, chiefly toward the east and north, there are several more high volcanic peaks, of less prominence than El Cabezon, which are said to have been the heads of other giants who were slain in a great storm raised by the War Gods. (See pars. 358, 359.) Plate V. shows six of these volcanic hills. The high truncated cone in the distance (17 miles from the point of view) is El Cabezon. Captain Clarence E. Dutton, U.S.A., treats of the geologic character of these cones in his work on Mount Taylor.[299] Plate V. is taken from the same photograph as his plate XXI. In Lieut. Simpson's report,[328] p. 73, this hill is described under the name Cerro de la Cabeza, and a picture of it is given in plate 17 of said report. It is called "Cabezon Pk." on the accompanying map.

129. To the south and west of the San Mateo Mountains there is a great plain of lava rock of geologically recent origin, which fills the valley and presents plainly the appearance of having once been flowing. The rock is dark and has much resemblance to coagulated blood. This is the material which, the Navahoes think, was once the blood of Yéitso. In some places it looks as if the blood were suddenly arrested, forming high cliffs; here the war god is supposed to have stopped the flow with his knife. Plate VI. shows this lava in the valley of the Rio San José, from a photograph supplied by the United States Geological Survey.

130. Version A adds some particulars to the account of the return of the brothers to their home, after their encounter with Yéitso. They first went to Azíhi, the place at which they descended when they came from the sky, and then to Kainipéhi. On their way home they sang twenty songs--the Nidotátsogisin--which are sung to-day in the rites of hozóni hatál. Near Dsilnáotil, just at daybreak, they met Hastséyalti and Hastséhogan, who embraced them, addressed them as grandchildren, sang two songs, now belonging to the rites, and conducted the young heroes to their home.

131. Té-el-get, Tê-el-ge'-ti and Del-gét are various pronunciations of the name of this monster. In the songs he is sometimes called Bi-té-el-ge-ti, which is merely prefixing the personal pronoun "his" to the name. The exact etymology has not been determined. The name has some reference to his horns; tê, or te, meaning horns, and bité, his horns, in Navaho. All descriptions of this anáye are much alike. His father, it is said, was an antelope horn.

132. Arabis holböllii (Hornemann), a-ze-la-dil-té-he, "scattered" or "lone medicine." The plants grow single and at a distance from one another, not in beds or clusters. (See "Navajo Names for Plants,"[312] p. 770.)

133. Version A relates that they sang, while at work on these kethawns, six songs, which, under the name of Atsós Bigi'n, or Feather Songs, are sung now in the rite of hozóni hatál.

134. Version A says that the horns of Téelget were like those of an antelope, and that Nayénezgani cut off the short branch of one as an additional trophy.

135. Tse`na'-ha-le. These mythic creatures, which in a previous paper, "A Part of the Navajos' Mythology,"[306] the author calls harpies, from their analogy to the harpies of Greek mythology, are believed in by many tribes of the Southwest. According to Hatáli Nez they were the offspring of a bunch of eagle plumes.

136. Tsé`-bi-ta-i, or Winged Rock, is a high, sharp pinnacle of dark volcanic rock, rising from a wide plain in the northwestern part of New Mexico, about 12 miles from the western boundary of the Territory, and about 20 miles from the northern boundary. The Navahoes liken it to a bird, and hence the name of Winged Rock, or more literally Rock, Its Wings. The whites think it resembles a ship with sails set, and call it Ship Rock. Its bird-like appearance has probably suggested to the Navahoes the idea of making it the mythic home of the bird-like Tse`na'hale.

137. There are many instances in Navaho language and legend where, when two things somewhat resemble each other, but one is the coarser, the stronger, or the more violent, it is spoken of as male, or associated with the male; while the finer, weaker, or more gentle is spoken of as female, or associated with the female. Thus the turbulent San Juan River is called, by the Navaho, To`baká, or Male Water; while the placid Rio Grande is known as To`baád, or Female Water. A shower accompanied by thunder and lightning is called niltsabaká, or male rain; a shower without electrical display is called niltsabaád, or female rain. In the myth of Nati'nesthani the mountain mahogany is said to be used for the male sacrificial cigarette, and the cliff rose for the female. These two shrubs are much alike, particularly when in fruit and decked with long plumose styles, but the former (the "male") is the larger and coarser shrub. In the myth of Dsilyi` Neyáni another instance may be found where mountain mahogany is associated with the male, and the cliff rose with the female. Again, in the myth of Nati'nesthani a male cigarette is described as made of the coarse sunflower, while its associated female is said to be made of the allied but more slender Verbesina. Instances of this character might be multiplied indefinitely. On this principle the north is associated with the male, and the south with the female, for two reasons: 1st, cold, violent winds blow from the north, while gentle, warm breezes blow from the south; 2d, the land north of the Navaho country is more rough and mountainous than the land in the south. In the former rise the great peaks of Colorado, while in the latter the hills are not steep and none rise to the limit of eternal snow. A symbolism probably antecedent to this has assigned black as the color of the north and blue as the color of the south; so, in turn, black symbolizes the male and blue the female among the Navaho. (From "A Vigil of the Gods.")[328]

138. Version A.--The young birds were the color of a blue heron, but had bills like eagles. Their eyes were as big as a circle made by the thumbs and middle fingers of both hands. Nayénezgani threw the birds first to the bottom of the cliff and there metamorphosed them.

139. The etymology of the word Tse'-da-ni (Englished, chedany) has not been determined. It is an expression denoting impatience and contempt.

140. On being asked for the cause of this sound, the narrator gave an explanation which indicated that the "Hottentot apron" exists among American Indians. The author has had previous evidence corroborative of this.

141. Version B here adds: "Giving up her feathers for lost, she turned her attention to giving names to the different kinds of birds as they flew out,--names which they bear to this day among the Navajos,--until her basket was empty."

142. Tse`-ta-ho-tsil-tá`-li is said to mean He (Who) Kicks (People) Down the Cliff. Some pronounce the name Tse`-ta-yi-tsil-tá`-li.

143. In versions A and B, the hero simply cuts the hair of the monster and allows the latter to fall down the cliff.

144. Na-tsis-a-án is the Navaho Mountain, an elevation 10,416 feet high, ten miles south of the junction of the Colorado and San Juan rivers, in the State of Utah.

145. Thus does the Navaho story-teller weakly endeavor to score a point against his hereditary enemy, the Pah Ute. But it is poor revenge, for the Pah Ute is said to have usually proved more than a match for the Navaho in battle. In Version A, the young are transformed into Rocky Mountain sheep; in Version B, they are changed into birds of prey.

146. This is the place at which the Bináye Aháni were born, as told in par. 203. The other monsters mentioned in Part II. were not found by Nayénezgani at the places where they were said to be born.

147. Other versions make mention, in different places, of a Salt Woman, or goddess of salt, Ásihi Estsán; but the version of Hatáli Nez does not allude to her. Version A states that she supplied the bag of salt which Nayénezgani carried on his expedition.

148. Tsi-dil-tó-i means shooting or exploding bird. The name comes, perhaps, from some peculiarity of this bird, which gives warning of the approach of an enemy.

149. Hos-tó-di is probably an onomatopoetic name for a bird. It is said to be sleepy in the daytime and to come out at night.

150. Version B says that scalps were the trophies.

151. In all versions of this legend, but two hero gods or war gods are prominently mentioned, viz., Nayénezgani and To`badzistsíni; but in these songs four names are given. This is to satisfy the Indian reverence for the number four, and the dependent poetic requirement which often constrains the Navaho poet to put four stanzas in a song. Léyaneyani, or Reared Beneath the Earth (par. 286), is an obscure hero whose only deed of valor, according to this version of the legend, was the killing of his witch sister (par. 281). The deeds of Tsówenatlehi, or the Changing Grandchild, are not known to the writer. Some say that Léyaneyani and Tsówenatlehi are only other names for Nayénezgani and To`badzistsíni; but the best authorities in the tribe think otherwise. One version of this legend says that Estsánatlehi hid her children under the ground when Yéitso came seeking to devour them. This may have given rise to the idea that one of these children was called, also, Reared Beneath the Earth.

152. The following are the names of places where pieces were knocked off the stone:--

Bisdá, Edge of Bank. To`kohokádi, Ground Level with Water. (Here Nayénezgani chased the stone four times in a circle; the chips he knocked off are there yet.) Daatsi'ndaheol, Floating Corn-cob. Nitati's, Cottonwood below Ground. Sasdestsá`, Gaping Bear. Béikithatyêl, Broad Lake. Nánzozilin, Make Nánzoz Sticks. Aki'ddahalkaí, Something White on Top (of something else). Anádsil, Enemy Mountain. Sásbito`, Bear Spring (Fort Wingate). Tse`tyêliski'd, Broad Rock Hill. Tsadihábitin, Antelope Trail Ascending. Kinhitsói, Much Sumac. Tsúskai (Chusca Knoll). Lestsídelkai, Streaks of White Ashes. Dsilnáodsil, Mountain Surrounded by Mountains (Carrizo Mountains.). Tisnáspas, Circle of Cottonwood.

The above, it is said, are all places where constant springs of water (rare in the Navaho land) are to be found. Some are known to be such. This gives rise to the idea expressed in note 8. There is little doubt that the Navahoes believe in many of the Tiéholtsodi. Probably every constant spring or watercourse has its water god.

153. Version A adds an account of a wicked woman who dwelt at Ki'ndotliz and slew her suitors. Nayénezgani kills her. It also adds an account of vicious swallows who cut people with their wings. Version B omits the encounter with Sasnalkáhi and Tsé`nagahi.

154. Possibly this refers to Pueblo legends.

155. Version B, which gives only a very meagre account of this destructive storm, mentions only one talisman, but says that songs were sung and dances performed over this.

156. Such pillars as the myth refers to are common all over the Navaho land.

157. Version A makes Nayénezgani say here: "I have been to ni`indahazlágo (the end of the earth); to`indahazlágo (the end of the waters); to yaindahazlágo (the end of the sky); and to dsilindahazlágo (the end of the mountains), and I have found none that were not my friends."

158. Pás-zin-i is the name given by the Navahoes to the hard mineral substance which they use to make black beads, and other sacrifices to the gods of the north. Specimens of this substance have been examined by Prof. F. W. Clark of the United States Geological Survey, who pronounces it to be a fine bituminous coal of about the quality of cannel coal; so it is, for convenience, called cannel coal in this work. It is scarce in the Navaho land and is valued by the Indians.

159. This refers to large fossil bones found in many parts of Arizona and New Mexico.

160. Ha-dá-ho-ni-ge-di-ne` (Mirage People), Ha-dá-ho-nes-tid-di-ne` (Ground-heat People). Hadáhonestid is translated ground-heat, for want of a more convenient term. It refers to the waving appearance given to objects in hot weather, observed so frequently in the arid region, and due to varying refraction near the surface of the ground.

161. The ceremony at Tsinlí (Chinlee Valley) was to celebrate the nubility of Estsánatlehi. Although already a mother, she was such miraculously, and not until this time did she show signs of nubility. Such a ceremony is performed for every Navaho maiden now. The ceremony at San Francisco Mountain occurred four days after that at Tsinlí. It is now the custom among the Navahoes to hold a second ceremony over a maiden four days after the first. On the second ceremony with Estsánatlehi they laid her on top of the mountain with her head to the west, because she was to go to the west to dwell there. They manipulated her body and stretched out her limbs. Thus she bade the people do, in future, to all Navaho maidens, and thus the Navahoes do now, in the ceremony of the fourth day, when they try to mould the body of the maiden to look like the perfect form of Estsánatlehi. Version A makes the nubile ceremony occur before the child was born.

162. Dsil-li-zi'n, or Dsillizi'ni (Black Mountain), is an extensive mesa in Apache County, Arizona. The pass to which the myth refers is believed to be that named, by the United States Geological Survey, Marsh Pass, which is about 60 miles north of the Moki villages. The name of the mesa is spelled "Zilh-le-jini" on the accompanying map.

163. To`-ye't-li (Meeting Waters) is the junction of two important rivers somewhere in the valley of the San Juan River, in Colorado or Utah. The precise location has not been determined. It is a locality often mentioned in the Navaho myths. (See par. 477.)

164. The following appeared in the "American Naturalist" for February, 1887:--