"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.