The Tolchini (a Navajo clan) lived at Wind Mountain. One of the brothers
became crazy and he went off a long way, and on his return brought with
him a pine bough; a second time he returned with corn, and from each trip
he brought something new and had a story to tell about it. His brothers
would not believe him, and said, "He is crazy; he does not know what he is
talking about." The brothers, however, became very jealous of him, and
constantly taunted him with being a crazy liar. The Tolchini left the Wind
Mountain and went to a rocky foothill east of San Mateo Mountain. They had
nothing to eat but a kind of seed grass. The eldest brother said, "Let us
go hunt," and told the crazy brother not to leave the camp. But after five
days and nights and no word coming from the brothers he determined to
follow them and help them, bring home the game; he thought they had killed
more deer than they could carry. After a day's travel he camped near a
canyon, selecting a cavelike place in which to sleep, for he was tired and
thirsty. There was much snow, but no water, so he made a fire and heated a
rock and made a hole in the ground, and placing the rock in the cavity put
in some snow, which melted and furnished him a draft to quench his thirst.
Just then he heard a tumult over his head like people passing and he went
out to see who made the noise, and he discovered many crows crossing back
and forth over the canyon. This was the home of the crow. There were other
feathered people also (the chaparral cock was among them). He saw also
many fires which had been made by the crows on either side of the canyon.
Two other crows arrived and stood near him and he listened hard to hear
all that was being said. These two crows cried out, "Somebody says,
somebody says." The youth did not know what to make of this. Then, a crow
from the opposite side of the canyon called, "What is the matter; tell us,
tell us; what is wrong?" The two first criers then said, "Two of us got
killed; we met two men who told us. They said the two men, who were all
the time traveling around (referring to the two brothers of the crazy
youth), killed twelve deer and a party of our people went to the deer
after they were killed. Two of us who went after the blood of the deer
were shot." The crows on the other side of the canyon, called, "Which men
got killed?" The first crier replied, "The chaparral cock, who sat on the
horn of the deer, and the crow, who sat on its backbone." The other called
out, "We are not surprised that they were killed; that is what we tell you
all the time. If you will go after the dead deer you must expect to be
killed." "We will not think of them longer; they are dead and gone. We are
talking of things of long ago." The younger brother sat quietly below and
listened to everything that was being said.
After a time the crows on the other side of the canyon made a great noise
and began to dance. They had many songs at that time. The youth could not
see what they were doing, but he listened all the time. After the dance
began a great fire was made, and then he could see black objects moving,
but he could not distinguish any people. He recognized the voice of
Hasjelti. Though the youth was crazy, he remembered everything in his
heart. He even remembered the words of the songs that continued all the
night; he remembered every word of every song. He said to himself, "I will
listen until daylight." These people did not remain on one side of the
canyon where the first fires were built, but they crossed and recrossed in
their dance and had fires on both sides of the canyon. They danced back
and forth until daylight (on the ninth night of the Hasjelti Dailjis was a
repetition of this dance), when all the crows and the other birds flew
away to the west. All that he saw after they left was the fires and smoke.
The crazy youth then started off in a run to his brothers' camp to tell
what he had seen and heard. His brothers were up early and saw the boy
approaching. They said, "I bet he will have lots of stories to tell. He
will say he saw something no one ever saw, or somebody jumped on him." And
the brother-in-law who was with them said, "Let him alone; when he comes
into camp he will tell us all, and I believe these things do happen, for
he could not make up these things all the time."
The camp was surrounded by piñon brush and a large fire burned in the
center of the inclosure; there was much meat roasting over the fire. As
soon as the youth reached the camp he raked over the coals and said, "I
feel cold." The brother-in-law replied, "It is cold. When people camp
together they tell stories to one another in the mornings; we have told
ours and we must now hear yours." The youth related his experiences of the
past night. He said, "Where I stopped last night was the worst camp I ever
had." The brothers kept their backs to the youth and pretended not to pay
any attention, but the brother-in-law listened and questioned him. He
continued, "I never heard such a noise." The brothers then remarked, "I
thought he would say something like that" (they were jealous of this crazy
brother, he saw so much they could not see). The brother-in-law was
inclined to believe the youth's story and asked what kind of people made
the noise. "I do not know. They were strange people to me, but I do know
they danced all night back and forth across the canyon, and I know my
brothers killed twelve deer, and afterwards killed two of their people who
went for the blood of the deer. I heard them say, 'That is what must be
expected if you will go to such places you must expect to be killed.'" The
elder brother began thinking and without turning toward the youth asked,
"How many deer did you say were killed?" and he answered "twelve." Then
the older brother said, "Well, sir, you have told me many stories and I
never believed you, but this story I do believe. What is the matter with
you that you know all these things? How do you know these things and find
out these things?" The youth replied, "I do not know how, but all these
things come to my mind and my eyes." The elder brother said, "I will now
give more thought to you and study how you find out all about these
things. We have a lot of meat and we did not know how to get it home; now
that you have come let us return; you shall carry the meat." When halfway
home they were about to descend a mesa, and when on the edge they sat down
to rest; then they saw far down the mesa four mountain sheep, and the
brothers commanded the youth to kill one for them. They said, "Our meat is
dry; your legs are fresh, so you will kill the sheep." The youth succeeded
in heading off the sheep by hiding in a bush (_Bigelovia Douglasii_(9))
sometimes called sage brush but it is not the true sage brush. The sheep
came directly toward him; he aimed his arrow at them, but before he could
pull the bow his arm stiffened and became dead and the sheep passed by.
All the sheep passed him, but he again headed them off by hiding in the
stalks of a large yucca.(10) The sheep passed within five steps of him,
and again when the time to pull the bow came his arm stiffened. The crow
people were watching him all the time. He again followed the sheep and got
ahead of them and hid behind a birch tree in bloom; he had his bow ready,
but as the sheep approached him they became gods. The first one was
Hasjelti, the second was Hostjoghon, the third was Naaskiddi, the fourth
one was Hadatchishi. At this strange metamorphosis the youth was greatly
alarmed, he dropped his bow and fell to the ground senseless. Hasjelti
stood at the east side of the youth, Hostjoghon to the south, Naaskiddi to
the west, and Hadatchishi to the north of him. Each had a rattle, which
was used to accompany the songs for the recovery of the youth. They also
traced with their rattle in the sand this emblem, meaning a figure of a
man, and drew parallel lines at the head and feet with the rattle. When
this was done the youth recovered and the gods had again assumed the form
of sheep. They asked the youth why he had tried to shoot them. "You see
you are one of us," they said. The youth had become transformed into a
sheep. "There is to be a dance far off to the north beyond Ute Mountain;
we want you to go with us to the dance. We will dress you like ourselves
and teach you to dance; we will then go over the world." The brothers who
watched from the mesa top wondered what the trouble could be. They could
not see the gods. They saw the youth lying on the ground and said, "We
must go and see what is the matter." On reaching the place they found that
their young brother had gone. They saw where he had lain and where the
people had worked over him. They began crying and said, "For a long time
we would not believe him, and now he has gone off with the sheep." They
made many efforts to head off the sheep, but without success, and they
cried all the more, saying, as they returned to the mesa, "Our brother
told us the truth and we would not believe him; had we believed him he
would not have gone off with the sheep; perhaps some day we will see him."
[Illustration: Emblem]
At the dance the sheep found seven others like themselves. This made their
number twelve. The seven joined the others in their journey around the
world. All people let them see their dances and learn their songs. Then
all the number excepting the youth talked together and they said, "There
is no use keeping him with us longer (referring to the youth); he has
learned everything; he may as well go now and tell his people and have
them do as we do." The youth was instructed to have twelve in the dance,
six gods and six goddesses, with Hasjelti to lead them. He was told to
have his people make masks to represent them. It would not do to have
twelve Naaskiddi represented among the Navajo, for they would not believe
it and there would be trouble. They could not learn all of their songs.
The youth returned to his brothers, carrying with him all songs, all
medicine, and clothing.