Long years ago three brothers--the eldest rich, the second a wayward,
roving gambler, and the youngest a mere boy--lived together among their
kind, the Dine{~COMBINING BREVE~} people. Their only sister was married, living apart with
her husband. The gambler often took property belonging to his brothers,
going to distant corners of the land to stake it on games of chance. On
returning, he never failed to relate a story of wonders he had seen--the
Holy People whom he had met, and who revealed many things to him. His
brothers never believed him, calling him Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, The Dreamer.
[Illustration: _Ga__n__ askidi. Zahadolzha. Hasche{~COMBINING BREVE~}lti_ - Navaho]
_Ga__n__ askidi. Zahadolzha. Hasche{~COMBINING BREVE~}lti_ - Navaho
_From Copyright Photograph 1904 by E.S. Curtis_
The personated deities pictured in this plate appear together in acts of
succor in the Night Chant in the order seen, the Talking God in the lead.
From left to right they are, respectively, the God of Harvest, Fringe
Mouth, and Talking God.
One day they wished to go hunting, but did not want The Dreamer to
accompany them, so, going to the home of their brother-in-law, they told
him of their purpose, and all three stole away. As the sun began its
descent on the fourth day, it occurred to Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni that he had been
tricked, so he started in search of the hunters, hoping to meet them
returning, that he might help them carry their game and be rewarded with a
pelt or two. He travelled far, but had not come upon them when the sun
passed behind the distant hills. Near by was a deep, rock-walled canon,
from the depths of which many mingled voices could be heard. Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni
walked to its edge and peered over. Back and forth from side to side flew
countless crows, passing in and out of dark holes in opposite walls. From
below, when darkness had shrouded all, Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni heard a human voice
call in loud echoing tones, "They say, they say, they say, they say!"
From the far side came the answer: "Yes, yes! What's the matter now?
What's the matter now?"
"Two people were killed to-day," continued the voice just below.
"Who were they? Who were they?"
To which the first voice answered, "Anahaili{~COMBINING BREVE~}hi, killed at sunrise, and
Igakizhi, killed at dusk, by the People of the Earth. They went in search
of meat, and the hunters shot arrows into them. We are sorry, but they
were told to be careful and did not heed. It is too late to help them now;
let us go on with the chant."
It had grown very dark, and Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni became greatly frightened, but
he stayed to listen and watch. Muffled strains of songs came from the deep
recesses in each canon wall,--the gods were singing--and just within the
openings, discernible in the glow of a fire, could be seen many dancers
performing in unison as they kept time with rattles. Throughout the night
firelight flickered from wall to wall and singing and dancing continued.
At daylight the participants departed in all directions, so Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni
resumed the quest of the hunters.
He had travelled but a short time when he came upon his brothers, resting
their heavy game packs on their journey homeward.
"Here comes The Dreamer," spoke his elder brother. "I will wager he has
something marvellous to relate."
Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni was greeted first by his brother-in-law. "You must have
slept near here last night, for you are too far out to have made this
distance since daylight."
"I did," he replied, "near a canon that is surely holy. A lot of people
had gathered to dance, the gods sang, and--"
"There, I told you he would have some lie to tell," interrupted the eldest
brother, and started on.
"Go ahead," urged the brother-in-law; "tell us the rest."
"It's no use; no one cares to listen to me," said Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni.
His younger brother, also incredulous, took up his burden and plodded off,
whereat Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni related all that he had seen and heard.
"You men must have killed those people they spoke about," he accused.
"No, it was none of us," his brother-in-law protested; "we have killed no
people. Yesterday morning one shot a crow, and last night we killed a
magpie, but there was no harm in that."
"I fear there was; they were hunters like yourselves, in search of meat
for the Holy People, for the time disguised as birds," Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni
ventured. Then, dividing the pack, the two hurried on to overtake the
others.
"Well," asked the youngest, "did you hear a fine story?"
"It is not a lie," his brother-in-law retorted; "we killed a crow and a
magpie yesterday, and the Holy People talked about it in the canon last
night. Look! There come four mountain sheep! Hurry, Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni and head
them off!" They had come upon the canon where the strange voices had been
heard. Four sheep, among large bowlders near the rim, were carefully
threading their way out of it. The three dropped back, while Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni
ran ahead and concealed himself near the ascending trail. As the sheep
approached he drew his bow and aimed for the leader's heart, but his
fingers could not loose their grip upon the arrow, and the sheep passed by
unharmed. Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni scrambled up over the rim of the canon and ran to
get ahead of them again, but the bowstring would not leave his fingers as
they passed. A third effort, and a fourth, to kill the game brought the
same result. Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni cursed himself and the sheep, but ceased
suddenly, for whom should he see but four gods, Yebichai, appear before
him, who had transformed themselves into sheep! Hasche{~COMBINING BREVE~}lti, in the lead,
ran up to him and dropped his _balil_--a rectangular, four-piece, folding
wand--over him, as he sat, and uttered a peculiar cry. Behind him came
Zahadolzha, Haschebaad, and Ganaskidi; all were masked.
[Illustration: _Tonenili, Tobadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani_ - Navaho]
_Tonenili, Tobadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani_ - Navaho
_From Copyright Photograph 1904 by E.S. Curtis_
These three gods appear in the order shown when seen in the rites of the
Navaho Night Chant.
"Whence came you?" Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni asked them.
"From Kinni{~COMBINING BREVE~}nikai," Hasche{~COMBINING BREVE~}lti answered.
"Whither are you going?"
"To Tse{~COMBINING BREVE~}gyii, to hold another _hatal_ four days from now. You had better
come along."
"No, I couldn't travel so far in four days."
But after a little parleying Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni assented. He was told to
disrobe, and doing so Ganaskidi breathed upon him, and his raiment became
the same as that of the gods. Then all took four steps eastward, changing
into mountain sheep, and bounded away along the canon's rim.
The hunters in hiding became restless as The Dreamer did not return, so
ventured out where they could view the trail on which he was last seen. No
one was in sight. One went to the rock where Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni first hid near
the sheep and followed his tracks from hiding place to hiding place until
the fourth one was reached, and there he found his brother's old clothes
with his bow and arrows upon them. There he traced four human footsteps to
the east that merged into the trail of five mountain sheep. The eldest
brother cried in his remorse, for he saw that his brother was holy, and he
had always treated him with scorn.
The gods and Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, transformed to mountain sheep, travelled very
far during their four days' journey, coming on the fourth day to a large
hogan. Inside were numerous Holy People, both gods and men. When Bilh
Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni entered with his four holy companions, a complaint at once arose
from those inside against an earthly odor, whereat Hasche{~COMBINING BREVE~}lti had their
charge taken out and washed with yucca-root suds.
Inside the hogan stood four large jewel posts upon which the gods hung
their masks. The eastern post was of white shell, the southern of
turquoise, the western of abalone, and the northern of jet. Two jewel
pipes lay beside a god sitting on the western side of the hogan. These he
filled with tobacco and lighted, passing one each to his right and his
left. All assembled smoked, the last to receive the pipes being two large
Owls sitting one on each side of the entrance way at the east. They drew
in deep draughts of smoke and puffed them out violently. While the smoking
continued, people came in from all directions. At midnight lightning
flashed, followed by heavy thunder and rain, which Tonenili, Water
Sprinkler, sent in anger because he had not been apprised of the dance
before it was time to begin it; but a smoke with the assembled Holy People
appeased him. Soon after the chant began and continued until morning.
Some of the gods had beautiful paintings on deerskins, resembling those
now made with colored sands. These they unfolded upon the floor of the
hogan during the successive days of the _hatal_.
The last day of the dance was very largely attended, people coming from
all holy quarters. Bilh Ahati{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni through it all paid close attention to
the songs, prayers, paintings, and dance movements, and the forms of the
various sacred paraphernalia, and when the _hatal_ was over he had learned
the rite of Kleje Hatal. The gods permitted him to return to his people
long enough to perform it over his younger brother and teach him how to
conduct it for people afflicted with sickness or evil. This he did,
consuming nine days in its performance, after which he again joined the
gods at Tse{~COMBINING BREVE~}gyii, where he now lives. His younger brother taught the
ceremony to his earthly brothers, the Navaho, who yet conduct it under the
name of Kleje Hatal, Night Chant, or Yebichai Hatal, The Chant of Paternal
Gods.