Then the snake came closer and put the pollen on top of Coyote's head.
But Coyote did not have the long tongue of the snake and he could not
get the pollen off the top of his head. He put out his tongue first on
one side of his nose and then on the other, but he could only reach to
the side of his nose. His efforts made the snake laugh, but the snake
put his hand over his mouth so Coyote should not see him laugh. Really,
the snake hid his head in his body.
At last Coyote went home. As he left the snake's house, he held his tail
in his hand and shook the rattle.
Snake cried, "Oh, companion! I am so afraid of you!" but really the
snake shook with laughter.
When Coyote reached his home he said to himself,
"I was such a fool. Rattlesnake had much food to eat and I would not
take it. Now I am very hungry."
Then he went out in search of food.
Origin of the Saguaro and Palo Verde Cacti
Pima (Arizona)
Once upon a time an old Indian woman had two grandchildren. Every day
she ground wheat and corn between the grinding stones to make porridge
for them. One day as she put the water-olla on the fire outside the
house to heat the water, she told the children not to quarrel because
they might upset the olla. But the children began to quarrel. They upset
the olla and spilled the water and their grandmother spanked them.
Then the children were angry and ran away. They ran far away over the
mountains. The grandmother heard them whistling and she ran after them
and followed them from place to place, but she could not catch up with
them.
At last the older boy said, "I will turn into a saguaro, so that I shall
live forever and bear fruit every summer."
The younger said, "Then I will turn into a palo verde and stand there
forever. These mountains are so bare and have nothing on them but rocks,
I will make them green."
The old woman heard the cactus whistling and recognized the voice of her
grandson. So she went up to it and tried to take the prickly thing into
her arms, but the thorns killed her.
That is how the saguaro and the palo verde came to be on the mountains
and the desert.
The Thirsty Quails
Pima (Arizona)
A Quail once had more than twenty children, and with them she wandered
over the whole country in search of water and could not find it. It was
very hot and they were all crying, "Where can we get some water? Where
can we get some water?" but for a long time they could find none.
At last, way in the north, under a mesquite tree, the mother quail saw a
pond of water, but it was very muddy and not fit to drink. But the
little quails had been wandering so many days and were so tired they
stopped under the shade of the mesquite tree, and by and by, one by one,
they went down to the water and 'drank it. But the water was so bad they
all died.
The Boy and the Beast
Pima (Arizona)
Once an old woman lived with her daughter and son-in-law and their
little boy. They were following the trail of the Apache Indians. Now
whenever a Pima Indian sees the trail of an Apache he draws a ring
around it; then he can catch him sooner. And these Pimas drew circles
around the trail of the Apaches they were following, but one night when
they were asleep, the Apaches came down upon them. They took the man and
younger woman by the hair and shook them out of their skins, just as one
would shake corn out of a sack. So the boy and the old woman were left
alone.
Now these two had to live on berries and anything they could find, and
they wandered from place to place. In one place a strange beast, big
enough to swallow people, camped in the bushes near them. The
grand-mother told the boy not to go near these bushes. But the boy took
some sharp stones in his hands, and went toward them. As he came near,
the great monster began to breathe. He began to suck in his breath and
he sucked the boy right into his stomach. But with his sharp stones the
boy began to cut the beast, so that he died. Then the boy made a hole
large enough to climb out of.
When his grandmother came to look for him, the boy met her and said, "I
have killed that monster."
The grandmother said, "Oh, no. Such a little boy as you are to kill such
a great monster!"
The boy said, "But I was inside of him, just look at the stones I cut
him with."
Then the grandmother went softly up to the bushes, and looked at the
monster. It was full of holes, just as the little boy had said.
Then they moved down among the berry bushes and had all they wanted to
eat.
Why the Apaches are Fierce
Pima (Arizona)
Elder Brother, Coyote, and Earth Doctor, after the flood vanished, began
to create people and animals. Coyote made all the animals, Elder Brother
made the people, and Earth Doctor made queer creatures which had only
one leg, or immense ears, or many fingers, and some having flames of
fire in their knees.
Elder Brother divided his figures of people into four groups. One of the
Apaches came to life first. He shivered and said, "Oh, it's very cold,"
and began to sway back and forth. Then Elder Brother said, "I did n't
think you would be the first to awake," and he took all the Apaches up
in his hand and threw them over the mountains. That made them angry, and
that is why they have always been so fierce.
Speech on the Warpath
Pima (Arizona)
We have come thus far, my brothers. In the east there is White Gopher,
who gnaws with his strong teeth. He was friendly and came to me. On his
way he came to the surface from the underground four times. Looking in
all four directions, he saw a magic whitish trail. Slowly following
this, he neared the enemy, coming to the surface from the underground
four times during the journey. Their power stood in their land like a
mountain, but he bit it off short, and he sank their springs by biting
them. He saw that the wind of the enemy was strong and he cut it up with
his teeth. He gnawed in short pieces their clouds. They had good dreams
and bright false-seeing, good bow strings and straight-flying reeds, but
these he grasped and bit off short. The different belongings lying about
he took with him, turning around homeward. On his way homeward over the
whitish trail, he came to the surface four times, and magic fire
appeared around the edges. Then he came to his bed. He felt that the
land roared rejoicingly with him.
In the south was Blue Coyote and there I sent my cry. He was friendly
and came to me from his blue darkness, circling around and shouting,
four times, on his journey, making magic fire everywhere. When he
arrived, he looked in four directions, then understood. A whitish magic
trail lay before him. He cast his blue darkness upon the enemy and
slowly approached them, circling around and shouting four times on the
way. Like a mountain was their power in the land, and he sucked it in.
The springs of water under the trees he sucked in. The wind that was
blowing he inhaled. He sucked in the clouds. The people dreamed of a
white thing, and their dreams he sucked in, with their best bow strings
and the straight-flying reeds. All the different belongings which lay
around he gathered and slowly turned back. Hidden in the blue darkness,
he came to me, circling around, shouting, four times on his journey.
Then he homeward took his way, circling, howling, four times, and
shouting reached his bed. With pleasure he felt all directions thud. The
east echoed.
In the sunset direction was Black Kangaroo Mouse, an expert robber. To
him I sent my cry. He was friendly to me and came hidden in black
darkness, sitting down four times upon his way. Magic fire covered the
edges of his trail. When he reached me he looked in all directions. The
magic trail brightly lay before him. He threw black darkness around him
and slowly reached the enemy, sitting down four times upon the trail. He
found a bag of the enemy, with much prized possessions. It was tied one
knot on top of another, but he bit them off. He took from it the blue
necklaces, blue earrings, and the different belongings lying around
gathered up with him. Then he slowly took his way back on the magic
trail, with magic fire everywhere. Hidden in his yellow darkness, he
returned to me. He left the others at the council and in darkness took
his homeward way, resting four times. He sat on his bed and felt all
directions of the earth rustling in the darkness. Darkness lay all
around.
I called on Owl, the white blood-sucker. To him I sent my cry. He was
friendly and came down to me with four thin flys (sailing) on the way.
He looked in all directions. The magic trail brightly before him lay. He
flew, with four thin flys, toward the enemy. The mountain of their power
which stood in the land he bit off short. The springs he bit off, and
their very good dreams. The best bow strings and the straight-flying
reeds he grasped and cut very short. He bit off their flesh and made
holes in their bones. From the things gathered, he made a belt from a
bowstring. Then he returned. He came through the whitish mist of dawn in
four flights. The people held a council. Leaving them there, he after
four thin flys reached his bed in the gray dawn mist. Then in all
directions he heard the darkness rattling, as he lay there.
The Spirit Land
Gallinomero (Russian River, Cal.)
When the flames burn low on the funeral pyres of the Gallinomero, Indian
mourners gather up handfuls of ashes and scatter them high in air. Thus
the good mount up into the air, or go to the Happy Western Land beyond
the Big Water.
But the bad Indians go to an island in the Bitter Waters, an island
naked and barren and desolate, covered only with brine-spattered stone,
swept with cold winds and the biting sea-spray. Here they live always,
breaking stone upon one another, with no food but the broken stones and
no drink but the salt sea water.
Song of the Ghost Dance
Pai Ute (Kern River, Cal.)
The snow lies there--ro-rani!
The snow lies there--ro-rani!
The snow lies there--ro-rani!
The snow lies there--ro-rani!
The Milky Way lies there.
The Milky Way lies there.
"This is one of the favorite songs of the Paiute Ghost dance.... It
must be remembered that the dance is held in the open air at night, with
the stars shining down on the wide-extending plain walled in by the
giant Sierras, fringed at the base with dark pines, and with their peaks
white with eternal snows. Under such circumstances this song of the snow
lying white upon the mountains, and the Milky Way stretching across the
clear sky, brings up to the Paiute the same patriotic home love that
comes from lyrics of singing birds and leafy trees and still waters to
the people of more favored regions.... The Milky Way is the road of
the dead to the spirit world."