hear what was said, but he soon awoke, and put on the imitation flint
armor without detecting the fraud. He then for the first time became
aware of the Youth's presence, and demanded what he wished. "I have
come to take my wife home," answered the hero. Man-Eagle said, "We
must gamble to decide that, and if you lose I shall slay you," to
which the Youth agreed. Man-Eagle brought out a huge pipe, larger than
a man's head, and having filled it with tobacco, gave it to the hero,
saying, "You must smoke this entirely out, and if you become dizzy or
nauseated, you lose." So the Youth lit the pipe and smoked, but
exhaled nothing. He kept the pipe aglow and swallowed all the smoke
and felt no ill effect, for he passed it through his body into an
underground passageway that Mole had dug. Man-Eagle was amazed and
asked what had become of the smoke. The Youth, going to the door,
showed him great clouds of dense smoke issuing from the four cardinal
points, and the monster saw that he had lost.
But Man-Eagle tried a second time with the hero. He brought two
deer-antlers, saying, "We will each choose one, and he who fails to
break the one he chooses loses." The antler which he laid down on the
northwest side was a real antler, but that on the southeast was an
imitation made of brittle wood. Spider Woman prompted the Youth to
demand the first choice, but Man-Eagle refused him that right. After
the youth had insisted four times, Man-Eagle yielded, and the hero
chose the brittle antler and tore its prongs asunder, but Man-Eagle
could not break the real antler, and thus lost a second time.
Man-Eagle had two fine, large pine trees growing near his house, and
said to the hero, "You choose one of these trees and I will take the
other, and whoever plucks one up by the roots shall win." Now Mole had
burrowed under one of them and had gnawed through all its roots,
cutting them off; and had run through his tunnel and was sitting at
its mouth, peering through the grass, anxious to see the Youth win.
The hero, with the help of his grandmother, chose the tree that Mole
had prepared and plucked it up, and threw it over the cliff, but
Man-Eagle struggled with the other tree and could not move it, so he
was unhappy in his third defeat.
Then Man-Eagle spread a great supply of food on the floor and said to
the Youth that he must eat all at one sitting. The Youth sat and ate
all the meat, bread, and porridge, emptying one food basin after
another, and showed no sign of being satisfied before all was
consumed; for Mole had again aided him and dug a large hole below to
receive it, and the Youth was a winner the fourth time.
Man-Eagle then made a great wood-pile and directed the Youth to sit
upon it, saying he would ignite it and that if he were unharmed he
would submit himself to the same test. The Youth took his allotted
place, and Man-Eagle set fire to the pile of wood at the four cardinal
points, and it speedily was ablaze. The arrow heads of which the flint
armor was made were coated with ice, which melted so that water
trickled down and prevented the Youth from being burnt, and all the
wood-pile was consumed, leaving the Youth unharmed.
The monster was filled with wonder and grieved very much when he saw
the Youth making another great pile of wood. Still thinking that he
wore his fire-proof suit, he mounted the wood-pile, which the Youth
lit at the four cardinal points. The fuel blazed up, and as soon as
the fire caught the imitation armor of gum, it ignited with a flash
and the monster was consumed. At the prompting of the Spider Woman,
the Youth approached the ashes, took the charm in his mouth, and
spurted it over them, when suddenly a handsome man arose. The Spider
Woman said to him, "Will you refrain from killing people, and will
you forsake your evil habits?" The Man-Eagle assented with a fervent
promise, and the Youth, rejoicing, ran to his wife, embraced her, and
set free all the captive women wives of the Hopi and other peoples, of
whom there were many. Eagle and Hawk carried them to the ground on
their broad pinions.
Over the plains and through the mountains roamed the Giant Elk. Many
times larger was he than an ordinary elk, and an enemy to the Hopi,
whom he slew with his great horns, laughing at their arrows and flint
knives.
No one was safe from this roaming monster, enemy to living beings, so
the Twins set out to have a trial of strength and skill with him. As
it chanced, the Giant Elk was lying down in a beautiful valley, under
the aspen trees of the San Francisco Mountains. Near the house of the
Youths was this valley, and as they sought to stalk the Giant Elk the
Mole met them and said, "Do not encounter him, for he is mighty and
may kill you; wait here and I will help you."
The Mole then excavated four chambers in the earth, one below another,
and made the Twins remain in the upper one. He dug a long tunnel and
coming up under the Elk, plucked a little soft hair from over his
heart, at which the Elk turned his head and looked down, but the Mole
said, "Be not angry, I only want a little soft hair to make a bed for
my children." So the Elk allowed him to continue the plucking. But the
Mole took away enough fur to leave the skin quite bare over the
heart, and expose the Elk to death. He then returned to the Twins and
told them what he had done, and they threw bolts of lightning and
wounded the Elk, who sprang to his feet and charged fiercely. But the
Twins concealed themselves in the upper chamber, and when the Elk
tried to gore them his horns were not long enough; again he charged,
and thrust his horns downward, but the Twins had safely retreated to
the second chamber; again he tried to reach them, but they were safe
in the third room. They retreated to the fourth chamber, and when the
Elk made another attempt he fell dead.
The Chipmunk who had witnessed the fight hurried up, and after
thanking the Twins said he had come to show them how to cut up the
monster's body, which with his sharp teeth he soon accomplished. One
of the Twins thanked Chipmunk, and, stooping, he dipped the tips of
the first two fingers of his right hand in the Elk's blood and drawing
them along the body of the Chipmunk, made on it the marks which he
still bears.
This is the story of how the Twins killed Chaveyo, who was a giant of
the old times, clad in armor made of flint and seeking always for
people to devour.
One day the Twins went to a great pool near Mt. Taylor, and soon
Chaveyo came there likewise; he knelt down and drank four times,
emptying the pool. He then arose and smelt the Twins and threw his
weapon at them, but one of the Twins sprang in the air and as the
weapon passed under him he caught it in his hand. Chaveyo then flung
his lightning at the hero, but one of the Twins caught this as he had
the weapon. The little war-god now flung his weapon at Chaveyo, but it
glanced off his flint shirt. Then the Youth threw the lightning, but
it only staggered him. After this they threw more lightning at
Chaveyo, which knocked him down and killed him outright.
Another story tells how the Twins visited the sun.
The Twins lived with Spider Woman, their mother, on the west side of
Mt. Taylor, and desired to see the home of their father. Spider Woman
gave them as a charm a kind of meal, and directed that when they met
the guardians of the home of the Sun, to chew a little and spurt it
upon them.
The Twins journeyed far to the sunrise where the Sun's home is entered
through a canyon in the sky. There Bear, Mountain Lion, Snake, and
Canyon Closing keep watch. The sky is solid in this place, and the
walls of the entrance are constantly opening and closing, and would
crush any unauthorized person who attempted to pass through.
As the Twins approached the ever-fierce watchers, the trail lay along
a narrow way; they found it led them to a place on one side of which
was the face of a vertical cliff, and on the other a precipice which
sunk sheer to the Below (Underworld). An old man sat there, with his
back against the wall and his knees drawn up close to his chin. When
they attempted to pass, the old man suddenly thrust out his legs,
trying to knock the passers over the cliff. But they leaped back and
saved themselves, and in reply to a protest the old man said his legs
were cramped and he simply extended them for relief. Whereupon the
hero remembered the charm which he had for the southwest direction,
and spurted it upon the old man, forcing the malignant old fellow to
remain quite still with legs drawn up, until the Twins had passed.
They then went on to the watchers, guardians of the entrance to the
Sun's house, whom they subdued in the same manner. They also spurted
the charm on the sides of the cliff, so that it ceased its
oscillations and remained open until they had passed.
These dangers being past, they entered the Sun's house and were
greeted by the Sun's wife, who laid them on a bed of mats. Soon Sun
came home from his trip through the underworld, saying,
I smell strange children here; when men go away their wives
receive the embraces of strangers. Where are the children whom you
have?
So she brought the Twins to him, and he put them in a flint oven and
made a hot fire. After a while, when he opened the door of the oven,
the Twins capered out laughing and dancing about his knees, and he
knew that they were his sons.[12]
[12] From "The Destruction of the Tusayan Monsters," by J.
Walter Fewkes; Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, April-June, 1895, pp.
136-137.
Dr. J. Walter Fewkes says:
The Hopi, like many people, look back to a mythic time when they
believe their ancestors lived in a "paradise," a state or place
where food (corn) was plenty and rains abundant--a world of
perpetual summer and flowers. Their legends recount how, when corn
failed or rains ceased, culture heroes have sought this imaginary
or ideal ancestral home to learn the "medicine" which blessed this
happy land. Each sacerdotal society tells the story of its own
hero, who generally brought from that land a bride who transmitted
to her son the knowledge of the altars, songs, and prayers which
forced the crops to grow and the rains to fall in her native
country. To become thoroughly conversant with the rites he marries
the maid, since otherwise at his death they would be lost, as
knowledge of the "medicine" is transmitted not through his clan,
but to the child of his wife. So the Snake hero brought the Snake
maid (Corn-rain girl) from the underworld, the Flute hero, her
sister, the Little War God the _Lakone mana_. A _Katcina_ hero, in
the old times, on a rabbit hunt, came to a region where there was
no snow. There he saw other _Katcina_ people dancing amidst
beautiful gardens. He received melons from them and carrying them
home told a strange story of a people who inhabited a country
where there were flowering plants in midwinter. The hero and a
comrade were sent back and they stayed with these people,
returning home loaded with fruit during February. They had learned
the songs of those with whom they had lived and taught them in the
kiva of their own people.[13]
[13] The Journ. Amer. Eth. and Arch., Vol. II, p. 152. The
Kachina hero in this story would appear not to have brought a
wife from this people.
Most of the migration traditions are full of mythic elements which
have been incorporated with what has often been found to be veritable
history. One of these, recounting the wanderings of certain Southern
clans, is given by Dr. Fewkes.
At the Red House in the south internecine wars prevailed, and the
two branches of the Patki people separated from the other Hopi and
determined to return to the fatherland in the north. But these two
branches were not on the best of terms, and they traveled
northward by separate routes, the (later settlers of) Miconinovi
holding to the east of the (later settlers of) Walpi.
The Patki traveled north until they came to the Little Colorado
River, and built houses on its banks. After living there many
years the factional dissensions, which seem to have ever haunted
these people, again broke out, and the greater portion of them
withdrew still farther north and built villages the ruins of which
are still discernable not far from the site of the villages their
descendants inhabit at present.
The Squash (Miconinovi) also trended slowly northward, occupying,
like all their legendary movements, a protracted period of
indefinite length--years during which they planted and built homes
alternating with years of devious travel. They grew lax in the
observance of festivals, and Muinwu inflicted punishment upon
them. He caused the water to turn red, and the color of the people
also turned red; he then changed the water to blue, and the people
changed to a similar color. The Snow _katcina_ appeared and urged
them to return to their religion, but they gave no heed to him, so
he left them and took away corn. _Muinwu_ then sent _Palulukon_
who killed rabbits and poured their blood in the springs and
streams, and all the water was changed to blood and the people
were stricken with a plague. They now returned to their religious
observances, and danced and sang, but none of the deities would
listen to them.
A horned _katcina_ appeared to the oldest woman and told her that
on the following morning the oldest man should go out and procure
a root, and that she and a young virgin of her clan should eat it.
After a time she (the old woman) would give birth to a son who
would marry the virgin, and their offspring would redeem the
people. The old woman and the virgin obeyed the _katcina_, and the
former gave birth to a son who had two horns upon his head. The
people would not believe that the child was of divine origin; they
called it a monster and killed it.
After this all manner of distressing punishments were inflicted
upon them, and wherever they halted, the grass immediately
withered and dried. Their wanderings brought them to the foot of
the San Francisco Mountains, where they dwelt for a long time, and
at that place the virgin gave birth to a daughter who had a little
knob on each side of her forehead. They preserved this child, and
when she had grown to be a woman, the horned _katcina_ appeared
and announced to her that she would give birth to horned twins,
who would bring rain and remove the punishment from their people.
This woman was married, and the twins, a boy and a girl, were
born; but she concealed their divine origin, fearing they would be
destroyed.
The _Patun_ (Squash) now moved to the Little Colorado, where they
built houses and met some of the _Patki_ people to whom they
related their distresses. A wise man of the _Patki_ came over to
see them, and on seeing the twins at once pronounced them to be
the _Alosaka_. They had no horns up to this time, but as soon as
this announcement was made, their horns became visible and the
twins then spoke to the people and said it had been ordained that
they were to be unable to help their people until the people
themselves discovered who they were. The _Patun_ were so enraged
to think that the _Alosaka_ had been with them, unknown so many
years, that they killed them, and still greater sufferings ensued.
They again repented, and carved two stone images of the _Alosaka_
which they painted and decked with feathers and sought to
propitiate the mother. She was full of pity for her people and
prayed to the Sky-god to relieve them. A period elapsed in which
their troubles were in great measure abated.
The _Patun_ then sought to join the _Patki_ clans, but the _Patki_
would not permit this, and compelled them to keep east of Awatobi.
Many ruins of phratry and family houses of the _Patun_ people
exist on the small watercourses north of the Puerco at various
distances eastward from the present village of Walpi. The nearest
are almost fifteen miles, the farthest about fifty miles.
Their wandering course was now stayed. When they essayed to move
farther eastward, a nomadic hunting race who occupied that region
besought them not to advance farther. Their evil notoriety had
preceded them, and the nomads feared the maleficent influence of
their neighborhood. It would seem, however, that instead of
hostile demonstrations the nomads entered into a treaty with them,
offering to pay tribute of venison, roots, and grass-seeds, if
they would abstain from traversing and blighting their land, to
which the _Patun_ agreed.
But these unfortunate wretches were soon again embroiled in
factional warfare which finally involved all the Hopi, and the
stone images of the _Alosaka_ were lost or destroyed. Famine and
pestilence again decimated them, until finally the _Alosaka
katcina_ appeared to them and instructed them to carve two wooden
images, but threatening them that if these images should be lost
or destroyed, all the people would die.
Many other but widely divergent legends exist regarding the _Alosaka_,
a number of which are associated with the pueblo of Awatobi, which was
formerly one of the most populous Hopi towns. At one time this village
experienced drought and famine, and _Alosaka_, from his home in the
San Francisco Mountains, observed the trouble of the people. Disguised
as a youth he visited Awatobi and became enamored with a maiden of
that town. Several times he visited her, but no one knew whence he
came or whither he went, for his trail no one could follow. The
parents of the girl at last discovered that he came on the rainbow,
and recognized him as a divine being. The children of this maid were
horned beings, or _Alosakas_, but their identity was not at first
recognized.
Like all the cultus heroes, _Alosaka_ is said, in legends, to have
been miraculously born of a virgin. His father was the Sun, his mother
an Earth-goddess, sometimes called a maiden. Like many gods, he
traveled on the rainbow; he lived at Tawaki, the house of his father,
the Sun, or the San Francisco Mountains.[14]
[14] The Alosaka Cult of the Hopi Indians, by J. Walter Fewkes;
American Anthropologist (N. S.), Vol. I, July, 1899, pp.
535-539.
There is another tradition of the clans that moved from the southward
collected by the late A. M. Stephen from no less a personage than
Anowita (p. 208), who was chief of the Cloud people. The tradition is
as follows:
We did not come direct to this region [Tusayan],--we had no fixed
intention as to where we should go. We are the Patki nyumu, and we
dwelt at Palatkwabi [Red land] where the agave grows high and
plentiful; perhaps it was in the region the Americans call Gila
valley, but of that I am not certain. It was far south of here,
and a large river flowed past our village, which was large, and
the houses were high, and a strange thing happened there.
Our people were not living peaceably at that time, we were
quarreling among ourselves, over huts and other things, I have
heard, but who can tell what caused their quarrels? There was a
famous hunter of our people, and he cut off the tips from the
antlers of the deer which he killed and [wore them for a necklace]
he always carried them. He lay down in a hollow in the court of
the village, as if he had died, but our people doubted this; they
thought he was only shamming death, yet they covered him up with
earth. Next day his extended hand protruded, the four fingers
erect, and the first day after that one finger disappeared [was
doubled up?]; each day a finger disappeared, until on the fourth
day his hand was no longer visible and the old people thought
that he dug down to the underworld with the horn tips.
On the fifth day water spouted up from the hole where his hand had
been and it spread over everywhere. On the sixth day, _Palulukona_
[the Serpent Deity] protruded from this hole and looked around in
every direction. All the lower ground was covered and many were
drowned, but most of our people had fled to some knolls not far
from the village and which were not yet submerged.
When the old men saw _Palulukona_ they asked him what he wanted,
because they knew he had caused this flood; and _Palulukona_ said,
"I want you to give me a youth and a maiden." The elders consulted
and then selected the handsomest youth and fairest maid and
arrayed them in their finest apparel, the youth with a white kilt
and paroquet plume, and the maid with a fine blue tunic and white
mantle. These children wept and besought their parents not to send
them to _Palulukona_, but an old chief said, "You must go; do not
be afraid: I will guide you." And he led them toward the village
court and stood at the edge of the water, but sent the children
wading in toward _Palulukona_, and when they had reached the
center of the court where _Palulukona_ was the deity, the children
disappeared. The water then rushed down after them, through a
great cavity, and the earth quaked and many houses tumbled down,
and from this cavity a great mound of dark rock protruded. This
rock mound was glossy and of all colors; it was beautiful, and, as
I have been told, it still remains there.
The White Mountain Apache have told me that they know a place in the
south where the old houses surround a great rock, and the land in the
vicinity is wet and boggy.
We traveled northward from _Palatkwabi_ and continued to travel
just as long as any strength was left in the people,--as long as
they had breath. During these journeys we would halt only for one
day at a time. Then our chief planted corn in the morning and the
dragonfly came and hovered over the stalks and by noon the corn
was ripe; before sunset it was quite dry and the stalks, fell
over, and in whichever way they pointed, in that direction we
traveled.
When anyone became ill, or when children fretted and cried, or the
young people became homesick the Coiyal Katcina (a youth and a
maiden) came and danced before them; then the sick got well,
children laughed, and sad ones became cheerful. We would continue
to travel until everyone was thoroughly worn out, then we would
halt and build houses and plant, remaining perhaps many years. One
of these places where we lived is not far from San Carlos, in a
valley, and another is on a mesa near a spring called Coyote Water
by the Apache.
When we came to the valley of the Little Colorado, south of where
Winslow now is, we built houses and lived there; then we crossed
to the northern side of the valley and built houses at Homolobi.
This was a good place for a time, but a plague of flies came and
bit the suckling children, causing many of them to die, so we left
there and traveled to Cipa (near Kuma spring). Finally we found
the Hopi, some going to each of the villages except Awatobi; none
went there.[15]
[15] Cosmos Mindeleff, 13th Annual Report of the Bureau of
American Ethnology, pp. 188-189.
The figure of a hand with extended fingers is very common, in the
vicinity of ruins, as a rock etching, and also is frequently seen
daubed on the rocks with colored pigments or white clay. These are
vestiges of a test formerly practiced by the young men who aspired for
admission to the fraternity of the Calako. The Calako is a trinity of
two women and a man from whom the Hopi obtained the first corn, and of
whom the following legend is told:
There was neither springs nor streams, although water was so near
the surface that it could be found by pulling up a tuft of grass.
The people had but little food, however, and they besought
Masauwuh to help them, but he could not.
There came a little old man, a dwarf, who said that he had two
sisters who were the wives of Calako, and it might be well to
petition them. So they prepared an altar, every man making a
_paho_, and these were set in the ground so as to encircle a sand
hillock, for this occurred before houses were known.
Masauwuh's brother came and told them that when Calako came to the
earth's surface wherever he placed his foot a deep chasm was made,
then they brought to the altar a huge rock, on which Calako might
stand, and they set it between the two _pahos_ placed for his
wives. Then the people got their rattles and stood around the
altar, each man in front of his own _paho_; but they stood in
silence, for they knew no song with which to invoke this strange
god. They stood there for a long while, for they were afraid to
begin the ceremonies, until a young lad, selecting the largest
rattle, began to shake it and sing. Presently a sound like
rushing water was heard, but no water was seen; a sound also like
great winds, but the air was perfectly still, and it was seen that
the rock was pierced with a great hole through the center. The
people were frightened and ran away, all save the young lad who
had sung the invocation.