And whereas this was well, yet, forsooth! there were not wanting those
who grew weary of the custom at last, and said that it was not as in
the olden time it had been. Then, said they, the fathers of the people
had performed their custom, and the fathers of the people of Dew
theirs, the one awaiting the other, as it were, and both joining in the
sight of the people all. Others said that the music was not as that of
the olden time; that better far was that which of nights they sometimes
heard (oftener toward morning) as they wandered up and down the trail
by the river; wonderful music this, as of liquid voices in caverns or
the echo of women's laughter in water-vases. And this music, they said,
was timed with a deep-toned drum, and seemed to come forth from the
very bowels of the Mountain of Thunder. Lo! they were awed thereby,
and bethought that the music was, mayhap, that of the ghosts of ancient
men who had dwelt above in the times of the high waters; but it was far
more beautiful, at least, than the music of the ‘Hláhekwe singers when
danced the Corn maidens.
Others said yea, and lingering near they had seen, as the daylight
increased, white clouds roll upward from the grotto in Thunder mountain
like to the mists that leave behind them the dew itself, and as the sun
rose, lo! within them even as they faded, the bright garments of the
Rainbow-women might sometimes be seen fluttering, and the broidery and
paintings of these dancers of the mists were more beautiful than the
costumes of even the Maidens of Corn.
THE COUNCIL OF THE FATHERS THAT THE PERFECTION OF THE CUSTOM BE
ACCOMPLISHED.
Then were the fathers of the People-priests of the House of Houses sore
displeased at these murmurings of their children, and bade them to be
hushed; yet they pondered, and bethought themselves how to still these
foolish children yet more completely, so that the precious Mothers of
Corn be not made sad by their plaints.
"What is this ye tell us?" said they. "These things be to the simple
as the wind and other movings, speechless; but to us, they be signs,
even as erst the warnings of the under-world were signs to our fathers
the beloved, and ourselves, that we seek still further the Middle, so
are these things signs to us. Stay, therefore, thy feet with patience,
while we devise that ye be made content and happy." Then to one another
they said, "It may well be Paíyatuma, the liquid voices his flute and
the flutes of his players that they tell of. Come now, we will await
the time of our custom, and then learn if perchance our hearts guess
aright."