(the earth), he thought it would be well to have rain to water the
earth, and so he created the cloud, lightning, thunder, and rainbow
peoples to work for the people of Ha´arts. This second creation was
separated into six divisions, one of which was sent to each of the
cardinal points and to the zenith and nadir, each division making its
home in a spring in the heart of a great mountain, upon whose summit
was a giant tree. The Sha´-ka-ka (spruce) was on the mountain of the
north; the Shwi´-ti-ra-wa-na (pine) on the mountain of the west; the
Mai´-chi-na (oak)—_Quercus undulata_, variety Gambelii—on the mountain
of the south; the Shwi´-si-ni-ha´-na-we (aspen) on the mountain of the
east; the Marsh´-ti-tä-mo (cedar) on the mountain of the zenith, and
the Mor´-ri-tä-mo (oak), variety pungens, on the mountain of the nadir.
While each division had its home in a spring, Sûs´sĭstinnako gave to
these people Ti´-ni-a, the middle plain of the world (the world was
divided into three parts: Ha´arts, the earth; Ti´nia, the middle plain,
and Hu´-wa-ka, the upper plain), not only for a working field for the
benefit of the people of Ha´arts, but also for their pleasure ground.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.—Stampers starting to work.]
Not wishing this second creation to be seen by the people of Ha´arts
as they passed about over Ti´nia, he commanded the Sia to smoke, that
clouds might ascend and serve as masks to protect the people of Ti´nia
from view of the inhabitants of Ha´arts.
The people of Ha´arts made houses for themselves by digging holes
in rocks and the earth. They could not build houses as they now do,
because they could not see. In a short time the two mothers, Ût´sĕt
and Now´ûtsĕt (the latter being the elder and larger, but the former
having the best mind and heart), who resided in the north, went into
the chita (estufa) and talked much to one another, and they decided
that they would make light, and said: “Now we will make light, that
our people may see; we can not now tell the people, but to-morrow will
be a good day and day after to-morrow will also be a good day”—meaning
that their thoughts were good, and they spoke with one tongue, and that
their future would be bright, and they added: “Now all is covered with
darkness, but after awhile we will have light.” These two women, being
inspired by Sûs´sĭstinnako, created the sun from white shell, turkis,
red stone, and abalone shell. After making the sun they carried him
to the east and there made a camp, as there were no houses. The next
morning they ascended a high mountain and dropped the sun down behind
it, and after a time he began to ascend, and when the people saw the
light their hearts rejoiced. When far off his face was blue; as he
came nearer the face grew brighter. They, however, did not see the sun
himself, but a mask so large that it covered his entire body. The
people saw that the world was large and the country beautiful, and when
the women returned to the village they said to the people: “We are the
mothers of all.”
[Illustration: FIG. 12—Mixing clay for plaster.]
Though the sun lighted the world in the day, he gave no light at night,
as he returned to his home in the west; and so the two mothers created
the moon from a slightly black stone, many varieties of a yellow stone,
turkis, and a red stone, that the world might be lighted at night, and
that the moon might be a companion and a brother to the sun; but the
moon traveled slowly, and did not always furnish light, and so they
created the star people and made their eyes of beautiful sparkling
white crystal, that they might twinkle and brighten the world at night.
When the star people lived in the lower world they were gathered into
groups, which were very beautiful; they were not scattered about as
they are in the upper world. Again the two women entered the chita and
decided to make four houses—one in the north, one in the west, one in
the south, and one in the east—house in this instance meaning pueblo
or village. When these houses were completed they said, now we have
some beautiful houses; we will go first to that of the north and talk
much for all things good. Now´ûtsĕt said to her sister: “Let us make
other good things,” and the sister asked: “What things do you wish to
make?” She answered: “We are the mothers of all peoples, and we must do
good work.” “Well,” replied the younger sister, “to-morrow I will pass
around and see my other houses, and you will remain here.”
[Illustration: FIG. 18.—Childish curiosity.]
After Ût´sĕt had traveled over the world, visiting the houses of the
west, south, and east, she returned to her home in the north and was
graciously received by Now´ûtsĕt, who seemed happy to see her younger
sister, and after a warm greeting she invited her to be seated.
Now´ûtsĕt had a picture which she did not wish the sister to see, and
she covered it with a blanket, and said, “Guess what I have here?”
(pointing to the covered picture) “and when you guess correctly I
will show you.” “I do not know,” said Ût´sĕt and again the elder one
asked, “What do you think I have here?” and the other replied, “I do
not know.” A third time Ût´sĕt was asked, and replied that she did not
know, adding, “I wish to speak straight, and I must therefore tell
you I do not know what you have there.” Then Now´ûtsĕt said, “That
is right.” After a while the younger sister said, “I think you have
under that blanket a picture, to which you will talk when you are
alone.” “You are right,” said the elder sister, “you have a good head
to know things.” Now´ûtsĕt, however, was much displeased at the wisdom
displayed by Ût´sĕt. She showed the picture to Ût´sĕt and in a little
while Ût´sĕt left, saying, “I will now return to my house and no longer
travel; to-morrow you will come to see me.”
After the return of Ût´sĕt to her home she beckoned to the Chas´ka
(chaparral cock) to come to her, and said, “You may go early to-morrow
morning to the house of the sun in the east, and then follow the road
from there to his home in the west, and when you reach the house in
the west remain there until my sister comes to my house to talk to me,
when I will call you.” In the early morning the elder sister called
at the house of the younger. “Sit down, my sister,” said the younger
one, and after a little time she said, “Let us go out and walk about;
I saw a beautiful bird pass by, but I do not know where he lives,”
and she pointed to the footprints of the bird upon the ground, which
was soft, and the tracks were very plain, and it could be seen that
the footprints were in a straight line from the house of the sun in
the east to his house in the west. “I can not tell,” said the younger
sister, “perhaps the bird came from the house in the east and has gone
to the house in the west; perhaps he came from the house in the west
and has gone to the house in the east; as the feet of the bird point
both ways, it is hard to tell. What do you think, sister?” “I can not
say,” replied the other. Four times Ût´sĕt asked the question and
received the same reply. The fourth time the elder sister added, “How
can I tell? I do not know which is the front of the foot and which is
the heel, but I think the bird has gone to the house in the east.”
“Your thoughts are wrong,” replied the younger sister; “I know where
the bird is, and he will soon be here;” and she gave a call and in a
little while the Chas´ka came running to her from, the west.
The elder sister was mortified at her lack of knowledge, and said,
“Come to my house to-morrow; to-day you are greater than I. I thought
the bird had gone to the house in the east, but you knew where he was,
and he came at your call; to-morrow you come to me.”
On the morrow the younger sister called at the house of the elder and
was asked to be seated. Then Now´ûtsĕt said, “Sister, a word with
you; what do you think that is?” pointing to a figure enveloped in a
blanket, with only the feet showing, which were crossed. Four times
the question was asked, and each time the younger sister said she
could not tell, but finally she added, “I think the feet are crossed;
the one on the right should be left and the left should be right.”
“To whom do the feet belong?” inquired the elder sister. The younger
sister was prompted by her grandmother, Sûs´sĭstinnako[4], the spider
woman, to say, “I do not think it is either man or woman,” referring to
beings created by Sûs´sĭstinnako, “but something you have made.” The
elder sister replied,“You are right, my sister.” She threw the blanket
off, exposing a human figure; the younger sister then left, asking the
elder to call at her house on the morrow, and all night Ût´sĕt was busy
preparing an altar under the direction, however, of Sûs´sĭstinnako. She
covered the altar with a blanket, and in the morning when the elder
sister called they sat together for a while and talked; then Ût´sĕt
said, pointing to the covered altar, “What do you think I have there?”
Now´ûtsĕt replied, “I can not tell; I may have my thoughts about it,
but I do not know.” Four times Now´ûtsĕt was asked, and each time she
gave the same reply. Then the younger sister threw off the blanket, and
they both looked at the altar, but neither spoke a word.
When the elder sister left, she said to Ût´sĕt, “To-morrow you come
to my house,” and all night she was busy arranging things for the
morning, and in the morning Ût´sĕt hastened to her sister’s house. (She
was accompanied by Sûs´sĭstinnako, who followed invisible close to
her ear.) Now´ûtsĕt asked, “What have I there?” pointing to a covered
object, and Ût´sĕt replied, “I can not tell, but I have thought that
you have under that blanket all things that are necessary for all time
to come; perhaps I speak wrong.” “No,” replied Now´ûtsĕt, “you speak
correctly,” and she threw off the blanket, saying, “My sister, I may be
the larger and the first, but your head and heart are wise; you know
much; I think my head must be weak.” The younger sister then said:
“To-morrow you come to my house;” and in the morning when the elder
sister called at the house of the younger she was received in the front
room and asked to be seated, and they talked awhile; then the younger
one said: “What do you think I have in the room there?” pointing to the
door of an inner room. Four times the question was asked and each time
Now´ûtsĕt replied, “I can not tell.” “Come with me,” said Ût´sĕt, and
she cried as she threw open the door, “All this is mine, when you have
looked well we will go away.” The room was filled with the Ka´ᵗsuna
beings with monster heads which Ût´sĕt had created, under the direction
of Sûs´sĭstinnako.
Sûs´sĭstinnako’s creation may be classed in three divisions:
1. Pai´-ä-tä-mo: All men of Ha´arts (the earth), the sun, moon, stars,
Ko´-shai-ri and Quer´-rän-na.
2. Ko´-pĭsh-tai-a: The cloud, lightning, thunder, rainbow peoples, and
all animal life not included under the first and
third heads.
3. Ka´ᵗsuna: Beings having human bodies and monster heads, who
are personated in Sia by men and women wearing
masks.
After a time the younger sister closed the door and they returned to
the front room. Not a word had been spoken except by the younger. As
the elder sister left she said, “To-morrow you come to my house.”
Sûs´sĭstinnako whispered in the ear of the younger, “To-morrow you will
see fine things in your sister’s house, but they will not be good; they
will be bad.” Now´ûtsĕt then said: “Before the Sun has left his home
we will go together to see him; we will each have a wand on our heads
made of the long white fluffy feathers of the under tail of the eagle,
and we will place them vertically on our heads that they may see the
sun when he first comes out;” and the younger sister replied: “You are
the elder and must go before, and your plumes will see the sun first;
mine can not see him until he has traveled far, because I am so small;
you are the greater and must go before.” Though she said this she knew
better; she knew that though she was smaller in stature she was the
greater and more important woman. That night Sûs´sĭstinnako talked much
to Ût´sĕt. She said: “Now that you have created the Ka´ᵗsuna you must
create a man as messenger between the sun and the Ka´ᵗsuna and another
as messenger between the moon and the Ka´ᵗsuna.”
The first man created was called Ko´shairi; he not only acts as courier
between the sun and the Ka´ᵗsuna, but he is the companion, the jester
and musician (the flute being his instrument) of the sun; he is also
mediator between the people of the earth and the sun; when acting
as courier between the sun and the Ka´ᵗsuna and vice versa and as
mediator between the people of the earth and the sun he is chief for
the sun; when accompanying the sun in his daily travels he furnishes
him with music and amusement; he is then the servant of the sun. The
second man created was Quer´ränna, his duties being identical with
those of the Ko´shairi, excepting that the moon is his particular chief
instead of the sun, both, however, being subordinate to the sun.
After the creation of Ko´shairi and Quer´ränna, Ût´sĕt called
Shu-ah-kai (a small black bird with white wings) to her and said:
“To-morrow my sister and I go to see the sun when he first leaves his
house. We will have wands on our heads, we will be side by side; she
is much taller than I; the sun will see her face before he sees mine,
and that will not be good; you must go to-morrow morning very early
near the house of the sun and take a plume from your left wing, but
none from your right; spread your wings and rest in front of the sun
as he comes from his house.” The two women started very early in the
morning to greet the rising sun. They were accompanied by all the men
and youths, carrying their bows and arrows. The elder woman, after they
halted to await the coming of the sun, said: “We are here to watch for
the sun.” (The people had divided, some being on the side of Now´ûtsĕt,
the others with Ût´sĕt). “If the sun looks first upon me, all the
people on my side will be my people and will slay the others, and if
the sun looks first upon the face of my sister all the people on her
side will be her people and they will destroy my people.”
As the sun left his house, the bird Shu´ahkai placed himself so as to
obscure the light, excepting where it penetrated through the space left
by the plucking of the feather from his wing, and the light shone, not
only on the wand on the head of the younger sister, but it covered
her face, while it barely touched the top of the plumes of the elder;
and so the people of the younger sister destroyed those of the elder.
The two women stood still while the men fought. The women remained on
the mountain top, but the men descended into a grassy park to fight.
After a time the younger sister ran to the park and cried, “This is
enough; fight no more.” She then returned to the mountain and said to
her sister, “Let us descend to the park and fight.” And they fought
like women—not with arrows—but wrestled. The men formed a circle around
them and the women fought hard and long. Some of the men said, “Let us
go and part the women;” others said, “No; let them alone.” The younger
woman grew very tired in her arms, and cried to her people, “I am very
tired,” and they threw the elder sister upon the ground and tied her
hands; the younger woman then commanded her people to leave her, and
she struck her sister with her fists about the head and face as she
lay upon the ground, and in a little while killed her. She then cut
the breast with a stone knife and took out the heart, her people being
still in a circle, but the circle was so large that they were some
distance off. She held the heart in her hand and cried: “Listen, men
and youths! This woman was my sister, but she compelled us to fight; it
was she who taught you to fight. The few of her people who escaped are
in the mountains and they are the people of the rats;” and she cut the
heart into pieces and threw it upon the ground, saying, “Her heart will
become rats, for it was very bad,” and immediately rats could be seen
running in all directions. She found the center of the heart full of
cactus, and she said, “The rats for evermore will live with the cacti;”
and to this day the rats thus live (referring to the _Neotoma_). She
then told her people to return to their homes.
It was about this time that Sûs´sĭstinnako organized the cult
societies, instructing all of the societies in the songs for rain, but
imparting only to certain ones the secrets whereby disease is extracted
through the sucking and brushing processes.
For eight years after the fight (years referring to periods of time)
the people were very happy and all things flourished, but the ninth
year was very bad, the whole earth being filled with water. The water
did not fall in rain, but came in as rivers between the mesas, and
continued flowing from all sides until the people and all animals fled
to the mesa. The waters continued to rise until nearly level with the
mesa top, and Sûs´sĭstinnako cried, “Where shall my people go? Where is
the road to the north, he looking to the north, the road to the west,
he facing the west, the road to the south, he turning south, the road
to the east, he facing east? Alas, I see the waters are everywhere.”
And all of his theurgists sang four days and nights before their altars
and made many offerings, but still the waters continued to rise as
before. Sûs´sĭstinnako said to the sun: “My son, you will ascend and
pass over the world above; your course will be from the north to the
south, and you will return and tell me what you think of it.” On his
return the sun said, “Mother, I did as you bade me, and I did not like
the road.” Again he told him to ascend and pass over the world from
the west to the east, and on his return Sûs´sĭstinnako inquired how
he liked that road. “It may be good for some, mother, but I did not
like it.” “You will again ascend and pass over the straight road from
east to west,” and upon the sun’s return the father inquired what he
thought of that road. His reply was, “I am much contented; I like the
road much.” Then Sûs´sĭstinnako said, “My son, you will ascend each day
and pass over the world from east to west.” Upon each day’s journey the
sun stops midway from the east to the center of the world to eat his
breakfast, in the center to eat his dinner, and midway the center to
the west to eat his supper, he never failing to take his three meals
daily, stopping at these particular points to obtain them.
The sun wears a shirt of dressed deerskin, and leggings of the same,
reaching to his thighs; the shirt and leggings are fringed; his
moccasins are also of deerskin and embroidered in yellow, red, and
turkis beads; he wears a kilt of deerskin, the kilt having a snake
painted upon it; he carries a bow and arrows, the quiver being of
cougar skin, hanging over his shoulder, and he holds his bow in his
left hand and an arrow in his right; he still wears the mask which
protects him from view of the people of the earth. An eagle plume with
a parrot plume on either side, ornaments the top of the mask, and an
eagle plume is on either side of the mask and one is at the bottom; the
hair around the head and face is red like fire, and when it moves and
shakes the people can not look closely at the mask; it is not intended
that they should observe closely and thereby know that instead of
seeing the sun they see only his mask; the heavy line encircling the
mask is yellow, and indicates rain. (Fig. 14.)
The moon came to the upper world with the sun and he also wears a mask.
Each night the sun passes by the house of Sûs´sĭstinnako, who asks him:
“How are my children above, how many have died to-day, and how many
have been born to-day?” He lingers with him only long enough to answer
his questions. He then passes on to his house in the east.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.—Mask of the Sun, drawn by a theurgist.]
Sûs´sĭstinnako placed a huge reed upon the mesa top and said: “My
people will pass up through this to the world above.” Ût´sĕt led the
way, carrying a sack containing many of the star people; she was
followed by all the theurgists, who carried their precious articles
in sacred blankets, on their backs; then followed the laity and all
animals, snakes and birds; the turkey was far behind, and the foam of
the waters rose and reached the tip ends of his feathers, and to this
day they bear the mark of the waters. Upon reaching the top of the
reed, the solid earth barred their exit, and Ût´sĕt called ᵗSi´ka
(the locust), saying, “Man, come here.” The locust hastened to her,
and she told him that the earth prevented their exodus. “You know
best how to pass through the earth; go and make a door for us.” “Very
well, mother,” he replied, “I will, and I think I can make a way.”
He began working with his feet, and after a time he passed through
the earth, entering another world. As soon as he saw the world, he
returned to Ût´sĕt saying, “It is good above.” Ût´sĕt then called the
Tuo´ pi (badger), and said to him, “Make a door for us; the ᵗSi´ka has
made one, but it is very small.” “Very well, mother; I will,” replied
the badger; and after much work he passed into the world above, and
returning said, “Mother, I have opened the way.” Ût´sĕt is appealed
to, to the present time, as father and mother, for she acts directly
for Sûs´sĭstinnako, the creator. The badger said, “Mother, father, the
world above is good.” Ût´sĕt then called the deer, saying to him, “You
go first, and if you pass through all right, if you can get your head
through, others may pass.” The deer after ascending returned saying,
“Father, it is all right; I passed without trouble.” She then called
the elk, and told him if he could get his head through the door, all
could pass. He returned, saying, “Father, it is good; I passed without
trouble.” She then had the buffalo try and he returned, saying,
“Father, mother, the door is good; I passed without trouble.”
Ût´sĕt then called the I-shits (_Scarabæus_) and gave him the sack
of stars, telling him to pass out first with the sack. The little
animal did not know what the sack contained, but he grew very tired
carrying it, and he wondered what could be in the sack. After entering
the new world he was very tired, and laying the sack down he thought
he would peep into it and see its contents. He cut only a tiny hole,
but immediately the stars began flying out and filling the heavens
everywhere. The little animal was too tired to return to Ût´sĕt, who,
however, soon joined him, followed by all her people, who came in the
order above mentioned. After the turkey passed out the door was firmly
closed with a great rock so that the waters below could not follow
them. When Ût´sĕt looked for her sack she was astonished to find it
nearly empty and she could not tell where the contents had gone; the
little animal sat by, very scared, and sad, and Ût´sĕt was angry with
him and said, “You are very bad and disobedient and from this time
forth you shall be blind,” (and this is the reason the scarabæus has
no eyes, so the old ones say). The little fellow, however, had saved a
few of the stars by grabbing the sack and holding it fast; these Ût´sĕt
distributed in the heavens. In one group she placed seven stars (the
great bear), in another three (part of Orion,) into another group she
placed the Pleiades, and throwing the others far off into the heavens,
exclaimed, “All is well!”
The cloud, lightning, thunder, and rainbow peoples followed the Sia
into the upper world, making their homes in springs similar to those
they had occupied in the lower world; these springs are also at the
cardinal points, zenith and nadir, and are in the hearts of mountains
with trees upon their summits. All of the people of Tínia, however, did
not leave the lower world; only a portion were sent by Sûs´sĭstinnako
to labor for the people of the upper world. The cloud people are so
numerous that, though the demands of the people of the earth are
great, there are always many passing about over Tínia for pleasure;
these people ride on wheels, small wheels being used by the children
and larger ones by the elders. In speaking of these wheels the Sia
add: “The Americans have stolen the secret of the wheels (referring to
bicycles) from the cloud people.”