her breasts, and she was covered with a coat of shaggy hair like
that of a bear. She continued to move around in the direction of the
sun's apparent course, pausing and opening her mouth at the east,
the south, the west, and the north as she went. After a while her ears
began to wag, her snout grew long, her teeth were heard to gnash, her
nails turned into claws. He watched her until dawn, when, fearing he
might be discovered, he returned to his lodge and told his brothers
all that had happened. They said: "These must be the mysteries that
Coyote explained to her the first night."
272. In a moment after the young man had told his story they heard
the whistling of a bear, and soon a she-bear rushed past the door of
the lodge, cracking the branches as she went. She followed the trail
which Coyote had taken the day before and disappeared in the woods.
273. At night she came back groaning. She had been in the fatal canyon
all day, fighting the slayers of Coyote, and she had been wounded
in many places. Her brothers saw a light in her hut, and from time
to time one of their number would go and peep in through an aperture
to observe what was happening within. All night she walked around the
fire. At intervals she would, by means of her magic, draw arrow-heads
out of her body and heal the wounds.
274. Next morning the bear-woman again rushed past the lodge of her
brethren, and again went off toward the fatal canyon. At night she
returned, as before, groaning and bleeding, and again spent the long
night in drawing forth missiles and healing her wounds by means of
her magic rites.
275. Thus she continued to do for four days and four nights; but
at the end of the fourth day she had conquered all her enemies; she
had slain many, and those she had not killed she had dispersed. The
swallows flew up into the high cliffs to escape her vengeance;
the otters hid themselves in the water; the spiders retreated into
holes in the ground,[87] and in such places these creatures have been
obliged to dwell ever since.
276. During these four days, the brothers remained in their camp;
but at the end of that time, feeling that trouble was in store for
them, they decided to go away. They left the youngest brother at home,
and the remaining ten divided themselves into four different parties;
one of which travelled to the east, another to the south, another to
the west, and another to the north.
277. When they were gone, the Whirlwind, Níyol, and the Knife Boy,
Pésasike, came to the lodge to help the younger brother who had
remained behind. They dug for him a hole under the centre of the
hogán; and from this they dug four branching tunnels, running east,
south, west, and north, and over the end of each tunnel they put
a window of gypsum to let in light from above. They gave him four
weapons,--atsinikli'ska, the chain-lightning arrow; hatsoilhálka
(an old-fashioned stone knife as big as the open hand); natsili'tka,
the rainbow arrow; and hatsilki'ska, the sheet-lightning arrow. They
roofed his hiding-place with four flat stones, one white, one blue,
one yellow, and one black. They put earth over all these, smoothing
the earth and tramping it down so that it should look like the natural
floor of the lodge. They gave him two monitors, Ni'ltsi, the Wind,
at his right ear, to warn him by day of the approach of danger;
and Tsalyél, darkness, at his left ear, to warn him by night.
278. When morning came and the bear-woman went forth she discovered
that her brothers had departed. She poured water on the ground
(hali'z) to see which way they had gone. The water flowed to the
east; she rushed on in that direction and soon overtook three of the
fugitives, whom she succeeded in killing. Then she went back to her
hut to see what had become of her other brothers. Again she poured
water on the level ground and it flowed off to the south; she followed
in that direction and soon overtook three others, whom she likewise
slew. Returning to the lodge she again performed her divination by
means of water. This time she was directed to the west, and, going
that way, she overtook and killed three more of the men. Again she
sought the old camp and poured on the ground water, which flowed to
the north; going on in this direction she encountered but one man,
and him she slew. Once more she went back to discover what had become
of her last brother. She poured water for the fifth time on the level
ground; it sank directly into the earth.
279. The brothers had always been very successful hunters and their
home was always well supplied with meat. In consequence of this
they had had many visitors who built in their neighborhood temporary
shelters, such as the Navahoes build now when they come to remain only
a short time at a place, and the remains of these shelters surrounded
the deserted hut. She scratched in all these places to find traces of
the fugitive, without success, and in doing so she gradually approached
the deserted hut. She scratched all around outside the hut and then
went inside. She scratched around the edge of the hut and then worked
toward the centre, until at length she came to the fireplace. Here
she found the earth was soft as if recently disturbed, and she dug
rapidly downward with her paws. She soon came to the stones, and,
removing these, saw her last remaining brother hidden beneath them. "I
greet you, my younger brother! Come up, I want to see you," she said
in a coaxing voice. Then she held out one finger to him and said:
"Grasp my finger and I will help you up." But Wind told him not
to grasp her finger; that if he did she would throw him upwards,
that he would fall half dead at her feet and be at her mercy. "Get
up without her help," whispered Ni'ltsi.
280. He climbed out of the hole on the east side and walked toward the
east. She ran toward him in a threatening manner, but he looked at her
calmly and said: "It is I, your younger brother." Then she approached
him in a coaxing way, as a dog approaches one with whom he wishes to
make friends, and she led him back toward the deserted hogán. But
as he approached it the Wind whispered: "We have had sorrow there,
let us not enter," so he would not go in, and this is the origin of
the custom now among the Navahoes never to enter a house in which
death had occurred.[91]
281. "Come," she then said, "and sit with your face to the west,
and let me comb your hair." (It was now late in the afternoon.) "Heed
her not," whispered Wind; "sit facing the north, that you watch her
shadow and see what she does. It is thus that she has killed your
brothers." They both sat down, she behind him, and she untied his
queue and proceeded to arrange his hair, while he watched her out of
the corner of his eye. Soon he observed her snout growing longer and
approaching his head, and he noticed that her ears were wagging. "What
does it mean that your snout grows longer and that your ears move
so?" he asked. She did not reply, but drew her snout in and kept her
ears still. When these occurrences had taken place for the fourth time,
Wind whispered in his ear: "Let not this happen again. If she puts out
her snout the fifth time she will bite your head off. Yonder, where
you see that chattering squirrel, are her vital parts. He guards them
for her. Now run and destroy them." He rose and ran toward the vital
parts and she ran after him. Suddenly, between them a large yucca[88]
sprang up to retard her steps, and then a cane cactus,[89] and then
another yucca, and then another cactus of a different kind. She ran
faster than he, but was so delayed in running around the plants that
he reached the vitals before her, and heard the lungs breathing under
the weeds that covered them. He drew forth his chain-lightning arrow,
shot it into the weeds, and saw a bright stream of blood spurting
up. At the same instant the bear-woman fell with the blood streaming
from her side.
282. "See!" whispered Ni'ltsi, the Wind, "the stream of blood from
her body and the stream from her vitals flow fast and approach one
another. If they meet she will revive, and then your danger will be
greater than ever. Draw, with your stone knife, a mark on the ground
between the approaching streams." The young man did as he was bidden,
when instantly the blood coagulated and ceased to flow.
283. Then the young man said: "You shall live again, but no longer as
the mischievous Tsiké Sas Nátlehi.[90] You shall live in other forms,
where you may be of service to your kind and not a thing of evil." He
cut off the head and said to it: "Let us see if in another life you
will do better. When you come to life again, act well, or again I
will slay you." He threw the head at the foot of a piñon-tree and it
changed into a bear, which started at once to walk off. But presently
it stopped, shaded its eyes with one paw, and looked back at the man,
saying: "You have bidden me to act well; but what shall I do if others
attack me?" "Then you may defend yourself," said the young man; "but
begin no quarrel, and be ever a friend to your people, the Diné`. Go
yonder to Black Mountain (Dsillizi'n) and dwell there." There are
now in Black Mountain many bears which are descended from this bear.
284. The hero cut off the nipples and said to them: "Had you belonged
to a good woman and not to a foolish witch, it might have been your
luck to suckle men. You were of no use to your kind; but now I shall
make you of use in another form." He threw the nipples up into a
piñon-tree, heretofore fruitless, and they became edible pine nuts.
285. Next he sought the homes of his friends, the holy ones, Níyol
and Pésasike. They led him to the east, to the south, to the west,
and to the north, where the corpses of his brothers lay, and these
they restored to life for him. They went back to the place where
the brothers had dwelt before and built a new house; but they did
not return to the old home, for that was now a tsi'ndi hogán and
accursed.[91]
286. The holy ones then gave to the young hero the name of Léyaneyani,
or Reared Under the Ground, because they had hidden him in the earth
when his brethren fled from the wrath of his sister. They bade him
go and dwell at a place called Atáhyitsoi (Big Point on the Edge),
which is in the shape of a hogán, or Navaho hut, and here we think
he still dwells.
III. THE WAR GODS.
287. The Diné` now removed to Tse`lakaíia (White Standing Rock),
where, a few days after they arrived, they found on the ground a small
turquoise image of a woman; this they preserved. Of late the monsters
(anáye, alien gods) had been actively pursuing and devouring the
people, and at the time this image was found there were only four
persons remaining alive;[92] these were an old man and woman and
their two children, a young man and a young woman. Two days after the
finding of the image, early in the morning, before they rose, they
heard the voice of Hastséyalti, the Talking God, crying his call of
"Wu`hu`hu`hu" so faint and far that they could scarcely hear it. After
a while the call was repeated a second time, nearer and louder than
at first. Again, after a brief silence, the call was heard for the
third time, still nearer and still louder. The fourth call was loud
and clear, as if sounded near at hand;[26] as soon as it ceased,
the shuffling tread of moccasined feet was heard, and a moment later
the god Hastséyalti stood before them.
288. He told the four people to come up to the top of Tsolíhi after
twelve nights had passed, bringing with them the turquoise image they
had found, and at once he departed. They pondered deeply on his words,
and every day they talked among themselves, wondering why Hastséyalti
had summoned them to the mountain.
289. On the morning of the appointed day they ascended the mountain
by a holy trail,[93] and on a level spot, near the summit, they
met a party that awaited them there. They found there Hastséyalti,
Hastséhogan (the Home God), White Body (who came up from the lower
world with the Diné`), the eleven brothers (of Maid Who Becomes a
Bear), the Mirage Stone People, the Daylight People standing in the
east, the Blue Sky People standing in the south, the Yellow Light
People standing in the west, and the Darkness People standing in the
north. White Body stood in the east among the Daylight People, bearing
in his hand a small image of a woman wrought in white shell, about
the same size and shape as the blue image which the Navahoes bore.
290. Hastséyalti laid down a sacred buckskin with its head toward
the west. The Mirage Stone People laid on the buckskin, heads west,
the two little images,--of turquoise and white shell,--a white and a
yellow ear of corn, the Pollen Boy, and the Grasshopper Girl. On top
of all these Hastséyalti laid another sacred buckskin with its head
to the east, and under this they now put Ni'ltsi (Wind).
291. Then the assembled crowd stood so as to form a circle, leaving in
the east an opening through which Hastséyalti and Hastséhogan might
pass in and out, and they sang the sacred song of Hozóngisin. Four
times the gods entered and raised the cover. When they raised it for
the fourth time, the images and the ears of corn were found changed
to living beings in human form: the turquoise image had become
Estsánatlehi, the Woman Who Changes (or rejuvenates herself); the
white shell image had become Yolkaí Estsán, the White Shell Woman;
the white ear of corn had become Natálkai Asiké; the White Corn Boy
and the yellow ear of corn, Natáltsoi Atét, the Yellow Corn Girl.[94]
After the ceremony, White Body took Pollen Boy, Grasshopper Girl,
White Corn Boy, and Yellow Corn Girl with him into Tsolíhi; the rest
of the assembly departed, and the two divine sisters, Estsánatlehi[95]
and Yolkaí Estsán,[96] were left on the mountain alone.
292. The women remained here four nights; on the fourth morning
Estsánatlehi said: "Site'zi (younger sister), why should we remain
here? Let us go to yonder high point and look around us." They went to
the highest point of the mountain, and when they had been there several
days Estsánatlehi said: "It is lonely here; we have no one to speak to
but ourselves; we see nothing but that which rolls over our heads (the
sun), and that which drops below us (a small dripping waterfall). I
wonder if they can be people. I shall stay here and wait for the one
in the morning, while you go down among the rocks and seek the other."
293. In the morning Estsánatlehi found a bare, flat rock and lay
on it with her feet to the east, and the rising sun shone upon
her. Yolkaí Estsán went down where the dripping waters descended
and allowed them to fall upon her. At noon the women met again on
the mountain top and Estsánatlehi said to her sister: "It is sad to
be so lonesome. How can we make people so that we may have others of
our kind to talk to?" Yolkaí Estsán answered: "Think, Elder Sister;
perhaps after some days you may plan how this is to be done."
294. Four days after this conversation Yolkaí Estsán said: "Elder
Sister, I feel something strange moving within me; what can it be?" and
Estsánatlehi answered: "It is a child. It was for this that you lay
under the waterfall. I feel, too, the motions of a child within me. It
was for this that I let the sun shine upon me." Soon after the voice
of Hastséyalti was heard four times, as usual, and after the last
call he and Tó`nenili[98] appeared. They came to prepare the women
for their approaching delivery.[99]
295. In four days more they felt the commencing throes of labor, and
one said to the other: "I think my child is coming." She had scarcely
spoken when the voice of the approaching god was heard, and soon
Hastséyalti and Tó`nenili (Water Sprinkler) were seen approaching. The
former was the accoucheur of Estsánatlehi, and the latter of Yolkaí
Estsán.[100] To one woman a drag-rope of rainbow was given, to the
other a drag-rope of sunbeam, and on these they pulled when in pain,
as the Navaho woman now pulls on the rope. Estsánatlehi's child was
born first.[101] Hastséyalti took it aside and washed it. He was glad,
and laughed and made ironical motions, as if he were cutting the baby
in slices and throwing the slices away. They made for the children two
baby-baskets, both alike; the foot-rests and the back battens were made
of sunbeam, the hoods of rainbow, the side-strings of sheet lightning,
and the lacing strings of zigzag lightning. One child they covered
with the black cloud, and the other with the female rain.[102] They
called the children Sináli (grandchildren), and they left, promising
to return at the end of four days.
296. When the gods (yéi) returned at the end of four days, the boys
had grown to be the size of ordinary boys of twelve years of age. The
gods said to them: "Boys, we have come to have a race with you." So a
race was arranged that should go all around a neighboring mountain,
and the four started,--two boys and two yéi. Before the long race
was half done the boys, who ran fast, began to flag, and the gods,
who were still fresh, got behind them and scourged the lads with
twigs of mountain mahogany.[103] Hastséyalti won the race, and the
boys came home rubbing their sore backs. When the gods left they
promised to return at the end of another period of four days.
297. As soon as the gods were gone, Ni'ltsi, the Wind, whispered to
the boys and told them that the old ones were not such fast runners,
after all, and that if the boys would practice during the next four
days they might win the coming race. So for four days they ran hard,
many times daily around the neighboring mountain, and when the gods
came back again the youths had grown to the full stature of manhood. In
the second contest the gods began to flag and fall behind when half
way round the mountain, where the others had fallen behind in the
first race, and here the boys got behind their elders and scourged
the latter to increase their speed. The elder of the boys won this
race, and when it was over the gods laughed and clapped their hands,
for they were pleased with the spirit and prowess they witnessed.
298. The night after the race the boys lay down as usual to sleep;
but hearing the women whispering together, they lay awake and
listened. They strained their attention, but could not hear a word
of what was uttered. At length they rose, approached the women,
and said: "Mothers, of what do you speak?" and the women answered:
"We speak of nothing." The boys then said: "Grandmothers, of what do
you speak?" but the women again replied: "We speak of nothing." The
boys then questioned: "Who are our fathers?" "You have no fathers,"
responded the women; "you are yutáski (illegitimate)." "Who are our
fathers?" again demanded the boys, and the women answered: "The round
cactus and the sitting cactus[104] are your fathers."
299. Next day the women made rude bows of juniper wood, and arrows,
such as children play with, and they said to the boys: "Go and play
around with these, but do not go out of sight from our hut, and do not
go to the east." Notwithstanding these warnings the boys went to the
east the first day, and when they had travelled a good distance they
saw an animal with brownish hair and a sharp nose. They drew their
arrows and pointed them toward the sharp-nosed stranger; but before
they could shoot he jumped down into a canyon and disappeared. When
they returned home they told the women--addressing them as "Mother"
and "Grandmother"--what they had seen. The women said: "That is Coyote
which you saw. He is a spy for the anáye Téelget."
300. On the following day, although again strictly warned not to go
far from the lodge, the boys wandered far to the south, and there they
saw a great black bird seated on a tree. They aimed their arrows at it;
but just as they were about to shoot the bird rose and flew away. The
boys returned to the hogán and said to the women: "Mothers, we have
been to the south to-day, and there we saw a great black bird which
we tried to shoot; but before we could let loose our arrows it flew
off." "Alas!" said the women. "This was Raven that you saw. He is the
spy of the Tse`na'hale, the great winged creatures that devour men."
301. On the third day the boys slipped off unknown to the anxious
women, who would fain keep them at home, and walked a long way
toward the west. The only living thing they saw was a great dark
bird with a red skinny head that had no feathers on it. This bird
they tried to shoot also; but before they could do so it spread its
wings and flew a long way off. They went home and said to the women:
"Mothers, we have been to the west, and we have seen a great dark bird
whose head was red and bare. We tried to shoot it, but it flew away
before we could discharge our arrows." "It was Dzéso, the Buzzard,
that you saw," said the women. "He is the spy for Tse`tahotsiltá`li,
he who kicks men down the cliffs."
302. On the fourth day the boys stole off as usual, and went toward
the north. When they had travelled a long way in that direction,
they saw a bird of black plumage perched on a tree on the edge of a
canyon. It was talking to itself, saying "a`a`i`." They aimed at it,
but before they could let fly their arrows it spread its wings and tail
and disappeared down the canyon. As it flew, the boys noticed that
its plumes were edged with white. When they got home they told their
mothers, as before, what they had seen. "This bird that you saw,"
said the women, "is the Magpie. He is the spy for the Bináye Aháni,
who slay people with their eyes. Alas, our children! What shall we
do to make you hear us? What shall we do to save you? You would not
listen to us. Now the spies of the anáye (the alien gods) in all
quarters of the world have seen you. They will tell their chiefs,
and soon the monsters will come here to devour you, as they have
devoured all your kind before you."
303. The next morning the women made a corncake and laid it on
the ashes to bake. Then Yolkaí Estsán went out of the hogán, and,
as she did so, she saw Yéitso,[105] the tallest and fiercest of the
alien gods, approaching. She ran quickly back and gave the warning,
and the women hid the boys under bundles and sticks. Yéitso came
and sat down at the door, just as the women were taking the cake
out of the ashes. "That cake is for me," said Yéitso. "How nice it
smells!" "No," said Estsánatlehi, "it was not meant for your great
maw." "I don't care," said Yéitso. "I would rather eat boys. Where
are your boys? I have been told you have some here, and I have come
to get them." "We have none," said Estsánatlehi. "All the boys have
gone into the paunches of your people long ago." "No boys?" said the
giant. "What, then, has made all the tracks around here?" "Oh! these
tracks I have made for fun," replied the woman. "I am lonely here,
and I make tracks so that I may fancy there are many people around
me." She showed Yéitso how she could make similar tracks with her
fist. He compared the two sets of tracks, seemed to be satisfied,
and went away.
304. When he was gone, Yolkaí Estsán, the White Shell Woman, went up
to the top of a neighboring hill to look around, and she beheld many
of the anáye hastening in the direction of her lodge. She returned
speedily, and told her sister what she had seen. Estsánatlehi took four
colored hoops, and threw one toward each of the cardinal points,--a
white one to the east, a blue one to the south, a yellow one to
the west, and a black one to the north. At once a great gale arose,
blowing so fiercely in all directions from the hogán that none of
the enemies could advance against it.
305. Next morning the boys got up before daybreak and stole away. Soon
the women missed them, but could not trace them in the dark. When it
was light enough to examine the ground the women went out to look
for fresh tracks. They found four footprints of each of the boys,
pointing in the direction of the mountain of Dsilnáotil, but more
than four tracks they could not find. They came to the conclusion
that the boys had taken a holy trail, so they gave up further search
and returned to the lodge.