sunrise, near Dsilnáotil, they saw smoke arising from the ground. They
went to the place where the smoke rose, and they found it came from
the smoke-hole of a subterranean chamber. A ladder, black from smoke,
projected through the hole. Looking down into the chamber they saw an
old woman, the Spider Woman,[106] who glanced up at them and said:
"Welcome, children. Enter. Who are you, and whence do you two come
together walking?" They made no answer, but descended the ladder. When
they reached the floor she again spoke to them, asking: "Whither do
you two go walking together?" "Nowhere in particular," they answered;
"we came here because we had nowhere else to go." She asked this
question four times, and each time she received a similar answer. Then
she said: "Perhaps you would seek your father?" "Yes," they answered,
"if we only knew the way to his dwelling." "Ah!" said the woman,
"it is a long and dangerous way to the house of your father, the
Sun. There are many of the anáye dwelling between here and there,
and perhaps, when you get there, your father may not be glad to
see you, and may punish you for coming. You must pass four places
of danger,--the rocks that crush the traveller, the reeds that cut
him to pieces, the cane cactuses that tear him to pieces, and the
boiling sands that overwhelm him. But I shall give you something to
subdue your enemies and preserve your lives." She gave them a charm
called nayéatsos, or feather of the alien gods, which consisted of
a hoop with two life-feathers (feathers plucked from a living eagle)
attached, and another life-feather, hyiná biltsós,[107] to preserve
their existence. She taught them also this magic formula, which, if
repeated to their enemies, would subdue their anger: "Put your feet
down with pollen.[108] Put your hands down with pollen. Put your head
down with pollen. Then your feet are pollen; your hands are pollen;
your body is pollen; your mind is pollen; your voice is pollen. The
trail is beautiful (biké hozóni). Be still."[109]
307. Soon after leaving the house of Spider Woman, the boys came to
Tse`yeinti'li (the rocks that crush). There was here a narrow chasm
between two high cliffs. When a traveller approached, the rocks would
open wide apart, apparently to give him easy passage and invite him
to enter; but as soon as he was within the cleft they would close like
hands clapping and crush him to death. These rocks were really people;
they thought like men; they were anáye. When the boys got to the rocks
they lifted their feet as if about to enter the chasm, and the rocks
opened to let them in. Then the boys put down their feet, but withdrew
them quickly. The rocks closed with a snap to crush them; but the
boys remained safe on the outside. Thus four times did they deceive
the rocks. When they had closed for the fourth time the rocks said:
"Who are ye; whence come ye two together, and whither go ye?" "We are
children of the Sun," answered the boys. "We come from Dsilnáotil,
and we go to seek the house of our father." Then they repeated the
words the Spider Woman had taught them, and the rocks said: "Pass on
to the house of your father." When next they ventured to step into
the chasm the rocks did not close, and they passed safely on.
308. The boys kept on their way and soon came to a great plain covered
with reeds that had great leaves on them as sharp as knives. When the
boys came to the edge of the field of reeds (Lokáadikisi), the latter
opened, showing a clear passage through to the other side. The boys
pretended to enter, but retreated, and as they did so the walls of
reeds rushed together to kill them. Thus four times did they deceive
the reeds. Then the reeds spoke to them, as the rocks had done;
they answered and repeated the sacred words. "Pass on to the house
of your father," said the reeds, and the boys passed on in safety.
309. The next danger they encountered was in the country covered
with cane cactuses.[89] These cactuses rushed at and tore to pieces
whoever attempted to pass through them. When the boys came to the
cactuses the latter opened their ranks to let the travellers pass on,
as the reeds had done before. But the boys deceived them as they had
deceived the reeds, and subdued them as they had subdued the reeds,
and passed on in safety.
310. After they had passed the country of the cactus they came,
in time, to Saitád, the land of the rising sands. Here was a great
desert of sands that rose and whirled and boiled like water in a pot,
and overwhelmed the traveller who ventured among them. As the boys
approached, the sands became still more agitated and the boys did not
dare venture among them. "Who are ye?" said the sands, "and whence
come ye?" "We are children of the Sun, we came from Dsilnáotil,
and we go to seek the house of our father." These words were four
times said. Then the elder of the boys repeated his sacred formula;
the sands subsided, saying: "Pass on to the house of your father,"
and the boys continued on their journey over the desert of sands.[110]
311. Soon after this adventure they approached the house of the Sun. As
they came near the door they found the way guarded by two bears that
crouched, one to the right and one to the left, their noses pointing
toward one another. As the boys drew near, the bears rose, growled
angrily, and acted as if about to attack the intruders; but the elder
boy repeated the sacred words the Spider Woman had taught him, and
when he came to the last words, "Be still," the bears crouched down
again and lay still. The boys walked on. After passing the bears they
encountered a pair of sentinel serpents, then a pair of sentinel winds,
and, lastly, a pair of sentinel lightnings. As the boys advanced,
all these guardians acted as if they would destroy them; but all were
appeased with the words of prayer.[111]
312. The house of the Sun God was built of turquoise; it was square
like a pueblo house, and stood on the shore of a great water. When the
boys entered they saw, sitting in the west, a woman; in the south,
two handsome young men;[112] and in the north, two handsome young
women. The women gave a glance at the strangers and then looked
down. The young men gazed at them more closely, and then, without
speaking, they rose, wrapped the strangers in four coverings of the
sky, and laid them on a shelf.[113]
313. The boys had lain there quietly for some time when a rattle that
hung over the door shook and one of the young women said: "Our father
is coming." The rattle shook four times, and soon after it shook the
fourth time, Tsóhanoai, the bearer of the sun, entered his house. He
took the sun off his back and hung it up on a peg on the west wall
of the room, where it shook and clanged for some time, going "tla,
tla, tla, tla," till at last it hung still.
314. Then Tsóhanoai turned to the woman and said, in an angry tone:
"Who are those two who entered here to-day?" The woman made no
answer and the young people looked at one another, but each feared to
speak. Four times he asked this question, and at length the woman said:
"It would be well for you not to say too much. Two young men came
hither to-day, seeking their father. When you go abroad, you always
tell me that you visit nowhere, and that you have met no woman but
me. Whose sons, then, are these?" She pointed to the bundle on the
shelf, and the children smiled significantly at one another.
315. He took the bundle from the shelf. He first unrolled the robe of
dawn with which they were covered, then the robe of blue sky, next the
robe of yellow evening light, and lastly the robe of darkness. When
he unrolled this the boys fell out on the floor. He seized them,
and threw them first upon great, sharp spikes of white shell that
stood in the east; but they bounded back, unhurt, from these spikes,
for they held their life-feathers tightly all the while. He then
threw them in turn on spikes of turquoise in the south, on spikes
of haliotis in the west, and spikes of black rock in the north;
but they came uninjured from all these trials and Tsóhanoai said:
"I wish it were indeed true that they were my children."
316. He said then to the elder children,--those who lived with
him,--"Go out and prepare the sweat-house and heat for it four of the
hardest boulders you can find. Heat a white, a blue, a yellow, and a
black boulder." When the Winds heard this they said: "He still seeks
to kill his children. How shall we avert the danger?" The sweat-house
was built against a bank. Wind dug into the bank a hole behind the
sudatory, and concealed the opening with a flat stone. Wind then
whispered into the ears of the boys the secret of the hole and said:
"Do not hide in the hole until you have answered the questions
of your father." The boys went into the sweat-house, the great
hot boulders were put in and the opening of the lodge was covered
with the four sky-blankets. Then Tsóhanoai called out to the boys:
"Are you hot?" and they answered: "Yes, very hot." Then they crept
into the hiding-place and lay there. After a while Tsóhanoai came
and poured water through the top of the sweat-house on the stones,
making them burst with a loud noise, and a great heat and steam was
raised. But in time the stones cooled and the boys crept out of their
hiding-place into the sweat-house. Tsóhanoai came and asked again:
"Are you hot?" hoping to get no reply; but the boys still answered:
"Yes, very hot." Then he took the coverings off the sweat-house and
let the boys come out. He greeted them in a friendly way and said:
"Yes, these are my children," and yet he was thinking of other ways
by which he might destroy them if they were not.
317. The four sky-blankets were spread on the ground one over another,
and the four young men were made to sit on them, one behind another,
facing the east. "My daughters, make these boys to look like my
other sons," said Tsóhanoai. The young women went to the strangers,
pulled their hair out long, and moulded their faces and forms so
that they looked just like their brethren. Then Sun bade them all
rise and enter the house. They rose and all went, in a procession,
the two strangers last.
318. As they were about to enter the door they heard a voice whispering
in their ears: "St! Look at the ground." They looked down and beheld
a spiny caterpillar called Wasekede, who, as they looked, spat out two
blue spits on the ground. "Take each of you one of these," said Wind,
"and put it in your mouth, but do not swallow it. There is one more
trial for you,--a trial by smoking." When they entered the house
Tsóhanoai took down a pipe of turquoise that hung on the eastern
wall and filled it with tobacco. "This is the tobacco he kills with,"
whispered Ni'ltsi to the boys. Tsóhanoai held the pipe up to the sun
that hung on the wall, lit it, and gave it to the boys to smoke. They
smoked it, and passed it from one to another till it was finished. They
said it tasted sweet, but it did them no harm.
319. When the pipe was smoked out and Tsóhanoai saw the boys were not
killed by it, he was satisfied and said: "Now, my children, what do
you want from me? Why do you seek me?" "Oh, father!" they replied,
"the land where we dwell is filled with the anáye, who devour the
people. There are Yéitso and Téelget, the Tse`náhale, the Bináye Aháni,
and many others. They have eaten nearly all of our kind; there are
few left; already they have sought our lives, and we have run away
to escape them. Give us, we beg, the weapons with which we may slay
our enemies. Help us to destroy them."
320. "Know," said Tsóhanoai, "that Yéitso who dwells at Tsótsil is also
my son, yet I will help you to kill him. I shall hurl the first bolt
at him, and I will give you those things that will help you in war." He
took from pegs where they hung around the room and gave to each a hat,
a shirt, leggings, moccasins, all made of pes (iron or knives),[114]
a chain-lightning arrow, a sheet-lightning arrow, a sunbeam arrow,
a rainbow arrow, and a great stone knife or knife club (peshál).[115]
"These are what we want," said the boys. They put on the clothes of
pes, and streaks of lightning shot from every joint.[116]
321. Next morning Tsóhanoai led the boys out to the edge of the world,
where the sky and the earth came close together, and beyond which there
was no world. Here sixteen wands or poles leaned from the earth to
the sky; four of these were of white shell, four of turquoise, four
of haliotis shell, and four of red stone.[117] A deep stream flowed
between them and the wands. As they approached the stream, Ni'ltsi,
the Wind, whispered: "This is another trial;" but he blew a great
breath and formed a bridge of rainbow,[86] over which the brothers
passed in safety. Ni'ltsi whispered again: "The red wands are for
war, the others are for peace;" so when Tsóhanoai asked his sons:
"On which wands will ye ascend?" they answered: "On the wands of red
stone," for they sought war with their enemies. They climbed up to the
sky on the wands of red stone, and their father went with them.[118]
322. They journeyed on till they came to Yágahoka, the sky-hole,
which is in the centre of the sky.[119] The hole is edged with four
smooth, shining cliffs that slope steeply downwards,--cliffs of the
same materials as the wands by which they had climbed from the earth
to the sky. They sat down on the smooth declivities,--Tsóhanoai on
the west side of the hole, the brothers on the east side. The latter
would have slipped down had not the Wind blown up and helped them to
hold on. Tsóhanoai pointed down and said: "Where do you belong in the
world below? Show me your home." The brothers looked down and scanned
the land; but they could distinguish nothing; all the land seemed flat;
the wooded mountains looked like dark spots on the surface; the lakes
gleamed like stars, and the rivers like streaks of lightning. The
elder brother said: "I do not recognize the land, I know not where
our home is." Now Ni'ltsi prompted the younger brother, and showed
him which were the sacred mountains and which the great rivers, and
the younger exclaimed, pointing downwards: "There is the Male Water
(San Juan River), and there is the Female Water (Rio Grande); yonder
is the mountain of Tsisnadzi'ni; below us is Tsótsil; there in the
west is Dokoslíd; that white spot beyond the Male Water is Depe'ntsa;
and there between these mountains is Dsilnáotil, near which our
home is." "You are right, my child, it is thus that the land lies,"
said Tsóhanoai. Then, renewing his promises, he spread a streak of
lightning; he made his children stand on it,--one on each end,--and
he shot them down to the top of Tsótsil (Mt. San Mateo, Mt. Taylor).
323. They descended the mountain on its south side and walked toward
the warm spring at Tó`sato.[120] As they were walking along under
a high bluff, where there is now a white circle, they heard voices
hailing them. "Whither are you going? Come hither a while." They went
in the direction in which they heard the voices calling and found four
holy people,--Holy Man, Holy Young Man, Holy Boy, and Holy Girl. The
brothers remained all night in a cave with these people, and the
latter told them all about Yéitso.[121] They said that he showed
himself every day three times on the mountains before he came down,
and when he showed himself for the fourth time he descended from
Tsótsil to Tó`sato to drink; that, when he stooped down to drink,
one hand rested on Tsótsil and the other on the high hills on the
opposite side of the valley, while his feet stretched as far away as
a man could walk between sunrise and noon.
324. They left the cave at daybreak and went on to Tó`sato, where in
ancient days there was a much larger lake than there is now. There
was a high, rocky wall in the narrow part of the valley, and the lake
stretched back to where Blue Water is to-day. When they came to the
edge of the lake, one brother said to the other: "Let us try one of
our father's weapons and see what it can do." They shot one of the
lightning arrows at Tsótsil; it made a great cleft in the mountain,
which remains to this day, and one said to the other: "We cannot
suffer in combat while we have such weapons as these."
325. Soon they heard the sound of thunderous footsteps, and they
beheld the head of Yéitso peering over a high hill in the east; it
was withdrawn in a moment. Soon after, the monster raised his head
and chest over a hill in the south, and remained a little longer
in sight than when he was in the east. Later he displayed his body
to the waist over a hill in the west; and lastly he showed himself,
down to the knees, over Tsótsil in the north.[122] Then he descended
the mountain, came to the edge of the lake, and laid down a basket
which he was accustomed to carry.
326. Yéitso stooped four times to the lake to drink, and, each time he
drank, the waters perceptibly diminished; when he had done drinking,
the lake was nearly drained.[123] The brothers lost their presence
of mind at sight of the giant drinking, and did nothing while he
was stooping down. As he took his last drink they advanced to the
edge of the lake, and Yéitso saw their reflection in the water. He
raised his head, and, looking at them, roared: "What a pretty pair
have come in sight! Where have I been hunting?" (i.e., that I never
saw them before). "Yiniketóko! Yiniketóko!"[124] "Throw (his words)
back in his mouth," said the younger to the elder brother. "What a
great thing has come in sight! Where have we been hunting?" shouted
the elder brother to the giant. Four times these taunts were repeated
by each party. The brothers then heard Ni'ltsi whispering quickly,
"Akó`! Akó`! Beware! Beware!" They were standing on a bent rainbow just
then; they straightened the rainbow out, descending to the ground,
and at the same instant a lightning bolt, hurled by Yéitso, passed
thundering over their heads. He hurled four bolts rapidly; as he
hurled the second, they bent their rainbow and rose, while the bolt
passed under their feet; as he discharged the third they descended,
and let the lightning pass over them. When he threw the fourth bolt
they bent the rainbow very high, for this time he aimed higher than
before; but his weapon still passed under their feet and did them
no harm. He drew a fifth bolt to throw at them; but at this moment
the lightning descended from the sky on the head of the giant and
he reeled beneath it, but did not fall.[125] Then the elder brother
sped a chain-lightning arrow; his enemy tottered toward the east,
but straightened himself up again. The second arrow caused him to
stumble toward the south (he fell lower and lower each time), but
again he stood up and prepared himself to renew the conflict. The
third lightning arrow made him topple toward the west, and the fourth
to the north. Then he fell to his knees, raised himself partly again,
fell flat on his face, stretched out his limbs, and moved no more.
327. When the arrows struck him, his armor was shivered in pieces and
the scales flew in every direction. The elder brother said: "They
may be useful to the people in the future."[126] The brothers then
approached their fallen enemy and the younger scalped him. Heretofore
the younger brother bore only the name of To`badzistsíni, or Child
of the Water; but now his brother gave him also the warrior name of
Naídikisi (He Who Cuts Around). What the elder brother's name was
before this we do not know; but ever after he was called Nayénezgani
(Slayer of the Alien Gods).[127]
328. They cut off his head and threw it away to the other side
of Tsótsil, where it may be seen to-day on the eastern side of
the mountain.[128] The blood from the body now flowed in a great
stream down the valley, so great that it broke down the rocky wall
that bounded the old lake and flowed on. Ni'ltsi whispered to the
brothers: "The blood flows toward the dwelling of the Bináye Aháni;
if it reaches them, Yéitso will come to life again." Then Nayénezgani
took his peshál, or knife club, and drew with it across the valley
a line. Here the blood stopped flowing and piled itself up in a high
wall. But when it had piled up here very high it began to flow off in
another direction, and Ni'ltsi again whispered: "It now flows toward
the dwelling of Sasnalkáhi, the Bear that Pursues; if it reaches him,
Yéitso will come to life again." Hearing this, Nayénezgani again drew
a line with his knife on the ground, and again the blood piled up
and stopped flowing. The blood of Yéitso fills all the valley to-day,
and the high cliffs in the black rock that we see there now are the
places where Nayénezgani stopped the flow with his peshál.[129]
329. They then put the broken arrows of Yéitso and his scalp into his
basket and set out for their home near Dsilnáotil. When they got near
the house, they took off their own suits of armor and hid these, with
the basket and its contents, in the bushes. The mothers were rejoiced
to see them, for they feared their sons were lost, and they said:
"Where have you been since you left here yesterday, and what have you
done?" Nayénezgani replied: "We have been to the house of our father,
the Sun. We have been to Tsótsil and we have slain Yéitso." "Ah, my
child," said Estsánatlehi, "do not speak thus. It is wrong to make fun
of such an awful subject." "Do you not believe us?" said Nayénezgani;
"come out, then, and see what we have brought back with us." He
led the women out to where he had hidden the basket and showed them
the trophies of Yéitso. Then they were convinced and they rejoiced,
and had a dance to celebrate the victory.[130]
330. When their rejoicings were done, Nayénezgani said to his mother:
"Where does Téelget[131] dwell?" "Seek not to know," she answered,
"you have done enough. Rest contented. The land of the anáye
is a dangerous place. The anáye are hard to kill." "Yes, and it
was hard for you to bear your child," the son replied (meaning
that she triumphed notwithstanding). "He lives at Bikehalzi'n,"
she said. Then the brothers held a long council to determine what
they should do. They made two cigarette kethawns of a plant called
azeladiltéhe,[132] one black and one blue, each three finger-widths
long; to these they attached a sunbeam and laid them in a turquoise
dish. "I shall go alone to fight Téelget," said Nayénezgani, "while
you, younger brother, remain at home and watch these kethawns. If they
take fire from the sunbeam, you may know that I am in great danger;
as long as they do not take fire, you may know that I am safe." This
work was finished at sundown.[133]
331. Nayénezgani arose early next morning and set out alone to find
Téelget. He came, in time, to the edge of a great plain, and from one
of the hills that bordered it he saw the monster lying down a long way
off. He paused to think how he could approach nearer to him without
attracting his attention, and in the mean time he poised one of his
lightning arrows in his hand, thinking how he should throw it. While he
stood thus in thought, Nasi'zi, the Gopher, came up to him and said:
"I greet you, my friend! Why have you come hither?" "Oh, I am just
wandering around," said Nayénezgani. Four times this question was
asked and this answer was given. Then Nasi'zi said: "I wonder that
you come here; no one but I ever ventures in these parts, for all
fear Téelget. There he lies on the plain yonder." "It is him I seek,"
said Nayénezgani; "but I know not how to approach him." "Ah, if that
is all you want, I can help you," said Gopher; "and if you slay him,
all I ask is his hide. I often go up to him, and I will go now to show
you." Having said this, Nasi'zi disappeared in a hole in the ground.
332. While he was gone Nayénezgani watched Téelget. After a while he
saw the great creature rise, walk from the centre in four different
directions, as if watching, and lie down again in the spot where he was
first seen. He was a great, four-footed beast, with horns like those
of a deer. Soon Nasi'zi returned and said: "I have dug a tunnel up to
Téelget, and at the end I have bored four tunnels for you to hide in,
one to the east, one to the south, one to the west, and one to the
north. I have made a hole upwards from the tunnel to his heart, and I
have gnawed the hair off near his heart. When I was gnawing the hair
he spoke to me and said: 'Why do you take my hair?' and I answered,
'I want it to make a bed for my children.' Then it was that he rose
and walked around; but he came back and lay down where he lay before,
over the hole that leads up to his heart."