the bearer of the sun. "We come for no special purpose; we come
only to pass away the time," Nayénezgani answered. Three times he
asked this question and got the same reply. When he asked for the
fourth time, he added, "Speak the truth. When you came to me before I
gave you all you asked for." Now it was To`badzistsíni who replied:
"Oh, father! there are still many of the anáye left, and they are
increasing. We wish to destroy them." "My children," said Tsóhanoai,
"when I helped you before, I asked you for nothing in return. I
am willing to help you again; but I wish to know, first, if you are
willing to do something for me. I have a long way to travel every day,
and often, in the long summer days, I do not get through in time, and
then I have no place to rest or eat till I get back to my home in the
east. I wish you to send your mother to the west that she may make a
new home for me." "I will do it," said Nayénezgani; "I will send her
there." But To`badzistsíni said: "No, Estsánatlehi is under the power
of none; we cannot make promises for her, she must speak for herself,
she is her own mistress; but I shall tell her your wishes and plead
for you." The room they were in had four curtains which closed the
ways leading into other apartments. Tsóhanoai lifted the curtain in
the east, which was black, and took out of the room in the east five
hoops: one of these was colored black, another blue, a third yellow,
and a fourth white, the fifth was many-colored and shining. Each hoop
had attached to it a knife of the same color as itself. He took out
also four great hailstones, colored like the four first hoops. He
gave all these to his sons and said: "Your mother will know what to
do with these things."
356. When they got their gifts they set out on their homeward
journey. As they went on their way they beheld a wonderful vision. The
gods spread before them the country of the Navahoes as it was to
be in the future when men increased in the land and became rich and
happy. They spoke to one another of their father, of what he had said
to them, of what they had seen in his house, and of all the strange
things that had happened. When they got near their journey's end they
sang this song:--
Nayénezgani, he is holy,
Thus speaks the Sun,
Holy he stands.
To`badzistsíni, he is holy,
Thus speaks the Moon,
Holy he moves.
Léyaneyani, he is holy,
Thus speaks the Sun,
Holy he stands.
Tsówenatlehi, he is holy,
Thus speaks the Moon,
Holy he moves.[278]
357. When they got within sight of their home they sang this song:--
Slayer of Giants,
Through the sky I hear him.
His voice sounds everywhere,
His voice divine.
Child of the Water,
Through the floods I hear him.
His voice sounds everywhere,
His voice divine.
Reared 'neath the Earth,
Through the earth I hear him.
His voice sounds everywhere,
His voice divine.
The Changing Grandchild,
Through the clouds I hear him.
His voice sounds everywhere,
His voice divine.[279]
358. When the brothers got home they said to Estsánatlehi: "Here are
the hoops which our father has given us, and he told us you knew all
about them. Show us, then, how to use them." She replied: "I have no
knowledge of them." Three times she thus answered their questions. When
they spoke to her for the fourth time and Nayénezgani was becoming
angry and impatient, she said: "I have never seen the Sun God except
from afar. He has never been down to the earth to visit me. I know
nothing of these talismans of his, but I will try what I can do." She
took the black hoop to the east, set it up so that it might roll,
and spat through it the black hail, which was four-cornered; at once
the hoop rolled off to the east and rolled out of sight. She took
the blue hoop to the south, set it up, and spat through it the blue
hail, which was six-cornered. Then the hoop rolled away to the south
and disappeared. She carried the yellow hoop to the west, set it up,
and spat through it the eight-cornered yellow hail; the hoop rolled
off to the west and was lost to sight. She bore the white hoop to
the north; spat through it the white hail, which had eleven corners,
and the hoop sped to the north until it was seen no more. She threw
the shining hoop up toward the zenith, threw the four colored knives
in the same direction, and blew a powerful breath after them. Up they
all went until they were lost to sight in the sky. As each hoop went
away thunder was heard.[155]
359. During four days after this nothing of importance happened, and
no change came in the weather. At the end of four days they heard
thunder high up in the sky, and after this there were four days
more of good weather. Then the sky grew dark, and something like a
great white cloud descended from above. Estsánatlehi went abroad;
she saw in all directions great whirlwinds which uprooted tall
trees as if they had been weeds, and tossed great rocks around as
if they had been pebbles. "My son, I fear for our house," she said
when she came back. "It is high among the mountains, and the great
winds may destroy it." When he heard this, Nayénezgani went out. He
covered the house first with a black cloud, which he fastened to the
ground with rainbows; second, with a black fog, which he fastened
down with sunbeams; third, with a black cloud, which he secured with
sheet-lightning; and fourth, with a black fog, which he secured with
chain-lightning. At sunset that evening they caught a little glimpse
of the sun; but after that, continuously for four days and four nights,
it was dark; a storm of wind and hail prevailed, such as had never been
seen before, and the air was filled with sharp stones carried before
the wind. The people stayed safe in the lodge, but they could hear the
noise of the great storm without. On the morning of the fifth day the
tumult ceased, and Nayénezgani, going out, found that all was calm,
though it was still dark. He now proceeded to remove the coverings
from the lodge and threw them upwards toward the heavens. As the first
covering, a sheet of fog, ascended, chain-lightning shot out of it
(with chain-lightning it had been fastened down). As the second
covering, a cloud, ascended, sheet-lightning came forth from it. As
the third covering, a fog, went up, sunbeams streamed from it; and
as the fourth cover, a robe of cloud, floated up, it became adorned
with rainbows. The air was yet dark, and full of dust raised by the
high wind; but a gentle shower of rain came later, laying the dust,
and all was clear again. All the inmates of the lodge now came out,
and they marvelled to see what changes the storm had wrought: near
their house a great canyon had been formed; the shape of the bluffs
around had been changed, and solitary pillars of rock[156] had been
hewn by the winds.
360. "Surely all the anáye are now killed," said Estsánatlehi. "This
storm must have destroyed them." But Ni'ltsi whispered into
Nayénezgani's ear, "San (Old Age) still lives." The hero said then
to his mother: "Where used Old Age to dwell?" His mother would not
answer him, though he repeated his question four times. At last
Ni'ltsi again whispered in his ear and said: "She lives in the
mountains of Depe'ntsa."
361. Next morning he set out for the north, and when, after a long
journey, he reached Depe'ntsa, he saw an old woman who came slowly
toward him leaning on a staff. Her back was bent, her hair was white,
and her face was deeply wrinkled. He knew this must be San. When they
met he said: "Grandmother, I have come on a cruel errand. I have come
to slay you." "Why would you slay me?" she said in a feeble voice,
"I have never harmed any one. I hear that you have done great deeds
in order that men might increase on the earth, but if you kill
me there will be no increase of men; the boys will not grow up to
become fathers; the worthless old men will not die; the people will
stand still. It is well that people should grow old and pass away
and give their places to the young. Let me live, and I shall help
you to increase the people." "Grandmother, if you keep this promise
I shall spare your life," said Nayénezgani, and he returned to his
mother without a trophy.
362. When he got home Ni'ltsi whispered to him: "Hakáz Estsán (Cold
Woman) still lives." Nayénezgani said to Estsánatlehi: "Mother,
grandmother, where does Cold Woman dwell?" His mother would not answer
him; but Ni'ltsi again whispered, saying: "Cold Woman lives high on
the summits of Depe'ntsa, where the snow never melts."
363. Next day he went again to the north and climbed high among the
peaks of Depe'ntsa, where no trees grow and where the snow lies white
through all the summer. Here he found a lean old woman, sitting
on the bare snow, without clothing, food, fire, or shelter. She
shivered from head to foot, her teeth chattered, and her eyes
streamed water. Among the drifting snows which whirled around her, a
multitude of snow-buntings were playing; these were the couriers she
sent out to announce the coming of a storm. "Grandmother," he said,
"a cruel man I shall be. I am going to kill you, so that men may no
more suffer and die by your hand," and he raised his knife-club to
smite her. "You may kill me or let me live, as you will. I care not,"
she said to the hero; "but if you kill me it will always be hot,
the land will dry up, the springs will cease to flow, the people will
perish. You will do well to let me live. It will be better for your
people." He paused and thought upon her words. He lowered the hand
he had raised to strike her, saying: "You speak wisely, grandmother;
I shall let you live." He turned around and went home.
364. When Nayénezgani got home from this journey, bearing no trophy,
Wind again whispered in his ear and said: "Tieín (Poverty) still
lives." He asked his mother where Poverty used to live, but she would
not answer him. It was Wind who again informed him. "There are two,
and they dwell at Dsildasdzi'ni."
365. He went to Dsildasdzi'ni next day and found there an old man
and an old woman, who were filthy, clad in tattered garments, and
had no goods in their house. "Grandmother, grandfather," he said,
"a cruel man I shall be. I have come to kill you." "Do not kill us, my
grandchild," said the old man: "it would not be well for the people,
in days to come, if we were dead; then they would always wear the
same clothes and never get anything new. If we live, the clothing
will wear out and the people will make new and beautiful garments;
they will gather goods and look handsome. Let us live and we will
pull their old clothes to pieces for them." So he spared them and
went home without a trophy.
366. The next journey was to seek Ditsi'n, Hunger, who lived, as
Ni'ltsi told him, at Tlóhadaskaí, White Spot of Grass. At this place
he found twelve of the Hunger People. Their chief was a big, fat man,
although he had no food to eat but the little brown cactus. "I am
going to be cruel," said Nayénezgani, "so that men may suffer no more
the pangs of hunger and die no more of hunger." "Do not kill us,"
said the chief, "if you wish your people to increase and be happy
in the days to come. We are your friends. If we die, the people will
not care for food; they will never know the pleasure of cooking and
eating nice things, and they will never care for the pleasures of the
chase." So he spared also the Ditsi'n, and went home without a trophy.
367. When Nayénezgani came back from the home of Hunger, Ni'ltsi spoke
to him no more of enemies that lived. The Slayer of the Alien Gods
said to his mother: "I think all the anáye must be dead, for every one
I meet now speaks to me as a relation; they say to me, 'my grandson,'
'my son,' 'my brother.'"[157] Then he took off his armor--his knife,
moccasins, leggings, shirt, and cap--and laid them in a pile; he put
with them the various weapons which the Sun had given him, and he
sang this song:--
Now Slayer of the Alien Gods arrives
Here from the house made of the dark stone knives.
From where the dark stone knives dangle on high,
You have the treasures, holy one, not I.
The Offspring of the Water now arrives,
Here from the house made of the serrate knives.
From where the serrate knives dangle on high,
You have the treasures, holy one, not I.
He who was Reared beneath the Earth arrives,
Here from the house made of all kinds of knives.
From where all kinds of knives dangle on high,
You have the treasures, holy one, not I.
The hero, Changing Grandchild, now arrives,
Here from the house made of the yellow knives.
From where the yellow knives dangle on high,
You have the treasures, holy one, not I.[280]
368. His song had scarcely ceased when they heard, in the far east,
a loud voice singing this song:--
With Slayer of the Alien Gods I come,
From the house made of dark stone knives I come,
From where dark knives dangle on high I come,
With implement of sacred rites I come,
Dreadful to you.
With Offspring of the Waters now I come,
From the house made of serrate knives I come,
From where the serrate knives hang high I come,
With implement of sacred rites I come,
Divine to you.
With Reared beneath the Earth now do I come,
From house of knives of every kind I come,
Where knives of every kind hang high I come,
With implement of sacred rites I come,
Dreadful to you.
Now with the Changing Grandchild here I come,
From the house made of yellow knives I come,
From where the yellow knives hang high I come,
With implement of sacred rites I come,
Dreadful to you.[281]
369. As the voice came nearer and the song continued, Estsánatlehi
said to the youths: "Put on quickly the clothes you usually wear,
Tsóhanoai is coming to see us; be ready to receive him," and she left
the lodge, that she might not hear them talk about the anáye.
370. When the god had greeted his children and taken a seat, he
said to the elder brother: "My son, do you think you have slain
all the anáye?" "Yes, father," replied the son, "I think I have
killed all that should die." "Have you brought home trophies from the
slain?" the father questioned again. "Yes, my father," was the reply;
"I have brought back wing-feathers, and lights and hair and eyes,
and other trophies of my enemies." "It is not well," said Tsóhanoai,
"that the bodies of these great creatures should lie where they fell;
I shall have them buried near the corpse of Yéitso." (He got the holy
ones to carry the corpses to San Mateo and hide them under the blood
of Yéitso, and this is the reason we do not see them lying all over
the land now, but sometimes see them sticking out of the rocks.)[159]
He took the trophies and the armor and said: "These I shall carry
back to my house in the east and keep them safe. If you ever need them
again, come and get them." Promising to come back again in four days,
and meet Estsánatlehi on the top of Tsolíhi, he departed.
371. At the end of four days Estsánatlehi went to the top of Tsolíhi
and sat down on a rock. Tsóhanoai came, sat beside her, and sought
to embrace her; but she avoided him, saying: "What do you mean by
this? I want none of your embraces." "It means that I want you for
my own," said the bearer of the Sun. "I want you to come to the
west and make a home for me there." "But I do not wish to do so,"
said she. "What right have you to ask me?" "Have I not given your
boys the weapons to slay the alien gods?" he inquired, and added:
"I have done much for you: now you must reward me." She replied, "I
never besought you to do this. You did not do it on my account; you did
it of your own good will, and because your sons asked you." He urged
another reason: "When Nayénezgani visited me in the east, he promised
to give you to me." "What care I for his promise?" she exclaimed;
"I am not bound by it. He has no right to speak for me." Thus four
times she repulsed him. When he pleaded for the fifth time, saying:
"Come to the west and make a home for me," she said: "Let me hear
first all you have to promise me. You have a beautiful house in the
east. I have never seen it, but I have heard how beautiful it is. I
want a house just the same built for me in the west; I want to have
it built floating on the water, away from the shore, so that in the
future, when people increase, they will not annoy me with too many
visits. I want all sorts of gems--white shell, turquoise, haliotis,
jet, soapstone, agate, and redstone--planted around my house, so
that they will grow and increase. Then I shall be lonely over there
and shall want something to do, for my sons and my sister will not
go with me. Give me animals to take along. Do all this for me and
I shall go with you to the west." He promised all these things to
her, and he made elk, buffalo, deer, long-tail deer, mountain sheep,
jack-rabbits, and prairie-dogs to go with her.
372. When she started for her new home the Hadáhonestiddine` and the
Hadáhonigedine`, two tribes of divine people,[160] went with her and
helped her to drive the animals, which were already numerous. They
passed over the Tuintsá range at Péslitsi (Red Knife or Red Metal),
and there they tramped the mountain down so that they formed a
pass. They halted in Tsinlí valley to have a ceremony[161] and a
foot-race, and here the animals had become vastly more numerous. When
they crossed Dsillizi'n (Black Mountain),[162] the herd was so great
that it tramped a deep pass whose bottom is almost on a level with
the surrounding plain; at Black Mountain all the buffaloes broke from
the herd and ran to the east; they never returned to Estsánatlehi
and are in the east still. At Hostódito` the elks went to the east
and they never returned. From time to time a few, but not all, of
the antelope, deer, and other animals left the herd and wandered
east. Four days after leaving Tsinlí valley they arrived at Dokoslíd
(San Francisco Mountain), and here they stopped to perform another
ceremony. What happened on the way from this mountain to the great
water in the west, we do not know, but after a while Estsánatlehi
arrived at the great water and went to dwell in her floating house
beyond the shore. Here she still lives, and here the Sun visits her,
when his journey is done, every day that he crosses the sky. But he
does not go every day; on dark, stormy days he stays at home in the
east and sends in his stead the serpents of lightning, who do mischief.
373. As he journeys toward the west, this is the song he sings:--
In my thoughts I approach,
The Sun God approaches,
Earth's end he approaches,
Estsánatlehi's hearth approaches,
In old age walking
The beautiful trail.
In my thoughts I approach,
The Moon God approaches,
Earth's end he approaches,
Yolkaí Estsán's hearth approaches,
In old age walking
The beautiful trail.[282]
374. When Estsánatlehi had departed, Nayénezgani and To`badzistsíni
went, as their father had bidden them, to To`ye'tli,[163] where two
rivers join, in the valley of the San Juan; there they made their
dwelling, there they are to this day, and there we sometimes still
see their forms in the San Juan River.[164] The Navahoes still go
there to pray, but not for rain, or good crops, or increase of stock;
only for success in war, and only the warriors go.
IV. GROWTH OF THE NAVAHO NATION.
375. Before Estsánatlehi left, she said to Yolkaí Estsán: "Now, younger
sister, I must leave you. Think well what you would most like to do
after I am gone." The younger sister replied: "I would most like to
go back to Depe'ntsa, where our people came from." "Alas! you will
be lonely there," said the elder sister. "You will want for some
one around you to make a noise and keep you company." Still, when
Estsánatlehi left, Yolkaí Estsán turned her face toward Depe'ntsa. She
went with the two brothers as far as To`ye'tli, and, when these
stopped there, she set out alone for the mountains.
376. When she got to Depe'ntsa (the San Juan Mountains), she went
first to a place lying east of Hadzinaí (the Place of Emergence),
named Dsilladiltéhi; in an old ruined pueblo on its side she rested
during the day, and at night she went to the top of the mountain
to sleep. On the second day she went to a mountain south of the
Place of Emergence, called Dsili'ndiltéhi; rested on the side of the
mountain during the day, and on its top at night. She began now to feel
lonely, and at night she thought of how men might be made to keep her
company. She wandered round in thought during the third day, and on
the third night she slept on top of Dsiltagiiltéhi, a mountain west of
Hadzinaí. On the fourth day she walked around the Place of Emergence,
and wandered into the old ruins she found there. On the fourth night
she went to the top of Dsiltiniltéz, the mountain which lies to the
north of the Place of Emergence, and there she rested, but did not
sleep; for she thought all the time about her loneliness, and of how
people might be made. On the fifth day she came down to the shores of
the lake which surrounded the Place of Emergence, and built a shelter
of brush. "I may as well stay here," she said to herself; "what does
it avail that I wander round?" She sat up late that night thinking of
her lonely condition. She felt that she could not stay there longer
without companionship. She thought of her sister in the far west, of
the Twelve People, of the gods that dwelt in the different mountains,
and she thought she might do well to go and live with some of them.
377. The next morning she heard faintly, in the early dawn, the
voice of Hastséyalti shouting his usual "Wu`hu`hu`hú," in the
far east. Four times the cry was uttered, each time louder and
nearer. Immediately after the last call the god appeared. "Where
did you save yourself?" he asked the White Shell Woman, meaning,
"Where were you, that you escaped the anáye when they ravaged the
land?" "I was at Dsilnáotil with my sister," she said; "but for five
nights I have been all alone in these mountains. I have been hoping
that something might happen to relieve my great loneliness,--that I
might meet some one. Sítsaí (Grandfather), whence do you come?" He
replied: "I come from Tse`gíhi,[165] the home of the gods. I pity
your loneliness and wish to help you. If you remain where you are,
I shall return in four days and bring Estsánatlehi, the divine ones
of all the great mountains, and other gods, with me." When he left,
she built for herself a good hut with a storm door. She swept the
floor clean, and made a comfortable bed of soft grass and leaves.
378. At dawn on the fourth day after the god departed, Yolkaí Estsán
heard two voices calling,--the voice of Hastséyalti, the Talking God,
and the voice of Hastséhogan, the House God. The voices were heard,
as usual, four times, and immediately after the last call the gods
appeared. It was dark and misty that day; the sun did not rise. Soon
after the arrival of the first two, the other promised visitors
came, and they all formed themselves in a circle east of the lodge,
each in the place where he or she belonged. Thus the divine ones of
Tsisnadzi'ni stood in the east; those of Tsótsil (San Mateo Mountain)
in the south; those of Dokoslíd (San Francisco Mountain) in the west;
those of Depe'ntsa (San Juan Mountain) in the north. Each one present
had his appropriate place in the group. At first Yolkaí Estsán stood in
the west; but her sister, Estsánatlehi, said to her: "No, my young
sister; go you and stand in the east. My place is in the west,"
and thus they stood during the ceremony. Estsánatlehi brought with
her two sacred blankets called Dilpi'l-naská, the Dark Embroidered,
and Lakaí-naská, the White Embroidered. Hastséhogan brought with him
two sacred buckskins, and the Nalkénaaz (a divine couple who came
together walking arm in arm) brought two ears of corn,--one yellow,
one white,--which the female carried in a dish of turquoise.