said: "My father has been here inquiring for you. When I told him
you had gone to the east he was very angry, and said that he told
you not to go there." Soon the old man entered and said fiercely:
"Why have you gone to the east? I told you not to go there. I told you
it was a bad place." The young man made no reply, but acted as if he
had seen and heard nothing while he was gone, and in a little while
Deer Raiser calmed down and acted as if he wished to be at peace again
with his son-in-law; but before he left he warned him not to go to the
south. Nati'nesthani pondered on the words of his father-in-law that
night, and made up his mind to again disobey him when morning came.
551. Next day, when he had eaten, he dressed himself for a journey and
walked toward the south. He came, in time, to a blue ridge, and when
he was ascending it he met a little man, much like the one he had met
the day before, but he had a bluish face. Instead of being dressed to
look like a deer, he was dressed to look like an antelope; he wore
an antelope hunting-mask with horns, he carried a wand of haliotis,
and a bow made of a wood called tselkáni, with no sinew on the back,
and he had arrows trimmed with the tail feathers of the red-tailed
buzzard.[248] Like the little man of the east, he was also one of the
Tsidastói People. He told the Navaho how to make the cigarette that
belonged to him, to make it the length of the middle joint of the
little finger, to paint it blue, spot it with yellow, and deposit it
in the fork of a cedar-tree. The little man told the Navaho to go on
over the ridge till he came to two lodges and to listen there to what
the people would tell him. He went and found two lodges, and people
playing nánzoz, and had all things happen to him nearly the same as
happened to him in the east. When he returned home he had again an
angry talk from his father-in-law, and was warned not to go to the
west; but again he determined to pay no heed to the warning.
552. When he went to the west, next day, he found a yellow ridge to
cross. The little man whom he met had a yellowish face; he was armed
and dressed the same as the little man of the east, except that he
had no horns on his deer-mask, for he represented a doe. He described
to the Navaho how to make a cigarette sacred to himself, which was to
be painted yellow, spotted with blue, and deposited in a piñon-tree,
like the cigarette of the east. Other events happened much as on the
two previous days.
553. On the fourth of these forbidden journeys the Navaho went to the
north. The ridge which he had to cross was black. The little man whom
he met was armed and dressed like the man in the south, but he had
no horns on his mask. His face was very dark. The cigarette which he
described was to be painted black and spotted with white; it was to
be the same length as the cigarette of the south, and disposed of in
the same way.
554. When he got home from his fourth journey, his father-in-law came
into the lodge and reviled him once more with angry words; but this
time the Navaho did not remain silent. He told the old man where he had
been, what people he had met, what stories he had heard, and all that
he knew of him. He told him, too, that he had learned of cigarettes,
and medicines, and charms, and rites to protect him against a wizard's
power. "You have killed others," said Nati'nesthani, "you have tried
to kill me. I knew it all the time, but said nothing. Now I know all
of your wickedness." "All that you say is true," said the old man;
"but I shall seek your life no more, and I shall give up all my evil
ways. While you were abroad on your journeys you learned of powerful
sacrifices, and rites, and medicines. All that I ask is that you
will treat me with these." His son-in-law did as he was desired,
and in doing so performed the first atsósi hatál.[249]
555. After treating his father-in-law, Nati'nesthani returned to his
people, taught them all he had learned while he was gone, and thus
established the rite of atsósi hatál among the Navahoes. Then he went
back to the whirling lake of Tó`nihilin, and he dwells there still.
THE GREAT SHELL OF KINTYÉL.
556. Kintyél,[72] Broad House, and Ki'ndotliz, Blue House,[208] are
two pueblo houses in the Chaco Canyon. They are ruins now; but in
the days when Kinníki lived on earth many people dwelt there. Not
far from the ruins is a high cliff called Tse`dezá`, or Standing
Rock. Near these places the rite of yói hatál,[250] or the bead chant,
was first practised by the Navahoes, and this is the tale of how it
first became known to man:--
557. Two young men, one from Kintyél and one from Ki'ndotliz, went
out one day to hunt deer. About sunset, as they were returning to
Ki'ndotliz, weary and unsuccessful, they observed a war-eagle soaring
overhead, and they stopped to watch his flight. He moved slowly away,
growing smaller and smaller to their gaze until at length he dwindled
to a black speck, almost invisible; and while they strained their
sight to get a last look he seemed to them to descend on the top of
Standing Rock. In order to mark the spot where they last saw him
they cut a forked stick, stuck it in the ground fork upward, and
arranged it so that when they should look over it again, crouching
in a certain position, their sight would be guided to the spot. They
left the stick standing and went home to Ki'ndotliz.[251]
558. In those days eagles were very scarce in the land; it was a
wonder to see one; so when the young men got home and told the story
of their day's adventures, it became the subject of much conversation
and counsel, and at length the people determined to send four men,
in the morning, to take sight over the forked stick, in order to find
out where the eagle lived.
559. Next morning early the four men designated went to the forked
stick and sighted over it, and all came to the conclusion that the
eagle lived on the point of Tse`dezá`. They went at once to the rock,
climbed to the summit, and saw the eagle and its young in a cleft
on the face of the precipice below them. They remained on the summit
all day and watched the nest.
560. At night they went home and told what they had seen. They had
observed two young eagles of different ages in the nest. Of the four
men who went on the search, two were from Kintyél and two were from
Ki'ndotliz, therefore people from the two pueblos met in counsel in
an estufa, and there it was decided that Ki'ndotliz should have the
elder of the two eaglets and that Kintyél should have the younger.
561. The only way to reach the nest was to lower a man to it with
a rope; yet directly above the nest was an overhanging ledge which
the man, descending, would be obliged to pass. It was a dangerous
undertaking, and no one could be found to volunteer for it. Living
near the pueblos was a miserable Navaho beggar who subsisted on such
food as he could pick up. When the sweepings of the rooms and the
ashes from the fireplaces were thrown out on the kitchen heap, he
searched eagerly through them and was happy if he could find a few
grains of corn or a piece of paper bread. He was called Nahoditáhe,
or He Who Picks Up (like a bird). They concluded to induce this man
to make the dangerous descent.
562. They returned to the pueblo and sent for the poor Navaho to come
to the estufa. When he came they bade him be seated, placed before him
a large basket of paper bread, bowls of boiled corn and meat, with all
sorts of their best food, and told him to eat his fill. He ate as he
had never eaten before, and after a long time he told his hosts that
he was satisfied. "You shall eat," said they, "of such abundance all
your life, and never more have to scrape for grains of corn among the
dirt, if you will do as we desire." Then they told him of their plan
for catching the young eagles, and asked him if he were willing to be
put in a basket and lowered to the nest with a rope. He pondered and
was silent. They asked him again and again until they had asked him
four times, while he still sat in meditation. At last he answered:
"I lead but a poor life at best. Existence is not sweet to a man who
always hungers. It would be pleasant to eat such food for the rest
of my days, and some time or other I must die. I shall do as you wish."
563. On the following morning they gave him another good meal; they
made a great, strong carrying-basket with four corners at the top;
they tied a strong string to each corner, and, collecting a large
party, they set out for the rock of Tse`dezá`.
564. When the party arrived at the top of the rock they tied a long,
stout rope to the four strings on the basket. They instructed the
Navaho to take the eaglets out of the nest and drop them to the bottom
of the cliff. The Navaho then entered the basket and was lowered
over the edge of the precipice. They let the rope out slowly till
they thought they had lowered him far enough and then they stopped;
but as he had not yet reached the nest he called out to them to lower
him farther. They did so, and as soon as he was on a level with the
nest he called to the people above to stop.
565. He was just about to grasp the eaglets and throw them down
when Wind whispered to him: "These people of the Pueblos are not
your friends. They desire not to feed you with their good food as
long as you live. If you throw these young eagles down, as they
bid you, they will never pull you up again. Get into the eagles'
nest and stay there." When he heard this, he called to those above:
"Swing the basket so that it may come nearer to the cliff. I cannot
reach the nest unless you do." So they caused the basket to swing
back and forth. When it touched the cliff he held fast to the rock and
scrambled into the nest, leaving the empty basket swinging in the air.
566. The Pueblos saw the empty basket swinging and waited, expecting
to see the Navaho get back into it again. But when they had waited a
good while and found he did not return they began to call to him as if
he were a dear relation of theirs. "My son," said the old men, "throw
down those little eagles." "My elder brother! My younger brother!" the
young men shouted, "throw down those little eagles." They kept up
their clamor until nearly sunset; but they never moved the will of
the Navaho. He sat in the cleft and never answered them, and when
the sun set they ceased calling and went home.
567. In the cleft or cave, around the nest, four dead animals lay;
to the east there was a fawn; to the south a hare; to the west the
young of a Rocky Mountain sheep, and to the north a prairie-dog. From
time to time, when the eaglets felt hungry, they would leave the nest
and eat of the meat; but the Navaho did not touch it.
568. Early next day the Pueblo people returned and gathered in a great
crowd at the foot of the cliff. They stayed there all day repeating
their entreaties and promises, calling the Navaho by endearing terms,
and displaying all kinds of tempting food to his gaze; but he heeded
them not and spoke not.
569. They came early again on the third day, but they came in
anger. They no longer called him by friendly names; they no longer
made fair promises to him; but, instead, they shot fire-arrows at
the eyry in hopes they would burn the Navaho out or set fire to the
nest and compel him to throw it and the eaglets down. But he remained
watchful and active, and whenever a fire-arrow entered the cave he
seized it quickly and threw it out. Then they abused him and reviled
him, and called him bad names until sunset, when again they went home.
570. They came again on the fourth day and acted as they had done on
the previous day; but they did not succeed in making the Navaho throw
down the little eagles. He spoke to the birds, saying: "Can you not
help me?" They rose in the nest, shook their wings, and threw out many
little feathers, which fell on the people below. The Navaho thought
the birds must be scattering disease on his enemies. When the latter
left at sunset they said: "Now we shall leave you where you are, to
die of hunger and thirst." He was then altogether three nights and
nearly four days in the cave. For two days the Pueblos had coaxed and
flattered him; for two days they had cursed and reviled him, and at the
end of the fourth day they went home and left him in the cave to die.
571. When his tormentors were gone he sat in the cave hungry and
thirsty, weak and despairing, till the night fell. Soon after dark
he heard a great rushing sound which approached from one side of the
entrance to the cave, roared a moment in front, and then grew faint
in the distance at the other side. Thus four times the sound came and
went, growing louder each time it passed, and at length the male Eagle
lit on the eyry. Soon the sounds were repeated, and the female bird,
the mother of the eaglets, alighted. Turning at once toward the Navaho,
she said: "Greeting, my child! Thanks, my child! You have not thrown
down your younger brother, Donikí."[285] The male Eagle repeated
the same words. They addressed the Navaho by the name of Donikí, but
afterwards they named him Kinníki, after the chief of all the Eagles
in the sky. He only replied to the Eagles: "I am hungry. I am thirsty."
572. The male Eagle opened his sash and took out a small white cotton
cloth which contained a little corn meal, and he took out a small
bowl of white shell no bigger than the palm of the hand. When the
Indian saw this he said: "Give me water first, for I am famishing with
thirst." "No," replied the Eagle; "eat first and then you shall have
something to drink." The Eagle then drew forth from among his tail
feathers a small plant called eltíndzakas,[252] which has many joints
and grows near streams. The joints were all filled with water. The
Eagle mixed a little of the water with some of the meal in the shell
and handed the mixture to the Navaho. The latter ate and ate, until
he was satisfied, but he could not diminish in the least the contents
of the shell vessel. When he was done eating there was as much in
the cup as there was when he began. He handed it back to the Eagle,
the latter emptied it with one sweep of his finger, and it remained
empty. Then the Eagle put the jointed plant to the Navaho's lips as
if it were a wicker bottle, and the Indian drank his fill.
573. On the previous nights, while lying in the cave, the Navaho had
slept between the eaglets in the nest to keep himself warm and shelter
himself from the wind, and this plan had been of some help to him;
but on this night the great Eagles slept one on each side of him,
and he felt as warm as if he had slept among robes of fur. Before
the Eagles lay down to sleep each took off his robe of plumes, which
formed a single garment, opening in front, and revealed a form like
that of a human being.
574. The Navaho slept well that night and did not waken till he heard
a voice calling from the top of the cliff: "Where are you? The day
has dawned. It is growing late. Why are you not abroad already?" At
the sound of this voice the Eagles woke too and put on their robes
of plumage. Presently a great number of birds were seen flying before
the opening of the cave and others were heard calling to one another
on the rock overhead. There were many kinds of Eagles and Hawks in
the throng. Some of all the large birds of prey were there. Those on
top of the rock sang:--
Kinnakíye, there he sits.
When they fly up,
We shall see him.
He will flap his wings.[286]
575. One of the Eagles brought a dress of eagle plumes and was about
to put it on the Navaho when the others interfered, and they had a
long argument as to whether they should dress him in the garment of
the Eagles or not; but at length they all flew away without giving
him the dress. When they returned they had thought of another plan
for taking him out of the cave. Laying him on his face, they put
a streak of crooked lightning under his feet, a sunbeam under his
knees, a piece of straight lightning under his chest, another under
his outstretched hands, and a rainbow under his forehead.
576. An Eagle then seized each end of these six supports,--making
twelve Eagles in all,--and they flew with the Navaho and the eaglets
away from the eyry. They circled round twice with their burden before
they reached the level of the top of the cliff. They circled round
twice more ascending, and then flew toward the south, still going
upwards. When they got above the top of Tsótsil (Mt. Taylor), they
circled four times more, until they almost touched the sky. Then they
began to flag and breathed hard, and they cried out: "We are weary. We
can fly no farther." The voice of one, unseen to the Navaho, cried
from above: "Let go your burden." The Eagles released their hold on
the supports, and the Navaho felt himself descending swiftly toward
the earth. But he had not fallen far when he felt himself seized around
the waist and chest, he felt something twining itself around his body,
and a moment later he beheld the heads of two Arrow-snakes[258] looking
at him over his shoulders. The Arrow-snakes bore him swiftly upwards,
up through the sky-hole, and landed him safely on the surface of the
upper world above the sky.
577. When he looked around him he observed four pueblo dwellings,
or towns: a white pueblo in the east, a blue pueblo in the south,
a yellow pueblo in the west, and a black pueblo in the north. Wolf
was the chief of the eastern pueblo, Blue Fox of the southern, Puma
of the western, and Big Snake of the northern. The Navaho was left at
liberty to go where he chose, but Wind whispered into his ear and said:
"Visit, if you wish, all the pueblos except that of the north. Chicken
Hawk[254] and other bad characters dwell there."
578. Next he observed that a war party was preparing, and soon after
his arrival the warriors went forth. What enemies they sought he
could not learn. He entered several of the houses, was well treated
wherever he went, and given an abundance of paper bread and other
good food to eat. He saw that in their homes the Eagles were just
like ordinary people down on the lower world. As soon as they entered
their pueblos they took off their feather suits, hung these up on pegs
and poles, and went around in white suits which they wore underneath
their feathers when in flight. He visited all the pueblos except the
black one in the north. In the evening the warriors returned. They
were received with loud wailing and with tears, for many who went out
in the morning did not return at night. They had been slain in battle.
579. In a few days another war party was organized, and this time
the Navaho determined to go with it. When the warriors started on the
trail he followed them. "Whither are you going?" they asked. "I wish
to be one of your party," he replied. They laughed at him and said:
"You are a fool to think you can go to war against such dreadful
enemies as those that we fight. We can move as fast as the wind, yet
our enemies can move faster. If they are able to overcome us, what
chance have you, poor man, for your life?" Hearing this, he remained
behind, but they had not travelled far when he hurried after them. When
he overtook them, which he soon did, they spoke to him angrily, told
him more earnestly than before how helpless he was, and how great
his danger, and bade him return to the villages. Again he halted;
but as soon as they were out of sight he began to run after them,
and he came up with them at the place where they had encamped for the
night. Here they gave him of their food, and again they scolded him,
and sought to dissuade him from accompanying them.
580. In the morning, when the warriors resumed their march, he
remained behind on the camping-ground, as if he intended to return;
but as soon as they were out of sight he proceeded again to follow
them. He had not travelled far when he saw smoke coming up out of
the ground, and approaching the smoke he found a smoke-hole, out of
which stuck an old ladder, yellow with smoke, such as we see in the
pueblo dwellings to-day. He looked down through the hole and beheld,
in a subterranean chamber beneath, a strange-looking old woman with a
big mouth. Her teeth were not set in her head evenly and regularly,
like those of an Indian; they protruded from her mouth, were set
at a distance from one another, and were curved like the claws of a
bear. She was Nastsé Estsán, the Spider Woman. She invited him into
her house, and he passed down the ladder.
581. When he got inside, the Spider Woman showed him four large
wooden hoops,--one in the east colored black, one in the south colored
blue, one in the west colored yellow, and one in the north white and
sparkling. Attached to each hoop were a number of decayed, ragged
feathers. "These feathers," said she, "were once beautiful plumes, but
now they are old and dirty. I want some new plumes to adorn my hoops,
and you can get them for me. Many of the Eagles will be killed in the
battle to which you are going, and when they die you can pluck out
the plumes and bring them to me. Have no fear of the enemies. Would
you know who they are that the Eagles go to fight? They are only the
bumblebees and the tumble-weeds."[256] She gave him a long black cane
and said: "With this you can gather the tumble-weeds into a pile, and
then you can set them on fire. Spit the juice of tsildilgi'si[257]
at the bees and they cannot sting you. But before you burn up the
tumble-weeds gather some of the seeds, and when you have killed the
bees take some of their nests. You will need these things when you
return to the earth." When Spider Woman had done speaking the Navaho
left to pursue his journey.
582. He travelled on, and soon came up with the warriors where they
were hiding behind a little hill and preparing for battle. Some
were putting on their plumes; others were painting and adorning
themselves. From time to time one of their number would creep
cautiously to the top of the hill and peep over; then he would run
back and whisper: "There are the enemies. They await us." The Navaho
went to the top of the hill and peered over; but he could see no
enemy whatever. He saw only a dry, sandy flat, covered in one place
with sunflowers, and in another place with dead weeds; for it was
now late in the autumn in the world above.
583. Soon the Eagles were all ready for the fray. They raised their
war-cry, and charged over the hill into the sandy plain. The Navaho
remained behind the hill, peeping over to see what would occur. As
the warriors approached the plain a whirlwind arose;[258] a great
number of tumble-weeds ascended with the wind and surged around madly
through the air; and, at the same time, from among the sunflowers
a cloud of bumblebees arose. The Eagles charged through the ranks
of their enemies, and when they had passed to the other side they
turned around and charged back again. Some spread their wings and
soared aloft to attack the tumble-weeds that had gone up with the
whirlwind. From time to time the Navaho noticed the dark body of an
Eagle falling down through the air. When the combat had continued some
time, the Navaho noticed a few of the Eagles running toward the hill
where he lay watching. In a moment some more came running toward him,
and soon after the whole party of Eagles, all that was left of it,
rushed past him, in a disorderly retreat, in the direction whence
they had come, leaving many slain on the field. Then the wind fell;
the tumble-weeds lay quiet again on the sand, and the bumblebees
disappeared among the sunflowers.
584. When all was quiet, the Navaho walked down to the sandy flat,
and, having gathered some of the seeds and tied them up in a corner of
his shirt, he collected the tumble-weeds into a pile, using his black
wand. Then he took out his fire-drill, started a flame, and burnt up
the whole pile. He gathered some tsildilgi'si, as the Spider Woman
had told him, chewed it, and went in among the sunflowers. Here the
bees gathered around him in a great swarm, and sought to sting him;
but he spat the juice of the tsildilgi'si at them and stunned with it
all that he struck. Soon the most of them lay helpless on the ground,
and the others fled in fear. He went around with his black wand and
killed all that he could find. He dug into the ground and got out some
of their nests and honey; he took a couple of the young bees and tied
their feet together, and all these things he put into the corner of
his blanket. When the bees were conquered he did not forget the wishes
of his friend, the Spider Woman; he went around among the dead eagles,
and plucked as many plumes as he could grasp in both hands.