way into the Navaho country is dyed some shade of crimson, and has a
very long nap. It is supposed to be made in England especially for
the Spanish-American trade, for each original bale bears a gaudy
colored label with an inscription in Spanish. It takes the place in
the Southwest of the scarlet strouding which used to form such an
important article in the trade of our northern tribes. The bright
red figures in the finer Navaho blankets, fifteen years or more ago,
were all made of threads of ravelled bayeta.
80. The coyote, or prairie-wolf (Canis latrans), would seem to be
regarded by the Navahoes as the type, or standard for comparison,
among the wild Canidæ of the Southwest. The coyote is called mai;
the great wolf, maítso, which means great coyote; and the kit fox
(Vulpes velox) is called maidotli'z, which means blue or gray coyote.
81. Some versions say there were twelve brothers and one sister in this
divine family, making thirteen in all. In this version the narrator
tells how another brother was created by Estsánatlehi to make up for
the loss of Léyaneyani, who left the brotherhood. (Par. 417.) Although
called Diné` Nakidáta, or the Twelve People, these brothers are
evidently divinities. True, they once died; but they came to life
again and are now immortal. They are gifted with superhuman powers.
82. The sweat-house of the Navahoes (par. 25, fig. 15) is usually not
more than three feet high. Diaphoresis is produced on the principle
of the Turkish (not the Russian) bath. While the Indians of the North
pour water on the hot stones and give a steam bath, the Navahoes
simply place stones, heated in a fire outside, on the floor of the
sweat-house, cover the entrance with blankets, and thus raise a high
heat that produces violent perspiration. When the occupant comes out,
if the bath is not ceremonial, he rolls himself in the sand, and, when
his skin is thus dried, he brushes the sand away. He usually returns
then to the sweat-house, and may repeat the operation several times in
a single afternoon. If the sweat is ceremonial, the bath of yucca suds
usually follows (see note 10), and the subject is dried with corn meal.
83. One version relates that, before they entered the sudatory, Coyote
proposed they should produce emesis by tickling their throats,--a
common practice among the Navahoes. He placed a large piece of pine
bark before each, as a dish, and bade Yélapahi keep his eyes shut
till he was told to open them. That day Coyote had fared poorly. He
had found nothing to eat but a few bugs and worms, while Yélapahi
had dined heartily on fat venison. When the emesis was over, Coyote
exchanged the bark dishes and said to Yélapahi: "Open your eyes and
see what bad things you have had in your stomach. These are the things
that make you sick." The giant opened his eyes and beheld on the bark
a lot of bugs and worms. "It is true, my friend, what you tell me,"
he said. "How did I get such vile things into me? No wonder I could
not run fast." Coyote then told the giant to go before him into the
sudatory, and when the giant had turned his back the hungry Coyote
promptly devoured the contents of the other dish of bark.
84. The word tóhe (Englished thóhay), which may be interpreted stand,
stick, or stay, is, in various rites, shouted in an authoritative
tone when it is desired that some object shall obey the will of the
conjurer. Thus in the dance of the standing arcs, as practised in the
rite of the mountain chant, when an arc is placed on the head of a
performer, and it is intended that it should stand without apparent
means of support, the cry "tóhe" is frequently repeated. (See "The
Mountain Chant,"[314] p. 437.)
85. The statement that the hair of the gods, both friendly and alien,
is yellow, is made in other tales also. The hair of the ceremonial
masks is reddish or yellowish. (See plates IV. and VII.) The hair of
the gods is represented by red in the dry-pictures. Dull tints of red
are often called yellow by the Navahoes. Various conjectures may be
made to account for these facts.
86. The bridge of rainbow, as well as the trail of rainbow, is
frequently introduced into Navaho tales. The Navaho land abounds in
deep chasms and canyons, and the divine ones, in their wanderings,
are said to bridge the canyons by producing rainbows. In the myth
of "The Mountain Chant," p. 399 (note 314), the god Hastséyalti is
represented as making a rainbow bridge for the hero to walk on. The
hero steps on the bow, but sinks in it because the bow is soft; then
the god blows a breath that hardens the bow, and the man walks on it
with ease. A natural bridge near Fort Defiance, Arizona, is thought
by the Navahoes to have been originally one of the rainbow bridges
of Hastséyalti (See fig. 38.)
87. The spiders of Arizona are largely of the classes that live in
the ground, including trap-door spiders, tarantulas, etc.
88. This legend and nearly all the legends of the Navaho make
frequent allusions to yucca. Four kinds are mentioned: 1st, tsási
or haskán. Yucca baccata (Torrey); 2d, tsasitsóz, or slender yucca,
Yucca glauca (Nuttall), Yucca angustifolia (Pursh); 3d, yebitsasi,
or yucca of the gods, probably Yucca radiosa (Trelease), Yucca elata
(Engelmann); 4th, tsasibité or horned yucca, which seems to be but a
stunted form or dwarf variety of Yucca baccata, never seen in bloom or
in fruit by the author. Tsási is used as a generic name. All kinds are
employed in the rites, sometimes indifferently; at other times only a
certain species may be used. Thus in the sacred game of kesitsé,[176]
the counters are made of the leaves of Y. glauca; in the initiation
into the mystery of the Yébitsai, the candidate is flogged with the
leaf of Y. baccata. Fig. 26 represents a mask used in the rites of
klédzi hatál, which must be made only of the leaves of Y. baccata,
culled with many singular observances. All these yuccas have saponine
in their roots (which are known as tálawus or foam), and all are used
for cleansing purposes. All have, in their leaves, long tough fibres
which are utilized for all the purposes to which such fibres may be
applied. One species only, Yucca baccata, has an edible fruit. This
is called haskán (from hos, thorny, and kan, sweet), a name sometimes
applied to the whole plant. The fruit is eaten raw and made into a
tough, dense jelly, both by the Navaho and Pueblo Indians. The first
and second kinds grow abundantly in the Navaho country; the third and
fourth kinds are rarer. Fig. 40 represents a drumstick used in the
rites of klédzi hatál, which must be made only of four leaves of Yucca
baccata. The intricate observances connected with the manufacture,
use, destruction, and sacrifice of this drumstick have already been
described by the author.[321]
89. The cane cactus is Opuntia arborescens (Engelm.).
90. Tsiké Sas Nátlehi means literally Young Woman Who Changes to a
Bear, or Maid Who Becomes a Bear. To judge from this tale, it might be
thought that there was but one such character in the Navaho mythology
and that she had died. But it appears from other legends and from
rituals that the Navahoes believe in several such maidens, some of
whom exist to this day. The hill of Tsúskai (note 9) is said in the
myth of dsilyi'dze hatál to be the home of several of the Tsiké Sas
Nátlehi now. It would seem from the songs of dsilyi'dze hatál that the
Maid Who Becomes a Bear of later days is not considered as malevolent
as the first of her kind. Her succor is sought by the sick.
91. See par. 26. From the language of this story, the conclusion
may be drawn that death is not the only thing that renders a house
haunted or evil but that, if great misfortune has entered there,
it is also to be avoided.
92. This remark must refer only to the particular group whose story
is traced. According to the legend, other bands of Diné` who had
escaped the fury of the alien gods, existed at this time, and when
they afterwards joined the Navahoes they were known as diné` digíni
(holy or mystic people). (See pars. 385 and 387.)
93. The gods, and such men as they favor, are represented in the
tales as making rapid and easy journeys on rainbows, sunbeams, and
streaks of lightning. Such miraculous paths are called eti'n digíni,
or holy trails. They are also represented as using sunbeams like
rafts to float through the air.
94. Compare this account with the creation of First Man and First
Woman. (Pars. 162-164.)
95. Es-tsá-na-tle-hi (par. 72) is never represented in the rites by a
masquerader, and never depicted in the sand-paintings, as far as the
author has been able to learn. Other versions of the legend account
for her creation in other ways. Version A.--First Man and First
Woman stayed at Dsilnáotil and camped in various places around the
mountain. One day a black cloud descended on the mountain of Tsolíhi,
and remained there four days. First Man said: "Surely something has
happened from this; let some one go over there and see." First Woman
went. She approached the mountain from the east, and wound four times
around it in ascending it. On the top she found a female infant, who
was the daughter of the Earth Mother (Naestsán, the Woman Horizontal)
and the Sky Father (Yádilyil, the Upper Darkness). She picked up the
child, who till that moment had been silent; but as soon as she was
lifted she began to cry, and never ceased crying until she got home to
Dsilnáotil. Salt Woman said she wanted the child. It is thought the
sun fed the infant on pollen, for there was no one to nurse it. In
twelve days she grew to be a big girl, and in eighteen days she
became a woman, and they held the nubile ceremony over her. Twelve
songs belong to this ceremony. Version B only says that First Woman
found the infant lying on the ground and took it home to rear it. (See
"Some Deities and Demons of the Navajos,"[313] pp. 844, 846.)
96. Yol-kaí Es-tsán signifies White Shell Woman. Yolkaí is derived
by syncope from yo (a bead, or the shell from which a bead is made)
and lakaí (white). Estsán means woman. As far as known, she is not
represented by a character in any of the ceremonies, and not depicted
in the dry-paintings.
97. Note omitted.
98. Tó`-ne-ni-li or Tó-ne-ni-li, Water Sprinkler, is an important
character in Navaho mythology. He is a rain-god. In the dry-paintings
of the Navaho rites he is shown as wearing a blue mask bordered with
red, and trimmed on top with life-feathers. Sometimes he is represented
carrying a water-pot. In the rite of klédzi hatál, during the public
dance of the last night, he is represented by a masked man who enacts
the part of a clown. While other masked men are dancing, this clown
performs various antics according to his caprice. He walks along the
line of dancers, gets in their way, dances out of order and out of
time, peers foolishly at different persons, or sits on the ground,
his hands clasped across his knees, his body rocking to and fro. At
times he joins regularly in the dance; toward the close of a figure,
and when the others have retired, pretending he is unaware of their
departure, he remains, going through his steps. Then, feigning to
suddenly discover the absence of the dancers, he follows them on a
full run. Sometimes he carries a fox-skin, drops it on the ground,
walks away as if unconscious of his loss; then, pretending to become
aware of his loss, he turns around and acts as if searching anxiously
for the skin, which lies plainly in sight. He screens his eyes with
his hand and crouches low to look. Then, pretending to find the
skin, he jumps on it and beats it as if it were a live animal that
he seeks to kill. Next he shoulders and carries it as if it were a
heavy burden. With such antics the personator of Tó`nenili assists
in varying the monotony of the long night's performance. Though shown
as a fool in the rites, he is not so shown in the myths.
99. They manipulated the abdominal parietes, in the belief that by so
doing they would insure a favorable presentation. This is the custom
among the Navahoes to-day.
100. Among the Navahoes, medicine-men act as accoucheurs.
101. Other versions make Estsánatlehi the mother of both War Gods, and
give a less imaginative account of their conception. Version A.--The
maiden Estsánatlehi went out to get wood. She collected a bundle, tied
it with a rope, and when she knelt down to lift it she felt a foot
pressed upon her back; she looked up and saw no one. Three times more
kneeling, she felt the pressure of the foot. When she looked up for
the fourth time, she saw a man. "Where do you live?" he asked. "Near
by," she replied, pointing to her home. "On yonder mountain," he said,
"you will find four yuccas, each of a different kind, cut on the north
side to mark them. Dig the roots of these yuccas and make yourself a
bath. Get meal of tohonoti'ni corn (note 28), yellow from your mother,
white from your father (note 27). Then build yourself a brush shelter
away from your hut and sleep there four nights." She went home and
told all this to her foster parents. They followed all the directions
of the mysterious visitor, for they knew he was the Sun. During three
nights nothing happened in the brush shelter that she knew of. On
the morning after the fourth night she was awakened from her sleep
by the sound of departing footsteps, and, looking in the direction
that she heard them, she saw the sun rising. Four days after this
(or twelve days, as some say) Nayénezgani was born. Four days later
she went to cleanse herself at a spring, and there she conceived of
the water, and in four days more To`badzistsíni, the second War God,
was born to her. Version B.--The Sun (or bearer of the sun) met her
in the woods and designated a trysting place. Here First Man built a
corral of branches. Sun visited her, in the form of an ordinary man, in
the corral, four nights in succession. Four days after the last visit
she gave birth to twins, who were Nayénezgani and To`badzistsíni. (See
"A Part of the Navajos' Mythology,"[306] pp. 9, 10.)
102. Version A thus describes the baby basket of the elder brother:
The child was wrapped in black cloud. A rainbow was used for the hood
of the basket and studded with stars. The back of the frame was a
parhelion, with the bright spot at its bottom shining at the lowest
point. Zigzag lightning was laid on each side and straight lightning
down the middle in front. Niltsátlol (sunbeams shining on a distant
rainstorm) formed the fringe in front where Indians now put strips
of buckskin. The carrying-straps were sunbeams.
103. The mountain mahogany of New Mexico and Arizona is the Cercocarpus
parvifolius, Nutt. It is called by the Navahoes Tsé`estagi, which
means hard as stone.
104. Round cactus, one or more species of Mammilaria. Sitting cactus,
Cereus phoeniceus, and perhaps other species of Cereus.
105. Yé-i-tso (from yéi, a god or genius, and tso, great) was
the greatest and fiercest of the anáye, or alien gods. (Par. 80,
note 7.) All descriptions of him are substantially the same. (See
pars. 323, 325, 326.) According to the accounts of Hatáli Nez and
Torlino, his father was a stone; yet in par. 320 and in Version B
the sun is represented as saying that Yéitso is his child. Perhaps
they mean he is the child of the sun in a metaphysical sense.
106. This part of the myth alludes to the trap-door spiders, or
tarantulæ of the Southwest, that dwell in carefully prepared nests
in the ground.
107. By life-feather or breath-feather (hyiná biltsós) is meant a
feather taken from a live bird, especially one taken from a live
eagle. Such feathers are supposed to preserve life and possess other
magic powers. They are used in all the rites. In order to secure
a supply of these feathers, the Pueblo Indians catch eaglets and
rear them in captivity (see pars. 560 et seq.); but the Navahoes,
like the wild tribes of the north, catch full-grown eagles in traps,
and pluck them while alive. This method of catching eagles has been
described by the author in his "Ethnography and Philology of the
Hidatsa Indians."[305]
108. Pollen being an emblem of peace, this is equivalent to saying,
"Put your feet down in peace," etc.
109. Version A in describing the adventure with Spider Woman adds:
There were only four rungs to the ladder. She had many seats in her
house. The elder brother sat on a seat of obsidian; the younger,
on a seat of turquoise. She offered them food of four kinds to eat;
they only accepted one kind. When they had eaten, a small image of
obsidian came out from an apartment in the east and stood on a serrated
platform, or platform of serrate knives. The elder brother stood
on the platform beside the image. Spider Woman blew a strong breath
four times on the image in the direction of the youth, and the latter
became thus endowed with the hard nature of the obsidian, which was to
further preserve him in his future trials. From the south room came a
turquoise image, and stood on a serrated platform. The younger brother
stood beside this. Spider Woman blew on the turquoise image toward him,
and he thus acquired the hard nature of the blue stone. To-day in the
rites of hozóni hatál they have a prayer concerning these incidents
beginning, "Now I stand on pésdolgas." (See note 264.)
110. In describing the journey of the War Gods to the house of the
Sun, version A adds something. At Tó`sato or Hot Spring (Ojo Gallina,
near San Rafael), the brothers have an adventure with Tiéholtsodi, the
water monster, who threatens them and is appeased with prayer. They
encounter Old Age People, who treat them kindly, but bid them not
follow the trail that leads to the house of Old Age. They come to
Hayolkál, Daylight, which rises like a great range of mountains
in front of them. (Songs.) They fear they will have to cross this,
but Daylight rises from the ground and lets them pass under.... They
come to Tsalyél, Darkness. Wind whispers into their ears what songs
to sing. They sing these songs and Tsalyél rises and lets them pass
under. They come to water, which they walk over. On the other side
they meet their sister, the daughter of the Sun, who dwells in the
house of the Sun. She speaks not, but turns silently around, and they
follow her to the house.
111. According to version A, there were four sentinels of each kind,
and they lay in the passageway or entrance to the house. A curtain
hung in front of each group of four. In each group the first sentinel
was black, the second blue, the third yellow, the fourth white. The
brothers sang songs to the guardians and sprinkled pollen on them.
112. Version A gives the names of these two young men as Black Thunder
and Blue Thunder.
113. The teller of the version has omitted to mention that the
brothers, when they entered the house, declared that they came to
seek their father, but other story-tellers do not fail to tell this.
114. Four articles of armor were given to each, and six different
kinds of weapons were given to them. The articles of armor were: peské
(knife moccasins), pesistlê' (knife leggings), pesê' (knife shirt),
and pestsá (knife hat). The word "pes" in the above names for armor,
is here translated knife. The term was originally applied to flint
knives, and to the flakes from which flint knives were made. After
the introduction of European tools, the meaning was extended to
include iron knives, and now it is applied to any object of iron,
and, with qualifying suffixes, to all kinds of metal. Thus copper is
peslitsí, or red metal, and silver, peslakaí, or white metal. Many
of the Navahoes now think that the mythic armor of their gods was of
iron. Such the author believed it to be in the earlier years of his
investigation among the Navahoes, and he was inclined to believe that
they borrowed the idea of armored heroes from the Spanish invaders of
the sixteenth century. Later studies have led him to conclude that
the conception of armored heroes was not borrowed from the whites,
and that the armor was supposed to be made of stone flakes such as
were employed in making knives in the prehistoric days. The Mokis
believe that their gods and heroes wore armor of flint.
115. The weapons were these:--
atsinikli'ska (chain-lightning arrows)
hatsilki'ska or hadilki'ska (sheet-lightning arrows)
sa`bitlólka (sunbeam arrows)
natsili'tka (rainbow arrows)
peshál (stone knife-club)
hatsoilhál, which some say was a thunderbolt, and others say was
a great stone knife, with a blade as broad as the hand. Some say
that only one stone knife was given, which was for Nayénezgani,
and that only two thunderbolts were given, both of which were
for To`badzistsíni. The man who now personates Nayénezgani in the
rites carries a stone knife of unusual size (plate IV.); and he who
personates To`badzistsíni carries in each hand a wooden cylinder
(one black and one red) to represent a thunderbolt. (Plate VII.)
116. Version A adds that when they were thus equipped they were
dressed exactly like their brothers Black Thunder and Blue Thunder,
who dwelt in the house of the Sun.
117. The man who told this tale explained that there were sixteen poles
in the east and sixteen in the west to join earth and sky. Others
say there were thirty-two poles on each side. The Navahoes explain
the annual progress of the sun by saying that at the winter solstice
he climbs on the pole farthest south in rising; that as the season
advances he climbs on poles farther and farther north, until at
the summer solstice he climbs the pole farthest north; that then
he retraces his way, climbing different poles until he reaches the
south again. He is supposed to spend about an equal number of days
at each pole.
118. Many versions relate that the bearer of the sun rode a horse,
or other pet animal. The Navaho word here employed is lin, which means
any domesticated or pet animal, but now, especially, a horse. Version
A says the animal he rode was made of turquoise and larger than a
horse. Such versions have great difficulty in getting the horse up
to the sky. Version A makes the sky dip down and touch the earth to
let the horse ascend. Of course the horse is a modern addition to
the tale. They never saw horses until the sixteenth century, and
previous to that time it is not known that any animal was ridden
on the western continent. Version B merely says that the Sun "put
on his robe of cloud, and, taking one of his sons under each arm,
he rose into the heavens."
119. Version B says they all ate a meal on their journey to the
sky-hole. Version A says that they ate for food, at the sky-hole,
before the brothers descended, a mixture of five kinds of pollen,
viz.: pollen of white corn, pollen of yellow corn, pollen of dawn,
pollen of evening twilight, and pollen of the sun.[11] These were
mixed with tó`lanastsi, all kinds of water.[67]
120. Tó`-sa-to or Warm Spring is at the village of San Rafael, Valencia
County, New Mexico. It is about three miles in a southerly direction
from Grant's, on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, five miles from
the base and eighteen miles from the summit of Mount Taylor, in a
southwesterly direction from the latter. The lake referred to in the
myth lies about two miles southeast of the spring.
121. According to Version A, the monsters or anáye were all conceived
in the fifth world and born of one woman (a granddaughter of First
Woman), who travelled much and rarely stayed at home. According to
Version B, the monsters were sent by First Woman, who became offended
with man.
122. Version A gives, in addition to Tsótsil, the names of the other
three hills over which Yéitso appeared. These were: in the east,
Sa`akéa`; in the south, Dsilsitsí (Red Mountain); in the west,
Tse`lpaináli (Brown Rock Hanging Down).
123. Version A.--"Hragh!" said he, with a sigh of satisfaction
(pantomimically expressed), "I have finished that."
124. Yiniketóko! No etymology has been discovered for this
expression. It is believed to be the equivalent of the "Fee Fa Fum!" of
the giants in our nursery tales.
125. Version B.--This bolt rent his armor.
126. It is common in this and all other versions to show that evil
turns to good (see pars. 338, 345, 349, et al.) and that the demons
dead become useful to man in other forms. How the armor of Yéitso
became useful to man, the narrator here forgot to state; but it may
be conjectured that he should have said that it furnished flint flakes
for knives and arrow-heads.