Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest Part 6

So she called together the members of the Spider society, the Kapina, and said,

"Our mother, Sussistinnako, bids us work for her and harden the earth so that the people may pa.s.s over it." The spider woman first made a road of fine cotton which she produced from her own body, and suspended it a few feet above the earth. Then she told the people they could travel on that. But the people were afraid to trust themselves to such a frail road.

Then Utset said, "I wish a man and not a woman of the Spider society to work for me."

Then he came. He threw out a charm of wood, latticed so it could be expanded or contracted. When it was extended it reached to the middle of the earth. He threw it to the south, to the east, and to the west; then he threw it toward the people in the north.

So the earth was made firm that the people might travel upon it.

Soon after Utset said, "I will soon leave you. I will, return to the home from which I came."

Then she selected a man of the Corn clan. She said to him, "You will be known as Ti-amoni (arch-ruler). You will be to my people as myself. You will pa.s.s with them over the straight road. I give to you all my wisdom, my thoughts, my heart, and all. I fill your mind with my mind."

He replied: "It is well, mother. I will do as you say."

The Origins of the Totems and of Names Zuni (New Mexico)

Now the Twain Beloved and the priest-fathers gathered in council for the naming and selection of man-groups and creature-kinds, and things. So they called the people of the southern s.p.a.ce the Children of Summer, and those who loved the sun most became the Sun people. Others who loved the water became the Toad people, or Turtle people, or Frog people. Others loved the seeds of the earth and became the Seed people, or the people of the First-growing gra.s.s, or of the Tobacco. Those who loved warmth were the Fire or Badger people. According to their natures they chose their totems.

And so also did the People of Winter, or the People of the North. Some were known as the Bear people, or the Coyote people, or Deer people; others as the Crane people, Turkey people, or Grouse people. So the Badger people dwelt in a warm place, even as the badgers on the sunny side of hills burrow, finding a dwelling amongst the dry roots whence is fire.

Traditions of Wanderings Hopi (Arizona)

After the Hopi had been taught to build stone houses, they took separate ways. My people were the Snake people. They lived in snake skins, each family occupying a separate snake skin bag. All were hung on the end of a rainbow which swung around until the end touched Navajo Mountain. Then the bags dropped from it. Wherever a bag dropped, there was their house. After they arranged their bags they came out from them as men and women, and they then built a stone house which had five sides. Then a brilliant star arose in the southeast. It would s.h.i.+ne for a while and disappear.

The old men said, "'Beneath that star there must be people." They decided to travel to it. They cut a staff and set it in the ground and watched until the star reached its top. Then they started and travelled as long as the star shone. When it disappeared they halted. But the star did not s.h.i.+ne every night. Sometimes many years pa.s.sed before it appeared again. When this occurred, the people built houses during their halt. They built round houses and square houses, and all the ruins between here and Navajo Mountain mark the places where our people lived.

They waited until the star came to the top of the staff again, but when they moved on, many people remained in those houses.

When our people reached Waipho (a spring a few miles from Walpi) the star vanished. It has never been seen since. They built a house there, but Masauwu, the G.o.d of the Face of the Earth, came and compelled the people to move about halfway between the East Mesa and the Middle Mesa and there they stayed many plantings. One time when the old men were a.s.sembled, the G.o.d came among them, looking like a horrible skeleton and rattling his bones. But he could not frighten them. So he said, "I have lost my wager. All that I have is yours. Ask for anything you want and I will give it to you."

At that time, our people's house was beside the water course. The G.o.d said, "Why do you sit there in the mud? Go up yonder where it is dry."

So they went across to the west side of the mesa near the point and built a house and lived there.

Again when the old men a.s.sembled two demons came among them, but the old men took the great Baho and chased them away.

Other Hopi (Hopituh) came into this country from time to time and old people said, "Build here," or "Build there," and portioned the land among the newcomers.

The Migration of the Water People Walpi (Arizona)

In the long ago, the Snake, Horn, and Eagle people lived here (in Tusayan) but their corn grew only a span high and when they sang for rain, the Cloud G.o.d sent only a thin mist. My people lived then in the distant Pa-lat Kwa-bi in the South. There was a very bad old man there.

When he met any one he would spit in their faces.... He did all manner of evil. Baholihonga got angry at this and turned the world upside down. Water spouted up through the kivas and through the fire places in the houses. The earth was rent in great chasms, and water covered everything except one narrow ridge of mud. Across this the Serpent-G.o.d told all the people to travel. As they journeyed across, the feet of the bad slipped and they fell into the dark water. The good people, after many days, reached dry land.

While the water was rising around the village, the old people got on top of the houses. They thought they could not struggle across with the younger people. But Baholihonga clothed them with the skins of turkeys.

They spread their wings out and floated in the air just above the surface of the water, and in this way they got across. There were saved of us, the Water people, the Corn people, the Lizard, Horned-toad, and Sand peoples, two families of Rabbit, and the Tobacco people. The turkey tail dragged in the water. That is why there is white on the turkey's tail now. This is also the reason why old people use turkey-feathers at the religious ceremonies.

Coyote and the Mesquite Beans Pima (Arizona)

After the waters of the flood had gone down, Elder Brother said to Coyote, "Do not touch that black bug; and do not eat the mesquite beans.

It is dangerous to harm anything that came safe through the flood."

So Coyote went on, but presently he came to the black bug. He stopped and ate it up. Then he went on to the mesquite beans. He stopped and looked at them a while, and then said, "I will just taste one and that will be all." But he stood there and ate and ate until he had eaten them all up. And the bug and the beans swelled up in his stomach and killed him.

Origin of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Range Yokuts (near Fresno, Cal.)

Once there was a time when there was nothing in the world but water.

About the place where Tulare Lake is now, there was a pole standing far up out of the water, and on this pole perched Hawk and Crow. First Hawk would sit on the pole a while, then Crow would knock him off and sit on it himself. Thus they sat on the top of the pole above the water for many ages. At last they created the birds which prey on fish. They created Kingfisher, Eagle, Pelican, and others. They created also Duck.

Duck was very small but she dived to the bottom of the water, took a beakful of mud, and then died in coming to the top of the water. Duck lay dead floating on the water. Then Hawk and Crow took the mud from Duck's beak, and began making the mountains.

They began at the place now known as Ta-hi-cha-pa Pa.s.s, and Hawk made the east range. Crow made the west one. They pushed the mud down hard into the water and then piled it high. They worked toward the north. At last Hawk and Crow met at Mount Shasta. Then their work was done. But when they looked at their mountains, Crow's range was much larger than Hawk's.

Hawk said to Crow, "How did this happen, you rascal? You have been stealing earth from my bill. That is why your mountains are the biggest." Crow laughed.

Then Hawk chewed some Indian tobacco. That made him wise. At once he took hold of the mountains and turned them around almost in a circle. He put his range where Crow's had been. That is why the Sierra Nevada Range is larger than the Coast Range.

Yosemite Valley (Explanatory) (3)

Mr. Stephen Powers claims that there is no such word in the Miwok language as Yosemite. The valley has always been known to them, and is to this day, when speaking among themselves, as A-wa'-ni. This, it is true, is only the name of one of the ancient villages which it contained; but by prominence it gave its name to the valley, and in accordance with Indian usage almost everywhere, to the inhabitants of the same. The word Yosemite is simply a very beautiful and sonorous corruption of the word for grizzly bear. On the Stanislaus and north of it, the word is u-zu'-mai-ti; at Little Gap, o-so'-mai-ti; in Yosemite itself, u-zu'-mai-ti; on the South Fork of the Merced, uh-zu'-mai-tuh....

"In the following list, the signification of the name is given whenever there is any known to the Indians:

"Wa-kal'-la (the river), Merced River.

"Lung-u-tu-ku'-ya, Ribbon Fall.

"Po'-ho-no, Po-ho'-no (though the first is probably the more correct), Bridal-Veil Fall.... This word is said to signify 'evil wind.' The only 'evil wind' that an Indian knows of is a whirlwind, which is poi-i'-cha or Kan'-u-ma.

"Tu-tok-a-nu'-la, El Capitan. 'Measuring-worm stone.' [Legend is given elsewhere.]

"Ko-su'-ko, Cathedral Rock.