Aw-Aw-Tam Indian Nights Part 21

And he went on the road that is lighted by a mahkai, and following that reached my enemy.

And my enemy thought himself a good dreamer, and that his dreams were fulfilled for good, and that he had a good bow with a good string, and good cane arrows, but the Butcher-bird had already punched his eyes out without his knowing it.

And all the animals and birds of the Apaches think they have good eyes to see with, but the Butcher-bird has punched their eyes out without their knowing it.

And the winds of the Apaches think they have sharp eyes, and the clouds of the Apaches think themselves sharp-eyed, but the Butcher-bird has punched their eyes out without their knowing it.

So he treated the enemy like that, and left him there as a woman, and then pushed me toward him, and I went and captured him easily.

And I gathered all the property, and all the captives, and, turning back, looked ahead of me and found the country all springy with water, and wasps flying, and I followed them.

And ahead of me was a road with many flowers, and a b.u.t.terfly that beautifully spread itself open and led the way, and I followed.

And I brought the dead enemy home, and from there the news spread all over my country.

So, my relatives, think of this, that there will be victory.

And you may not like the sound of our rejoicing, but it is only for a short time that we rejoice over our enemy."

NOTES ON THE STORY OF THE GAMBLER'S WAR

In this we are given wonderful glimpses into the strange, fierce, sad, extravagant poetry of the Indian speeches, which seem oftenest inspired by the pa.s.sion of revenge. Notice that in these stories, if several speeches are given in any one story, they generally have a quite similar ending, a sort of refrain: "So, my relatives," etc.

This story ends abruptly, and is, I think, manifestly only a fragment. Following the speeches, which were mere boastful prophecies, should have been an account in detail of the actual campaign, as in the story of Pahtahnk.u.m's war.

THE STORY OF NAHVAHCHOO

Ee-ee-toy was once wandering along when he found some moss that had been left there ever since the flood, and he stood and looked at it, wondering how he could make it into a human being.

And while he watched it the sun breathed on it, and it became not a man, but a turtle.

And he wandered on again and found some driftwood, and while he stood wondering how to make it into a human being, the sun breathed on it, and it became a man, but he could not see its face, which was covered as with a mask.

And the turtle and the masked man, thus created, went westward, and came to a Blue Vahahkkee, and they went in and staid all night.

In the morning, when the sun rose, they were frightened at the blue beams that shone thru the vahahkkee, and they left.

And after going a little way they came to a Black Road, and Black Birds flew over them to keep them from being seen.

And they came to a Black Night. In that night was a Black Bow, which stretched as if it were going to shoot them, so that they were afraid to lie down all night.

And the next day they came to a Blue Road, and a flock of Blue Birds flew over them, and all around, striking them.

After a while they came to a Blue Night, and in the night was a Blue Bow, which stretched itself threateningly at them, as the Black Bow had done the night before.

And they could not sleep for fear that night, either; and the next day they came to a White Road, and a flock of White Birds followed them, striking them.

And they came to a White Night, and in that night was a White Bow, which threatened them as the others had done, so that again they could not sleep.

And the next day they had a similar experience, only it was a Yellow Road, with Yellow Birds, and a Yellow Night with a Yellow Bow.

The next day there was no danger any more, and they went on and came to a mountain, Co-so-vah-taw-up-kih, or Twisted Neck Mountain, and there the Nahvahchoo (masked man), having run ahead, left the turtle behind, and when evening came sat down and waited for the turtle to come up. But the turtle was too far behind, and when night came stopped where he was, and made a fire, and made corn and pumpkins, and roasted the corn and set the pumpkins around the fire, as the Indians do, to scorch them before putting them in the ashes.

And Nahvahchoo heard the popping sound of the cooking, and came running back, and tried to steal a piece of the fire to have one of his own, but the turtle would not let him. And so the Nahvahchoo went off and made a fire of his own, and corn and pumpkins of his own, and cooked them as the turtle had done.

In the morning, after they had feasted on the pumpkin and corn, the turtle, Wee-hee-kee-nee, sank down and went under the earth to the ocean, and made that his home, and Nahvahchoo sank down and went in the same direction, but not so far, coming up on the sea sh.o.r.e.

And Nahvahchoo went along the sea-sh.o.r.e, toward the east, till he came to a great deal of driftwood, and many flowers, and handled all these, and got their strength, and made his home in the east.

One day Nahvahchoo heard the earth shaking, and ran out of his house to try and find where the shaking came from, and he went south and did not feel it, and went west and felt it a little, and went north and felt it more. And so he ran back and put on his mask, and took his bow, and went north. And the first time he stopped and listened he heard it somewhat, and the next time he heard it more, and the third time still more, and the fourth time he came to where many people were singing the song Wah-hee-hee-vee, and dancing the dance Vee-pee-nim, in which the dancers wear gourd masks, on their faces, pierced full of little holes to let the light thru.

And they were dancing, too, the dance k.a.w.k-spahk-k.u.m, in which the dancers wear a cloth mask, like Nahvahchoo, with a little gourd, full of holes, over the mouth-hole, to sing thru.

And they were dancing also the dance Tawt-a-k.u.m, in which the dancer wears a bonnet of cloth, and a mask like Nahvahchoo does.

And the people sitting around in these dances had little rods which they rubbed upon notched sticks, in time to the singing and the dancing.

At first Nahvahchoo was greatly excited by all this dancing, for all these people seemed to do nothing else but sing and dance, and make the rods and notched sticks and stand them up in bunches; but after a few days he began to think of game, for he was a great hunter, and he went out and found the tracks of a deer.

And measuring these with his arrow he laughed, covering his mouth with his hand, and said: "This deer will not run very fast, I could catch him myself." For a deer that measures a good way between his tracks is long-bodied, and cannot run fast, while a deer that measures short between tracks has a short body, and jumps quicker.

And he followed the deer, which heard him coming, and began to run, and when Nahvahchoo saw by its tracks that it was running, he ran, too, and getting on a hill saw the dust of its running away off; and he ran after it, and when he came to the next hill it was close, and he ran down, and killed it, and took it back to the singers, and they fell ravenously upon it and ate it all up, not leaving him even the bones.

Nahvahchoo sat off a little way and watched them, and one of their speakers addressed him, and said: "We know you, who you are. You are a great doctor, and a great hunter, and a great farmer, and a powerful man every way. And maybe you expected us to join in your hunt and help you carry the game. But we want you to join us, and become a singer, and you will have plenty of corn and beans to eat, and you will find that such food will last, while, as you see, the game, when you bring it in, lasts but a little while."

So Nahvahchoo staid with them and became a singer, and after a while the people told him to go to a certain vahahkkee, and said: "You will find something there with which you will be pleased. And then go to the opposite one, and you will find that with which you will be still more pleased.

And one of these vahahkkees was called See-pook (Red-bird) Vahahkkee and the other was named Wah-choo-kook-kee (Oriole) Vahahkkee.--But tho they told him to go to these they did not allow him to do so, but one day he slipped away, when they were not looking, and opened one, and saw in it many wonderful things, clouds forming and sprinkling all the time; and in the other it was the same.

And one was covered with red flowers, and the other with yellow flowers, and where they came together the mingling of red and yellow was very pretty.

At the door of each vahahkkee was a corn-mill. And he stole one of these and went west. But after a while he stopped and said: "I wonder what is going to happen, for the east is all green and the west is of the same color."

But he ran on, and the clouds came over him, and it began to sprinkle, and then to rain, and then the water began to run, and get deeper and deeper, and he said: "This is happening to me because I stole this mill, but I am not going to let it go, I am going to keep it."

And he ran on and came to where he had separated from Weeheekeenee, and went on and over Cosovahtawupkih, the Twisted Neck Mountain.

And on that mountain he felt rather faint, and put his hand in his pouch and found a root and chewed it, the root Cheek-kuh-pool-tak, and breathed it out, and it stopped raining.