Chapter IV: Part 4

GENERAL EXPLANATIONS RELATIVE TO THE TEXT.

As the space originally apportioned to this merely preliminary essay on the Myths of Creation has already been greatly exceeded, the consideration even in outline of the cultural characteristics of the Zuñis, which would do much to further illumine the meaning of the myths, must be left to the second paper of the series. This will constitute a key or appendix to the present paper, and will contain such glossaries and detailed explanations as will render, it is hoped, all obscure passages clear, and will at the same time give my authority for framing and translating the myths as I have.

Chiefly, however, it will in turn introduce a third paper on the sacred dances or creation dramas of the Kâ´kâ, which originally the myths themselves (as the source of the songs, rituals, and forms of these dramas) were designed to introduce. Lastly, the whole series are but preliminary to a very extensive work on the subject which I contemplate producing so soon as health and opportunity for further researches among the Zuñis will permit.

As inclusive of the dramaturgies or dances, and nearly all other ceremonials of the Zuñis, this subject of their creation myths is almost inexhaustible. I, at least, can not hope to complete it, and I have therefore chosen to treat it in its relation especially to their so-called dances, particularly to those of the Kâ´kâ.

With other primitive peoples as with the Zuñis, there seems to be no bent of their minds so strong or pervasive of and influential upon their lives as the dramaturgic tendency. That tendency to suppose that even the phenomena of nature can be controlled and made to act more or less by men, if symbolically they do first what they wish the elements to do, according to the ways in which, as taught by their mystic lore, they suppose these things were done or made to be done by the ancestral gods of creation time. And this may be seen in a searching analysis not only of the incidents and symbolisms in folk-tales as well as myths of such primitive peoples, but also in a study of the moods in which they do the ordinary things of life; as in believing that because a stone often struck wears away faster than when first struck it is therefore helpful in overcoming its obduracy to strike it--work it--by a preliminary dramatic and ritualistic striking, whereupon it will work as though already actually worked over, and will be less liable to breakage, etc.

All this and much more to the same effect will be illustrated in the papers which I have mentioned as designed to follow the present one.

There remain still a few points in this preliminary paper which must be commented upon--points regarding my own hand in the work chiefly. I use very freely such terms as "religious," "sacred," "priest," and "god," not because they always express exactly the native meaning, but for the reason that they do so more approximately than any other terms I could select. The fearful and mysterious, the magical and occult, all these and many other elements are usually included in the primitive man's religion, and hence terms like "sacred" must be given a less restricted value than they have in our speech or culture.

Again, while the Zuñi word _shíwani_, "priest," literally signifies guardian and possessor, as well as maker or keeper of the flesh, or seed of life of the Zuñis, it must not be supposed to represent a medicine-man, shaman, or sorcerer--for all of which there are specific differentiated terms in the Zuñi tongue. Those who bear that title are also divided into four classes, but among all these the functions of possessing a shrine, being ritualists, performing before the altars, and leading as well as ordering all organized sacerdotal ceremonials, is common. Therefore the simple term "priest," in the Pagan rather than in the Christian sense, is the best and truest that can be found.

Frequently I have occasion to reproduce portions of songs or rituals, or, again, words of the Uánami or "Beloved Gods." In the originals these are almost always in faultless blank verse meter, and are often even grandly poetic. I do not hesitate either to reproduce as nearly as possible their form, or to tax to the uttermost my power of expression in rendering the meanings of them where I quote, clear and effective and in intelligible English. Yet in doing this I do not have to depart very far from "scientific" accuracy, even in the linguistic sense.

Finally, I have entitled the originative division of this paper "Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths," because, in the first place, this is but a preliminary rendering of these, and, properly speaking, they are a series of explanation-myths. Now, while such myths are generally disconnected, often, indeed, somewhat contradictory episode-legends with primitive peoples, they are, with the Zuñis, already become serial, and it is in their serial or epic form (but merely in outline) that I here give them. Although each is called a talk, and is held specifically by a particular organization or social division, yet all are called "the speech." This comes about in Zuñi by the presence in the tribal organization, as already explained, of a class of men and priests there called the "Midmost," or the "All," because hereditary in a single clan (the Macaw), yet representative sacerdotally of all the clans and all the priesthoods, which they out-rank as "Masters of the House of Houses."

With them all these various myths are held in brief and repeated in set form and one sequence as are placed the beads of a rosary or on a string, each entire, yet all making a connected strand. Here, then, we see the rudiment or embryo of a sacred epic such as that of the K‘yäk´lu or "Speaker of all times whensoever."

As finally published, this paper will contain the most ample explanation of all these points and many others, and will not ask, as it does today, catholic judgment and charitable interpretation.

The so-called dances of the Zuñis, and presumably those of all similar primitive peoples, are essentially religio-sociologic in character and always at least dramatic, or, more properly speaking, dramaturgic. It follows that to endeavor to describe and treat at all adequately of any one such ceremonial becomes a matter of exceeding difficulty, for it should involve a far more perfect scheme of the sociologic organization as well as at least a general survey of the mythology and religious institutions of the tribe to which it relates, such as I here present, as well as an absolutely searching description of all details in both the preparation for and the performance of such ceremonial.

For example, the celebrated Kâ´kâ or mythic drama-dance organization of the Zuñis, and for that matter all other of their ceremonials, are, any one of them, made up in personnel from specific clans. Thus formed, they are organized, and the actors and their parts divided in accordance with the groupings of these clans in relation to the symbolic regions of the world, or in this case literally septs. Finally, the paraphernalia and costumings, no less than the actions, songs, and rituals, are as distinctly founded on and related to the legend or legends dramatized.

At this point it seems desirable that the sense in which the terms "drama," "dramatic," and "dramaturgic" are employed in relation to these ceremonials be explained. This may best be done, perhaps, by contrasting the drama of primitive peoples, as I conceive it, with that of civilized peoples. While the latter is essentially spectacular, the former has for its chief motive the absolute and faithful reproduction of creative episodes--one may almost say, indeed, the revivification of the ancient.

That this is attempted and is regarded as possible by primitive man is not to be wondered at when we consider his peculiar modes of conception. I have said of the Zuñis that theirs is a science of appearances and a philosophy of analogies. The primitive man, no less than the child, is the most comprehensive of observers, because his looking at and into things is not self-conscious, but instinctive and undirected, therefore comprehensive and searching. Unacquainted as he is with rational explanations of the things he sees, he is given, as has been the race throughout all time, to symbolic interpretation and mystic expression thereof, as even today are those who deal with the domain of the purely speculative. It follows that his organizations are symbolic; that his actions within these organizations are also symbolic. Consequently, as a child at play on the floor finds sticks all-sufficient for the personages of his play-drama, chairs for his houses, and lines of the floor for the rivers that none but his eyes can see, so does the primitive man regard the mute, but to him personified, appliances of his dance and the actions thereof, other than they seem to us.

I can perhaps make my meaning more clear by analyzing such a conception common to the Zuñi mind. The Zuñi has observed that the corn plant is jointed; that its leaves spring from these joints not regularly, but spirally; that stripped of the leaves the stalk is found to be indented, not regularly at opposite sides, but also spirally; that the matured plant is characterized, as no other plant is, by two sets of seeds, the ears of corn springing out from it two-thirds down and the tassels of seeds, sometimes earlets, at the top; also that these tassels resemble the seed-spikes of the spring-grass or pigeon-grass; that the leaves themselves while like broad blades of grass are fluted like plumes, and that amongst the ears of corn ever and anon are found bunches of soot; and, finally, that the colors of the corn are as the colors of the world--seven in number. Later on it may be seen to what extent he has legendized these characteristics, thus accounting for them, and to what extent, also, he has dramatized this, his natural philosophy of the corn and its origin. Nothing in this world or universe having occurred by accident--so it seems to the Zuñi mind,--but everything having been started by a personal agency or supernal, he immediately begins to see in these characteristics of the corn plant the traces of the actions of the peoples in his myths of the olden time. Lo! men lived on grass seeds at first, but, as related in the course of the legends which follow, there came a time when, by the potencies of the gods and the magic of his own priests or shamans, man modified the food of first men into the food of men's children. It needed only a youth and a maiden, continent and pure, to grasp at opposite sides and successively the blades of grass planted with plumes of supplication, and walking or dancing around them, holding them firmly to draw them upward until they had rapidly grown to the tallness of themselves, then to embrace them together. Behold! the grasses were jointed where grasped four times or six according to their tallness; yea, and marked with the thumb-marks of those who grasped them; twisted by their grasp while circling around them and leaved with plume-like blades and tasseled with grass-like spikes at the tops. More wonderful than all, where their persons had touched the plants at their middles, behold! new seed of human origin and productive of continued life had sprung forth in semblance of their parentage and draped with the very pile of their generation. For lo! that when the world was new all things in it were _k‘yaíuna_, or formative, as now is the child in the mother's womb or the clay by the thoughts of the potter. That the seed of seeds thus made be not lost it needed that Paíyatuma, the God of Dew and the Dawn, freshen these new-made plants with his breath; that Ténatsali, the God of Time and the Seasons, mature them instantly with his touch and breath; that Kwélele, the God of Heat, ripen them with the touch of his Fire-brother's torch and confirm to them the warmth of a life of their own. Nevertheless, with the coming of each season, the creation is ever repeated, for the philosophy of ecclesiasticism is far older than ecclesiastics or their writings, and since man aided in the creation of the corn, so must he now ever aid in each new creation of the seed of seeds. Whence the drama of the origin of corn is not merely reenacted, but is revived and reproduced in all its many details with scrupulous fidelity each summer as the new seed is ripening. And now I may add intelligibly that the drama of primitive man is performed in an equally dramaturgic spirit, whether seen, as in its merely culminating or final enactment, or unseen and often secret, as in its long-continued preparations. In this a given piece of it may be likened to a piece of Oriental carving or of Japanese joinery, in which the parts not to be seen are as scrupulously finished as are the parts seen, the which is likewise characteristic of our theme, for it is due to the like dramaturgic spirit which dominates even the works, no less than the ceremonials, of all primitive and semiprimitive peoples.

So also it seems to the Zuñi that no less essential is it that all the long periods of creation up to the time when corn itself was created from the grasses must be reproduced, even though hastily and by mere signs, as are the forms through which a given species in animal life has been evolved, rapidly repeated in each embryo.

The significance of such studies as these of a little tribe like the Zuñis, and especially of such fuller studies as will, it is hoped, follow in due course, is not restricted to their bearing on the tribe itself. They bear on the history of man the world over. I have become convinced that they thus bear on human history, especially on that of human culture growth, very directly, too, for the Zuñis, say, with all their strange, apparently local customs and institutions and the lore thereof, are representative in a more than merely general way of a phase of culture through which all desert peoples, in the Old World as well as in the New, must sometime have passed. Thus my researches among these Zuñis and my experimental researches upon myself, with my own hands, under strictly primitive conditions, have together given me insight and power to interpret their myths and old arts, as I could never otherwise have hoped to do; and it has also enlarged my understanding of the earliest conditions of man everywhere as nothing else could have done.

The leisure for this long continued research has been due to the generosity, scientific disinterestedness, and personal kindness of my former chief, Professor Spencer F. Baird, and of my present revered director, Major J. W. Powell, whose patience and helpfulness through years of struggle, ill-health, and delay could not adequately be repaid by even the complete carrying out of the series of works herein projected and prefaced. To them and to Professor W. J. McGee, who has aided and fostered this work in every possible way, I owe continual gratitude.

MYTHS[8]

[8] As stated more fully in the introductory paragraphs,
notes giving the etymologies of native terms and explaining
and amplifying obscure or brief allusions and presenting
the special sense in which certain expressions and passages
are used will be given in the second part of this paper, to
appear in the future.

THE GENESIS OF THE WORLDS, OR THE BEGINNING OF NEWNESS.

Before the beginning of the new-making, Áwonawílona (the Maker and Container of All, the All-father Father), solely had being. There was nothing else whatsoever throughout the great space of the ages save everywhere black darkness in it, and everywhere void desolation.

In the beginning of the new-made, Áwonawílona conceived within himself and thought outward in space, whereby mists of increase, steams potent of growth, were evolved and uplifted. Thus, by means of his innate knowledge, the All-container made himself in person and form of the Sun whom we hold to be our father and who thus came to exist and appear. With his appearance came the brightening of the spaces with light, and with the brightening of the spaces the great mist-clouds were thickened together and fell, whereby was evolved water in water; yea, and the world-holding sea.

With his substance of flesh (_yépnane_) outdrawn from the surface of his person, the Sun-father formed the seed-stuff of twain worlds, impregnating therewith the great waters, and lo! in the heat of his light these waters of the sea grew green and scums (_k’yanashótsiyallawe_) rose upon them, waxing wide and weighty until, behold! they became Áwitelin Tsíta, the "Four-fold Containing Mother-earth," and Ápoyan Tä´chu, the "All-covering Father-sky."

THE GENESIS OF MEN AND THE CREATURES.

From the lying together of these twain upon the great world-waters, so vitalizing, terrestrial life was conceived; whence began all beings of earth, men and the creatures, in the Four-fold womb of the World (Áwiten Téhu‘hlnakwi).

Thereupon the Earth-mother repulsed the Sky-father, growing big and sinking deep into the embrace of the waters below, thus separating from the Sky-father in the embrace of the waters above. As a woman forebodes evil for her first-born ere born, even so did the Earth-mother forebode, long withholding from birth her myriad progeny and meantime seeking counsel with the Sky-father. "How," said they to one another, "shall our children, when brought forth, know one place from another, even by the white light of the Sun-father?"

Now like all the surpassing beings (_píkwaiyin áhâi_) the Earth-mother and the Sky-father were _‘hlímna_ (changeable), even as smoke in the wind; transmutable at thought, manifesting themselves in any form at will, like as dancers may by mask-making.

Thus, as a man and woman, spake they, one to the other. "Behold!" said the Earth-mother as a great terraced bowl appeared at hand and within it water, "this is as upon me the homes of my tiny children shall be. On the rim of each world-country they wander in, terraced mountains shall stand, making in one region many, whereby country shall be known from country, and within each, place from place. Behold, again!" said she as she spat on the water and rapidly smote and stirred it with her fingers. Foam formed, gathering about the terraced rim, mounting higher and higher. "Yea," said she, "and from my bosom they shall draw nourishment, for in such as this shall they find the substance of life whence we were ourselves sustained, for see!" Then with her warm breath she blew across the terraces; white flecks of the foam broke away, and, floating over above the water, were shattered by the cold breath of the Sky-father attending, and forthwith shed downward abundantly fine mist and spray! "Even so, shall white clouds float up from the great waters at the borders of the world, and clustering about the mountain terraces of the horizons be borne aloft and abroad by the breaths of the surpassing of soul-beings, and of the children, and shall hardened and broken be by thy cold, shedding downward, in rain-spray, the water of life, even into the hollow places of my lap! For therein chiefly shall nestle our children mankind and creature-kind, for warmth in thy coldness."

Lo! even the trees on high mountains near the clouds and the Sky-father crouch low toward the Earth-mother for warmth and protection! Warm is the Earth-mother, cold the Sky-father, even as woman is the warm, man the cold being!

"Even so!" said the Sky-father; "Yet not alone shalt _thou_ helpful be unto our children, for behold!" and he spread his hand abroad with the palm downward and into all the wrinkles and crevices thereof he set the semblance of shining yellow corn-grains; in the dark of the early world-dawn they gleamed like sparks of fire, and moved as his hand was moved over the bowl, shining up from and also moving in the depths of the water therein. "See!" said he, pointing to the seven grains clasped by his thumb and four fingers, "by such shall our children be guided; for behold, when the Sun-father is not nigh, and thy terraces are as the dark itself (being all hidden therein), then shall our children be guided by lights--like to these lights of all the six regions turning round the midmost one--as in and around the midmost place, where these our children shall abide, lie all the other regions of space! Yea! and even as these grains gleam up from the water, so shall seed-grains like to them, yet numberless, spring up from thy bosom when touched by my waters, to nourish our children." Thus and in other ways many devised they for their offspring.

THE GESTATION OF MEN AND THE CREATURES.

Anon in the nethermost of the four cave-wombs of the world, the seed of men and the creatures took form and increased; even as within eggs in warm places worms speedily appear, which growing, presently burst their shells and become as may happen, birds, tadpoles or serpents, so did men and all creatures grow manifoldly and multiply in many kinds. Thus the lowermost womb or cave-world, which was Ánosin téhuli (the womb of sooty depth or of growth-generation, because it was the place of first formation and black as a chimney at night time, foul too, as the internals of the belly), thus did it become overfilled with being. Everywhere were unfinished creatures, crawling like reptiles one over another in filth and black darkness, crowding thickly together and treading each other, one spitting on another or doing other indecency, insomuch that loud became their murmurings and lamentations, until many among them sought to escape, growing wiser and more manlike.

THE FORTHCOMING FROM EARTH OF THE FOREMOST OF MEN.

Then came among men and the beings, it is said, the wisest of wise men and the foremost, the all-sacred master, Póshaiyaŋk‘ya, he who appeared in the waters below, even as did the Sun-father in the wastes above, and who arose from the nethermost sea, and pitying men still, won upward, gaining by virtue of his (innate) wisdom-knowledge issuance from that first world-womb through ways so dark and narrow that those who, seeing somewhat, crowded after, could not follow, so eager were they and so mightily did they strive with one another! Alone, then, he fared upward from one womb (cave) to another out into the great breadth of daylight. There, the earth lay, like a vast island in the midst of the great waters, wet and unstable. And alone fared he forth dayward, seeking the Sun-father and supplicating him to deliver mankind and the creatures there below.

THE BIRTH FROM THE SEA OF THE TWAIN DELIVERERS OF MEN.

Then did the Sun-father take counsel within himself, and casting his glance downward espied, on the great waters, a Foam-cap near to the Earth-mother. With his beam he impregnated and with his heat incubated the Foam-cap, whereupon she gave birth to Úanam Achi Píahkoa, the Beloved Twain who descended; first, Úanam Éhkona, the Beloved Preceder, then Úanam Yáluna, the Beloved Follower, Twin brothers of Light, yet Elder and Younger, the Right and the Left, like to question and answer in deciding and doing. To them the Sun-father imparted, still retaining, control-thought and his own knowledge-wisdom, even as to the offspring of wise parents their knowingness is imparted and as to his right hand and his left hand a skillful man gives craft freely surrendering not his knowledge. He gave them, of himself and their mother the Foam-cap, the great cloud-bow, and for arrows the thunderbolts of the four quarters (twain to either), and for buckler the fog-making shield, which (spun of the floating clouds and spray and woven, as of cotton we spin and weave) supports as on wind, yet hides (as a shadow hides) its bearer, defending also. And of men and all creatures he gave them the fathership and dominion, also as a man gives over the control of his work to the management of his hands. Well instructed of the Sun-father, they lifted the Sky-father with their great cloud-bow into the vault of the high zenith, that the earth might become warm and thus fitter for their children, men and the creatures. Then along the trail of the sun-seeking Póshaiyaŋk‘ya, they sped backward swiftly on their floating fog-shield, westward to the Mountain of Generation. With their magic knives of the thunderbolt they spread open the uncleft depths of the mountain, and still on their cloud-shield--even as a spider in her web descendeth--so descended they unerringly, into the dark of the under-world. There they abode with men and the creatures, attending them, coming to know them, and becoming known of them as masters and fathers, thus seeking the ways for leading them forth.

THE BIRTH AND DELIVERY OF MEN AND THE CREATURES.

Now there were growing things in the depths, like grasses and crawling vines. So now the Beloved Twain breathed on the stems of these grasses (growing tall, as grass is wont to do toward the light, under the opening they had cleft and whereby they had descended), causing them to increase vastly and rapidly by grasping and walking round and round them, twisting them upward until lo! they reach forth even into the light. And where successively they grasped the stems ridges were formed and thumb-marks whence sprang branching leaf-stems. Therewith the two formed a great ladder whereon men and the creatures might ascend to the second cave-floor, and thus not be violently ejected in after-time by the throes of the Earth-mother, and thereby be made demoniac and deformed.

Up this ladder, into the second cave-world, men and the beings crowded, following closely the Two Little but Mighty Ones. Yet many fell back and, lost in the darkness, peopled the under-world, whence they were delivered in after-time amid terrible earth shakings, becoming the monsters and fearfully strange beings of olden time. Lo! in this second womb it was dark as is the night of a stormy season, but larger of space and higher than had been the first, because it was nearer the navel of the Earth-mother, hence named K’ólin tehuli (the Umbilical-womb, or the Place of Gestation). Here again men and the beings increased and the clamor of their complainings grew loud and beseeching. Again the Two, augmenting the growth of the great ladder, guided them upward, this time not all at once, but in successive bands to become in time the fathers of the six kinds of men (the yellow, the tawny gray, the red, the white, the mingled, and the black races), and with them the gods and creatures of them all. Yet this time also, as before, multitudes were lost or left behind. The third great cave-world, whereunto men and the creatures had now ascended, being larger than the second and higher, was lighter, like a valley in starlight, and named Áwisho tehuli--the Vaginal-womb, or the Place of Sex-generation or Gestation. For here the various peoples and beings began to multiply apart in kind one from another; and as the nations and tribes of men and the creatures thus waxed numerous as before, here, too, it became overfilled. As before, generations of nations now were led out successively (yet many lost, also as hitherto) into the next and last world-cave, Tépahaian tehuli, the Ultimate-uncoverable, or the Womb of Parturition.

Here it was light like the dawning, and men began to perceive and to learn variously according to their natures, wherefore the Twain taught them to seek first of all our Sun-father, who would, they said, reveal to them wisdom and knowledge of the ways of life--wherein also they were instructing them as we do little children. Yet like the other cave-worlds, this too became, after long time, filled with progeny; and finally, at periods, the Two led forth the nations of men and the kinds of being, into this great upper world, which is called Ték’ohaian úlahnane, or the World of Disseminated Light and Knowledge or Seeing.

THE CONDITION OF MEN WHEN FIRST INTO THE WORLD OF DAYLIGHT BORN.

Eight years made the span of four days and four nights when the world was new. It was while yet such days and nights continued that men were led forth, first in the night, that it might be well. For even when they saw the great star (_móyächun ‘hlána_), which since then is spoken of as the lying star (_mókwanosona_), they thought it the Sun himself, so burned it their eyeballs! Men and the creatures were nearer alike then than now: black were our fathers the late born of creation, like the caves from which they came forth; cold and scaly their skins like those of mud-creatures; goggled their eyes like those of an owl; membranous their ears like those of cave-bats; webbed their feet like those of walkers in wet and soft places; and according as they were elder or younger, they had tails, longer or shorter. They crouched when they walked, often indeed, crawling along the ground like toads, lizards and newts; like infants who still fear to walk straight, they crouched, as before-time they had in their cave-worlds, that they might not stumble and fall, or come to hurt in the uncertain light thereof. And when the morning star rose they blinked excessively as they beheld its brightness and cried out with many mouth-motionings that surely now the Father was coming; but it was only the elder of the Bright Ones, gone before with elder nations and with his shield of flame, heralding from afar (as we herald with wet shell scales or crystals) the approach of the Sun-father! And when, low down in the east the Sun-father himself appeared, what though shrouded in the midst of the great world waters, they were so blinded and heated by his light and glory that they cried out to one another in anguish and fell down wallowing and covering their eyes with their bare hands and arms. Yet ever anew they looked afresh to the light and anew struggled toward the sun as moths and other night creatures seek the light of a camp fire; yea, and what though burned, seek ever anew that light!

Thus ere long they became used to the light, and to this high world they had entered. Wherefore, when they arose and no longer walked bended, lo! it was then that they first looked full upon one another and in horror of their filthier parts, strove to hide these, even from one another, with girdles of bark and rushes; and when by thus walking only upon their hinder feet the same became bruised and sore, they sought to protect them with plaited soles (sandals) of yucca fiber.

THE ORIGIN OF PRIESTS AND OF KNOWLEDGE.

It was thus, by much devising of ways, that men began to grow knowing in many things, and were instructed by what they saw, and so became wiser and better able to receive the words and gifts of their fathers and elder brothers, the gods, Twain and others, and priests. For already masters-to-be were amongst them. Even in the dark of the under-worlds such had come to be; as had, indeed, the various kinds of creatures-to-be, so these. And according to their natures they had found and cherished things, and had been granted gifts by the gods; but as yet they knew not the meaning of their own powers and possessions, even as children know not the meanings and right uses of the precious or needful things given them; nay nor yet the functions of their very parts! Now in the light of the Sun-father, persons became known from persons, and these things from other things; and thus the people came to know their many fathers among men, to know them by themselves or by the possessions they had.

Now the first and most perfect of all these fathers among men after Póshaiyaŋk‘ya was Yanáuluha, who brought up from the under-world water of the inner ocean, and seeds of life-production and growing things; in gourds he brought these up, and also things containing the "of-doing-powers."

THE ORIGIN OF THE RAVEN AND THE MACAW, TOTEMS OF WINTER AND SUMMER.

He who was named Yanáuluha carried ever in his hand a staff which now in the daylight appeared plumed and covered with feathers of beautiful colors--yellow, blue-green, and red, white, black, and varied. Attached to it were shells and other potent contents of the under-world. When the people saw all these things and the beautiful baton, and heard the song-like tinkle of the sacred shells, they stretched forth their hands like little children and cried out, asking many questions.

Yanáuluha, and other priests (_shiwanáteuna_) having been made wise by teaching of the masters of life (god-beings) with self-magic-knowing (_yam tsépan ánikwanan_), replied: "It is a staff of extension, wherewith to test the hearts and understandings of children." Then he balanced it in his hand and struck with it a hard place and blew upon it. Amid the plumes appeared four round things, seeds of moving beings, mere eggs were they, two blue like the sky or turkis; two dun-red like the flesh of the Earth-mother.

Again the people cried out with wonder and ecstasy, and again asked they questions, many.

"These be," said he who was named Yanáuluha, "the seed of living things; both the cherishers and annoyancers, of summer time; choose ye without greed which ye will have for to follow! For from one twain shall issue beings of beautiful plumage, colored like the verdure and fruitage of summer; and whither they fly and ye follow, shall be everlastingly manifest summer, and without toil, the pain whereof ye ken not, fields full fertile of food shall flourish there. And from the other twain shall issue beings evil, uncolored, black, piebald with white; and whither these two shall fly and ye follow, shall strive winter with summer; fields furnished only by labor such as ye wot not of shall ye find there, and contended for between their offspring and yours shall be the food-fruits thereof."

"The blue! the blue!" cried the people, and those who were most hasty and strongest strove for the blue eggs, leaving the other eggs for those who had waited. "See," said they as they carried them with much gentleness and laid them, as one would the new-born, in soft sand on the sunny side of a cliff, watching them day by day, "precious of color are these; surely then, of precious things they must be the seed!" And "Yea verily!" said they when the eggs cracked and worms issued, presently becoming birds with open eyes and with pinfeathers under their skins, "Verily we chose with understanding, for see! yellow and blue, red and green are their dresses, even seen through their skins!" So they fed the pair freely of the food that men favor--thus alas! cherishing their appetites for food of all kinds! But when their feathers appeared they were _black_ with white bandings; for ravens were they! And they flew away mocking our fathers and croaking coarse laughs!

And the other eggs held by those who had waited and by their father Yanáuluha, became gorgeous macaws and were wafted by him with a toss of his wand to the far southward summer-land. As father, yet child of the macaw, he chose as the symbol and name of himself and as father of these his more deliberate children--those who had waited--the macaw and the kindred of the macaw, the Múla-kwe; whilst those who had chosen the ravens became the Raven-people, or the Kâ´kâ-kwe.

Thus first was our nation divided into the People of Winter and the People of Summer. Of the Winter those who chose the raven, who were many and strong; and of the Summer those who cherished the macaw, who were fewer and less lusty, yet of prudent understanding because more deliberate. Hence, Yanáuluha their father, being wise, saw readily the light and ways of the Sun-father, and being made partaker of his breath, thus became among men as the Sun-father is among the little moons of the sky; and speaker to and of the Sun-father himself, keeper and dispenser of precious things and commandments, Pékwi Shíwani Éhkona (and Earliest Priest of the Sun). He and his sisters became also the seed of all priests who pertain to the Midmost clan-line of the priest-fathers of the people themselves "masters of the house of houses." By him also, and his seed, were established and made good the priests-keepers of things.

THE ORIGIN AND NAMING OF TOTEM-CLANS AND CREATURE KINDS, AND THE DIVISION AND NAMING OF SPACES AND THINGS.

The Twain Beloved and priest fathers gathered in council for the naming and selection of man-groups and creature-kinds (_tánawe_), spaces, and things. Thus determined they that the creatures and things of summer and the southern space pertained to the Southern people, or Children of the Producing Earth-mother; and those of winter and northern space, to the Winter people, or Children of the Forcing or Quickening Sky-father.

Of the Children of Summer, some loved and understood most the Sun, hence became the fathers of the Sun people (Yä´tok’ya-kwe). Some loved more the water, and became the Toad people (Ták‘ya-kwe), Turtle people (Étâa-kwe), or Frog people (Ták‘yaiuna-kwe), who so much love the water. Others, again loved the seeds of earth and became the People of Seed (Tâatém‘hlanah-kwe), such as those of the First-growing grass (Pétâa-kwe, now Aíyaho-kwe), and of the Tobacco (Ána-kwe). Yet still others loved the warmth and became the Fire or Badger people (Tónashi-kwe). According, then, to their natures and inclinations or their gifts from below or of the Masters of Life, they chose or were chosen for their totems.

Thus, too, it was with the People of Winter or the North. They chose, or were chosen and named, according to their resemblances or aptitudes; some as the Bear people (Aíŋshi-kwe), Coyote people (Súski-kwe), or Deer people (Shóhoita-kwe); others as the Crane people (Kâ´lokta-kwe), Turkey people (Tóna-kwe) or Grouse people (Póyi-kwe). In this wise it came to pass that the Áshiwe were divided of old in such wise as are their children today, into _ánotiwe_ (clans or kinties) of brothers and sisters who may not marry one another, but from one to another of kin. Yea, and as the Earth-mother had increased and kept within herself all beings, cherishing them apart from their father even after they came forth, so were these our mothers and sisters made the keepers of the kin-names and of the seed thereof, nor may the children of each be cherished by any others of kin.

Now the Beloved Foremost Ones (Úan Éhkon Áteona) of these clans were prepared by instruction of the gods and the fathers of the house of houses and by being breathed of them (_púak‘yanapk‘ya_), whereby they became _áshiwani_ or priests also, but only the priests of possession, master keepers of sacred things and mysteries (_tíkitlapon ámosi_), each according to his nature of kinship. It was thus that the warmth-wanting (_ték‘yä‘hlna shema_) Badger-people were given the great shell (_tsúlikéinan ‘hlana_), the heart or navel of which is potent or sensitive of fire, as of the earthquake and the inner fire is the coiled navel of the Earth-mother. On the sunny sides of hills burrow the badgers, finding and dwelling amongst the dry roots whence is fire. Thus the "Two Badgers" were made keepers of the sacred heart-shell (_súti k’ili achi_), makers and wardens of fire. So, too, were the Bear, Crane, and Grouse people given the _múetone_, or the contained seed-substance of hail, snow and new soil (for the bear sleeps, no longer guarding when winter comes, and with the returning crane, in the wake of the duck, comes winter in the trail of the white growing grouse). So, to the Toad and other water people, descended to them from Yanáuluha the _k‘yáetone_, or the contained seed-substance of water; and to the Átâa-kwe, or All-seed-people, especially to the First-growing-grass people and the Tobacco people, was given of him also, the _chúetone_, or the contained seed-substance of corn grains.

THE ORIGIN OF THE COUNCILS OF SECRECY OR SACRED BROTHERHOODS.

Now when the foremost ones of more than one of these kin clans possessed a contained or sacred seed-substance, they banded together, forming a society for the better use and keeping of its medicine and its secret (forbidden) mysteries, and for the guidance and care thereby of their especial children. Thus, leading ones of the Bear people, Crane people, and Grouse people became the ‘Hléetâ-kwe, or Bearers of the Ice-wands as they are sometimes called, whose prayers and powers bring winter, yet ward off its evils to the flesh and fearsomeness to the soul. But at first, only four were the bands of priest-keepers of the mysteries: Shíwana-kwe, or the Priesthood of Priest people; Sániak‘ya-kwe, or the Priesthood of the Hunt, who were of the Coyote, Eagle, and Deer kin, Keepers of the Seed-substance of Game; Áchiak‘ya-kwe, or the Great Knife people, makers and defenders of pathways for the people; and Néwe-kwe, keepers of magic medicines and knowledge invincible of poison and other evil, whose first great father was Paíyatuma, God of Dew and the Dawn, himself. Out of these and of other clans were formed in later days by wisdom of the Father of Medicines and Rites (the great Póshaiyaŋk‘ya, when he returned, all as is told in other talk of our olden speech) all other societies, both that of the Middle, and the Twain for each of all the other six regions (_tem‘halatékwiwe_,) the Tabooed and Sacred Thirteen. But when all was new, men did not know the meanings of their possessions, or even of the commandments (_haítoshnawe_); even as children know not the prayers (_téusupénawe_). These they must first be taught, that in later days, when there is need therefor, they may know them and not be poor.

THE UNRIPENESS AND INSTABILITY OF THE WORLD WHEN STILL YOUNG.

As it was with men and the creatures, so with the world; it was young and unripe (_k‘yaíyuna_). Unstable its surface was, like that of a marsh; dank, even the high places, like the floor of a cavern, so that seeds dropped on it sprang forth, and even the substance of offal became growing things.

Earthquakes shook the world and rent it. Beings of sorcery, demons and monsters of the under-world fled forth. Creatures turned fierce, becoming beasts of prey, wherefore others turned timid, becoming their quarry; wretchedness and hunger abounded, black magic, war, and contention entered when fear did into the hearts of men and the creatures. Yea, fear was everywhere among them, wherefore, everywhere the people, hugging in dread their precious possessions, became wanderers they, living on the seeds of grasses, eaters of dead and slain things! Yet still, they were guided by the Two Beloved, ever in the direction of the east, told and taught that they must seek, in the light and under the pathway of the Sun, the middle of the world, over which alone could they find the earth stable, or rest them and bide them in peace.

THE HARDENING OF THE WORLD, AND THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF MEN.

When the tremblings grew stilled for a time, the people were bidden to gather and pause at the First of Sitting-places, which was named K’éyatiwankwi (Place of upturning or elevation). Yet still poor and defenseless and unskilled were the children of men, still moist and ever-anon unstable the world they abode in. Still also, great demons and monsters of prey fled violently forth in times of earthquake (_ánukwaík‘yanak‘ya_) and menaced all wanderers and timid creatures. Therefore the Beloved Twain took counsel one with the other and with the Sun-father, and instructed by him, the elder said to the younger, "Brother, behold!

That the earth be made safer for men, and more stable,
Let us shelter the land where our children be resting,
Yea! the depths and the valleys beyond shall be sheltered
By the shade of our cloud-shield! Let us lay to its circle
Our firebolts of thunder, aimed to all the four regions,
Then smite with our arrows of lightning from under.
Lo! the earth shall heave upward and downward with thunder!
Lo! fire shall belch outward and burn the world over,
And floods of hot water shall seethe swift before it!
Lo! smoke of earth-stenches shall blacken the daylight
And deaden the senses of them else escaping
And lessen the number of fierce preying monsters!
That the earth be made safer for men, and more stable."

"It were well," said the younger, ever eager, and forthwith they made ready as they had between themselves devised. Then said the elder to the younger,

"Wilt thou stand to the right, or shall I, younger brother?"
"I will stand to the right!" said the younger, and stood there.
To the left stood the elder and when all was ready,
‘Hluáa they let fly at the firebolts, their arrows!
Deep bellowed the earth, heaving upward and downward.
"It is done," said the elder. "It is well," said the younger.

Dread was the din and stir. The heights staggered and the mountains reeled, the plains boomed and crackled under the floods and fires, and the high hollow-places, hugged of men and the creatures, were black and awful, so that these grew crazed with panic and strove alike to escape or to hide more deeply. But ere-while they grew deafened and deadened, forgetful and asleep! A tree lighted of lightning burns not long! Presently thick rain fell, quenching the fires; and waters washed the face of the world, cutting deep trails from the heights downward, and scattering abroad the wrecks and corpses of stricken things and beings, or burying them deeply. Lo! they are seen in the mountains to this day; and in the trails of those fierce waters cool rivers now run, and where monsters perished lime of their bones (_áluwe_--calcareous nodules in malpais or volcanic tuff) we find, and use in food stuff! Gigantic were they, for their forms little and great were often burned or shriveled and contorted into stone. Seen are these, also, along the depths of the world. Where they huddled together and were blasted thus, their blood gushed forth and flowed deeply, here in rivers, there in floods; but it was charred and blistered and blackened by the fires, into the black rocks of the lower mesas (_ápkwina_, lava or malpais). There were vast plains of dust, ashes and cinders, reddened as is the mud of a hearth-place. There were great banks of clay and soil burned to hardness--as clay is when baked in the kiln-mound,--blackened, bleached or stained yellow, gray, red, or white, streaked and banded, bended or twisted. Worn and broken by the heavings of the under-world and by the waters and breaths of the ages, they are the mountain-terraces of the Earth-mother, "dividing country from country!" Yet many were the places behind and between these--dark canyons, deep valleys, sunken plains--unharmed by the fires, where they swerved or rolled higher--as, close to the track of a forest-fire, green grow trees and grasses, and even flowers continue to bloom. Therein, and in the land sheltered by the shield, tarried the people, awakened, as from fearful dreams. Dry and more stable was the world now, less fearsome its lone places; since, changed to rock were so many monsters of prey (some shriveled to the size of insects; made precious as amulets for the hunter and warrior, as told in other talks of our ancient speech).

THE BEGINNING OF THE SEARCH FOR THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD, AND THE SECOND TARRYING OF MEN.

But ever and anon the earth trembled anew in that time, and the people troubled.

"Thus, being, it is not well," said the Two. "Let us again seek the Middle." So, they led their myriads far eastward and tarried them at Tésak‘ya Yäla (Place of nude mountains).

THE LEARNING OF WAR, AND THE THIRD TARRYING.

Yet soon again the world rumbled, and again they led the way into a country and place called Támëlan K‘yaíyawan (Where tree boles stand in the midst of the waters). There the people abode for long, saying (poor people!) "This is the Middle!" Therefore they built homes. At times they met people who had gone before, thus learning much of ways in war, for in the fierceness that had entered their hearts with fear, they deemed it not well, neither liked they to look upon strangers peacefully. And many strange things also were learned and happened there, that are told in other speeches of the ancient talk.

Having fought and grown strong, lo! when at last the earth groaned and the conches sounded warning, and the Twain bade them forth, forsooth! they murmured much, and many (foredoomed!), turned headstrong and were left to perish miserably in their own houses as do rats in falling trees, or flies in forbidden food!

THE MEETING OF THE PEOPLE OF DEW, AND THE FOURTH TARRYING.

But the greater company went obediently forward, until at last they neared Shípololon K‘yaía (Steam mist in the midst of the waters). Behold! they saw as they journeyed, the smoke of men's hearth-fires and a great assemblage of houses scattered over the hills before them! And when they came closer they met dwellers in those places, nor looked peacefully upon them--having erstwhile in their last standing-place, had touch of war--but challenged them rudely, to know, forsooth, who they were and why there.

THE GENERATION OF THE SEED OF SEEDS, OR THE ORIGIN OF CORN.

"We are the People of Seed," said these strangers, replying to our fathers of old, "born elder brothers of ye, and led of the gods!"

"Nay," contended our fathers, "verily, we are led of the gods and of us are the Seed people and the substance of seed whereof our wise elders carry the potencies." Whereupon they grew yet more angry, so dark were they of understanding!

The people who called themselves "Of the Seed"--who were none others than the "Drinkers of the Dew of Grasses"--bade them pause. "Behold!" said they, "we have powers above yours, yet without your aid we can not exert them; even as the mothers of men may not be fertile save of the fathers. Ye are our younger brothers, for verily so are _your_ People of Seed, and more precious than they know, are they and their sacred keepings, ye--unwittingly, alack!--so boast of; even as we are more wise than ye are and in ourselves quickening withal, for ye are, like virgins, unthinking, yet fertile. Now go to! Let us look peacefully upon one another. Do ye, therefore, try first your powers with the sacred things ye carry according as ye have been instructed or may best devise; then will we according to our knowledge of these things and our own practices try our powers with them also, showing forth our customs unto you."

At last, after much wrangling and council, the people agreed to this. And they set apart the time, eight days (as now days are numbered) wherein to make their preparations, which was well; for therefrom resulted to them great gain, yea, and the winning of these stranger villagers, and by wise and peaceful acts rather than by war and the impetuosity of right hands. In the borders of the plain in the midst of cedars (fuel furnishers of the food-maturing fire, these!) and under the shade of Hemlocks (Tree-goddesses of the food-growing water, these!) they encamped. And at the foot of the Hemlocks, facing the sunlight, they builded them of cedar boughs a great bower: like to it, only lesser, are those whence we watch and foster the ripening of our corn; for from their bower thus fashioned, our fathers and mothers, the priests and priest-matrons of old, watched and labored for the first birth of corn, and in this wondrous wise, as young parents watch for the birth of their children, though not knowing of what kind or favor they will be, nevertheless expectantly of heart; and as we now watch the fulfilment of our harvests.

So, the seed-priests and master-keepers of the possessions, and their fathers (those of the house of houses) fasted and intently contemplated their sacred substances to divine the means thereof. And it seemed good to them to cut wands of the spaces, painting them significantly and pluming them in various ways with the feathers of the cloud and summer sun-loving birds (Ólowik‘ya Wówe Pékwi Áshiwani), thinking thereby to waft the breath of their prayers and incantations (taught of the Surpassing Ones all in the new time of the world) and to show forth their meanings even so far as unto the ancient sitting spaces of those who first taught them.