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ZUÑI FOLK TALES
ZUÑI FOLK TALES
RECORDED AND TRANSLATED BY FRANK HAMILTON CUSHING With an Introduction by J. W. POWELL TÉNATSALI NEW YORK AND LONDON G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS The Knickerbocker Press 1901 NEW YORK AND LONDON G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS The Knickerbocker Press 1901 Copyright, 1901 by EMILY T. M. CUSHING The Knickerbocker Press, New York...
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
I T is instructive to compare superstition with science. Mythology is the term used to designate the superstitions of the ancients. Folk-lore is the term used to designate the superstitions of the ignorant of today. Ancient mythology has been carefully studied by modern thinkers for purposes of trope and simile in the embellishment of literature, and especially of poetry; then it has been investigated for the purpose of discovering its meaning in the hope that some occult significance might be f
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(Told the First Night)
(Told the First Night)
I N the days of the ancients, when Mátsaki was the home of the children of men, there lived, in that town, which is called “Salt City,” because the Goddess of Salt made a white lake there in the days of the New, a beautiful maiden. She was passing beautiful, and the daughter of the priest-chief, who owned more buckskins and blankets than he could hang on his poles, and whose port-holes were covered with turquoises and precious shells from the ocean—so many were the sacrifices he made to the gods
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(Told the Second Night)
(Told the Second Night)
“ Sonahtchi! ” “ Sons shonetchi! ” (“There is left of my story”;) but I will tell you not alone of the Maid of Mátsaki, because the young man killed her, for he knew not his wife from the other. It is of the Red Feather, or the Wife of Mátsaki that I will tell you this sitting. Even when the sun set, and the hills and houses grew black in the shadows, still the young man sat by the grave-side, his hands rested upon his knees and his face buried in them. And the people no longer tried to steal hi
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THE YOUTH AND HIS EAGLE
THE YOUTH AND HIS EAGLE
I N forgotten times, in the days of our ancients, at the Middle Place, or what is now Shíwina (Zuñi), there lived a youth who was well grown, or perfect in manhood. He had a pet Eagle which he kept in a cage down on the roof of the first terrace of the house of his family. He loved this Eagle so dearly that he could not endure to be separated from it; not only this, but he spent nearly all his time in caring for and fondling his pet. Morning, noon, and evening, yea, and even between those times,
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THE POOR TURKEY GIRL
THE POOR TURKEY GIRL
L ONG, long ago, our ancients had neither sheep nor horses nor cattle; yet they had domestic animals of various kinds—amongst them Turkeys. In Mátsaki, or the Salt City, there dwelt at this time many very wealthy families, who possessed large flocks of these birds, which it was their custom to have their slaves or the poor people of the town herd in the plains round about Thunder Mountain, below which their town stood, and on the mesas beyond. Now, in Mátsaki at this time there stood, away out n
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HOW THE SUMMER BIRDS CAME
HOW THE SUMMER BIRDS CAME
I N the days of the ancients, in the town under Thunder Mountain called K’iákime, there lived a most beautiful maiden. But one thing which struck the people who knew her was that she seldom came forth from her room, or went out of her house; never seemed to care for the people around her, never seemed to care to see the young men when they were dancing. Now, this was the way of it. Through the roof of her room was a little skylight, open, and when it rained, one of the Gods of the Rain descended
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THE SERPENT OF THE SEA
THE SERPENT OF THE SEA
Note. —The priest of the K’iáklu or epic-ritual of Zuñi is never allowed to initiate the telling of short folk-stories. If he make such a beginning, he must complete the whole cycle before he ceases his recital or his listeners relax their attention. The following tale was told by an attendant Indian (not a priest), whose name is Waíhusiwa. “ Son ah tehi! ” he exclaimed, which may be interpreted: “Let us abide with the ancients tonight.” The listeners reply: “ É-so ,” or “ Tea-tu .” (“Certainly,
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THE MAIDEN OF THE YELLOW ROCKS
THE MAIDEN OF THE YELLOW ROCKS
I N the days of the ancients, when our ancestors lived in the Village of the Yellow Rocks, [5] also in the Salt City, [6] also in the Village of the Winds, [7] and also in the Village of the White Flowering Herbs, and also in the Village of Odd Waters, where they come forth, when in fact all these broken-down villages were inhabited by our ancients, there lived in the Village of the Yellow Rocks a very beautiful maiden, the daughter of the high priest. [5] Situated about seven miles east of Zuñi
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THE FOSTER-CHILD OF THE DEER
THE FOSTER-CHILD OF THE DEER
O NCE, long, long ago, at Háwikuh, there lived a maiden most beautiful. In her earlier years her father, who was a great priest, had devoted her to sacred things, and therefore he kept her always in the house secure from the gaze of all men, and thus she grew. She was so beautiful that when the Sun looked down along one of the straight beams of his own light, if one of those beams chanced to pass through a chink in the roof, the sky-hole, or the windows of the upper part of the maiden’s room, he
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THE BOY HUNTER WHO NEVER SACRIFICED TO THE DEER HE HAD SLAIN: OR THE ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY OF RATTLESNAKES
THE BOY HUNTER WHO NEVER SACRIFICED TO THE DEER HE HAD SLAIN: OR THE ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY OF RATTLESNAKES
I N very ancient times, there lived at Tâ′ia, [9] below the Zuñi Mountains, an old shíwani or priest-chief, who had a young son named Héasailuhtiwa (“Metal-hand”), famed throughout the land of the Zuñis for his success in hunting. [9] The native name of the Zuñi town of Las Nutrias. Back When very young, this lad had said to his parents: “My old ones, let me go away from the home of my fathers and dwell by myself.” “Why do you, a young boy, wish to go and dwell by yourself, my son? Know you not
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HOW ÁHAIYÚTA AND MÁTSAILÉMA STOLE THE THUNDER-STONE AND THE LIGHTNING-SHAFT
HOW ÁHAIYÚTA AND MÁTSAILÉMA STOLE THE THUNDER-STONE AND THE LIGHTNING-SHAFT
Á HAIYÚTA and Mátsailéma, with their grandmother, lived where now stands the ancient Middle Place of Sacrifice on Thunder Mountain. One day they went out hunting prairie-dogs, and while they were running about from one prairie-dog village to another, it began to rain, which made the trail slippery and the ground muddy, so that the boys became a little wrathful. Then they sat down and cursed the rain for a brief space. Off in the south it thundered until the earth trembled, and the lightning-shaf
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THE WARRIOR SUITOR OF MOKI
THE WARRIOR SUITOR OF MOKI
W E take up a story. Of the times of the ancients, a story. Listen, ye young ones and youths, and from what I say draw inference. For behold! the youth of our nation in these recent generations have become less sturdy than of old; else what I relate had not happened. To our shame be it told that not many generations ago there lived in Moki a poor, ill-favored outcast of a young man, a not-to-be-thought-of-as-hero youth, yet nevertheless the hero of my story; for this youth, the last-mentioned in
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HOW THE COYOTE JOINED THE DANCE OF THE BURROWING-OWLS
HOW THE COYOTE JOINED THE DANCE OF THE BURROWING-OWLS
Y OU may know the country that lies south of the valley in which our town stands. You travel along the trail which winds round the hill our ancients called Ishana-tak’yapon ,—which means the Hill of Grease, for the rocks sometimes shine in the light of the sun at evening, and it is said that strange things occurred there in the days of the ancients, which makes them thus to shine, while rocks of the kind in other places do not,—you travel on up this trail, crossing over the arroyos and foot-hill
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THE COYOTE WHO KILLED THE DEMON SÍUIUKI: OR WHY COYOTES RUN THEIR NOSES INTO DEADFALLS
THE COYOTE WHO KILLED THE DEMON SÍUIUKI: OR WHY COYOTES RUN THEIR NOSES INTO DEADFALLS
I T was very long ago, in the days of the ancients. There stood a village in the cañon south of Thunder Mountain where the Gods of Prey all lived with their sisters and mothers: the Mountain Lion, the great Black Bear, the Wildcat, the Gray Wolf, the Eagle, and even the Mole—all the Gods of Prey lived there together with their mothers and sisters. Day after day they went out hunting, for hunting was their business of life, and they were great hunters. Now, right up on the edge of Thunder Mountai
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HOW THE COYOTES TRIED TO STEAL THE CHILDREN OF THE SACRED DANCE
HOW THE COYOTES TRIED TO STEAL THE CHILDREN OF THE SACRED DANCE
I N the times of the ancients, when our people lived in various places about the valley of Zuñi where ruins now stand, it is said that an old Coyote lived in Cedar Cañon with his family, which included a fine litter of pups. It is also said that at this time there lived on the crest of Thunder Mountain, back of the broad rock column or pinnacle which guards its western portion, one of the gods of the Sacred Drama Dance ( Kâkâ ) [13] , named K’yámakwe, with his children, many in number and altoge
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THE COYOTE AND THE BEETLE
THE COYOTE AND THE BEETLE
I N remote times, after our ancients were settled at Middle Ant Hill, a little thing occurred which will explain a great deal. My children, you have doubtless seen Tip-beetles. They run around on smooth, hard patches of ground in spring time and early summer, kicking their heels into the air and thrusting their heads into any crack or hole they find. Well, in ancient times, on the pathway leading around to Fat Mountain, there was one of these Beetles running about in all directions in the sunshi
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HOW THE COYOTE DANCED WITH THE BLACKBIRDS
HOW THE COYOTE DANCED WITH THE BLACKBIRDS
O NE late autumn day in the times of the ancients, a large council of Blackbirds were gathered, fluttering and chattering, on the smooth, rocky slopes of Gorge Mountain, northwest of Zuñi. Like ourselves, these birds, as you are well aware, congregate together in autumn time, when the harvests are ripe, to indulge in their festivities before going into winter quarters; only we do not move away, while they, on strong wings and swift, retreat for a time to the Land of Everlasting Summer. Well, on
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HOW THE TURTLE OUT HUNTING DUPED THE COYOTE
HOW THE TURTLE OUT HUNTING DUPED THE COYOTE
I N the times of the ancients, long, long ago, near the Highflowing River on the Zuñi Mountains, there lived an old Turtle. He went out hunting, one day, and by means of his ingenuity killed a large, fine deer. When he had thrown the deer to the ground, he had no means of skinning it. He sat down and reflected, scratching the lid of his eye with the nail of his hind foot. He concluded he would have to go hunting for a flint-knife; therefore he set forth. He came after a while to a place where ol
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THE COYOTE AND THE LOCUST
THE COYOTE AND THE LOCUST
I N the days of the ancients, there lived south of Zuñi, beyond the headland of rocks, at a place called Suski-ashokton (“Rock Hollow of the Coyotes”), an old Coyote. And this side of the headland of rocks, in the bank of a steep arroyo, lived an old Locust, near where stood a piñon tree, crooked and so bereft of needles that it was sunny. One day the Coyote went out hunting, leaving his large family of children and his old wife at home. It was a fine day and the sun was shining brightly, and th
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THE COYOTE AND THE RAVENS WHO RACED THEIR EYES
THE COYOTE AND THE RAVENS WHO RACED THEIR EYES
L ONG, long ago, in the days of the ancients, there lived in Hómaiakwin, or the Cañon of the Cedars, a Coyote,—doubtless the same one I have told you of as having made friends with the Woodpounder bird. As you know, this cañon in which he lived is below the high eastern cliff of Face Mountain. This Coyote was out walking one day. On leaving his house he had said that he was going hunting; but,—miserable fellow!—who ever knew a Coyote to catch anything, unless it were a prairie-dog or a wood-rat
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THE PRAIRIE-DOGS AND THEIR PRIEST, THE BURROWING-OWL
THE PRAIRIE-DOGS AND THEIR PRIEST, THE BURROWING-OWL
O NCE, long, long ago, there stood in Prairie-dog Land a large Prairie-dog village. Prairie-dog Land is south of Zuñi, beyond Grease Mountain; and in the middle of that country, which is one of our smaller meadows, stands a mountain, which is a little mound. All round about the base of this mountain were the sky-holes and door-mounds and pathways of the grandfathers of the Prairie-dogs. In the very top of the mount was the house of an old Burrowing-owl and his wife. One summer it rained and it r
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HOW THE GOPHER RACED WITH THE RUNNERS OF K’IÁKIME
HOW THE GOPHER RACED WITH THE RUNNERS OF K’IÁKIME
T HERE was a time in the days of the ancients when the runners of K’iákime were famed above those of all other cities in the Valley of Shíwina for their strength, endurance, and swiftness of foot. In running the tikwa , or kicked-stick race, they overcame, one after another, the runners of Shíwina or Zuñi, of Mátsaki or the Salt City, of Pínawa or the Town of the Winds, and in fact all who dared to challenge them or to accept their challenges. The people of Shíwina and Mátsaki did not give up ea
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HOW THE RATTLESNAKES CAME TO BE WHAT THEY ARE
HOW THE RATTLESNAKES CAME TO BE WHAT THEY ARE
K NOW you that long, long ago there lived at Yathlpew’nan, as live there now, many Rattlesnakes; but then they were men and women, only of a Rattlesnake kind. One day the little children of one of the houses there wished to go out to play at sliding down the sand-banks south of the Bitter Pond on the other side of our river. So they cried out to their parents: “Let us go, O mother, grandmother, father! and take our little sister to play on the sunny side of the sand-banks.” “My children,” said t
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HOW THE CORN-PESTS WERE ENSNARED
HOW THE CORN-PESTS WERE ENSNARED
I N the days of the ancients, long, long ago, there lived in our town, which was then called the Middle Ant Hill of the World, a proud maiden, very pretty and very attractive, the daughter of one of the richest men among our people. She had every possession a Zuñi maiden could wish for,—blankets and mantles, embroidered dresses and sashes, buckskins and moccasins, turquoise earrings and shell necklaces, bracelets so many you could not count them. She had her father and mother, brothers and siste
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JACK-RABBIT AND COTTONTAIL
JACK-RABBIT AND COTTONTAIL
A NCIENTLY the Jack-rabbit lived in a sage plain, and the Cottontail rabbit lived in a cliff hard by. They saw the clouds gather, so they went out to sing. The long-legged Jack-rabbit sang for snow, thus: But the short-legged Cottontail sang for rain, like this: That’s what they sung—one asking for snow, the other for rain; hence to this day the Pók’ia (Jack-rabbit) runs when it snows, the Â′kshiko (Cottontail) when it rains. Thus shortens my story....
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THE RABBIT HUNTRESS AND HER ADVENTURES
THE RABBIT HUNTRESS AND HER ADVENTURES
I T was long ago, in the days of the ancients, that a poor maiden lived at K’yawana Tehua-tsana (“Little Gateway of Zuñi River”). You know there are black stone walls of houses standing there on the tops of the cliffs of lava, above the narrow place through which the river runs, to this day. In one of these houses there lived this poor maiden alone with her feeble old father and her aged mother. She was unmarried, and her brothers had all been killed in wars, or had died gently; so the family li
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THE UGLY WILD BOY WHO DROVE THE BEAR AWAY FROM SOUTHEASTERN MESA
THE UGLY WILD BOY WHO DROVE THE BEAR AWAY FROM SOUTHEASTERN MESA
I N the days of the ancients there lived with his old grandmother, not far from K’iákime, east, where the sweet wafer-bread is pictured on the rocks, a frightfully ugly boy. The color of his body and face was blue. He had a twisted nose, crooked scars of various colors ran down each side of his face, and he had a bunch of red things like peppers on his head; in fact, in all ways he resembled the Héhea , or the wild men of the Sacred Dance who serve as runners to the priest-clowns. Now, one seaso
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THE REVENGE OF THE TWO BROTHERS ON THE HÁWIKUHKWE, OR THE TWO LITTLE ONES[16] AND THEIR TURKEYS (THE ORIGIN OF THE PRIESTS AND CHIEFS OF THE DANCE OF VICTORY)
THE REVENGE OF THE TWO BROTHERS ON THE HÁWIKUHKWE, OR THE TWO LITTLE ONES[16] AND THEIR TURKEYS (THE ORIGIN OF THE PRIESTS AND CHIEFS OF THE DANCE OF VICTORY)
[16] This term refers to the two Gods of War, Áhaiyúta and Mátsailéma, who, as has been seen in previous tales, were accounted immortal twin youths of small size. Back L ONG, long ago, there lived on Twin Mountain, Áhaiyúta and his younger brother, with their grandmother. They had a large flock of Turkeys of which they were very fond, but were not so attentive to them as they should have been. Said the grandmother to the boys, late one morning: “Let your poor Turkeys out, for they will starve, p
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THE YOUNG SWIFT-RUNNER WHO WAS STRIPPED OF HIS CLOTHING BY THE AGED TARANTULA
THE YOUNG SWIFT-RUNNER WHO WAS STRIPPED OF HIS CLOTHING BY THE AGED TARANTULA
A LONG, long time ago, in K’iákime, there lived a young man, the son of the priest-chief of the town. It was this young man’s custom to dress himself as for a dance and run entirely around Thunder Mountain each morning before the sun rose, before making his prayers. He was a handsome young man, and his costume was beautiful to behold. Now, below the two broad columns of rock which stand at the southeastern end of Thunder Mountain, and which are called Ak’yapaatch-ella,—below these, in the base o
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ÁTAHSAIA, THE CANNIBAL DEMON
ÁTAHSAIA, THE CANNIBAL DEMON
I N the days of the ancients, when the children of our forefathers lived in Héshokta (“Town of the Cliffs”), there also lived two beautiful maidens, elder and younger, sisters one to the other, daughters of a master-chief. One bright morning in summer-time, the elder sister called to the younger, “ Háni! ” “What sayest thou?” said the háni . “The day is bright and the water is warm. Let us go down to the pool and wash our clothes, that we may wear them as if new at the dance to come.” “Ah, yes,
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THE HERMIT MÍTSINA
THE HERMIT MÍTSINA
W HEN all was new, and the gods dwelt in the ancient places, long, long before the time of our ancients, many were the gods—some destined for good and some for evil or for the doing of things beneath understanding. And those of evil intent, so painfully bad were they to become that not in the company and council of the precious beloved of the Kâkâ (the Order of the Sacred Drama) could they be retained. Thus it happened, in the times of our ancients, long, long ago, that there dwelt all alone in
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Translator’s Introduction
Translator’s Introduction
H ERETOFORE I have withheld from publication such single examples of Zuñi folk-lore as the following, in order that the completer series might be brought forth in the form of an unbroken collection, with ample introductory as well as supplementary chapters, essential to the proper understanding by ourselves of the many distinctively Zuñi meanings and conceptions involved in the various allusions with which any one of them teems. Yet, to avoid encumbering the present example with any but the brie
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Zuñi Introduction
Zuñi Introduction
It seems—so the words of the grandfathers say—that in the Underworld were many strange things and beings, even villages of men, long ago. But the people of those villages were unborn-made,—more like the ghosts of the dead than ourselves, yet more like ourselves than are the ghosts of the dead, for as the dead are more finished of being than we are, they were less so, as smoke, being hazy, is less fine than mist, which is filmy; or as green corn, though raw, is soft like cooked corn which is done
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The Tale
The Tale
N OW, the Twain Little-ones, Áhaiyúta and Mátsailéma, [30] were ever seeking scenes of contention; for what was deathly and dreadful to others was lively and delightful to them; so that cries of distress were ever their calls of invitation, as to a feast or dance is the call of a priest to us. [30] For the mythic origin of these two chief gods under the Sun, as his right- and left-hand being, their relation to chance, war, games, etc., I again refer the reader to the Zuñi Creation Myths . Back O
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Italian Version
Italian Version
O NCE upon a time there were a cock and a mouse. One day the mouse said to the cock: “Friend Cock, shall we go and eat some nuts on yonder tree?” “As you like.” So they both went under the tree and the mouse climbed up at once and began to eat. The poor cock began to fly, and flew and flew, but could not come where the mouse was. When it saw that there was no hope of getting there, it said: “Friend Mouse, do you know what I want you to do? Throw me a nut.” The mouse went and threw one and hit th
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Zuñi Version
Zuñi Version
T HUS it was in the Town of the Floods Abounding, [38] long ago. There lived there an old woman, so they say, of the Italia-kwe , [39] who, in the land of their nativity, are the parental brothers of the Mexicans, it is said. Now, after the manner of that people, this old woman had a Tâkâkâ Cock which she kept alone so that he would not fight the others. He was very large, like a turkey, with a fine sleek head and a bristle-brush on his breast like a turkey-cock’s too, for the Tâkâkâ -kind were
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Translator’s Introduction
Translator’s Introduction
D EEP down in cañons of the Southwest, especially where they are joined by other cañons, the traveller may see standing forth from or hugging the angles of the cliffs, great towering needles of stone—weird, rugged, fantastic, oftentimes single, as often—like gigantic wind-stripped trees with lesser trees standing beside them—double or treble. Seen suddenly at a turn in the cañon these giant stones startle the gazer with their monstrous and human proportions, like giants, indeed, at bay against t
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THE MAIDEN THE SUN MADE LOVE TO, AND HER BOYS OR, THE ORIGIN OF ANGER
THE MAIDEN THE SUN MADE LOVE TO, AND HER BOYS OR, THE ORIGIN OF ANGER
L ET it be about a person who lived in the Home of the Eagles (K’iákime), under the Mountain of Thunder, that I tell you today. So let it be. It was in the ancient, long-forgotten times. It was in the very ancient times beyond one’s guessing. There lived then, in this town, the daughter of a great priest-chief, but she had never, never, never since she was a little child, come forth from the doorway of the house in which she dwelt. No one there in that town had ever seen her; even her own townsp
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