Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest
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Katharine Berry Judson >> Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest
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7 *END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
Compiled and Edited by
Katharine Berry Judson
Author of "Myths and Legends of Alaska", "Myths and Legends
of the Pacific Northwest", and "Montana."
Illustrated
Second Edition
Preface
In the beginning of the New-making, the ancient fathers lived
successively in four caves in the Four fold-containing-earth. The first
was of sooty blackness, black as a chimney at night time; the second,
dark as the night in the stormy season; the third, like a valley in
starlight; the fourth, with a light like the dawning. Then they came up
in the night-shine into the World of Knowing and Seeing.
So runs the Zuni myth, and it typifies well the mental development,
insight, and beauty of speech of the Indian tribes along the Pacific
Coast, from those of Alaska in the far-away Northland, with half of life
spent in actual darkness and more than half in the struggle for
existence against the cold and the storms loosed by fatal curiosity from
the bear's bag of bitter, icy winds, to the exquisite imagery of the
Zunis and other desert tribes, on their sunny plains in the Southland.
It was in the night-shine of this southern land, with its clear, dry air
and brilliant stars, that the Indians, looking up at the heavens above
them, told the story of the bag of starsÑof Utset, the First Mother, who
gave to the scarab beetle, when the floods came, the bag of Star People,
sending him first into the world above. It was a long climb to the world
above and the tired little fellow, once safe, sat down by the sack.
After a while he cut a tiny hole in the bag, just to see what was in it,
but the Star People flew out and filled the heavens everywhere. Yet he
saved a few stars by grasping the neck of the sack, and sat there,
frightened and sad, when Utset, the First Mother, asked what he had done
with the beautiful Star People.
The Sky-father himself, in those early years of the New-making, spread
out his hand with the palm downward, and into all the wrinkles of his
hand set the semblance of shining yellow corn-grains, gleaming like
sparks of fire in the dark of the early World-dawn. "See," said
Sky-father to Earth-mother, "our children shall be guided by these when
the Sun-father is not near and thy mountain terraces are as darkness
itself. Then shall our children be guided by light." So Sky-father
created the stars. Then he said, "And even as these grains gleam upward
from the water, so shall seed grain like them spring up from the earth
when touched by water, to nourish our children." And he created the
golden Seed-stuff of the corn.
It is around the beautiful Corn Maidens that perhaps the most delicate
of all imagery clings, Maidens offended when the dancers sought their
presence all too freely, no longer holding them so precious as in the
olden time, so that, in white garments, they became invisible in the
thickening white mists. Then sadly and noiselessly they stole in amongst
the people and laid their corn wands down amongst the trays, and laid
their white broidered garments thereon, as mothers lay soft kilting over
their babes. Even as the mists became they, and with the mists drifting,
fled away, to the south Summer-land.
They began the search for the Corn Maidens, found at last only by
Paiyatuma, the god of dawn, from whose flute came wonderful music, as of
liquid voices in caverns, or the echo of women's laughter in water
vases, heard only by men of nights as they wandered up and down the
river trail.
When he paused to rest on his journey, playing on his painted flute,
butterflies and birds sought him, and he sent them before to seek the
Maidens, even before they could hear the music of his song-sound. And
the Maidens filled their colored trays with seed-corn from their fields,
and over all spread broidered mantles, broidered with the bright colors
and the creature signs of the Summer-land, and thus following him,
journeyed only at night and dawn, as the dead do, and the stars also.
Back to the Seed People they came, but only to give to the ancients the
precious seed, and this having been given, the darkness of night fell
around them. As shadows in deep night, so these Maidens of the Seed of
Corn, the beloved and beautiful, were seen no more of men. But Shutsuka
walked behind the Maidens, whistling shrilly as they sped southward,
even as the frost wind whistles when the corn is gathered away, among
the lone canes and the dry leaves of a gleaned field.
The myths of California, in general, are of the same type as those given
in a preceding volume on the myths of the Pacific Northwest. Indeed many
of the myths of Northern Californian tribes are so obviously the same as
those of the Modocs and Klamath Indians that they have not been
repeated. Coyote and Fox reign supreme, as they do along the entire
coast, though the birds of the air take a greater part in the creation
of things. These stories are quaint and whimsical, but they lack the
beauty of the myths of the desert tribes. There is nothing in all
Californian myths, so far as I have studied them, which in any way
compares with the one of the Corn Maidens, referred to above, or the Sia
myths of the Cloud People. In the compilation of this volume, the same
idea has governed as in the two preceding volumesÑsimply the preparation
of a volume of the quainter, purer myths, suitable for general reading,
authentic, and with illustrations of the country portrayed, but with no
pretensions to being a purely scientific piece of work. Scientific
people know well the government documents and reports of learned
societies which contain myths of all kinds, good, bad, and indifferent.
But the volumes of this series are intended for popular use. Changes
have been made only in abridgments of long conversations and of
ceremonial details which detracted from the myth as a myth, even though
of great ethnological importance.
Especial credit is due in this volume to the work of the ethnologists
whose work has appeared in the publications of the Smithsonian
Institution, and the U. S. Geographical and Geological Surveys West of
the Rocky Mountains: to Mrs. Mathilda Cox Stevenson for the Sia myths,
and to the late James Stevenson for the Navajo myths and sand painting;
to the late Frank Hamilton Cushing for the Zuni myths, to the late Frank
Russell for the Pima myths, to the late Stephen Powers for the
Californian myths, and also to James Mooney and Cosmos Mindeleff. The
recent publications of the University of California on the myths of the
tribes of that State have not been included.
Thanks are also due to the Smithsonian Institution for the illustrations
accredited to them, to the Carnegie Institution of Washington for
illustrations from the Desert Botanical Laboratory at Tucson, Arizona,
and to Mr. Ferdinard Ellerman of the Mount Wilson Observatory and to
others.
K. B. J.
Department of History,
University of Washington.
Table of Contents
The Beginning of Newness - Zuni (New Mexico)
The Men of the Early Times - Zuni (New Mexico)
Creation and Longevity - Achomawi (Pit River, Cal.)
Old Moles Creation - Shastika (Cal.)
The Creation of the World - Pima (Arizona)
Spider's Creation - Sia (New Mexico)
The Gods and the Six Regions
How Old Man Above Created the World - Shastika (Cal.)
The Search for the Middle and the Hardening of the World - Zuni (New
Mexico)
Origin of Light - Gallinomero (Russian River, Cal.)
Pokoh, the Old Man - Pai Ute (near Kern River, Cal.)
Thunder and Lightning - Maidu (near Sacramento Valley. Cal.)
Creation of Man - Miwok (San Joaquin Valley, Cal.)
The First Man and Woman - Nishinam (near Bear River, Cal.)
Old Man Above and the Grizzlies - Shastika (Cal.)
The Creation of Man-kind and the Flood - Pima (Arizona)
The Birds and the Flood - Pima (Arizona)
Legend of the Flood - Ashochimi (Coast Indians, Cal.)
The Great Flood - Sia (New Mexico)
The Flood and the Theft of Fire - Tolowa (Del Norte Co., Cal.)
Legend of the Flood in Sacramento Maidu Valley - (near Sacramento, Cal.)
The Fable of the Animals - Karok (near Klamath River, Cal.)
Coyote and Sun - Pai Ute (near Kern River, Cal.)
The Course of the Sun - Sia (New Mexico)
The Foxes and the Sun - Yurok (near Klamath River, Cal.)
The Theft of Fire - Karok (near Klamath River, Cal.)
The Theft of Fire - Sia (New Mexico)
The Earth-hardening after the Flood - Sia (New Mexico)
The Origins of the Totems and of Names - Zuni (New Mexico)
Traditions of Wanderings - Hopi (Arizona)
The Migration of the Water People - Walpi (Arizona)
Coyote and the Mesquite Beans - Pima (Arizona)
Origin of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Range - Yokuts (near Fresno,
Cal.)
Yosemite Valley and its Indian Names
Legend of Tu-tok-a-nu'-la (El Capitan) - Yosemite Valley
Legend of Tis-se'-yak (South Dome and North Dome) Yosemite Valley
Historic Tradition of the Upper Tuolumne - Yosemite Valley
California Big Trees - Pai Ute (near Kern River, Cal.)
The Children of Cloud - Pima (Arizona)
The Cloud People - Sia (New Mexico)
Rain Song - Sia (New Mexico)
Rain Song
Rain Song - Sia (New Mexico)
The Corn Maidens - Zuni (New Mexico)
The Search for the Corn Maidens - Zuni (New Mexico)
Hasjelti and Hostjoghon - Navajo (New Mexico)
The Song-hunter - Navajo (New Mexico)
Sand Painting of the Song-hunter - Navajo
The Guiding Duck and the Lake of Death - Zuni (New Mexico)
The Boy who Became a God - Navajo (New Mexico)
Origin of Clear Lake - Patwin (Sacramento Valley, Cal.)
The Great Fire - Patwin (Sacramento Valley, Cal.)
Origin of the Raven and the Macaw - Zuni (New Mexico)
Coyote and the Hare - Sia (New Mexico)
Coyote and the Quails - Pima (Arizona)
Coyote and the Fawns - Sia (New Mexico)
How the Bluebird Got its Color - Pima (Arizona)
Coyote's Eyes - Pima (Arizona)
Coyote and the Tortillas - Pima (Arizona)
Coyote as a Hunter - Sia (New Mexico)
How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite - Pima (Arizona)
Coyote and the Rattlesnake - Sia (New Mexico)
Origin of the Saguaro and Palo Verde Cacti - Pima (Arizona)
The Thirsty Quails - Pima (Arizona)
The Boy and the Beast - Pima (Arizona)
Why the Apaches are Fierce - Pima (Arizona)
Speech on the Warpath - Pima (Arizona)
The Spirit Land - Gallinomero (Russian River, Cal.)
Song of the Ghost Dance - Pai Ute (Kern River, Cal.)
The Beginning of Newness
Zuni (New Mexico)
Before the beginning of the New-making, the All-father Father alone had
being. Through ages there was nothing else except black darkness.
In the beginning of the New-making, the All-father Father thought
outward in space, and mists were created and up-lifted. Thus through his
knowledge he made himself the Sun who was thus created and is the great
Father. The dark spaces brightened with light. The cloud mists thickened
and became water.
From his flesh, the Sun-father created the Seed-stuff of worlds, and he
himself rested upon the waters. And these two, the Four-fold-containing
Earth-mother and the All-covering Sky-father, the surpassing beings,
with power of changing their forms even as smoke changes in the wind,
were the father and mother of the soul beings.
Then as man and woman spoke these two together. "Behold!" said
Earth-mother, as a great terraced bowl appeared at hand, and within it
water, "This shall be the home of my tiny children. On the rim of each
world-country in which they wander, terraced mountains shall stand,
making in one region many mountains by which one country shall be known
from another."
Then she spat on the water and struck it and stirred it with her
fingers. Foam gathered about the terraced rim, mounting higher and
higher. Then with her warm breath she blew across the terraces. White
flecks of foam broke away and floated over the water. But the cold
breath of Sky-father shattered the foam and it fell downward in fine
mist and spray.
Then Earth-mother spoke:
"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
horizon, shall be broken and hardened by thy cold. Then will they shed
downward, in rain-spray, the water of life, even into the hollow places
of my lap. For in my lap shall nestle our children, man-kind and
creature-kind, for warmth in thy coldness."
So even now the trees on high mountains near the clouds and Sky-father,
crouch low toward Earth mother for warmth and protection. Warm is
Earth-mother, cold our Sky-father.
Then Sky-father said, "Even so. Yet I, too, will be helpful to our
children." Then he spread his hand out with the palm downward and into
all the wrinkles of his hand he set the semblance of shining yellow
corn-grains; in the dark of the early world-dawn they gleamed like
sparks of fire.
"See," he said, pointing to the seven grains between his thumb and four
fingers, "our children shall be guided by these when the Sun-father is
not near and thy terraces are as darkness itself. Then shall our
children be guided by lights." So Sky-father created the stars. Then he
said, "And even as these grains gleam up from the water, so shall seed
grain like them spring up from the earth when touched by water, to
nourish our children." And thus they created the seed-corn. And in many
other ways they devised for their children, the soul-beings.
But the first children, in a cave of the earth, were unfinished. The
cave was of sooty blackness, black as a chimney at night time, and foul.
Loud became their murmurings and lamentations, until many sought to
escape, growing wiser and more man-like.
But the earth was not then as we now see it. Then Sun-father sent down
two sons (sons also of the Foam-cap), the Beloved Twain, 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 his own wisdom. He gave them the great cloud-bow, and for
arrows the thunderbolts of the four quarters. For buckler, they had the
fog-making shield, spun and woven of the floating clouds and spray. The
shield supports its bearer, as clouds are supported by the wind, yet
hides its bearer also. And he gave to them the fathership and control of
men and of all creatures. Then the Beloved Twain, with their great
cloud-bow lifted the Sky-father into the vault of the skies, that the
earth might become warm and fitter for men and creatures. Then along the
sun-seeking trail, they sped to the mountains westward. With magic
knives they spread open the depths of the mountain and uncovered the
cave in which dwelt the unfinished men and creatures. So they dwelt with
men, learning to know them, and seeking to lead them out.
Now there were growing things in the depths, like grasses and vines. So
the Beloved Twain breathed on the stems, growing tall toward the light
as grass is wont to do, making them stronger, and twisting them upward
until they formed a great ladder by which men and creatures ascended to
a second cave.
Up the ladder into the second cave-world, men and the beings crowded,
following closely the Two Little but Mighty Ones. Yet many fell back and
were lost in the darkness. They peopled the under-world from which they
escaped in after time, amid terrible earth shakings.
In this second cave it was as dark as the night of a stormy season, but
larger of space and higher. Here again men and the beings increased, and
their complainings grew loud. So the Twain again increased the growth of
the ladder, and again led men upward, not all at once, but in six bands,
to become the fathers of the six kinds of men, the yellow, the tawny
gray, the red, the white, the black, and the mingled. And this time also
many were lost or left behind.
Now the third great cave was larger and lighter, like a valley in
starlight. And again they increased in number. And again the Two led
them out into a fourth cave. Here it was light like dawning, and men
began to perceive and to learn variously, according to their natures,
wherefore the Twain taught them first to seek the Sun-father.
Then as the last cave became filled and men learned to understand, the
Two led them forth again into the great upper world, which is the World
of Knowing Seeing.
The Men of the Early Times
Zuni (New Mexico)
Eight years was but four days and four nights when the world was new. It
was while such days and nights continued that men were led out, in the
night-shine of the World of Seeing. For even when they saw the great
star, they thought it the Sun-father himself, it so burned their eye-balls.
Men and creatures were more alike then than now. Our fathers were black,
like the caves they came from; their skins were cold and scaly like
those of mud creatures; their eyes were goggled like an owl's; their
ears were like those of cave bats; their feet were webbed like those of
walkers in wet and soft places; they had tails, long or short, as they
were old or young. Men crouched when they walked, or crawled along the
ground like lizards. They feared to walk straight, but crouched as
before time they had in their cave worlds, that they might not stumble
or fall in the uncertain light.
When the morning star arose, they blinked excessively when they beheld
its brightness and cried out that now surely the Father was coming. But
it was only the elder of the Bright Ones, heralding with his shield of
flame the approach of the Sun-father. And when, low down in the east,
the Sun-father himself appeared, though shrouded in the mist of the
world-waters, they were blinded and heated by his light and glory. They
fell down wallowing and covered their eyes with their hands and arms,
yet ever as they looked toward the light, they struggled toward the Sun
as moths and other night creatures seek the light of a camp fire. Thus
they became used to the light. But when they rose and walked straight,
no longer bending, and looked upon each other, they sought to clothe
themselves with girdles and garments of bark and rushes. And when by
walking only upon their hinder feet they were bruised by stone and sand,
they plaited sandals of yucca fibre.
Creation and Longevity
Achomawi (Pit River, Cal.)
Coyote began the creation of the earth, but Eagle completed it. Coyote
scratched it up with his paws out of nothingness, but Eagle complained
there were no mountains for him to perch on. So Coyote made hills, but
they were not high enough. Therefore Eagle scratched up great ridges.
When Eagle flew over them, his feathers dropped down, took root, and
became trees. The pin feathers became bushes and plants.
Coyote and Fox together created man. They quarrelled as to whether they
should let men live always or not. Coyote said, "If they want to die,
let them die." Fox said, "If they want to come back, let them come
back." But Coyote's medicine was stronger, and nobody ever came back.
Coyote also brought fire into the world, for the Indians were freezing.
He journeyed far to the west, to a place where there was fire, stole
some of it, and brought it home in his ears. He kindled a fire in the
mountains, and the Indians saw the smoke of it, and went up and got
fire.
Old Mole's Creation
Shastika (Cal.)
Long, long ago, before there was any earth, Old Mole burrowed underneath
Somewhere, and threw up the earth which forms the world. Then Great Man
created the people. But the Indians were cold.
Now in the cast gleamed the white Fire Stone. Therefore Coyote journeyed
eastward, and brought back the Fire Stone for the Indians. So people had
fire.
In the beginning, Sun had nine brothers, all flaming hot like himself.
But Coyote killed the nine brothers and so saved the world from burning
up. But Moon also had nine brothers all made of ice, like himself, and
the Night People almost froze to death. Therefore Coyote went away out
on the eastern edge of the world with his flint-stone knife. He heated
stones to keep his hands warm, and as the Moons arose, he killed one
after another with his flint-stone knife, until he had slain nine of
them. Thus the people were saved from freezing at night.
When it rains, some Indian, sick in heaven, is weeping. Long, long ago,
there was a good young Indian on earth. When he died the Indians wept so
that a flood came upon the earth, and drowned all people except one
couple.
The Creation of the World
Pima (Arizona)
In the beginning there was nothing at all except darkness. All was
darkness and emptiness. For a long, long while, the darkness gathered
until it became a great mass. Over this the spirit of Earth Doctor
drifted to and fro like a fluffy bit of cotton in the breeze. Then Earth
Doctor decided to make for himself an abiding place. So he thought
within himself, "Come forth, some kind of plant," and there appeared the
creosote bush. He placed this before him and set it upright. But it at
once fell over. He set it upright again; again it fell. So it fell until
the fourth time it remained upright. Then Earth Doctor took from his
breast a little dust and flattened it into a cake. When the dust cake
was still, he danced upon it, singing a magic song.
Next he created some black insects which made black gum on the creosote
bush. Then he made a termite which worked with the small earth cake
until it grew very large. As he sang and danced upon it, the flat World
stretched out on all sides until it was as large as it is now. Then he
made a round sky-cover to fit over it, round like the houses of the
Pimas. But the earth shook and stretched, so that it was unsafe. So
Earth Doctor made a gray spider which was to spin a web around the edges
of the earth and sky, fastening them together. When this was done, the
earth grew firm and solid.
Earth Doctor made water, mountains, trees, grass, and weeds-made
everything as we see it now. But all was still inky blackness. Then he
made a dish, poured water into it, and it became ice. He threw this
round block of ice far to the north, and it fell at the place where the
earth and sky were woven together. At once the ice began to gleam and
shine. We call it now the sun. It rose from the ground in the north up
into the sky and then fell back. Earth Doctor took it and threw it to
the west where the earth and sky were sewn together. It rose into the
sky and again slid back to the earth. Then he threw it to the far south,
but it slid back again to the flat earth. Then at last he threw it to
the east. It rose higher and higher in the sky until it reached the
highest point in the round blue cover and began to slide down on the
other side. And so the sun does even yet.
Then Earth Doctor poured more water into the dish and it became ice. He
sang a magic song, and threw the round ball of ice to the north where
the earth and sky are woven together. It gleamed and shone, but not so
brightly as the sun. It became the moon, and it rose in the sky, but
fell back again, just as the sun had done. So he threw the ball to the
west, and then to the south, but it slid back each time to the earth.
Then he threw it to the east, and it rose to the highest point in the
sky-cover and began to slide down on the other side. And so it does even
to-day, following the sun.
But Earth Doctor saw that when the sun and moon were not in the sky, all
was inky darkness. So he sang a magic song, and took some water into his
mouth and blew it into the sky, in a spray, to make little stars. Then
he took his magic crystal and broke it into pieces and threw them into
the sky, to make the larger stars. Next he took his walking stick and
placed ashes on the end of it. Then he drew it across the sky to form
the Milky Way. So Earth Doctor made all the stars.
Spider's Creation
Sia (New Mexico)
In the beginning, long, long ago, there was but one being in the lower
world. This was the spider, Sussistinnako. At that time there were no
other insects, no birds, animals, or any other living creature.
The spider drew a line of meal from north to south and then crossed it
with another line running east and west. On each side of the first line,
north of the second, he placed two small parcels. They were precious but
no one knows what was in them except Spider. Then he sat down near the
parcels and began to sing. The music was low and sweet and the two
parcels accompanied him, by shaking like rattles. Then two women
appeared, one from each parcel.
In a short time people appeared and began walking around. Then animals,
birds, and insects appeared, and the spider continued to sing until his
creation was complete.
But there was no light, and as there were many people, they did not pass
about much for fear of treading upon each other. The two women first
created were the mothers of all. One was named Utset and she as the
mother of all Indians. The other was Now-utset, and she was the mother
of all other nations. While it was still dark, the spider divided the
people into clans, saying to some, "You are of the Corn clan, and you
are the first of all." To others he said, "You belong to the Coyote
clan." So he divided them into their clans, the clans of the Bear, the
Eagle, and other clans.
After Spider had nearly created the earth, Ha-arts, he thought it would
be well to have rain to water it, so he created the Cloud People, the
Lightning People, the Thunder People, and the Rainbow People, to work
for the people of Ha-arts, the earth. He divided this creation into six
parts, and each had its home in a spring in the heart of a great
mountain upon whose summit was a giant tree. One was in the spruce tree
on the Mountain of the North; another in the pine tree on the Mountain
of the West; another in the oak tree on the Mountain of the South; and
another in the aspen tree on the Mountain of the East; the fifth was on
the cedar tree on the Mountain of the Zenith; and the last in an oak on
the Mountain of the Nadir.
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