In the Beginning: A Navaho Creation Myth
The Man With Four Names1
Once there was a man with four names. His first name was Looking-for-Favors or náxodidáhí. His second name was One-Who-Goes-Back-to-Look-at-Fish or ’adáńł’íní. His third name was Home-Made-of-Down (Feathers) or ’ac’ os be·be yaní. His fourth and last name was Chap-all-Over-His-Skin or Rough-Surface, ká·dič’iží. This man with four names was wandering around with nothing to do for he had no home and no friends, except his turkey.
The Wind People and some others who were wandering around said, “We will help him. He is a wanderer with no home.” The gods had a meeting and they talked about what they were going to do with Chap Man. The gods took him in order to help him and to get him back on his feet. When all of the gods had gathered for another meeting with this man, they decided upon what to do. Some went out and chopped down a fir tree. The log was about three feet in diameter.
The gods were going to make a hole in the center of the log so they asked the Black and Blue Wind to do the drilling. One was to drill through the center of the log from one end and the other from the opposite end. According to this the white man makes drills or drills things. These things the Black and Blue Winds said they could do. The Black Wind went in a circle at the top of the log just like a whirlwind—only very small. The Black Wind went left to right and the Blue Wind from right to left. They went all the way through from the same end each time they drilled. The Blue Wind had started from the bottom, and he made a hole big enough for someone to crawl through.
The Wind People hardened the wood and water-proofed it by polishing until it was shiny. They were finished now except they had to find something to close each end of the log, a lid. The gods decided upon a rock-like quartz or diamond which was something like glass to use for each end of the log. It was very hard to break and it could be easily seen through. The gods put the man in the log and put the quartz lids in place.
The turkey ran around the log and got excited when Chap Man got inside. Chap Man asked the gods if the turkey, his only domesticated animal, could get inside, too. The gods said no and that the turkey was to protect him from evil. The reason the gods put Chap Man inside the log was this: There was a man, Raising-Deer-Man, who hid all the game animals in a cave. The gods decided to put Chap Man in the log so he could go and find where the animals—deer, antelope and mountain sheep—were hidden. They wanted him to drift down the river for there were too many people guarding the Deer Raiser, bįh yiǹłt’ání, and Chap Man would have been captured. So that is why the gods decided to make use of Chap Man. Now he could save himself besides helping others.
The Chap Man did not know why he was going or where, but he knew he was to do certain things, and the Holy Wind told him about them. After he turned loose all of the animals, he gained many friends for before he did this he had none. The log was put in the water of the San Juan River near Pikes Peak and it floated along with turkey on the north side of the river. The turkey was walking on Kaibab Mountain, over at Kaibab Forest, when the log got to Colorado and San Juan River junction.
Along came a Hippo or a Water Animal who took out the plug from the log and pulled Chap Man to the bottom of the water. The Hippo took the log to the shore and put it on the bank. Because of this logs are always washed up on the shore. Meanwhile turkey was looking for the log, but could not find it along the river. Suddenly he saw the log and at once went up to it. His master was not there and he kept wandering around looking for him. The gods knew all that happened. The Wind carried a message from the gods to the Black, Flint or Fire God. Hashch’ĕ́zhĭni, the Fire God, has also the shape of the crow. Whenever you see a crow and hawk fighting together, the crow will have a torch with him on his body. He touches the birds with this torch and makes them go faster.
The Black God started off to the rescue and went to where the river joins and down to the bottom of the water. Here he found a house of the Hippo. There were lights like balls of fire all colors of lights, all mixed up surrounding the house. The house was only one room and the lights ran right across the windows, some around the windows and some were in designs like neon lights. The Black God went inside the house, but the Chap Person was not there, only Hippo.
The Hippo asked, “Why do you come around here? This is not the place for Surface People to come around.” The Black God said, “I want my grandson back. That is why I have come here.” When the Black God had come inside, he was wearing ragged clothes, had not washed himself and was very dirty. “Where are you coming from with all those raggy things and with your dirty body? Why don’t you wash? You smell, you stink. Why don’t you beat it? I haven’t seen your grandson.”
Black God answered him saying, “If you think that way then I will burn up the whole house and the water and the earth and the heaven and the rest of the gods. All will be burned. There will be no more earth or gods if you don’t give me back my grandson.” The Black God continued, “I am going to put this place on fire.” All of these things had been said four times. He had a torch of rock and he rubbed them together. It was yellow stuff and the torch began to smoke and the lights in the house began to rattle and spark.
The Fire God began to rub his flints together and rubbed them some more, and after he had done it twice the lights began to pop and give out sparks. The Hippo tried to please the god and said. “You can have back your grandson. Don’t burn down my house. Only give me a piece of turquoise, white bead, jet and oyster shell.” The Black God answered him. “You know I am wearing raggy things and no beady things. Where am I going to get the gift to give to you? Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” The Black God then took the gifts from under his raggy clothes where he had hidden them. Nowadays the rich people do the same things.
The Black God said, “Why didn’t you tell me before instead of saying you had not seen him?” The Black God had a piece of soft cotton string as long as his shoulder or about one and a half feet long. He tied all four stones two and a half to three inches apart on this string and gave it to the Hippo. After the Hippo received his gift, he opened a door in the floor of his house. The Hippo was gone for a long time. The Black God wondered, “Where in the ch’īndi did that Hippo go?”
At last the Hippo arrived with Chap Man behind him, trying to hide him from the Black God’s sight. He kept the Chap Person behind him until he had told the Black God what he wanted to say. “From now on the Earth People will copy the lights and the water that burns.” These are fuel, oil, powder, matches and other things. Then the Black God said, “I am going to use the same things on the earth for use in the future time. Some of these things will be dangerous.” (On both sides of the water and earth.) That is why some people drown in the water or are killed by gunpowder and electricity. This happens because of what they said.
The Hippo gave the Chap Person back to the god. “From this time forward,” it was said, “when a person drowns there must be a gift made, like the Black God gave to me. This must be done before the person will be brought back to life. This gift must be given to me, the Water God, and must be given no matter what tribe the person belongs to. Some Surface People will invent things like the objects in my house in the future time. This water will turn into something useful to be burned to make power with.” Such things as the power gotten from the water.
“There are two kinds of liquids, one that will burn and the other that will not. All of this is to be used in the future time.” Those which were to burn were to be the gas and oil to be used as fuel, and that which was used but did not burn, the water. Each time these things were said these words were added, “This will happen in the future times,” Thus, Black God got the man back from the Hippo. He went up to the surface and once again Chap Man was placed in the log and closed in and pushed back into the river.
Chap Man passed through the Grand Canyon, through the area where Boulder Dam is now, and on to the Gulf of California. There were many weeds in the sea when he got there. The man could not get to shore because of them and he was stuck in the water. Meanwhile turkey was once again wandering around and had no way to help his master. The turkey had once more gone on traveling to help his master. The Wind People began working and blew the log to shore. The Wind People and the gods living in that area opened the log.
The Chap Man was a god, but he had not taken care of himself as to how he ate or acted. That is why he was like a wanderer having no power or friends. He was put in the log so he could get back his power by doing some good deeds. In this way he got back into shape as a god should be. When Chap Man got out of the log, he was covered all over with a green, fluffy material just like wool. It was sticky and green like water, but it came from inside the log. When he came from the log, he was stiff and tired because of his long journey.
The gods washed him with water and left him there by himself and the gods went back to their own jobs. Now the Man-with-Four-Names had regained some of the power and knowledge he had lost because of his wrong doings. Along the shore it was flat and sandy and looked good enough that anything planted would grow. Chap Man was just thinking about planting, but he had no seeds. He said, “My turkey, what do you think about planting along this beach?” This is what he said to his turkey. The turkey spread his wings and tail and the turkey’s head wattle over his right eye began to grow. The turkey meant, “Yes, we can do something about it.” Chap Man laid some cloth on the beach and the turkey stepped on top of it and shook his body. Chap Man had taken off some of his clothes and laid them on the ground. Turkey shook and grey corn came out of his feathers and dropped onto the cloth.
The Chap Man started to plant the corn. He planted in a circle. This is how they used to plant in the early times. It was still in a straight row. He planted until the sun set, but he had done little. At last he went and made his bed on the beach. He was lying in the center of the corn field for there was no other place to spend the night.
After he had laid down, he heard someone talking. He heard someone say, “We heard someone yelling for help. Where did they go?” Chap Man lay there listening while the people began to plant all of the corn. A little later they said, “We finished planting the corn.” They yelled again, “In the future time the future people will not plant at night for it will be bad luck.” Many Wind People helped to plant. They made a circle and planted a large amount of ground. They finished in such a short time for they were gods and they were the ones who had helped Chap Man out of the log.
In the morning when Chap Man awoke, he found there were small plants of corn in the beach already about two and one-half inches high. The leaves of corn had stripes across it. Chap Man was glad about the planting and that the corn was growing. That morning he started to the southwest to investigate this new country. As he wandered he came upon two hogans. When he started for the hogan, he was bashful about his badger moccasins for they were very dirty, ragged and worn out. He was ashamed and so he took them off and left them and his bow and arrows away from the hogan.
He continued on and went barefooted into the first hogan and there he saw a beautiful young girl on the north side of the hogan. He did not say anything, but went to the south side while the girl stayed on the north side of the hogan. This hogan was full of turquoise, white bead, jet and oyster shell baskets. All of these were stacked up in a pile. After he went in to the hogan, there came along a man, He-Who-Raises or He-Who-Wants-to-Look-at-Fish, tó·’nêinét’įhí. He had tried to become supreme over the Sun, White Bead Woman, Pollen Boy and He Who Raises. He failed in his attempt, and the power which he had was supreme only in this area and over certain things.
This man took the moccasins and the bow and arrows and put them on top of the stack of baskets. He turned to his daughter and said. “You are not to leave my son-in-law’s moccasins and things outside.” Meanwhile the sun had gone down and the old man said. “I want my son-in-law to have something to eat.” The man talked awhile and then said. “Don’t go towards that mountain over there.” He was speaking of East Mountain over on the California coast near San Diego.
Chap Man noticed the baskets and he later found that they had belonged to this man’s late sons-in-law. He was told this by the Holy Wind. The man and this young girl stole this stuff from the sons-in-law when they had died. The woman, who was his daughter, was told to go and get food in the other hogan and to tell her mother not to look at her son-in-law. This might have been a signal for the mother-in-law to try and poison her new son-in-law.
This is where the mother-in-law taboo first came from. The reason for this is that when boys go to war and have looked at their mother-in-law, they can be killed more easily. People now would have been more easily killed if the mother-in-law had come in to see Chap Man. The reason for mother-in-law taboo in the early days was also for practice so you would be quick on your feet or to practice on your feet. She made this rule, the Mother-in-Law God, “From now on if a man looks at his mother-in-law he will become weakened, his knees will shiver and he will be weak. If you have intercourse with your mother-in-law, your father-in-law might become jealous.”
If you look at your mother-in-law, you will get weak and your heart will beat faster. You will be scared because it is she who weakens you.1 If a person gets into the service or in the war and goes to the battlefield, he will have his brain power taken away and his mind will get bad. In old age the people who look at their mothers-in-law will have their eyes become bad and they will finally be blinded in old age. The gun sights will multiply and you will not know what to do.
Deer Raiser said, “My son-in-law,” all the time to Chap Man. This god’s wife put the poison on the east side of the seed mush that was in the marriage basket. At that time his mother-in-law was to kill him by secret powder. This powder was bones that were crushed and ground. Dead person’s bones, fat or meat was used. This was to kill the Chap Man and thus gain all his possessions. The daughter set the mush before him, but the Wind spoke to him and only Chap Man could hear. “Do not eat on the east side of the marriage basket, for it is poisoned to kill you.”
During these early days the people did not have the same wedding ceremony as now, but it came later. There were resemblances to the ceremony of today, however. When the boy and girl were married, the old man said, “In the future this basket will be used with corn pollen sprinkled on it from the east to the west and to the south and north. The man shall pick up meal from the east and then the girl. Meal will be picked up from the south, west, north and finally from the center.”
At this time they used no water in the ceremony for this came later. Now they bring water with them to wash their hands. This means the couple will not blame anyone, the medicine man or anyone else for their being married. The girl sits to the south and the man to the north. The father of the man sits on the south with the mother of the man next to her husband. This ceremony is the Good Way. These positions are the same as the prayer sticks. There are different kinds of prayer sticks, but these are the Good Way prayer sticks.
Hearing what the Little Holy Wind said, the Chap Man did not eat from that side of the basket. The basket which was brought to him was a white bead basket. There was some kind of grass seed, tlō·’dḗī, that was given to Chap Man. There is some of this found at Gray Mountain. The bush is about two feet high and the seed is ground like corn and fixed just like corn. After they had eaten the grass seed mush, the Wind whispered, “Do not have intercourse with the girl tonight. Do not fool around with this girl. If you have intercourse, the bear will catch you.” He did not have intercourse with the girl because she was married to her own father and his father-in-law. He spent a night with the girl in the hogan.
In the morning the girl went to the other hogan and got more seeds to grind. When the day was finished, the mother put poison on the west side of the basket. This time the Wind told the Chap Man, “It has poison on the west. Eat on all the other sides, but the west,” and this Chap Man did. After eating and listening to the old man, Chap Man decided to go to the mountain, anyway. When he got to the mountain, there suddenly appeared a bear. This great bear opened his mouth to bite Chap Man, but he said a word and the bear could do nothing to him. Now the bear could not eat him.
After Chap Man looked around he started back to the hogan. The old man had gone there to turn into that bear. After Chap Man got to the hogan the god said, “Don’t do on to the south side of Blue Mountain for it is very dangerous.” Afterwards he asked where Chap Man had been, and he said, “I went over there and met a large bear that tried to eat me.” He told about what had happened to him and the god said, “I told you not to go over there.”
That evening the poison was placed on the south side of the basket and the same things happened. In the morning the poison was placed on the north side of the basket and all happened as before. In the morning the god told him again not to go to the south side of Blue Mountain. The next morning, disobeying as usual, he started to Blue Mountain. When he got there, he looked around and met a big snake. He said another word and the snake could do nothing to him. Again he went back to the hogan and had his supper. This time the basket had poison all around, but none in the center. He once more was told by the Wind.
The old man wanted to know what he had been doing that day. He told him about his experiences and the god said, “You are loco; you do not mind me and you go over there.” He said again, “Do not go to the West Mountain tomorrow.” That night the Wind said again, “Do not have intercourse with the girl.” So he obeyed the instructions the Wind had given him. Next morning there was poison all over the meal and so he drank only water and ate nothing.
In the morning after his meal he went west and while there he met a big tornado. Once again he said a word and this tornado jumped over him being unable to do anything against him. If you know the holy name of tornado or hail, you can use this even to capture or kill your enemies. Once again Chap Man started home. When he got inside the hogan, he was told by the old man he was crazy or loco for doing the things that he did against the advice of the old man. Once more the god said, “Do not go to the mountain to the north. It is a dangerous place to go.” After having breakfast of mush, which was not poisoned, he set out again. This time Chap Man went to the north mountain. As he arrived there arose a cloud about him which gave forth rain and lightning began to strike all over and around him. The thunder turned into gods in the sky, and the Thunder Gods came down to where Chap Man was. These places of the encounters of Chap Man and his enemies are called the Wind Mountain, nłč’izi·l, Thunder Mountain, ’i·ni’zi·l, Bear Mountain, šašzi·l, and Big Snake Mountain, ƛ̓i·schozi·l. These are still dangerous mountains even today, and all of these things are still there.
Lightning was just one of the witch’s weapons. Each time Chap Man went underneath a tree he said a word that protected him, just as the names had before. The Thunder Gods said. “We are not doing this ourselves, but it is your father-in-law who is making us do this. You have the power to protect yourself and so we could not harm you. Your father-in-law is the cause of this.” Chap Man’s only protection was the Wind who told him, “That is your father-in-law (the bear, big snake or wind). This is his secret name,” and the Chap Man called the name out and he was thus saved. He was also told by the Holy Wind, “If you have intercourse with the girl, the bear will eat you.” He said the same when Chap Man was to meet the snake, thunder and tornado.
The Wind would not have helped the Chap Man if he had disobeyed him. There was a trick one had to play on the witch in order to get power from the witch, which was in the baskets. The girl had breathed the breath of her father and now had the power of the witch from her father. The girl had the power of a witch and by having intercourse with the girl, Chap Man would have lost his power to her. He, himself, would have been weakened so that the witch could kill or get rid of him. Now the four days were up and Chap Man had much power.
After the gods had come down they told Chap Man, “There is a man you should see over here. He has authority over all the people, for he knows more than your father-in-law.” The father-in-law had the power of a witch. The man the Thunder Gods meant for the Chap Man to see had more power than the witch, but of a different type. The Thunder People said, “Let us go over to this man and see about your father-in-law.”
This man was Hippo and had knowledge for he knew the Good Way Story and Songs, but the father-in-law had the power of a witch. The Thunder People and Chap Man left and came to a lake which had water weeds upon the water. The Thunder People blew at the edge of the water and it opened up like a blanket on a sweat bath when it is thrown back. All of the people went down into the water. Underneath the water on the floor of the lake was a house, just like the house of Hippo.
This god and Hippo Water God were the same. The trap door the Hippo had taken before led out of the other lake and therefore the two houses were the same. Chap Man said, “Hello, Hippo,” and received the reply, “Hello, my grandson. What are you looking for?” Then he put his arm around the Chap Man. The Hippo’s clothes were made out of hippo skin, but he was standing up like a man with a man’s head and body.
The Thunder People told Hippo about Chap Man’s travels, of his going down the river, visiting the witch god’s house and where he was made a son-in-law but not a real one, and all the rest of the story. “His father-in-law told us to kill him, but we could not, so we brought him to you,” ended the Thunder People. Hippo took out the string of turquoise, white bead, jet and oyster shell and showed it to the Thunder People. He said, “Why did you do this to the Chap Man? He has given me this gift.” While this was going on the Sun had gone down and to his home. Now it was evening.
Inside Hippo’s house were his son, daughter and wife. The Hippo introduced Chap Man and the Thunder People to his wife and family. All of them were having a good time under the water. Hippo finally began to tell Chap Boy about his father-in-law. “He had many sons-in-law and killed them. He took away all of their stuff. That is how he gets all of the turquoise, white bead, oyster shell and jet baskets. His real daughter is his wife, too. That is how he tricks people. (“That is what the Surface People are doing now, marrying their own relatives, committing murder and witchcraft,” F.G.) The name of this lake where this took place is now called because of this, That-is-Where-We-Slept-with-the-Thunder-and-the-Wind-People or ’i·’ni’ba’atk’eh ni’žé·’.
These gods told Chap Man that his father-in-law could change into anything. The father-in-law told the other gods to do such things and that is why they had to do this. There were five different types of baskets and only five, white bead, turquoise, oyster shell, jet and red rock or stone, cétčí’i. All of these were underneath the rest of the baskets in the witch’s hogan. “This witchcraft is going to die or get sick and these baskets will then be mine. Go back to your father-in-law and get the medicine out of the five baskets and he will get sick. When the witch gets sick then he will give them to me to get him well, for I am a medicine man.”
These five baskets were used by the witch to cause witchcraft. The ones on top of these five were his late sons-in-law’s. The baskets from these men were of all kinds, white bead, turquoise, oyster shell and jet. When the witch got sick, the witch would have to pay the five baskets to make him well again. The Hippo said, “When he gets sick, he will give you the baskets to cure him, I want those baskets.”
When the Hippo was telling about what was to happen, morning had come. Hippo told Chap Man, “Go back to the hogan and slip under the covers. Have intercourse with the girl and then go to sleep.” The reason the Wind told him not to have intercourse before was that he could then be easily killed by the witch. If at the time the Chap Man did have intercourse with the girl, he would have lost his strength. Thus, he could not do this before the time was up and the Wind said it was all right. The more times the father-in-law tried his power and failed, the more power the Chap Man received. Now that he had this power he could have intercourse with the girl and nothing could be done to him for he still had more power than the witch. “If you marry, half of your body will get stiff and paralyzed,” was told to him before. If he had had intercourse with the girl, she could have drawn power from him.
Now the witch had only one more means of killing the Chap Person, The Hippo had said, “This last thing he is going to do against you is not going to hurt you, but is going to turn against him, and he will get sick from then on. This is the reason why all of the witch’s power will be used up.” Before he left the home of the Hippo, he had been told, “He will ask you if you can cure him. You say, ‘I know a little medicine.’ ” Chap Man really knew no medicine at all.
After thanking the Hippo and learning what he must do, he left the Thunder People and went back to the hogan. He got under the cover and had intercourse with the girl. After having intercourse, the girl fell in love with Chap Man. The girl said she had loved him long before this. Later, after the Dawn came, the witch came into the hogan. Chap Man told the witch about where he had gone, but not what he had been told.
The witch said, “I told you not to go over there; it is dangerous. You are loco for you don’t do what I say.” The Chap Man thought of his corn. Chap Man said goodbye to his wife and went to the beach. The turkey had been near the beach taking care of the field. The corn was just right for it was ripe now.
He looked for his turkey and saw only some tracks. He followed the tracks into the forest nearby. He followed the tracks as they led to a lake and the tracks of his turkey went right into the water. The Chap Man looked all around the banks and on top of the water but could not find his turkey. He was so worried about his turkey that he was almost ready to cry. He said out loud to the turkey wherever he was, “You will be needed in the future by the Earth People for your feathers and your meat will be used for food.”
Chap Man went back to his cornfield at the beach. He began to gather ears of corn and when he got as many as he could carry, he started home with twelve ears of corn. When he arrived at the hogan, he gave them to his new wife. She had never seen corn before and did not know what to do with it, so he showed her how to prepare it. He put it in the boiling water and cooked it for a little while. His wife took only little bites at a time and said, “It tastes good, this corn.”
While they were eating, the witch came in and was invited to eat. He, too, took only a small bite and said, “Boy, this corn tastes good. I know what this corn tastes like, it is like a young animal.” Chap Man had never tasted meat. The witch said, “We will have some food that tastes like this.” Little was done that day and evening soon came again. The boy and girl slept together again and the {sic} in the morning the witch said, “We have nothing to do; let us go hunting. We can go to the mountain over there for there are lots of deer there.”
When they got to the mountain there were not deer, but only deer manure all around on the ground. The witch blew down the sun and the sky became dark. The two built a fire and the witch said, “Let us camp here, it is getting dark.” After awhile they made beds upon the ground. Once again the witch said, “There is something dangerous here where we are camping. Do not go to sleep yet, for there is something here, a ké didi·lyé. They lay down to go to sleep and the witch started to snore, but he was just pretending. The Wind whispered to the Chap Boy, “Get his shoes and put yours where his are and exchange them. Put yours near his head, and his near your head.” The Chap Boy did this and then pretended to sleep.
It was almost morning again when the witch played his trick. The old witch thought Chap Man was really asleep. He got up to see if he really were, but Chap Man was also pretending. Suddenly the witch reached over and got his own shoes, thinking that they were the Chap Man’s and put them in the fire. The witch went to sleep and soon it was morning. He got up, put on the moccasins and said, “Get up Chap Person, it is morning. It is time to get up and go hunting.” The Chap Man got up, looked around and said, “My moccasins are gone.” The witch looked around and said, “I told you last night to watch your shoes.”
The Chap Person kept looking around when he saw the witch had his shoes. The witch looked at the moccasins he had on and saw they were the Chap Person’s. He gave Chap Man the moccasins, but he wondered what had happened. The witch had a special kind of moccasin to wear and that is how they could tell. The witch was now to suffer from his own tricks. He had placed small cactuses upon the ground so that the Chap Boy would have to step on them because he thought that the moccasins would be destroyed. The two started home with the witch having no shoes.
The witch was having a tough time and could go no further. He told the Chap Boy to go on and tell his daughter to come back and help him. She had the power to do this, so off the Chap Boy went and finally arrived at the hogan. Chap Man asked his wife, the daughter of the old man, to go and tell her mother to go and see her husband for he needed help. The Holy Wind told him to do this. If the daughter had gone up, he could have had intercourse with his daughter for he had not had any for several days. The Wind also knew it would be a chance to get the power of the witch while both the old lady and old man were gone from the hogans. The Chap Man had tricked the witch again.
When the old woman got to the witch, they both became angry because of the trick played on them. The old woman said, “The Chap Man sent me over.” Angrily the witch replied, “I wanted my daughter to come over, not you!” They argued about this for awhile and gave up and went home. The old woman had brought moccasins to him so that he could walk back now without being hurt.
After the old lady had gone, the young girl had gone to the other hogan. Inside, she took some kind of medicine out of a buckskin bag which belonged to her father. Chap Man got the girl to go and get the medicine for him, for she loved him more than her father and mother. This medicine gave him power over anything. This was a never-been-shot-buckskin bag which had a buckskin bag which had bear claws hanging out of it. The girl dumped out the witchcraft stuff and put in some dirt. She took the empty bag back to the hogan of her father and took the medicine, taken from the bag, and gave it to Chap Man.
The old man and woman, by now, had finally arrived back at camp. The old man went to Chap Person and talked to him. As they talked, Chap Man mentioned the powerful medicine he had. The witch said, “What gives you your power?” The Chap Man answered, “This is my power and this is what gives me my power.” It was a buckskin bag and he held it up and showed it to the witch. There were no different kinds of medicine in the five baskets of the witch. The only medicine he had was in one of the five and the others were empty.
The white bead basket held this bag which was witch’s power. These baskets were used for praying for what the witch wanted. After he looked the Chap Man’s bag over the witch said, “It is just like the medicine in my bag.” Then he said, “I will go and get my bag.” The witch went and brought it back and showed it to him. “The bags are the same so you must have the same power as I do. That is the kind of a son-in-law I have been looking for, one with the same power that I have. We will make another expedition, another journey.” Next morning the two started out again. They traveled for quite awhile and finally came to a cliff in a canyon. They stayed there for some time.
Looking around on the side of the rock wall the witch opened a door in the rock. The Holy Wind said, “Watch closely how he is going to open the door. Watch closely.” After a little while the door opened and the witch went in. The hole or door could not be seen by anyone. When the witch opened the door, Chap Man could see many animals: deer, mountain sheep and antelope. In fact, all of the game animals in the world were there. That is why the people could not find any game animals in the world when they hunted. All have been hidden in the cave by the witch.
The witch went inside the cave where the animals were, and left Chap Person outside. The witch looked for the fattest animal and dragged it outside. It was a deer. He dragged the deer alive all the way to the hogan. When the two arrived outside the hogan, they killed the deer by smothering it with pollen. Chap Man was shown how to cut and skin the deer. They put pollen all the way up the arm, from the chin down to the belly and to the rear.
After they finished they cut the deer up and the meat was divided between Chap Person and the witch. Chap Man’s wife cut it up into smaller pieces and told her husband to go to the corn field. He went there and gathered all the corn and made it into a little bundle by singing over it. The Holy Wind taught him to do this. He picked it up and carried it home and spread it out to dry. Suddenly the witch took sick. The witch had done very little around the hogan for a short while before he became sick.
He asked the Chap Man if he knew any prayers or songs or a medicine man that could make him better. The Chap Person answered him, “I think I can fix you up, but I have to go home and get my medicine bag.” He was just saying this to fool the witch for he really knew nothing about medicine to cure people. As he left to go he said, “I will be back in four days and start the sing.” The witch answered that he would be ready. Chap Man started back home to Pikes Peak. There were many people with the features of ants living near his home. All around his home were all colors of ants: yellow, white, red, blue and black.
He told the ant people he knew no medicine and how he had to cure the witch. The ants said they would teach him some strong medicine. These ants had the power to do anything. There is now a sing called the Ant Sing which these people taught Chap Man. They were people who had a song to cure sickness. Chap Man studied for four days and learned all the songs he could in this time. Finally they said, “We want corn pollen, rock crystal and some other things for our telling you all these fine songs.” He agreed with them and started back to the witch. This rock crystal is used in the tobacco bag.
When at last Chap Man arrived again at the coast, he started to sing over the witch. Before he started he said, “I want a gift of a white, blue, red, yellow and black baskets. I want all five of those baskets you own over there.” That is why in a five-day sing the medicine man uses five baskets. The witch was very sick and so he agreed to do these things. The ceremony started and went on hour after hour until on the fourth day the witch was almost well once more.
The witch was walking around now, yet Chap Man had not finished for there was still one night’s singing to do. On the night of the fifth night he was still singing. The girl, her father, and her mother could not sleep until he had finished the ceremony. Towards morning when all were asleep, Chap Man sneaked over to the witch’s cave and opened the trap and let all the animals out.
After he had left the three people heard him and got up. They looked out and saw what he was doing and heard the animals come out of the cave. The witch got up and ran over to the cave and tried to get all the animals back in the hole, but could not. Chap Man had let them out because all the game animals in the whole country had been caught and kept by the witch in his cave. The man told the old woman to let the animals smell her vagina. She ran out and caught a deer by making a noise very loud at the deer, sh-sh. When the deer smelled her, it began to jump around, hopping up and down just like he does today.
The man reached out and caught a female deer and did the same to this one as the woman had to the buck. The Deer Raiser did this for he knew that the animals could be no longer kept as domesticated animals. Before this, they were very tame, just like sheep are today. He became angry and decided not to let anyone else have tame animals. This is how he made them all wild. The old man and woman did this four times, yet all the animals had smelled this strange odor, too.
Deer Raiser is now the witch’s name because he had raised so many deer. The reasan the old man and woman did this was so that all the game animals would be much more difficult to catch. That is why there was another name for the game when they came out of the cave, dini’xažní·’a·’. The Ant Sing or Five or Nine Night Sing comes from this feather story.
There is still another sing that leads off from this feather story which is called the Feather Sing. The above is a feather story, a branch of the Good Way Story. Later the Hippo got his five presents and the Ant People got their gifts. Deer-Raiser did not find out about the medicine that had been stolen. From then on the two men were friendly. These gods are still living there right now. That is the reason this area in California is such a good place to raise fruits and food. If Deer-Raiser had raised his animals or Chap Man raised his corn over here in Arizona, this land would be prosperous instead of California.
Footnotes
1 Many would classify this story as not belonging with the creation myth. Yet the informant’s belief was that there are many stories proper which belong in the creation myth and which have branches which come off from it. These branches, which do not belong to the main theme of the myth, are the origin myths of the ceremonies. There are as many beliefs as to the correctness as to what is a true emergence myth as there are stories. F.G. believes this story belongs in the creation myth and that this is a Feather Story. From this branch come the ceremonials.
1 When F.G. was a young man, he looked at his mother-in-law and that is why his eyes are going bad now. There are ways that one may look at his mother-in-law. F.G. cured his mother-in-law when she was sick and so he could look at her. This was just one of F.G.’s mothers-in-law for he had three wives. You cannot sing over your wife or you are divorced. By singing you give her power or a part of you and so you cannot marry her or it would be like marrying your medicine bag. If you save your mother-in-law from being killed by a horse or something similar you can look at your mother-in-law. If you marry an older woman and then marry her daughter then you can look at your mother-in-law, of course.