Eagle Boy - Zuni

[Okwes]

Eagle Boy - Zuni

Long ago, a boy was out walking one day when he found a young eagle that had
fallen from its nest. He picked that eagle up and brought it home and began
to care for it. He made a place for it to stay, and each day he went out and
hunted for rabbits and other small game to feed it. His mother asked him why
he no longer came to work in the fields and help his family. "I must hunt
for this eagle," the boy said. So it went on for a long time and the eagle
grew large and strong as the boy hunted and fed it. Now it was large and
strong enough to fly away if it wished to. But the eagle, stayed with the
boy who had cared for it so well. The boy's brothers criticized him for not
doing his share of work in the corn and melon fields, but Eagle boy as they
now called him did not hear them. He cared only for his bird. Even the boy's
father, who was an important man in the village, began to scold him for not
helping. But still the boy did not listen. So it was that the boy's brothers
and his older male relatives in his family came together and decided that
they must kill the eagle. They decided to do so when they returned from the
fields the following day. When Eagle Boy came to his bird's cage, he saw
that the bird sat there with its head hanging down. He placed a rabbit he
had caught in the cage, but the eagle did not move or eat it. "What is
wrong, my eagle friend?" asked the boy. Then the eagle spoke, he had never
spoken to the boy before. He said, "My friend, I cannot eat for I am filled
with sadness and sorrow." "But why are you so troubled?" asked the boy. "It
is because of you," said the eagle. You have not done your work in the
fields. Instead, you have spent all of your time caring for me. Now your
brothers and family have decided to kill me so that you again will return to
your duties in the village. I have stayed here all of this time because I
have learned to love you. But now I must leave. When the sun rises tomorrow,
I will fly away and never come back." "My eagle," said the boy, "I do not
want to stay here without you. You must take me with you." "My friend, I
cannot take you with me," You would not be able to find your way through the
sky. You would not be able to eat raw food." said the eagle. "If you are
certain, then you may come with me. But you must do as I say. Come to me at
dawn, after the people have gone down to their fields. Bring food to eat on
our long journey across the sky. Put food in pouches so you can sling them
over your shoulders. You must also bring two strings of bells and tie them
to my feet."

That night the boy filled the pouches with blue corn wafer bread, dried
meats and fruits. He made up two strings of bells, tying them with strong
rawhide. The next morning, after the people had gone down to the fields, he
went to the eagle's cage and opened it. The eagle spread its wings wide.
"Now," he said to Eagle Boy, "tie the bells to my feet and then climb onto
my back and hold onto the base of my wings." Eagle Boy climbed on and the
eagle began to fly. It rose higher and higher in slow circles above the
village and above the fields. The bells on the eagle's feet jingled and the
eagle sang and the boy sang with it:

Huli-i-i, hu-li-i-i-
Pa shish lakwa-a-a-a-a.........

So they sang and the people in the fields below heard them singing, and they
heard the sound of the bells Eagle Boy had tied to the eagle's feet. They
all looked up. "They are leaving," the people called out in the village.
"They are leaving." Eagle Boy's parents yelled up to him, but he could not
hear them. The eagle and boy went higher and higher in the sky until they
were only a tiny speck and they disappeared from the sight of the village
people. The eagle and the boy flew higher and higher until they came to an
opening in the clouds. They passed through and came out into the Sky Land.
They landed there on Turquoise Mountain where the Eagle People lived. Eagle
Boy looked around the sky world. Everything was smooth and white and clean
clouds. "Here is my home," the eagle said. He took the boy into the city in
the sky, and there were eagles all around them. They looked like people, for
they took off their wings and their clothing of feathers when they were in
their homes. The Eagle People made a coat of feathers for the boy and taught
him to wear it and to fly. It took him a long time to learn, but soon he was
able to circle high above the land just like the Eagle People and he was an
eagle himself. "You may fly anywhere," the old eagles told him, " anywhere
except to the South. Never fly to the South Land." All went well for Eagle
Boy in his new life. One day, though, as he flew alone, he wondered what it
was that was so terrible about the South. His curiosity grew, and he flew
further and further toward the South. Lower and lower he flew and now he saw
a beautiful city below with people dancing around red fires. "There is
nothing to fear here," he said to himself, and flew lower still. Closer and
closer he came, drawn by the red fires, until he landed. The people greeted
him and drew him into the circle. He danced with them all night and then,
when he grew tired, they gave him a place to sleep. When he woke the next
morning and looked around, he saw the fires were gone. The houses no longer
seemed bright and beautiful All around him there was dust, and in the dust
there were bones. He looked for his cloak of eagle feathers, wanting to fly
away from this city of the dead., but it was nowhere to be found. Then the
bones rose up from the dust and came together. There were people made of
bones all around him! He stood up and began to ran away from them. The
people made of bones chased him. Just as they were about to catch him, he
saw a badger.

"Grandson," the badger said, "I will save you." Then the badger carried the
boy down into his hole and the bone people could not follow. "You have been
foolish," the badger scolded. "You did not listen to the warnings the eagles
gave you. Now that you have been in this land in the South, they will not
allow you to live with them anymore."

Then the badger took pity on Eagle Boy and showed him the way back to the
city of the eagles. It was a long hard journey and when the boy reached the
eagle city, he stood outside the high white walls. The eagles would not let
him enter. "You have been to the South Land," they said. You can no longer
live with us." At last, the eagle the boy had raised below took pity on him.
After all this boy had feed and cared for him. He brought the boy an old and
ragged feather cloak. "With this cloak you may reach the home of your own
people," he said. "But you can never return to our place in the sky." He
gratefully accepted the gift of the tattered feather cloak. His flight back
down to his people was a hard one, more difficult than any flights in Sky
Land. He almost fell through the sky many times. His eagle friend circled
and circled in the clouds watching over him. When he finally reached the
village of his people on earth, the eagle flew down and carried off the
feather cloak they had given him. From that time on, Eagle Boy lived among
his people. Though he lifted his eyes in joy whenever eagles soared
overhead, he shared in the work in the fields, and his people were honored
and happy to him among them. He could fly away if it wished to, but he the
eagle stayed with the people who loved him.