Post by Okwes on Apr 14, 2008 12:03:00 GMT -5
Geese Go Shell Gathering - Cochiti
Some geese were picking up corn on the fields south of Cochiti (site of old
Cochiti village, Ushuk). When they had enough they started to dance. The
chief goose sang--
Goose, goose, I came flying from the north,
I found some corn,
I ate it,
My stomach got filled up, got filled up!
Then they flew off. One of the geese said, "Let us go farther up west." So
they went. When they got to the place, they found there a field of white
shells (beads), and they began to pick them up. One of them named Maria was
very slow.
They sang, "Maria, Maria, all over this place are many white shells." She
caught up with them, but the rest had already had enough to eat. "You're
good for nothing, you're too slow picking up white shells." They were afraid
for fear the owner of the shells might come, and they made her hurry. "Soon
he'll come into his field and he might kill us all. Hurry Maria!" They all
cried to Maria, "Are you ready?" "Yes." They all flew up. Then came a crane
and started to pick the shells up. "I shall go pick up white shells," he
said. So he went to pick up the shells. He had swallowed just one when the
owner of the field came and killed him.
Tales of the Cochiti Indians, by Ruth Benedict; U.S. Bureau of American
Ethnology, Bulletin no. 98; US Government Printing Office; [1931] and is now
in the public domain
Some geese were picking up corn on the fields south of Cochiti (site of old
Cochiti village, Ushuk). When they had enough they started to dance. The
chief goose sang--
Goose, goose, I came flying from the north,
I found some corn,
I ate it,
My stomach got filled up, got filled up!
Then they flew off. One of the geese said, "Let us go farther up west." So
they went. When they got to the place, they found there a field of white
shells (beads), and they began to pick them up. One of them named Maria was
very slow.
They sang, "Maria, Maria, all over this place are many white shells." She
caught up with them, but the rest had already had enough to eat. "You're
good for nothing, you're too slow picking up white shells." They were afraid
for fear the owner of the shells might come, and they made her hurry. "Soon
he'll come into his field and he might kill us all. Hurry Maria!" They all
cried to Maria, "Are you ready?" "Yes." They all flew up. Then came a crane
and started to pick the shells up. "I shall go pick up white shells," he
said. So he went to pick up the shells. He had swallowed just one when the
owner of the field came and killed him.
Tales of the Cochiti Indians, by Ruth Benedict; U.S. Bureau of American
Ethnology, Bulletin no. 98; US Government Printing Office; [1931] and is now
in the public domain