Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 14, 2008 11:48:07 GMT -5
Game Story - Navajo
There was a man who, while playing the hoop game and the game of seven
wooden dice, lost all his property, including a very good house. He also
lost the beads that belonged to his niece. Because of this his brothers
resolved to kill him. A necklace of mixed beads was hanging in the center of
the house. The niece told her uncle he might wager that also. "All right,
niece," he replied, and took the white shell, the turquoise, the abalone,
the coral, the jet; he took five of them off one by one. He also provided
himself with specular iron ore, pollen of larkspur and of cat-tails. With
these he walked away to the corn pits which were full. From these he took
one ear each of the five colors. He patted these together until they were
small. "Well, little mother," he said to his niece, "they speak of killing
me. It may be you and I will see each other again. Goodbye."
Then he put a tree into the water with himself (inside of it). He floated in
the tree down where the stream enters the Colorado River. He got out of the
tree there and walked along the shore. He felt lonesome there. He planted
the corn he had brought with him in the form of a cross, putting the seed
in, one by one. Each stalk had two ears projecting opposite each other.
There were twelve stalks with two ears each.
He stayed there four years and then started to return to his home. After
many days he got back, arriving early in the morning at his home which was
called te'ineisk'it. He went to the corn storage pits, but they were
entirely empty. He put four ears in them and blew on them four times. After
that he went where his niece was sitting. They were having a famine.
"Prepare food for me, my little mother," he said to her. "There is none,"
she replied. "Four days after you left, the corn was all gone. I do not know
how it happened."
She sat there crying. "I cannot cook food for you, my uncle." "Go and get
something," he said again. "Do not say that, uncle, there is none, none."
When they had spoken to each other four times she went to the pits. When she
got there the pits were full. "Thanks, uncle," she called as she ran back
with the corn. The girl then ran to the men and told them her uncle had come
and that the corn pits were full again.
"Welcome," they said, when they came in and they then embraced him. "You are
the only one, younger brother. In the future we will not speak evil of you.
Something has happened to the game animals. We hunt in vain."
Wondering what had happened, the returned brother hunted for days in vain.
One day when he was hunting he went to the top of a mountain. Below a cliff
he saw a deer standing. He ran around and crept up where the deer had been,
but it had vanished. He examined the ground, but the soil had not been
disturbed. The next day he climbed the mountain again and there the deer
stood again. This time he walked directly toward it trying to keep it in
sight; but where it had been standing there was nothing but some deer dung.
A little distance from where he stood there had been a spruce tree, but when
he turned his head away and then looked in that direction again a god stood
there. "What is it, grandchild?" he asked. "A deer which was standing right
there has vanished," he replied. "Have you white shell, grandson?" "I have
them all, grandfather." "My grandson has everything. We will do it," the god
said. [They went up to the god's house.}
He found the door fronts were darkness, daylight, the moon, and the sun.
Inside, shadow gods were sitting on either side, facing each other. "Well,
go on, my grandson," the first god said. He took steps on the right side of
the house four times, blowing as he did so, and four footprints appeared. He
discovered that the first god had pets which he kept far in the interior. He
heard from inside someone say, "Ho, I smell earth people. The polite master
has brought in a human being." "Do not say that; he has everything," the god
said. Back of the fire a male deer was lying. On him lay a feathered arrow
with a red shaft. It had just been pulled out.
The man took a seat in the center. He put down one each of white shell,
turquoise, coral, abalone, jet, specular iron ore, blue pollen, cat-tail
pollen, and then covered them with a blanket. He stepped over these four
times and they became a great heap. The god was sorrowful and said, "I do
not think we can give you a fair equivalent."
He found out afterward that he stayed there in the house of the game animals
four days. The shadow gods distributed the precious objects. They gave each
of those present fifteen pieces, then thirteen, then nine, then seven, then
five, then three, and all had been given out.
"This is the way deer should be skinned. Break the legs here at the wrist
joint, but let them hang by the tendons. Leave the skin on the nose and
lips. Draw the skin carefully from under the eyes. Do not cut through the
bladder. Turn the hide back to the hips. If you do this way you will always
kill game. Put the head toward the center, but do not let the eyes bum or
the teeth. You must not cook it by burying it in the ashes. Game animals
must not be thrown away. Sickness will result if you do not observe these
things. If the teeth are burned the hunter's teeth will hurt. You earth
people will have a cure for it, grandson," the god told him.
He had everything prepared. "What did you come for, grandson?" Small
Whirlwind told him that on that side were images of the game animals
standing side by side. On the east side was the paunch of an animal in which
were deer songs. The man pointed to these. The god looked down and said,
"All right, grandson. It was for these you came."
Being xactc'eyahi I came up.
To the abode of the deer I came up.
To the door post of darkness I came up.
To the door post of daylight I came up.
To the door post of moon I came up.
To the door post of sun I came up.
To the place where xactc'eyahi with xactc'ejin sat facing each other, I came
up.
To where the black bow and the feathered arrows with red shaft lie across
each other, I came up.
Over there they lie across each other, red with the mouth blood of a male
deer.
Over there the deer I killed likes me.
He sang only one deer song.
They were here when I was hunting them in vain he thought to himself. "Shoot
them in the brush," he told him. This is where they are.
I being xactc'eyalti.
On the trail to the top of Black Mountain,
On the trail among the flowers,
Male deer are there,
The pollen of herbs I will put in its mouth,
The male deer steps along in the dew of the vegetation.
I kill him but he likes me.
He returned home. He shot into the brush and a deer rolled over with the
arrow in him. He shot into another kind of brush and a fawn rolled over with
the arrow in him. He shot into another kind of brush and a yearling rolled
over with the arrow.
"I have done something important," he thought to himself as he ran back.
They found he had killed them all. That is why when they get away we track
them.
There are very many game songs. If one does not know them he does not hunt.
We are afraid about these things because they are pets of the gods.
Taken from American Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Papers,
Volume
IV, Part I, page 161-164.
There was a man who, while playing the hoop game and the game of seven
wooden dice, lost all his property, including a very good house. He also
lost the beads that belonged to his niece. Because of this his brothers
resolved to kill him. A necklace of mixed beads was hanging in the center of
the house. The niece told her uncle he might wager that also. "All right,
niece," he replied, and took the white shell, the turquoise, the abalone,
the coral, the jet; he took five of them off one by one. He also provided
himself with specular iron ore, pollen of larkspur and of cat-tails. With
these he walked away to the corn pits which were full. From these he took
one ear each of the five colors. He patted these together until they were
small. "Well, little mother," he said to his niece, "they speak of killing
me. It may be you and I will see each other again. Goodbye."
Then he put a tree into the water with himself (inside of it). He floated in
the tree down where the stream enters the Colorado River. He got out of the
tree there and walked along the shore. He felt lonesome there. He planted
the corn he had brought with him in the form of a cross, putting the seed
in, one by one. Each stalk had two ears projecting opposite each other.
There were twelve stalks with two ears each.
He stayed there four years and then started to return to his home. After
many days he got back, arriving early in the morning at his home which was
called te'ineisk'it. He went to the corn storage pits, but they were
entirely empty. He put four ears in them and blew on them four times. After
that he went where his niece was sitting. They were having a famine.
"Prepare food for me, my little mother," he said to her. "There is none,"
she replied. "Four days after you left, the corn was all gone. I do not know
how it happened."
She sat there crying. "I cannot cook food for you, my uncle." "Go and get
something," he said again. "Do not say that, uncle, there is none, none."
When they had spoken to each other four times she went to the pits. When she
got there the pits were full. "Thanks, uncle," she called as she ran back
with the corn. The girl then ran to the men and told them her uncle had come
and that the corn pits were full again.
"Welcome," they said, when they came in and they then embraced him. "You are
the only one, younger brother. In the future we will not speak evil of you.
Something has happened to the game animals. We hunt in vain."
Wondering what had happened, the returned brother hunted for days in vain.
One day when he was hunting he went to the top of a mountain. Below a cliff
he saw a deer standing. He ran around and crept up where the deer had been,
but it had vanished. He examined the ground, but the soil had not been
disturbed. The next day he climbed the mountain again and there the deer
stood again. This time he walked directly toward it trying to keep it in
sight; but where it had been standing there was nothing but some deer dung.
A little distance from where he stood there had been a spruce tree, but when
he turned his head away and then looked in that direction again a god stood
there. "What is it, grandchild?" he asked. "A deer which was standing right
there has vanished," he replied. "Have you white shell, grandson?" "I have
them all, grandfather." "My grandson has everything. We will do it," the god
said. [They went up to the god's house.}
He found the door fronts were darkness, daylight, the moon, and the sun.
Inside, shadow gods were sitting on either side, facing each other. "Well,
go on, my grandson," the first god said. He took steps on the right side of
the house four times, blowing as he did so, and four footprints appeared. He
discovered that the first god had pets which he kept far in the interior. He
heard from inside someone say, "Ho, I smell earth people. The polite master
has brought in a human being." "Do not say that; he has everything," the god
said. Back of the fire a male deer was lying. On him lay a feathered arrow
with a red shaft. It had just been pulled out.
The man took a seat in the center. He put down one each of white shell,
turquoise, coral, abalone, jet, specular iron ore, blue pollen, cat-tail
pollen, and then covered them with a blanket. He stepped over these four
times and they became a great heap. The god was sorrowful and said, "I do
not think we can give you a fair equivalent."
He found out afterward that he stayed there in the house of the game animals
four days. The shadow gods distributed the precious objects. They gave each
of those present fifteen pieces, then thirteen, then nine, then seven, then
five, then three, and all had been given out.
"This is the way deer should be skinned. Break the legs here at the wrist
joint, but let them hang by the tendons. Leave the skin on the nose and
lips. Draw the skin carefully from under the eyes. Do not cut through the
bladder. Turn the hide back to the hips. If you do this way you will always
kill game. Put the head toward the center, but do not let the eyes bum or
the teeth. You must not cook it by burying it in the ashes. Game animals
must not be thrown away. Sickness will result if you do not observe these
things. If the teeth are burned the hunter's teeth will hurt. You earth
people will have a cure for it, grandson," the god told him.
He had everything prepared. "What did you come for, grandson?" Small
Whirlwind told him that on that side were images of the game animals
standing side by side. On the east side was the paunch of an animal in which
were deer songs. The man pointed to these. The god looked down and said,
"All right, grandson. It was for these you came."
Being xactc'eyahi I came up.
To the abode of the deer I came up.
To the door post of darkness I came up.
To the door post of daylight I came up.
To the door post of moon I came up.
To the door post of sun I came up.
To the place where xactc'eyahi with xactc'ejin sat facing each other, I came
up.
To where the black bow and the feathered arrows with red shaft lie across
each other, I came up.
Over there they lie across each other, red with the mouth blood of a male
deer.
Over there the deer I killed likes me.
He sang only one deer song.
They were here when I was hunting them in vain he thought to himself. "Shoot
them in the brush," he told him. This is where they are.
I being xactc'eyalti.
On the trail to the top of Black Mountain,
On the trail among the flowers,
Male deer are there,
The pollen of herbs I will put in its mouth,
The male deer steps along in the dew of the vegetation.
I kill him but he likes me.
He returned home. He shot into the brush and a deer rolled over with the
arrow in him. He shot into another kind of brush and a fawn rolled over with
the arrow in him. He shot into another kind of brush and a yearling rolled
over with the arrow.
"I have done something important," he thought to himself as he ran back.
They found he had killed them all. That is why when they get away we track
them.
There are very many game songs. If one does not know them he does not hunt.
We are afraid about these things because they are pets of the gods.
Taken from American Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Papers,
Volume
IV, Part I, page 161-164.