Post by blackcrowheart on Aug 12, 2008 11:28:48 GMT -5
Making a Chief: Sun and Thunder: Sun and Darkness - Apache / White Mountain
Told by Palmer Valor
Taken from Myths and Tales of the White Mountain Apache by Grenville Goodwin, 1934
Long, long ago they called a council in the Sun's house to see who should be made chief. Coyote wanted to be chief that time so he went there. They said, "All right you will be chief if you can read this paper here," and they gave Coyote the piece of paper to read. Coyote looked at it and tried to read it, but all he did was to keep saying, "sisi, sisi, sisi" that way, so they said, "Go out in the hills. Coyote, and* there you can be chief." So that is where Coyote went and why you still can hear him hollering there. Then Mocking Bird wanted to be chief, the one who always talks too much, so they told him to go ahead and see if he could talk well enough to be a chief. He started in to talk, and he talked pretty well, too, except that he kept copying things that he had heard other people say in his speech. So they said, "All right, you talk this way, copying, so from now on you will talk this way in the trees," and this is why Mocking Bird is always talking in the trees.
Then Gopher wanted to be chief. "I will be a good one for chief because I am as if in charge of everything in the world here." But there was a whole crowd of people there and they made fan of Gopher. "Chief with sacks on each side of his face," they said, "we will know everything that you are eating now." No one wanted him for chief, so he got mad and went outside. There he gathered up all the wind, the clouds, the rain and made them into a ball and stuck them in his sacks (cheek pouches). Also he took all the plants and grasses from all over the earth and put them in his sacks. Now he went under the earth and left these people.
When he left, the world was absolutely still and there was not a breath of air. You could stick an eagle's downy feather in the ground and it would not move at all. Then those people tried to locate Gopher and get him to bring back everything on the earth that he had taken. (Hummingbird goes out by himself and looks all over the sky and earth and finally finds Gopher under the earth where everything is growing and there is a lot of rain, etc., just as in the ga-n myth. But no ga-n were mentioned in this story. Hummingbird did it on his own.) Gopher said to Hummingbird, "You people laughed at me when I wanted to be chief, so now if you want me to come back you will have to make a dance for me for twelve days. If you do this, on the morning of the twelfth day at sunrise I will come back to you." (So Hummingbird goes back and lies there and breaks wind because of his gorging. After four days he tells the people what Gopher said, just as in the ga-n myth.) Then the people started to make that dance as Gopher wished. They danced for twelve days and on the morning of the twelfth day, just at sunrise, Gopher came back on the earth. At the same time that he came back there were clouds in the sky, wind and rain, and all the plants were growing again.
Then the Sun and Black Thunder were talking together and arguing which one raised most plants on this earth. Each said it was he who raised the most plants. "It's not you who raises the plants," Sun said to Black Thunder, "it's I." So Black Thunder said, "All right, you say you are the chief of this thing, so let's see you plant something and maybe you can raise it by yourself." So the Sun planted corn, but when the corn got about a foot or so tall, it all dried up and died because there was no water. Then the Sun said to Black Thunder, "You are right after all, you are the one in charge of the plants, so let's see you plant something." So Black Thunder did plant corn, but when it got about two feet tall the corn leaves turned all yellow because there was a lot of thunder and rain all the time and too much water. Then Sun and Black Thunder talked about it. "We were both wrong. The way it is is this. We should help each other and that way it will be all right." They planted corn again and when it got about two feet high, the leaves started to twist. This meant the corn was getting dry, so Black Thunder made it rain and the corn grew again well. Now the Sun looked at his field and was glad. This way he raised lots of crops, because Black Thunder and he worked together. "From now on this is the way we will do, helping each other. As long as the earth rests here we will raise lots of crops," they said.
Then Sun and Darkness started to talk to each other. "We will be both the same way," they said. Then Sun said, "From noon still sundown I will always be with some of these people and they will go down with me, the nde-ziz (dead people's bodies)." Then Darkness said, "I will do the same way when I am home. At dawn, when darkness goes, there will always be some nde-ziz who go with me."
This is a very big earth and there is always lots going on here, across the ocean, everywhere, and so this is why the Sun and Darkness talked this way. This means that every day and every night some place on this earth, people die. [This is a regular belief, and it is said of Sun and Darkness that they take people with them.]
Told by Palmer Valor
Taken from Myths and Tales of the White Mountain Apache by Grenville Goodwin, 1934
Long, long ago they called a council in the Sun's house to see who should be made chief. Coyote wanted to be chief that time so he went there. They said, "All right you will be chief if you can read this paper here," and they gave Coyote the piece of paper to read. Coyote looked at it and tried to read it, but all he did was to keep saying, "sisi, sisi, sisi" that way, so they said, "Go out in the hills. Coyote, and* there you can be chief." So that is where Coyote went and why you still can hear him hollering there. Then Mocking Bird wanted to be chief, the one who always talks too much, so they told him to go ahead and see if he could talk well enough to be a chief. He started in to talk, and he talked pretty well, too, except that he kept copying things that he had heard other people say in his speech. So they said, "All right, you talk this way, copying, so from now on you will talk this way in the trees," and this is why Mocking Bird is always talking in the trees.
Then Gopher wanted to be chief. "I will be a good one for chief because I am as if in charge of everything in the world here." But there was a whole crowd of people there and they made fan of Gopher. "Chief with sacks on each side of his face," they said, "we will know everything that you are eating now." No one wanted him for chief, so he got mad and went outside. There he gathered up all the wind, the clouds, the rain and made them into a ball and stuck them in his sacks (cheek pouches). Also he took all the plants and grasses from all over the earth and put them in his sacks. Now he went under the earth and left these people.
When he left, the world was absolutely still and there was not a breath of air. You could stick an eagle's downy feather in the ground and it would not move at all. Then those people tried to locate Gopher and get him to bring back everything on the earth that he had taken. (Hummingbird goes out by himself and looks all over the sky and earth and finally finds Gopher under the earth where everything is growing and there is a lot of rain, etc., just as in the ga-n myth. But no ga-n were mentioned in this story. Hummingbird did it on his own.) Gopher said to Hummingbird, "You people laughed at me when I wanted to be chief, so now if you want me to come back you will have to make a dance for me for twelve days. If you do this, on the morning of the twelfth day at sunrise I will come back to you." (So Hummingbird goes back and lies there and breaks wind because of his gorging. After four days he tells the people what Gopher said, just as in the ga-n myth.) Then the people started to make that dance as Gopher wished. They danced for twelve days and on the morning of the twelfth day, just at sunrise, Gopher came back on the earth. At the same time that he came back there were clouds in the sky, wind and rain, and all the plants were growing again.
Then the Sun and Black Thunder were talking together and arguing which one raised most plants on this earth. Each said it was he who raised the most plants. "It's not you who raises the plants," Sun said to Black Thunder, "it's I." So Black Thunder said, "All right, you say you are the chief of this thing, so let's see you plant something and maybe you can raise it by yourself." So the Sun planted corn, but when the corn got about a foot or so tall, it all dried up and died because there was no water. Then the Sun said to Black Thunder, "You are right after all, you are the one in charge of the plants, so let's see you plant something." So Black Thunder did plant corn, but when it got about two feet tall the corn leaves turned all yellow because there was a lot of thunder and rain all the time and too much water. Then Sun and Black Thunder talked about it. "We were both wrong. The way it is is this. We should help each other and that way it will be all right." They planted corn again and when it got about two feet high, the leaves started to twist. This meant the corn was getting dry, so Black Thunder made it rain and the corn grew again well. Now the Sun looked at his field and was glad. This way he raised lots of crops, because Black Thunder and he worked together. "From now on this is the way we will do, helping each other. As long as the earth rests here we will raise lots of crops," they said.
Then Sun and Darkness started to talk to each other. "We will be both the same way," they said. Then Sun said, "From noon still sundown I will always be with some of these people and they will go down with me, the nde-ziz (dead people's bodies)." Then Darkness said, "I will do the same way when I am home. At dawn, when darkness goes, there will always be some nde-ziz who go with me."
This is a very big earth and there is always lots going on here, across the ocean, everywhere, and so this is why the Sun and Darkness talked this way. This means that every day and every night some place on this earth, people die. [This is a regular belief, and it is said of Sun and Darkness that they take people with them.]