outlines of zuni Creation Myths 14

outlines of zuni Creation Myths 14

THE SETTLEMENT OF ZUÑI-LAND, AND THE BUILDING OF THE SEVEN GREAT TOWNS

THEREIN.

 

It was in this way that first after Kwákina, Háwik’uh was built, and

thereafter, round about Zuñi, each (at first lesser because of the

people left behind each time) of all the others of the six towns of all

the regions the Midmost (Shíwina ‘Hlúella Úlapna).

 

First, then, Kwákina, then Háwik’uh, K‘yánawe, Hámpasawan, K‘yäkime and

Mátsaki. And in what manner the people dwelt in each of these, how they

talked and consorted wondrously with beasts and gods alike is told in

the _télapnawe_ (tales of the olden time passing) of our ancients,

alike in the "lies of the grandfathers" and in the "strands" of their

solemn sayings. But always, at each place, were those abiding who

believed, despite the warnings, that they had found the Middle, least

wise for themselves, contending the which, they continued in the place

of their choice, those of the Northern (sept) in the first place, those

of the West next, and so, those of the South, East, Upper and Lower

regions. Whilst still the main people of the Macaw and the other Middle

kinties, sought unweariedly until they thought at last that in Mátsaki

they had found indeed the place of the Middle.

 

 

THE REUNION OF THE PEOPLE OF THE MIDDLE WITH THE SUMMER AND SEED

PEOPLES.

 

Whilst in this persuasion they still tarried there, lo! again, after

long wanderings through many valleys, the peoples of Corn and the Seed

found them there, through seeing of their smoke, and in the near valley

to the eastward found they as well the peoples of the Corn and the

Seed, dwelling in their great round towns, the smoke whereof wanderers

had also erstwhile been. So they said to them, "Ye are our younger

brothers! At Mátsaki, here at the Middle, let us dwell in peace as one

people, others of our kinds around about us, yet with us!"

 

Thereby Mátsaki greatly increased; but the warnings yet still sounded

anon and the gods and master-priests of the people could not rest.

 

 

THE GREAT COUNCIL OF MEN AND THE BEINGS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE

TRUE MIDDLE.

 

Nay, they called a great council of men and the beings, beasts, birds

and insects of all kinds _‘hlímna_; these were gathered in the council.

 

After long deliberation it was said:

 

"Where is K‘yanäs´tïpe, the Water-skate? Lo! legs has he of great

extension, six in number. Mayhap he can feel forth with them to the

uttermost of all the six regions, thereby pointing out the very

Middle." And K‘yanäs´tïpe, being summoned, appeared in semblance,

growing greater; for lo! it was the Sun-father himself (K‘yanäs´tïpe

through _‘hlímna_ being). And he answered their questions ere he was

bespoken, saying, "Yea, that can I do." And he lifted himself to the

zenith, and extended his finger-feet six to all of the six regions, so

that they touched to the north, the great waters; and to the west, and

the south, and the east, the great waters; and to the northeast, the

waters above; and to the southwest, the waters below.

 

But to the north, his finger-foot grew cold, so he drew it in; and to

the west, the waters being nearer, touched his finger-foot thither

extended, so he drew that in also. But to the south and east far

reached his other finger-feet. Then gradually he settled downward and

called out, "Where my heart and navel rest, beneath them mark ye the

spot and there build ye a town of the midmost, for there shall be the

midmost place of the earth-mother, even the navel; albeit not the

center, because of the nearness of cold in the north and the nearness

of waters in the west." And when he descended (squatting), his belly

rested over the middle of the plain and valley of Zuñi; and when he

drew in his finger-legs, lo! there were the trail-roads leading out and

in like stays of a spider's net, into and forth from the place he had

covered.

 

 

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FATHERS AND THEIR TABERNACLE AT HÁLONAWAN OR

THE ERRING-PLACE OF THE MIDDLE.

 

Then the fathers of the people built in that spot, and rested thereat

their tabernacle of sacred treasures. But K‘yanäs´tïpe had swerved in

lowering, and their town was reared a little south of the very midmost

place. Nevertheless, no longer in after time sounded the warnings.

Hence, because of their great good fortune (_hálowilin_) in thus

finding the stable middle of the world, the priest-fathers of the

people called this midmost town the Abiding place of Happy Fortune

(Hálonawan).

 

 

THE FLOODING OF THE TOWNS, AND THE BUILDING OF THE CITY OF SEED ON THE

MOUNTAIN.

 

Yet, because they had erred even so little, and because the first

priest of after times did evil, lo! the river to the southward ran

full, and breaking from its pathway cut in twain the great town,

burying houses and men in the mud of its impetuosity. Whence, those who

perished not and those of the flooded towns rounded about fled to the

top of the Mountain of Thunder, they with all their Seed people and

things, whence the villages they built there were named Tâaiyá‘hltona

‘Hlúelawa, or the "Towns-all-above of-the-seed-all."

 

 

THE STAYING OF THE FLOOD BY SACRIFICE OF THE YOUTH AND MAIDEN, AND THE

ESTABLISHMENT OF HÁLONA ÍTIWANA ON THE TRUE MIDDLE.

 

But when by the sacrifice of the youth priest and maiden priestess (as

told in other speech) the waters had been made to abate and the land

became good to walk upon, all the people descended, calling that high

mountain place, which ever after hath echoed thunder, Tâaiyálane, or

the Mountain of Thunder. When all the towns were rebuilded, then on the

northern side of the river they builded anew the Town of the Middle,

calling it Hálona Ítiwana (Halona the Midmost); but the desolated part

they called Hálonawan, because they had erred there (_hálowak‘ya_),

though even so little.

 

 

THE CUSTOM OF TESTING THE MIDDLE IN THE MIDDLE TIME.

 

Now at last never more did the world rumble; yet the fathers of the

people questioned in their hearts, fearing further misfortune to their

children, if so be they still erred in the resting place of the sacred

mysteries whatsoever. So, when the sun had reached the middle between

winter and summer, they devised an ordinance and custom whereby this

might be tested. They brought out the things of lightning and the

earthquake; even the keepers of the great navel-shell were summoned as

having canny and magic skill. And as now we do in observing the custom

of the Middle-arriving, all the people fasting, all the fires close

kept, so then, for ten days they made ready, and on the last night the

shell was laid by the sacred fire in Héin Kíwitsina of the North, and

watched all the night through, by its keepers and the fathers foremost,

and the Priests of the Bow. Meanwhile the incantations of dread

meaning, taught of the Twain in Hán‘hlipiŋk‘ya, were chanted, yet the

world only rumbled deeply and afar down, but it trembled not, neither

did the Seven Fell Ones breathe destruction--only storms. Then, said

the fathers, "O, thanks! In peace-expecting mood may we kindle afresh

the fires of our hearths for the year that is dawning." And they sent

forth new fire to all houses, causing the old to be cast out as is seen

and known to us all in the custom of this day of the Middle-arriving!

 

So, happily abode the people, they and their brothers round about them

at the Middle, for surely now the sacred things were resting over the

stable middle of the world, and were the foundations of Hálona Ítiwana

or the Midmost place of Favor (or fortune).

 

 

THE CHERISHING OF THE CORN MAIDENS AND THEIR CUSTOM AS OF OLD.

 

Now when thus, after long ages of wandering, the tabernacles of the

precious seed-things were resting over the Middle at Zuñi (they,

the fathers of the people and also the Corn tribes and their other

children), then, as in the olden time, men turned their hearts rather

to the cherishing of their corn and Corn maidens than to the wasting

of lives in war with strange men and the Ákâkâ. Again they loved,

cheerfully too, the custom of the beautiful Corn maidens, and this,

year after year, they practiced that the seed of seeds might ever be

renewed and its abundance be maintained.

 

 

THE MURMURING OF THE FOOLISH ANENT THE CUSTOM OF THE CORN MAIDENS.

 

And whereas this was well, yet, forsooth! there were not wanting those

who grew weary of the custom at last, and said that it was not as in

the olden time it had been. Then, said they, the fathers of the people

had performed their custom, and the fathers of the people of Dew

theirs, the one awaiting the other, as it were, and both joining in the

sight of the people all. Others said that the music was not as that of

the olden time; that better far was that which of nights they sometimes

heard (oftener toward morning) as they wandered up and down the trail

by the river; wonderful music this, as of liquid voices in caverns or

the echo of women's laughter in water-vases. And this music, they said,

was timed with a deep-toned drum, and seemed to come forth from the

very bowels of the Mountain of Thunder. Lo! they were awed thereby,

and bethought that the music was, mayhap, that of the ghosts of ancient

men who had dwelt above in the times of the high waters; but it was far

more beautiful, at least, than the music of the ‘Hláhekwe singers when

danced the Corn maidens.

 

Others said yea, and lingering near they had seen, as the daylight

increased, white clouds roll upward from the grotto in Thunder mountain

like to the mists that leave behind them the dew itself, and as the sun

rose, lo! within them even as they faded, the bright garments of the

Rainbow-women might sometimes be seen fluttering, and the broidery and

paintings of these dancers of the mists were more beautiful than the

costumes of even the Maidens of Corn.

 

 

THE COUNCIL OF THE FATHERS THAT THE PERFECTION OF THE CUSTOM BE

ACCOMPLISHED.

 

Then were the fathers of the People-priests of the House of Houses sore

displeased at these murmurings of their children, and bade them to be

hushed; yet they pondered, and bethought themselves how to still these

foolish children yet more completely, so that the precious Mothers of

Corn be not made sad by their plaints.

 

"What is this ye tell us?" said they. "These things be to the simple

as the wind and other movings, speechless; but to us, they be signs,

even as erst the warnings of the under-world were signs to our fathers

the beloved, and ourselves, that we seek still further the Middle, so

are these things signs to us. Stay, therefore, thy feet with patience,

while we devise that ye be made content and happy." Then to one another

they said, "It may well be Paíyatuma, the liquid voices his flute and

the flutes of his players that they tell of. Come now, we will await

the time of our custom, and then learn if perchance our hearts guess

aright."

 

 

THE OBSERVANCE OF THE ‘HLÁHEKWE CUSTOM, OR DANCE OF THE CORN MAIDENS.

 

Now when the time of ripening corn was near, the fathers ordered

preparation for the ‘Hláhekwe, or dance of the Corn maidens.

 

When the days of preparing had been well nigh numbered, the old ones,

even the Kâ´yemäshi themselves who had come with the Kâ´kâ (subject now

to the prayerful breaths of the priest-fathers of the people) in the

spring and summer times of the Kâ´k’okshi dances, came forth yet again

from the west, and with fun and much noise of mouth, made--as for his

sister their father had first made--a bower of cedar. But this bower

they built, not in the open plain, but in the great court of the town

where the dances and customs of the Kâ´kâ were held. For in these days

the people and the kinties of Seed no longer came as strangers to the

abode of other people, hence builded not their bower in the plain, but

in the plaza of their own town. And the Kâ´yemäshi diligently collected

cedar-boughs and rafter-poles from the hills beyond the plains. With

these, as they had been commanded in olden time by K‘yäk´lu, they

builded the great bower. They helped also the chosen men of the Badger

and Water kinties to bring the hemlock trees from the southern canyon,

and danced, singing gravely for the nonce, as these called forth the

growth thereof in sacred smoke of the spaces, and then, as the night

fell, laden with offerings from the people, and whitened with the favor

of their prayer-meal, they returned whither the Kâ´kâ and the souls of

men ever return, westward along the river to the mountains of the Dance

of Good and the Waters of the Dead.

 

Then came the Sun-priest and the Priests of the House of Houses,

with the tabernacles of sacred seed-substances, the _múetone_, the

_k‘yáetone_ and the _chúetone_, and with world-terraced bowls of

sacred favor (prayer-meal). These, they bore into the plaza in solemn

procession, followed by the matrons of the Seed and Water clans, with

the trays of new seed and their offerings of plumed wands to the

spaces; and even as today, in every particular, so then the Priest

of the Sun and his younger brothers of the House laid out the sacred

reclining terrace and roadway of prayer, leading down from it through

the middle, and duly placed the sacred things in order upon and before

it. As today it is done even in the same order, so then the priests

took their places at the rear of the terrace and altar of sacred

things, and the matrons theirs by their trays of new seed, those of the

Seed kins southwardly to the right, those of the Water kins northwardly

to the left beside the reclining terrace and down the sacred roadway

guided and placed, each in order, by the chosen leaders of the dance,

and watched over by the Priests of the Bow.

 

Thus, when the singers came and sat them down in the southern side, as

today, so then, the father of the people gave the word for beginning,

and spake the issuing-forth rites. But then, not as now, there were

singers only to the south, yea, and dancers only of them, whence the

complainings of the people had been voiced.

 

As the darkness deepened the master-priest said, "Lo, now! as in the

olden time let kindled be a fire, beyond the dancers (_ótakwe_) in

front of the bower. Mayhap by its light yet other singers and dancers

will come, as in the olden time came Paíyatuma and his people, for the

perfection of the corn. If so be, those who murmur will be content with

the completeness of our custom."

 

Then those whose office it was to keep the shell and fire, generated

with their hands the heat thereof, and the youths round about merrily

attended them with fuel, and in the brightening light the dance went on.

 

 

THE SENDING OF THE TWAIN PRIESTS OF THE BOW, THAT THEY BESPEAK THE AID

OF PAÍYATUMA AND HIS FLUTE PEOPLE.

 

When the House of the Seven Stars had risen high in the sky, then the

fathers summoned before them the two Master-priests of the Bow. "Ye

have heard," said they in low-sounding speech, "the complainings of

these children and their tales of strange sights and sounds at the

grotto under Thunder mountain. Go forth, therefore, and test the truth

of all this. If so be ye too hear the music, approach the cavern and

send greeting before ye. It were no wonder if ye behold Paíyatuma and

his maidens other seven, and his singers and players of flutes. They

will deem ye well arrived, and maychance will deign to throw the light

of their favor upon us and give us help of their custom, thereby adding

to the contentment and welfare of our children among men, and to the

completeness of our own observances."

 

Then with their hands the Fathers of the House extended their breaths,

which breathing, the Priests of the Bow went forth, one following the

other.

 

 

THE FINDING OF PAÍYATUMA, AND HIS CUSTOM OF THE FLUTE.

 

When, up the trail of the river, they had some time passed Mátsaki,

they heard the sound of a drum and strains of song now and then echoing

down from Thunder mountain. Then they knew that the sounds came from

the Cavern of the Rainbow, and so hastened forward; and as they neared

the entrance, mists enshrouded them, and they knew now also that verily

Paíyatuma was there. Then they called to know if there were gathering

within. The singing ceased, and they were bidden to enter and sit. As

they did so, Paíyatuma came forward to them and said:

 

"Ye come well. I have commanded the singers to cease and the players to

draw breath from their flutes, that we might hearken to the messages ye

bear, since for naught never stranger visits the place of a stranger."

 

"True," replied the two, "our fathers have sent us to seek and greet

ye, it having been declared by our children that thy song-sounds and

the customs thereof so far surpass our own, even those of our beloved

Maidens, makers of the seed of seeds."

 

"Ah, well!" replied he, "thus ever is it with men, children, verily!

Athirst ever are they for that which is not or which they have not. Yet

it is well that ye come, and it shall be as ye wish. Sit ye yet longer,

watch and listen."

 

To the left, grouped around a great world-bowl, clad in broidered

cotton vestment, were a splendid band of players, long flutes in their

hands and the adornments of god-priests on their faces and persons. In

their midst, too, was a drummer and also a bearer of the song-staff;

aged, they, and dignified with years.

 

Paíyatuma scattered a line of pollen on the floor, and folding his

arms strode to the rear of the cavern, then turned him about and with

straightened mien (_tsámo‘hlanishi_), advanced again. Following him,

lo, and behold! came seven maidens beauteous like to the Maidens of

Corn, but taller and fainter of form. Like to them also in costume,

yet differing somewhat in the hue of the mantles they wore. And in

their hands they carried, not tablets of the sun, moon, and each her

star with cross symbol of the Corn priests above them, but, verily,

wands of cottonwood from the branchlets and buds of which tiny clouds

flowed forth.

 

"These be the sisters of our Maidens of Corn, of the House of the

Stars, seen these too, as they, so these more faintly, as, when above

are seen the stars of the House of Seven, others seven are seen below

in the waters. Like in form of gesture is their dance custom, but

fertile not of the seed, but of the water of life wherewith the seed is

quickened," said Paíyatuma.

 

He lifted his flute, then took his place in the line of the dancers,

as the _yä´poto_ does in the line of the Corn dance. The drum sounded

until the cavern shook as with thunder. The flutes sang and sighed as

the wind in a wooded canyon whilst still the storm is distant. White

mists floated up from the wands of the maidens and mingled with the

breath of the flutes over the terraced world-bowl, above which sported

the butterflies of Summerland, about the dress of the Rainbow in the

strange blue light of the night.

 

Awed and entranced with the beauty of it were the Priests of the Bow,

insomuch that when they arose to go they feared to speak their further

message. But Paíyatuma, smiling, gave them his breath with his hands

and said, "Go ye the way before, telling the fathers of our custom, and

straightway we will follow."

 

 

THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE COMING OF PAÍYATUMA AND HIS PEOPLE OF THE

FLUTE.

 

Then silently the Priests of the Bow returned as they had come, and

entering the dance-court and bower, bowed low and breathed over

the hands of the fathers and by them being breathed and smoked in

turn, told of what they had seen and listened to in the Cave of the

Rainbow. But the watchers had grown weary, and only the fathers heard

and understood. While the people nodded their heads all drowsily,

some sleeping, the leaders arose as their father ancients had arisen

on that night of the birth of Corn in the olden time, and carried the

sacred gourds aside and placed them around a great world-bowl wherein

was water, and over them in secret (as in the olden time those

fathers-ancients had done with the prayer-wands and grass seeds, so

now) they performed rites, and said mystic prayer-words. And in the

bowl they put dew of honey and sacred honey-dust of corn-pollen, and

the ancient stones--ancient of water whence water increases. Then, to

the left and northward side they placed the bowl and with it a great

drum jar, and spread blankets as for singers other than those already

sitting on the southern side.

 

After that they sat them down again, and then the Priests of the Bow

signed their guardian younger brothers to bestir the people assembled

that they might sit the more seemly for the coming, mayhap, of precious strangers.