Navaho Indian Myths

Aileen O’Bryan, Aileen O'Bryan

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486275925
• eBook ISBN: 9780486142098
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

In the late 1920s, an elderly Navaho leader, anxious to preserve the myths of his people before they were lost in the tide of modern civilization, asked Aileen O'Bryan to record the tales he told her and to publish them in a book. The storyteller was Sandoval, Hastin Tlo'tsi hee (or Old Man Buffalo Grass), the first of the four chiefs of the Navaho People. Ms. O'Bryan, then living in Mesa Verde National Park, wrote down the old man's stories — as well as many chants — for the most part just as he told them. This book is the result — a unique compilation of authentic age-old Navaho origin and creation myth, from which many Navaho tribal ceremonies eventually evolved. Besides their value as mythologic literature, these tales are also intriguing for their revelation of Navaho knowledge of climatic and astronomical phenomena: seasonal changes, the equinox, the moon's effect on the earth and tides and more.
Among the myths retold here are: The Creation of the Sun and Moon, The People of the Stone Houses, The Making of the Headdress, The Maiden who Became a Bear, The White Bead Maiden's Marriage with the Sun, The Story of the Rain Ceremony and Its Hogan, The Story of the Two Boys and the Coming of the Horses, The Story of the Navaho and the Apache Peoples, and many others. Over 20 illustrations enhance the text, which will be welcomed by students of Native American culture, anthropologists, folklorists, and anyone intrigued by the myths evolved by the earth's peoples to give meaning to the world and their lives.

THE WANDERINGS OR AGE OF THE PATRIARCHS

INTRODUCTION: SANDOVAL’S PRAYER

Sandoval sat on the floor. “Now begins the Night Chant of ‘All Is Well,’ ” he said. He chanted and Sam, the interpreter, chanted with him. For them this was sacred. After the chant Sandoval passed his medicine pouch to Sam who took a pinch of pollen and placed it on his tongue and head and threw the remainder in the air to the east. I was told to do likewise. The pouch having been returned, Sandoval placed pollen on his tongue and head. He threw some into the air, sprinkling quite a bit over the manuscript. Then he prayed:

For long years I have kept this beauty within me,
It has been my life.
It is sacred.
I give it now that coming generations may know the truth
About my people.
I give it as the dew falls.
I give it as sacred pollen,
That there may increase a better understanding among men.
My days have been long.
Whoever reads and loves and learns from these stories
Shall profit by them,
And their days shall be lengthened.
I give these in the spirit of generosity
Asking that no harm will come from the Powers
Who have given these stories to us.
May no harm come from them.
May they be accepted as an offering,
As the pollen,
As the dew.

One of the Night Chants, the chant of All Is Well²⁰²

This covers it all,
The Earth and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful before me,
All is beautiful behind me,
All is beautiful below me,
All is beautiful above me,
All is beautiful all around me.

This covers it all,
The Skies and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful....

This covers it all,
The Mountains and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful....

This covers it all,
The Water and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful....

This covers it all,
The Darkness and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful....

This covers it all,
The Dawn and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful....

This covers it all,
Hasjelti and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful....

This covers it all,
Hasjohon and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful....

This covers it all,
The White Corn and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful. . . .

This covers it all,
The Yellow Corn and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful....

This covers it all,
The Pollen and the Most High Power Whose Ways Are Beautiful.
All is beautiful....

THE ORIGIN OF THE DÎNÉ

After the bow and arrows of lightning were returned to the Sun, Hasjelti and Hasjohon came to First Man and First Woman and asked them what they thought about all that had happened. “What will take place now will be your plan,” they said. “Yes,” answered First Man and First Woman, “Now it must be our plan. We will think about it.”²⁰³

The Sun brought a turquoise man fetish and gave it to Yol gai esdzan, the White Bead Woman. She ground white beads into a powder and made a paste with which she molded a fetish like the one the Sun had given her, but it was a woman. When it was finished they laid the two side by side. Then they took the white corn which was brought up from the Dark World where the First Man was formed and they laid it beside the turquoise man fetish. And the yellow corn from the Dark World, which was formed with First Woman, was laid by the side of the White Bead Woman fetish.

Here the chanting begins.²⁰⁴ It covers the two fetishes and the two ears of corn and the four clouds and the four vapors. There are many chants sung here. They were sung before the fetishes could move. Then the two fetishes, the Turquoise Man and the White Bead Woman, and also, the two ears of corn, white and yellow, moved.²⁰⁵

When they began to move the Coyote ²⁰⁶ came. He jumped on the bodies and put something first up one nostril and then up the other nostril. He said to the first nostril: “You shall be saved by this.” To the second nostril he said: “This shall be your shield.” The first turned out to be the trickery of men; the second, the lies that they tell. But once in a while they are saved by their own lies. That was what the Coyote had in mind.

The fetishes and the ears of corn moved but they were not able to rise. So word was sent to all the Holy Beings and to the Upper World where the Five Chiefs of the Wind dwelt. Gifts were offered to the Winds and they accepted them. They sent the Little Breeze down, and it entered the bodies of the two fetishes and the two ears of corn. Little, fine hairs appeared over the bodies, for it is through these that air comes out of the body. It was after that, that the four, the two fetishes and the two ears of corn, became human beings.

THE FIRST CLANS OF THE DÎNÉ ²⁰⁷

Toward the east side of the mesa called Dzil na’odili there is a place named Ta chee. On the top of this small mesa a man and a woman were found. From these two sprang the clan called Tlasch chee, or Tha’tsini, Red Under the Bank. At another place called Ash chee, salt, there arose two persons, a man and a woman. From these two came the clan called Ash chee, or Asi’hi, the Salt Clan. This clan was also called the Beautiful Goods Clan. To the east, toward the mountain called Sis na’ jin, a man and a woman arose. From them came the clan called Sis na’ jin ee’. Another man and a woman arose at a place called Tse nee tat net tsa. From them came the clan called Tat nes tsa nee, the home in the side of the cliff with sticks meeting, or joining, in a different way at top.

Now when the two fetishes and the two ears of corn became human beings there were 8 that arose with them, so in all there were 12—6 male beings and 6 female beings. (There must have been fetishes laid in all the above-mentioned places from which these people came. These 12, forming 6 clans were the first Dîné.)²⁰⁸

These 12 people first made their home around Dzil na’odili, which means “The People Move Round Me.” After so many years they multiplied. Then there were four who came to them, two men and two women. They came from a place called Tqo toda sihee, which was on the top of mountain Tso dzil. When night came the people gave these four a blanket to sleep on, but they would not accept it. They sat down and, crossing their arms tightly over their breasts, slept that way. From these four started the clan called Bit an he or Bita’ni, meaning, their arms folded under.

There was another people living at a place called Tqo hee tle, where the Pine River nears Ignacio. Here the two rivers empty into the San Juan, and the name of the place is Tqo hee tle. At a place a little above there on the San Juan lived another people. They also came and joined the Dine. From them came the clan called Tha ban ha, along the water. They were the descendants of the snipe people. Snipe always know where water is to be found. They even know when water will come and will show the high mark of flood water.

By this time there were many people living around Dzil na’odili.

There was a place called Tsa ya hat tso, a large cave lined with red which is southeast of Dulce. There is a black canyon, and farther on there is a cave. The Holy People who planned the White Bead Woman lived there. They said:

There are many people living near Dzil na’ odili. They have no guard at the entrance of their home. All others, the Sun, the Mountains, the Plains have guards for the entrances of their homes. Those people down there must have the same as the rest. They must have the red corn and the red banded corn and the dog for their guards.

Here the same ceremony as before was held. There were the turquoise male fetish and the white bead female fetish and the two ears of corn. They call upon the Five Chiefs of the Winds for help and they sent the Little Breeze. Four more people were formed, two men and two women, and from them sprang the clan called Tat chee nee, or Tha’tsini, meaning red lining of the cave.²⁰⁹

The Holy Beings formed the dog, male and female. The male dog was dressed with the dawn and he was white. He traveled to the East. The female dog was reddish or brownish yellow and she was dressed with the twilight. On their ears sat the Little Breeze. Their ears were made from the winds, and at the tip of the tail also there is a breeze. So when a dog passes another dog he can tell from the mouth to the tip of the tail. Burned food was put on their noses and they were black. A medicine stick, ke et an’dotishe, was placed inside their stomachs, and they say that is why a dog never gets enough to fill him. As he has the wind at the ears and at the tip of the tail he never gets lost. He knows many things, for he was sent to guard the doorways of the people.

The male dog was sent east of the Carrizos and the female dog to a place now known as Tohatchi. The white dog was a welcome animal. The people were good hunters and they fed him and petted him and he grew fat. But the female dog went to evil people who beat her and threw sticks at her and she grew poor and skinny.

The dogs were told to meet at a placed called Tse ha gaye. There are burning minerals under the ground there and one sees smoke.²¹⁰ They met there as instructed, but when they met the male jumped on the female and threw her on the ground. The male dog treated her badly. They fought as dogs do now. Then they crossed. The dog said: “People were good to me and fed me lots of meat.” The bitch said: “People were cruel to me. They starved me all the time.” So they changed places; the white dog went to the home of the yellow dog, and the female went to the home of the male. And after a time they met again at the same place. This time the white dog had gotten the worst of the treatment and was thin and poor, whereas the bitch was fat. So the two got even with each other.

Then the two dogs started out for a place called Nat ege saka’te, where a lone currant bush grows on a plain south of Fruitland. A little ledge of rock and the lone currant bush are all that are there. When the dogs reached the ledge of rock they sat side by side with their backs toward the people who had been cruel to them. The one dog sent his bad wish with the gas from his stomach, and the other dog sent her bad wish from her backbone to the wicked people. The two then returned to the place where they were made. Later, the people who had been cruel to the dogs sickened. Their stomachs bloated, and they were very ill indeed.

The being who was called Dotso, the All-Wise Fly, came and said: “The only person to make medicine here is Hasjelti (fig. 15) himself; but don’t tell anyone what I have said. Keep it a secret.” Now up to this time they had used ceremonies over the sick, but they could not cure them. When Hasjelti made the medicine the people recovered.

FIGURE 15.—Hasjelti.

This is where the Dog Ceremony²¹¹ begins. The chant is here.

After this Hasjelti took one of the small boys from the clan Tat chee and carried him off to a dance of his people. He carried the boy to a place called Tse’hoghan (To’waya’lane or Taaitalone known as Thunder Mountain near Zuni). When they returned the little boy danced as he had seen those people dance. Hasjelti said: “My grandchild, you will be called Jil yenn taeye, and you must dance like the dancers that you have seen.”

Hasjelti said that the dancers must dress in the following manner: 12 tail feathers with little singing birds on their tips for the headdress; the growing corn with a tassel for a nose; the skirt and leggings and moccasins of buckskin with fringe; and a sacred belt with trimmings. Each dancer must hold a sacred fawnskin medicine bag in his right hand.

Now Hasjelti had planned how the monsters should be killed; how the White Bead Woman was to be formed; how the two dogs should be the guards of the people; and how the ceremonial people should dance. He planned the clan called Tat chee. The Tat chee people have fiery tempers, broad faces, and large heads.

Then Hasjelti spoke to the people he had made and said:

My grandchildren, you are not to live in this part of the country. You must go to other people and join them. I have shown you how this dance must be danced. It will be a sacred dance for you. It will be a holy dance for you. The first four dancers will have four words that they must use. These words will be the names of the corn which will grow from the earth.

He continued:

Secondly, they will name the water, the same being the rain from above. Thirdly, they will name the plants, all the plants on the earth. And last, they will name the pollen.

If a mistake is made in the first dance, it will be an evil thing and people will suffer from it. So the dancers must take great care from the beginning to the end. The first four dancers that come out in this dance will be called “at sal tle.” When these first four go out, and the people are well satisfied with them, they will open their medicine bags and sprinkle pollen on their heads as an offering, and they will call on Hasjelti saying: “May it be so from this day on. May we have corn. May we have rain. May we have all the growing plants with all their pollens. May we have the beautiful earth on which we can gather corn, beautiful goods and precious stones and all the animals that we use for food. May the sheep and the horses increase, and may our children increase. May their days be beautiful and may all be beautiful around us. Thus they must pray after the four dancers leave.”

THE MAKING OF THE HEADDRESS

Hasjelti said:

The headdress for this dance should be made of buckskin. One medicine man may have 12 or more headdresses which are called tcgich or tqegisch. This includes the hide, the feathers, and the blue fox and swift skins.

He continued:

There are many rules that must be followed. The hide used must be that of a deer not killed by a weapon. The whole hide must be reserved for the headdress. All the different places where the buckskin should be cut must first be run over by a piece of crystal. You must take the sinew from the right side of the spinal cord and use it for the sewing of the right side of the headdress. And from the bone of the deer’s right foreleg must be made the awl to sew it with. So with the yellow feathers from the little yellow bird, they must be sewed only on the right side of the headdress. And the whole must be sewed by a right-handed man. Again, from the left side of the back of the deer take the sinew. And from the left foreleg make the awl. Sew the left side of the headdress with the bluebird feathers. And a left-handed man should sew the left side ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL - SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY,
• Table of Contents
• Table of Figures
• PREFACE
• THE DÎNÉ: ORIGIN MYTHS OF THE NAVAHO INDIANS
• THE CREATION OR AGE OF BEGINNING
• THE ORDER OF THINGS, OR THE AGE OF ANIMAL HEROES
• THE AGE OF THE GODS, OR THE STORY OF THE TWINS
• THE WANDERINGS OR AGE OF THE PATRIARCHS
• LITERATURE CITED
• A CATALOG OF SELECTED DOVER BOOKS IN ALL FIELDS OF INTEREST