This is the most complete version of the Navajo creation story to appear in English since Washington Matthews' Navajo Legends of 1847. Zolbrod's new translation renders the power and delicacy of the oral storytelling performance on the page through a poetic idiom appropriate to the Navajo oral tradition.
Zolbrod's book offers the general reader a vivid introduction to Navajo culture. For students of literature this book proposes a new way of looking at our literary heritage.
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Yes, you can access Diné Bahane' by Paul G. Zolbrod in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Folklore & Mythology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
It is said1 that at Tó bił dahisk’id white arose in the east and was considered day. We now call that spot Place Where the Waters Crossed.
Blue arose in the south. It too was considered day. So the Niłch’i dine’é, who already lived there, moved around.2 We would call them Air-Spirit People in the language spoken today by those who are given the name Bilagáana, which means White Man.
In the west yellow arose and showed that evening had come. Then in the north black arose.3 So the Air-Spirit People lay down and slept.
• • • •
At Tó bił dahisk’id where the streams came together water flowed in all directions. One stream flowed to the east. One stream flowed to the south. One stream flowed to the west. One stream flowed to the north.4
Along three of those streams there were dwelling places. There were dwelling places along the stream that flowed east. There were dwelling places along the stream that flowed south. There were dwelling places along the stream that flowed west. But along the stream that flowed north there were no dwellings.
• • • •
To the east there was a place called D
. In the language of Bilagáana the White Man that name means food. To the south there was a place called Nahodoolá. It is unknown what that name means. And to the west there was a place called Lók’aatsoh sikaad. In the White Man’s language that name means Standing Reed. Nothing is said about a place to the north.
Also to the east there was a place called Ásaa’łáá’ii, which means One Dish. And also to the south there was a place called Tó hadziłtił, which means A Big Amount of Water Coming Out in the language of Bilagáana. And also to the west there was a place called Dziłłichíí’ bee hooghan. That name means House of Red Mountain. To the north there are no places that have been given names.
Then there was a place called Leeyaa hooghan to the east. In his language the White Man would give it the name Underground House. And there was another place called Chiiłchintah to the south. In the language he speaks Bilagáana would give it the name Among Aromatic Sumac. And there was another place called Tsé łichíí’ bee hooghan to the west. In the language of his people the White Man would give it the name House of Red Rock. We hear of no places with names to the north.
• • • •
In those early times dark ants dwelled there. Red ants dwelled there. Dragonflies dwelled there. Yellow beetles dwelled there.
Hard beetles lived there. Stone-carrier beetles lived there. Black beetles lived there. Coyote-dung beetles lived there.
Bats made their homes there. Whitefaced beetles made their homes there. Locusts made their homes there. White locusts made their homes there.5
Those are the twelve groups who started life there. We call them Niłch’idine’é. In the language of Bilagáana the White Man that name means Air-Spirit People. For they are people unlike the five-fingered earth-surface people who come into the world today, live on the ground for a while, die at a ripe old age, and then leave the world. They are people who travel in the air and fly swiftly like the wind and dwell nowhere else but here.
• • • •
Far to the east there was an ocean. Far to the south there was an ocean. Far to the west there was an ocean. And far to the north there was an ocean.
In the ocean to the east dwelled Tééhoołtsódii, who was chief of the people there. In the White Man’s language he can be called The One That Grabs Things In the Water. In the ocean to the south lived Táłtł’ááh alééh. His name means Blue Heron. In the ocean to the west Ch’ał made his home and was chief of those people. In the language of the White Man he would be called Frog. And in the ocean to the north dwelled li’ni’ jiłgaii. In the White Man’s language that name means Winter Thunder. He was chief among whoever those people were who lived there, it is said.6
Two
It is also said that the Air-Spirit People fought among themselves. And this is how it happened. They committed adultery, one with another.7 Many of the men were to blame, but so were many of the women.
They tried to stop, but they could not help themselves.8
Tééhoołtsó’dii The One That Grabs Things In the Water, who was chief in the east, complained, saying this:
“They must not like it here,” he said.
And Táłtł’ááh álééh the Blue Heron, who was chief in the south, also complained:
“What they do is wrong,” he complained.
Ch’ał the Frog, who was chief in the west, also complained. But he took his complaint directly to the Air-Spirit people, having this to say to them:
“You shall no longer be welcome here where I am chief,” is what he said.
“That is what I think of you.”
And from his home in the north where he was chief, li’ni’ jiłgaii the Winter Thunder spoke to them also.9
“Nor are you welcome here!” he, too, said to them.
“Go away from this land.
“Leave at once!”
• • • •
But the people still could not help it: one with another they continued to commit adultery. And when they did it yet another time and then argued with each other again, Tééhoołsódii The One That Grabs Things In the Water would no longer speak to them. Táłtł’ááh álééh the Blue Heron would no longer speak to them. Likewise Ch’ał the Frog would say nothing to them. And li’ni’ jiłgaii the Winter Thunder refused to say anything.
Four days and four nights passed.
Then the same thing happened. Those who lived in the south repeated their sins: the men with the women and the women with the men. They committed adultery. And again they quarreled afterward.
One woman and one man sought Tééhoołtsodii The One That Grabs Things In the Water in the east to try to straighten things out. But they were driven away. Then they went to Táłtł’ááh álééh the Blue Heron in the south. But they were again driven away. And they looked for Ch’ał the Frog in the west. But they were driven away again. Finally they went to the north to speak with li’ni’ jiłgaii the Winter Thunder. He, too, drove them away, breaking his silence to say this to them:
“None of you shall enter here,” he said to them.
“I do not wish to listen to you.
“Go away, and keep on going!”
• • • •
That night the people held a council at Nahodoolá in the south. But they could not agree on anything. On and on they quarreled, until white arose in the east and it was again day. Tééhoołtsódii The One That Grabs Things In the Water then spoke to them:
“Everywhere in this world you bring disorder,” he said to them.
“So we do not want you here.
“Find some other place to live.”
But the people did not leave right away. For four nights the women talked and squabbled, each blaming the other for what had happened. And for four nights the men squabbled and talked. They, too, blamed one another.
At the end of the fourth night as they were at last about to end their meeting, they all noticed something white in the east. They also saw it in the south. It appeared in the west, to...
