Who will go to Ácoma and become by slow degrees a familiar and trusted dweller among the people, even as Cushing did at Zuñi? That person alone, I am convinced, talking their language, eating their food, observing quietly their customs, will avail to penetrate the heart of the Ácoma secret. Chapter XIII FOLK-TALES OF ÁCOMA What does the name imply? The ‘lore of the Folk.’ But the ‘folk’ are the backward people among ourselves, and from their unwritten sagas and stories, their customs and beliefs, we find an unmistakable record of the clash of opposing races, but of a time long antecedent to history.—ALFRED CORT HADDON. Three types of the survivals of inherited traditions regarding the supernatural, and its relation to human beings, are the religious beliefs, the great myths, and the folk-tales, which may be regarded as myths in their infancy. Folk-tales are the happenings of more recent times than those that are concerned with the origin of the race and the heroic demi-gods. Story-telling by the old men of any semi-civilized society is the pastime of their leisure hours, and is all the literature of the tribe. With the American Indian there were songs and tales for every adventure in their tribal history. Imagination is so vital an element of all that the Indian believes, entering into all he says and does in daily life, that it must never be out of mind in any study of his culture. All unexplained phenomena belong to the world of necromancy, and every Indian language has its own name for this magic power residing in such phenomena. Throughout the Indian world the song of birds is deemed a magic spell. When, therefore, human beings sing, they too are weaving magic, over the grinding, over the planting, over the painting of jars, to bring the favor of those above upon that especial occupation. Hence, singing is a universal accompaniment of Indian life and Indian worship.