Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths: Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1891-1892, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1896, pages 321-448Cushing, Frank Hamilton
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Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths: Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1891-1892, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1896, pages 321-448
Cushing, Frank Hamilton
Zuni mythology
"Lo, now! Ye shall sing our dread song-line.
Like beetles that fall in hot ashes
Ye shall perish, ye singers and drummer.
But lo! in the lightnings and wind-storms
Your beings shall join the beloved.
Your breaths, too, shall strengthen the warrior
And give power to the voice of the warrior,
Bringing peace to the Seed-priests and women.
And ye shall be foremost forever
Of our Chosen, _the Priests of the Bow_.
Lo! The people shall see that we dread not
The coming of fire-blasts and thunder
With our name-fathers, fiercer than any--
The Storm gods of all the six regions:
Hä‘hl´tunk‘ya, Wind God of the North;
Ú-heponolo, Wind of the West;
Óloma, Wind God of the South;
Tsailúhtsanok‘ya--of the East;
Saúshuluma, Wind from Above;
Saíshiwani, Blast from Below;
Unáhsinte, Whirlwind of All!
By their breaths and fell power
We shall changed be, in being;
Made black and mis-shapen;
Made stronger with fierceness;
Made swifter with hurling;
Made crafty with turning;
Plunged deep in the waters,
And renewed of their vigor;
Clad anew with their foam-dress!
Yea, the power of the weapons
The Sun-father gave us
And the Foam-mother made us,
That ye be led upward,
Shall multiplied be
In the means of destruction
For the hands of our children,
Ye Priests of the Bow,
That men be kept living!
But to rock, age-enduring,
Grouped in song for our chosen,
O, drummer and singers!
Ye shall changed be forever!
The foot-rests of eagles
And signs of our order!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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