The Chipmunk who had witnessed the fight hurried up, and after
thanking the Twins said he had come to show them how to cut up the
monster's body, which with his sharp teeth he soon accomplished. One
of the Twins thanked Chipmunk, and, stooping, he dipped the tips of
the first two fingers of his right hand in the Elk's blood and drawing
them along the body of the Chipmunk, made on it the marks which he
still bears.
This is the story of how the Twins killed Chaveyo, who was a giant of
the old times, clad in armor made of flint and seeking always for
people to devour.
One day the Twins went to a great pool near Mt. Taylor, and soon
Chaveyo came there likewise; he knelt down and drank four times,
emptying the pool. He then arose and smelt the Twins and threw his
weapon at them, but one of the Twins sprang in the air and as the
weapon passed under him he caught it in his hand. Chaveyo then flung
his lightning at the hero, but one of the Twins caught this as he had
the weapon. The little war-god now flung his weapon at Chaveyo, but it
glanced off his flint shirt. Then the Youth threw the lightning, but
it only staggered him. After this they threw more lightning at
Chaveyo, which knocked him down and killed him outright.
Another story tells how the Twins visited the sun.
The Twins lived with Spider Woman, their mother, on the west side of
Mt. Taylor, and desired to see the home of their father. Spider Woman
gave them as a charm a kind of meal, and directed that when they met
the guardians of the home of the Sun, to chew a little and spurt it
upon them.
The Twins journeyed far to the sunrise where the Sun's home is entered
through a canyon in the sky. There Bear, Mountain Lion, Snake, and
Canyon Closing keep watch. The sky is solid in this place, and the
walls of the entrance are constantly opening and closing, and would
crush any unauthorized person who attempted to pass through.
As the Twins approached the ever-fierce watchers, the trail lay along
a narrow way; they found it led them to a place on one side of which
was the face of a vertical cliff, and on the other a precipice which
sunk sheer to the Below (Underworld). An old man sat there, with his
back against the wall and his knees drawn up close to his chin. When
they attempted to pass, the old man suddenly thrust out his legs,
trying to knock the passers over the cliff. But they leaped back and
saved themselves, and in reply to a protest the old man said his legs
were cramped and he simply extended them for relief. Whereupon the
hero remembered the charm which he had for the southwest direction,
and spurted it upon the old man, forcing the malignant old fellow to
remain quite still with legs drawn up, until the Twins had passed.
They then went on to the watchers, guardians of the entrance to the
Sun's house, whom they subdued in the same manner. They also spurted
the charm on the sides of the cliff, so that it ceased its
oscillations and remained open until they had passed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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