The Indians of the Painted Desert Region: Hopis, Navahoes, Wallapais, HavasupaisJames, George Wharton
Religion
The Indians of the Painted Desert Region: Hopis, Navahoes, Wallapais, Havasupais
James, George Wharton
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New
"Tochopa was full of sadness at the news. He had one daughter whom he
devotedly loved, and from her he had hoped would descend the whole
human race for whom the world had been made. If Hokomata persisted in
his wicked determination she must be saved at all hazard. So, working
day and night, he speedily prepared the trunk of a pinion tree by
hollowing it out from one end. In this hollow tree he placed food and
other necessaries, and also made a lookout window. Then he brought
his daughter, and telling her she must go into this tree and there be
sealed up, he took a sad farewell of her, closed up the end of the
tree, and then sat down to await the destruction of the world. It was
not long before the floods began to descend. Not rain, but cataracts,
rivers, deluges came, making more noise than a thousand Hack-a-tai-as
(Colorado River) and covering all the earth with water. The pinion
log floated, and in safety lay Pu-keh-eh, while the waters surged
higher and higher and covered the tops of Hue-han-a-patch-a (the San
Franciscos), Hue-ga-wōōl-a (Williams Mountain), and all the other
mountains of the world.
"But the waters of heaven could not always be pouring down, and soon
after they ceased, the flood upon the earth found a way to rush
into the sea. And as it dashed down it cut through the rocks of the
plateaus and made the deep Chic-a-mi-mi (canyon) of the Colorado River
(Hack-a-tai-a). Soon all the water was gone.
"Then Pu-keh-eh found her log no longer floating, and she peeped out
of the window Tochopa had placed in her boat, and, though it was misty
and almost dark, she could see in the dim distance the great mountains
of the San Francisco range. And near by was the canyon of the Little
Colorado, and to the north was Hack-a-tai-a, and to the west was the
canyon of the Havasu.
"The flood had lasted so long that she had grown to be a woman, and,
seeing the water gone, she came out and began to make pottery and
baskets as her father long ago had taught her. But she was a woman. And
what is a woman without a child in her arms or nursing at her breasts?
How she longed to be a mother! But where was a father for her child?
Alas! there was no man in the whole universe!
[Illustration: CHICKAPANAGIE'S WIFE, A HAVASUPAI, PARCHING CORN IN
BASKET.]
[Illustration: A WALLAPAI WOMAN POUNDING ACORNS.]
"Day after day longings for maternity filled her heart, until,
one morning,--glorious happy morning for Pu-keh-eh and the Havasu
race,--the darkness began to disappear, and in the far-away east
soft and new brightness appeared. It was the triumphant Sun coming
to conquer the long night and bring light into the world. Nearer and
nearer he came, and at last, as he peeped over the far-away mesa
summits, Pu-keh-eh arose and thanked Tochopa, for here, at last, was a
father for her child. She conceived, and in the fulness of time bore a
son, whom she delighted in and called In-ya´-a--the son of the Sun.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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