The North American Indian, Vol. 1Curtis, Edward S.
History
The North American Indian, Vol. 1
Curtis, Edward S.
Indians of North America
"To the home of the Sun," the boys replied.
"Do you know anyone there?"
"Yes," said they, "the Sun is our father." Thereupon Snipe Man placed a
rainbow bridge across the water and told them to pass on, first warning
them against two large Bears, the Lightning, Snakes, and Wind, who guarded
the home of the Sun. They crossed over the rainbow bridge, which took them
almost to the door of the house, and there they were met by the Bears with
bristling coats. Nayé̆nĕzganĭ spoke to them, saying, "I am the child of
Yólkai Ĕstsán." They let him pass. Tobadzĭschí̆nĭ uttered the same words
and passed on also. The same words took the boys past the Lightning, the
Snakes, and the Wind, and they entered the house, going through four
doorways before coming to the living-rooms in the interior.
There they found an elderly woman, radiantly beautiful, with two handsome
boys and girls, the like of whom they had never seen. They stood
transfixed as if in a dream until the voice of the beautiful woman, who
was the wife of the Sun, startled them, demanding to know how they dared
to enter a sacred place forbidden to all save the Dĭgí̆n.
Nayé̆nĕzganĭ replied, saying, "This is the end of our journey. We came to
see our father, the Sun and this we are told is his home."
The wife raged with anger, making dire threats against her husband if what
the boys asserted were true, which she did not doubt since they had found
it possible to gain entrance to her home. Could it be that he was the
father of many of whom she knew nothing? She would find out. Surely he
must have smiled upon most ugly creatures if these two boys were his sons!
It was about time for the Sun to return. As his wife thought of what he
might do to the boys, her anger turned to compassion, and she bade them
wrap themselves in the clouds that hung on the wall, and hide. Ere long a
great rattle was heard outside, and a moment later the Sun came striding
in and hung up his glistening shield. "What strangers are here?" he asked.
There was no answer. Again he asked the question, repeating it a third
time and a fourth, waxing angry. Then his wife began to scold. She told
him that two boys of his, the ugliest creatures she had ever looked upon,
had come to see their father, and demanded to know what it meant. "Where
are they?" asked the Sun; but his wife did not reply to the question;
instead she kept on scolding. The Sun looked about, and noting a change in
the clouds that hung upon the western wall, took them down and unfolded
them, until he discovered Nayé̆nĕzganĭ and Tobadzĭschí̆nĭ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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