[Illustration: _Hah-Tse-Yalti, the talking God._] THE SONS OF KAI _The Story the Indian Told_ By Henry Beston New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1927 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1926. _Printed in the United States of America by_ J. J. LITTLE AND IVES COMPANY, NEW YORK To MISS MARY CABOT WHEELWRIGHT _Because those who love the Southwest and its peoples owe to her courage, her discernment, and her venturing spirit more than they can repay._ ILLUSTRATIONS HAH-TSE-YALTI, THE TALKING GOD. _Frontispiece_ PAGE THE TWIN SONS OF KAI. _facing_ 6 THE BUFFALOES AND THE BUFFALO CALVES. _facing_ 12 THEY SWAM AND THRASHED ABOUT IN THE POOLS. 15 “WHERE ARE YOUR SONS?” 23 THERE WERE FLASHES OF LIGHTNING THROUGH THE TUMBLING WATERS. 27 THE TWINS LEARNED THE USE OF BOW AND ARROW. _facing_ 30 “HERE ARE THREE GIFTS TO HELP YOU WIN THEM.” 33 HOMEWARD TO THE CANYON OF THEIR CHILDHOOD. 53 THE SONS OF KAI The country of the Navahos lies south and west of the Rocky Mountains on a great tableland lifted up into the sky. It is a country of canyons and deserts, mountains and wild pasture lands arched over by the bluest sky in all the world. The sun there seems bigger than our northern sun, and he treads the sky each day like a proud Indian god in a feather headdress of gold and fire. When a Navaho falls ill, or has recovered from an illness, his friends and the friends of his friends meet together by night to dance the sacred fire dance. In the open land by some lonely settlement in the ancient hills, they kindle great fires under the starry sky, and dance the sacred dance round and about the flames. The old men sing, the drums resound, and the tread of the dancers shakes the earth till the fires sink and die in the glow of the mountain dawn. The song which the old men sing at the dance is very beautiful and very old. It is called the Song of Healing. This is the story the Navahos tell about the song. [Illustration]