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ZUÑI FOLK TALES

Recorded and Translated by

FRANK HAMILTON CUSHING

With an Introduction by J. W. Powell


  [Illustration: TÉNATSALI]






New York and London
G. P. Putnam’S Sons
The Knickerbocker Press
1901

Copyright, 1901
By
Emily T. M. Cushing

The Knickerbocker Press, New York




  [Illustration: {Photograph of Frank Hamilton Cushing}]




LIST OF TALES


                                                                  PAGE
  THE TRIAL OF LOVERS: OR THE MAIDEN OF MÁTSAKI AND THE
    RED FEATHER                                                      1

  THE YOUTH AND HIS EAGLE                                           34

  THE POOR TURKEY GIRL                                              54

  HOW THE SUMMER BIRDS CAME                                         65

  THE SERPENT OF THE SEA                                            93

  THE MAIDEN OF THE YELLOW ROCKS                                   104

  THE FOSTER-CHILD OF THE DEER                                     132

  THE BOY HUNTER WHO NEVER SACRIFICED TO THE DEER HE HAD
    SLAIN: OR THE ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY OF RATTLESNAKES            150

  HOW ÁHAIYÚTA AND MÁTSAILÉMA STOLE THE THUNDER-STONE AND
    THE LIGHTNING-SHAFT                                            175

  THE WARRIOR SUITOR OF MOKI                                       185

  HOW THE COYOTE JOINED THE DANCE OF THE BURROWING-OWLS            203

  THE COYOTE WHO KILLED THE DEMON SÍUIUKI: OR WHY COYOTES
    RUN THEIR NOSES INTO DEADFALLS                                 215

  HOW THE COYOTES TRIED TO STEAL THE CHILDREN OF THE
    SACRED DANCE                                                   229

  THE COYOTE AND THE BEETLE                                        235

  HOW THE COYOTE DANCED WITH THE BLACKBIRDS                        237

  HOW THE TURTLE OUT HUNTING DUPED THE COYOTE                      243

  THE COYOTE AND THE LOCUST                                        255

  THE COYOTE AND THE RAVENS WHO RACED THEIR EYES                   262

  THE PRAIRIE-DOGS AND THEIR PRIEST, THE BURROWING-OWL             269

  HOW THE GOPHER RACED WITH THE RUNNERS OF K’IÁKIME                277

  HOW THE RATTLESNAKES CAME TO BE WHAT THEY ARE                    285

  HOW THE CORN-PESTS WERE ENSNARED                                 288

  JACK-RABBIT AND COTTONTAIL                                       296

  THE RABBIT HUNTRESS AND HER ADVENTURES                           297

  THE UGLY WILD BOY WHO DROVE THE BEAR AWAY FROM SOUTHEASTERN
    MESA                                                           310

  THE REVENGE OF THE TWO BROTHERS ON THE HÁWIKUHKWE, OR THE
    TWO LITTLE ONES AND THEIR TURKEYS                              317

  THE YOUNG SWIFT-RUNNER WHO WAS STRIPPED OF HIS CLOTHING
    BY THE AGED TARANTULA                                          345

  ÁTAHSAIA, THE CANNIBAL DEMON                                     365

  THE HERMIT MÍTSINA                                               385

  HOW THE TWINS OF WAR AND CHANCE, ÁHAIYÚTA AND MÁTSAILÉMA,
    FARED WITH THE UNBORN-MADE MEN OF THE UNDERWORLD               398

  THE COCK AND THE MOUSE                                           411

  THE GIANT CLOUD-SWALLOWER                                        423

  THE MAIDEN THE SUN MADE LOVE TO, AND HER BOYS: OR THE
    ORIGIN OF ANGER                                                429




LIST OF PLATES


                                                        PAGE
  PORTRAIT OF FRANK HAMILTON CUSHING          _Frontispiece_

  THE YOUTH AND HIS EAGLE                                 34

  ZUÑI FROM THE SOUTH                                     64

  WAÍHUSIWA                                               92

  A BURRO TRAIN IN A ZUÑI STREET                         132

  THUNDER MOUNTAIN FROM ZUÑI                             174

  A HOPI (MOKI) MAIDEN                                   184

  A DANCE OF THE KÂKÂ                                    228

  ACROSS THE TERRACES OF ZUÑI                            276

  THE PINNACLES OF THUNDER MOUNTAIN                      344

  PÁLOWAHTIWA                                            388

  ZUÑI WOMEN CARRYING WATER                              428




INTRODUCTION


It is instructive to compare superstition with science. Mythology is the
term used to designate the superstitions of the ancients. Folk-lore is
the term used to designate the superstitions of the ignorant of today.
Ancient mythology has been carefully studied by modern thinkers for
purposes of trope and simile in the embellishment of literature, and
especially of poetry; then it has been investigated for the purpose of
discovering its meaning in the hope that some occult significance might
be found, on the theory that the wisdom of the ancients was far superior
to that of modern men. Now, science has entered this field of study to
compare one mythology with another, and pre-eminently to compare
mythology with science itself, for the purpose of discovering stages of
human opinion.

When the mythology of tribal men came to be studied, it was found that
their philosophy was also a mythology in which the mysteries of the
universe were explained in a collection of tales told by wise men,
prophets, and priests. This lore of the wise among savage men is of the
same origin and has the same significance as the lore of Hesiod and
Homer. It is thus a mythology in the early sense of that term. But the
mythology of tribal men is devoid of that glamour and witchery born of
poetry; hence it seems rude and savage in comparison, for example, with
the mythology of the _Odyssey_, and to rank no higher as philosophic
thought than the tales of the ignorant and superstitious which are
called folk-lore; and gradually such mythology has come to be called
folk-