March, 1905. The Traditions of the Hopi — Voth. 127 



buried her had returned to the village. Then they approached the 

 graveyard from different places, imitating at different times the 

 sounds of those animals. 



The brother of the deceased maiden being very deeply grieved 

 at the death of his sister, sat at the edge of the mesa watching the 

 grave and thus saw what happened. When he beheld these animals 

 approaching the grave his first impulse was to shoot at them, but 

 when he got his bow and arrow ready he heard some of them speak, 

 and at once knew -that they were not animals but Hopi sorcerers; 

 so he desisted, and heard one of them say that those who had brought 

 old wrappings with them should now tear them all to small pieces, so 

 that the people in the village should think and believe that coyotes 

 had eaten the corpse and that the pieces were remnants of the wrap- 

 pings of the body. So this was done and then the body itself dis- 

 interred. One of the sorcerers that had changed himself into a grey 

 wolf swung the body upon his back and carried it away, being fol- 

 lowed by all the others. 



The young man immediately followed them at some distance to 

 their place of meeting, which they reached in a roundabout way. 

 He saw the body lying north of the fireplace, and heard one of them 

 say that they should hurry up; whereupon he immediately ran back 

 to the village, thinking to whom he might appeal for help, who would be 

 strong enough and have courage enough to rescue the body of his sis- 

 ter. So he went to the war chief. Arriving at his house he announced 

 his presence. The war chief's wife first heard him and replied to his 

 call. She then awoke her husband, saying, "Some one is calling 

 outside. " They invited him in, made a fire, and then he told them 

 his story, asking the old war chief to assist him, and expressing his 

 determination to go right back and try to rescue the body of his 

 sister. The war chief at once promised assistance. He took down 

 two war costumes, shields, weapons, etc., and gave one to the young 

 man, putting the other one on himself. The young man was im- 

 patient and urged that they depart, but the old war chief asked him 

 to wait a little, took a bone whistle, went outside and whistled up- 

 wards, whereupon immediately a great noise was heard and a small 

 man entered the room. This was Cotukvnangwuu, the Star and 

 Cloud deity, living in the sky. "Why do you want me so quickly?" 

 he asked. "Yes," the old man said, "this young man wants you." 

 And he then told him the facts and asked whether he would assist 

 them. The deity at once promised assistance. "Wait a little," the 

 old war chief said, "I am going to call some one else." So he whis- 

 tled again and immediately the Hawk came flying down into the 



