M.\RCH, 1905. The Traditions of the Hopi- — Voth. 151 



42. THE BLIND MAN AND THE LAME MAN.' 



A long time ago there was an earthquake at Oralbi. It was a very 

 nice day; people had eaten their breakfast as usual, and were happy. 

 Then towards noon the earth and the houses began to move and to 

 tremble, and very soon there was a great noise like thunder, but 

 nothing could be seen and the people did not know where it came 

 from. They ran to their houses and everywhere to see what was the 

 matter. Sometime in the afternoon the earth trembled very much, 

 and a large piece of ground sank down at Skeleton gulch (Masvovee), 

 so called because at one time a great many slain people were thrown 

 there. This is situated about half a mile northeast of Oraibi; the 

 piece that sank down reached nearly to the village of Orafbi. There 

 was also a very large crack right on the public square or plaza of the 

 village. 



By this time the people got frightened very much, and all left the 

 village, running toward the north. In the village there lived in one 

 of the houses a blind man, and in another house a cripple who could 

 not walk. When these noticed that some serious disturbance was 

 taking place, they got very much frightened, and the blind man 

 called over to the cripple asking for information. The latter answered 

 that the earth had been trembling and the village had been in motion, 

 and that all the people had left the village. The cripple then asked 

 the blind man to come over to his house. The blind man asked the 

 cripple to come over to his house, but after a while the cripple pre- 

 vailed, and the blind man, taking a stick and feeling his way before 

 himself, tried to reach the house of the cripple, the latter directing 

 him which way to go. When he had arrived at the house the cripple 

 said : " Let us also flee. You carry me on your back, and I shall show 

 you the way." This they did, the cripple turning the head of the 

 blind man in the direction in which he wanted him to turn and to go. 

 Thus they left the village, also in a northerly direction, following the 

 others. 



A short distance north of the village a large elk met them, coming 

 from the north. " O my! what is that?." the cripple said, on the back 

 of the blind man. "What is it ?" the latter asked. "Something very 

 large. It is nearly black, and yet it is not quite black." The blind 

 man, who had been a great hunter in his youth, when he still had his 

 eyesight, at once suspected what it might be, and asked for details, 

 and soon concluded that it must be an elk. Before leaving the village 



' Told by 06y4waima (Oraibi). 



