March, 1905. The Traditions of the Hopi • — Voth. 237 



the field early and stayed there during the day. When the sun was 

 well up it became warm and then she heard the singing again. She 

 thought she would see what it was, and going in a southerly direction 

 she came upon a little wash, and away down in the wash in the shadow 

 of the bank she saw many little beings engaged in a dance and in 

 singing. When she saw them she stopped short, but the Grasshoppers 

 also noticed her and said: "Somebody is standing there"; so they 

 stopped their dancing. The maiden said, "Go on, dance some more," 

 but they hesitated for a little while. She urged them to perform 

 another dance, but they refused to do it. She finally said, "If you 

 dance for me once more you can have one division of our corn-field 

 and eat the com." They then were willing to dance, bending their 

 front legs like arms, and swinging them lively back and forth, to 

 which they sang the following song:* 



Yayaaaaa shaolololo, 

 Yayaaaaa shaolololo, 

 Hotingawi, 

 Yayaaaa shaolololo, 

 Yayaaaa shaolololo, 

 Hotingawi. 

 Halatoni halatoni, 

 Halatoni halatoni, 

 Yamoshkiki yamoshkiki, 

 Ruk, ruk, ruk, ruk. 



When they were through they said: "Now, let us go," and then 

 they began to emerge from the wash and it was found that they had 

 wings, so they flew to the corn-field and began to devour the com. 

 The maiden ran after them, and when she saw that they were eating 

 away the com beyond the limit she had allowed them, she told them 

 they should stop as her father would be angry. When she saw that 

 they would not stop she began to cry and took her blanket and began 

 to beat them. When she found that that would not do any good she 

 left them and ran to the village, arriving there nearly at. noon, all in 

 perspiration and nearly out of breath. Her father was just spinning 

 cotton for a ceremonial robe (at66), for her. "Why did you come 

 home?" her father asked. "Yes," she said, "something is eating our 

 com," and then she told him all about it. "Ishohf!" he exclaimed, 

 "they are certainly going to eat all of the com." He at once laid 



' The meaning of some of the words only is known. The first word is probably derived from 

 "ydyalawa" (damage), referring [to the damage done by the Grasshoppers in the corn-field, 

 "yam6shkiki" expresses such ideas as swarming, crowding each other; "ruk" is said to refer to 

 the rubbing of the legs against the wings by the Grasshoppers. 



