PARSONS) FOLKTALES 411 



eagle's cage so he could be ready for her. Early in the afternoon 

 she started to sing: 



The corn and wheat I have ground 



Will last him the rest of his life. 



The meal I have ground this morning 



With that he will pray to our father Sun, 



So he can watch over me 



No matter where I may be. 



When her stepmother heard this song, she began to berate her as 

 usual. The last words she said were, " If you should have pity on me, 

 tell my father to look for a ceremonial manta, and with that he should 

 try to hit the eagle. If he strike him with that manta, we will 

 return to the house we have Uved in. " Then away they flew. 

 Since her stepmother did not care for her, she did not even glance 

 out when she heard those words. When the neighbors saw the eagle 

 flying away with the girl, they ran to teU her father; but he was not 

 there, only her stepmother. Since she heard what the girl had said, 

 she told everyone who had a ceremonial manta to try to hit the eagle 

 before they went far. The eagle and the girl were sitting on the top 

 of the ladder of the kiva when the people came out with their mantas. 

 As the people began to strike at her, the eagle flew at once toward the 

 east. From the east he returned to the ladder, and thence he went 

 north. From north he returned to the ladder and went west. From 

 west he returned to alight on the ladder and thence he went south. 

 When he returned from the south he alighted on the tip of the ladder 

 and pulled out one of his feathers, and he dropped it down to the 

 girl's father, telling him to use that feather to pray for his daughter. 

 All the tears she had let fall had gone for nothing, so the wenin 

 were taking her away to have a better life. With these feathers he 

 was to ask our father Sun to watch over his daughter. With the 

 power of the wenin she was leaving everything in the house for him 

 to have till he died. All the people started to throw whatever they 

 had to hit the eagle with, but no one hit him, and they went on to the 

 east. When they had gone far away, they came to Mother Spider 

 old woman. The eagle asked Mother Spider old woman if the girl 

 could sleep there that night. Then the ne.xt morning they started 

 again. The eagle took her over to where the wenin were living and 

 left her with them. As she belonged to the White Corn, she went to 

 the wenin of the east. 



21. Founding of Lacuna'* 



Once at Acoma a man and his son were quarreling over their 

 ceremonial things. The boy went out hunting. On his return his 

 father told him to choose between the things on the right hand and 



"^ Heard by narrator at Acoma 



