430 ISLETA, NEW MEXICO [eth. ann. 47 



with their beads. The priests had crosses. The bishop liad holy 

 water. She had been asleep, then she woke up and was surprised 

 to see all the people. She was frightened and began to walk from 

 room to room. At last the bishop went in, and the girl flew from 

 comer to comer, and up on the roof where she saw the priest standing 

 with cross and rosary. She was afraid. Some people took hold of 

 her. The bishop came up and began to pray. All the priests were 

 praying. When the bishop began to drop the holy water on her 

 head, she fell dead. And she went right straight up to heaven 

 (papyyai). They began to dig a grave, to have the funeral that 

 same day. After they buried her, they made a fiesta, and gave out 

 all kinds of food for the people to take home. From that time on 

 we have made a feast after a baptism. '^ 



34. Witch Initiation 



They were putting in a medicine man, so the witches thought they 

 had to put in a new member also. One of them proposed putting 

 in a friend of his. He met his friend out hobbling his horse, and 

 invited him to go along to where some people were plajang a game. 

 He took him to Shimtua (a sheer cliff in the mesa to the southwest),^" 

 promising him a new land of game at which there woidd be lots of 

 girls. High up in the cliff they saw a cave. The witch boy with his 

 power made a ladder. "Do not be afraid," he said to his friend. 

 They went up and in. There was an old man sitting by the fireplace; 

 another man was sitting next to liim — witch chief (shaxo kabede) 

 and liis assistant (auki). Going in, they said, "Akuwam!" The 

 chief said, "Do you know how to play at games?" "No." "Your 

 friend can show you." The boy wanted to leave. He went to the 

 side; there was no ladder; he could not get down. His friend said, 

 "If you play a game with me, I \vill take you down." "All right, I 

 will play a game." They went in to tell the witch chief. The boy 

 saw liis sweetheart in there. She said he would get power from 

 playing a game. The games were contrivances to do harm to people. 

 That same night the medicine man was going to be born (initiated). 

 The friend said he was going to carry the boy on his back. The boy 

 could see Ughts coming through the air. Coyotes were coming. The 

 boy got on his friend's back. They were flying. All the witches were 

 flying, flying toward the town. They stopped on top of the hill of 

 the stiUborn.-' There the boy paused with the witch chief. Then 

 he flew on the back of his friend near the house of the medicine society 

 where they could see what was going on. ... In the morning the 

 witches of the town had taken food offerings out to the southwest edge 



>• This tale was heard by the narrator from an Isletan who died in 1902, aged 110. 

 '0 On top of this fiat mesa there is a ruin. Sandia people are said to have lived here. 

 " See p. 300. 



