cusHiNG.] THE ZUNI ILIAD. 13 



listen 10 one-fourth of it during the last recitation, which occurred in 

 February, 1881. I therefore give mere abstracts, mostly furnished from 

 memory, aud greatly condensed, but pronounced correct, so far as they 

 go, by one of the above-mentioned priests. 



THE DRYING OF THK WORLD. 



In the days when all was new, men lived in the four caverns of the 

 lower regions (A-wi-ten t6-huthlna-kwin=the "Pour Wombs of the 

 World"). In the lowermost one of these men first came to know of their 

 existence. It was dark, and as men increased they began to crowd one 

 another and were very unhappy. Wise men came into existence among 

 them, whose children supplicated them that they should obtain deliver- 

 ance from such a condition of life. 



It was then that the " Holder of the Paths of Life," the Sun-father, 

 created from his own being two children, who fell to earth for the good 

 of all beings (tj-anam ^tch-pi-ah-k'oa). The Sun-father endowed these 

 children with immortal youth, with power even as his own power, and 

 created for them a bow (A-mi-to-lan-ne,= the liain Bow) and an arrow 

 (Wi lo-lo-a-ne, = Lightning). For them he made also a shield like unto 

 his own, of magic power, and a knife of flint, the great magic war knife 

 (Silwarni-k'ia a'-tchi-e-ne). The shield (Pi-al-lan-ne) was a mere net- 

 work of sacred cords (Pi-tsau-pi-wi, = cotton) on a hoop of wood, and to 

 the center of this net-shield was attached the magic knife. 



These children cut the face of the world with their magic knife, and 

 were borne down upon their shield into the caverns in which all men 

 dwelt. There, as the leaders of men, they lived with their children, 

 mankind. 



They listened to the supplications of the priests. They built a ladder 

 to the roof of the first cave and widened with their flint knife and shield 

 the aperture through which they had entered. Then they led men forth 

 into the second cavern, which was larger and not quite so dark. 



Ere long men multiplied and bemoaned their condition as before. 

 Again they besought their priests, whose supplications were once more 

 listened to by the divine children. As before, they led all mankind into 

 the third world. Here it was still larger and like twilight, for the light 

 of the Sun himself sifted down through the opening. To these poor 

 creatures (children) of the dark the opening itself seemed a blazing sun. 



But as time went on men multiplied even as they had before, and at 

 last, as at first, bemoaned their condition. Again the two cbiidren 

 listened to their supplications, and it was then that the children of men 

 first saw the light of their father, the Sun. 



The world had been covered with water. It was damp and unstable. 

 Earthquakes disturbed its surface. Strange beings rose up through it, 

 monsters and animals of prey. As upon an island in the middle of a 

 great water, the children of men were led forth into the light of their 

 father, the Sun. It blinded and heated them so that they cried to one 



