cusHiNQl THE ORIGIN OF CORN. 393 



dappled seeds far out at the end of the handle, that it might (being 

 of the colors of all the others) point out each of them, as it were, and 

 lead them all ! 



And when, on the morrow, the watchers saw the plumes standing 

 there all beaiitiful in the plain, and asked who planted them, and for 

 what, the priests replied, " Yerily they were planted in the night, while 

 ye heedlessly drowsed, by the seven stars." Thereat the people, mis- 

 taking their meaning, exclaimed, " Behold ! the seed wands of the stars 

 themselves!" and they joyed in the omen that their prayers had been 

 heard so far. And lo! during the eight days and nights there arose 

 thick mists, hail and rain descended until torrents poured down from the 

 mountains bringing new soil and spreading it evenly over the plain. 

 And when on the morning of the ninth day the clouds rolled away, 

 ^^UluuP' shouted our fathers of thie Seed kin to the stranger people; 

 " Water and new soil bring we, where erst was barren hardness; yea, 

 even grasses, tall and plumed as were our wands, and spiked with seed, 

 for the grass seed had sprouted and the new wands taken root and 

 grown, and now had long feathery blades and tall, tasseled stems, wav- 

 ing in the wind. 



"Yea, verily!" cried the People of the First- growing- grass kin 

 (Aik'yaho-kwe), chief of the clans of Seed, " we are the People of 

 the Seed!" 



But the strangers, heeding not their boastings, replied, " Tea, verily, 

 enough ! It is well ! Truly water and new soil ye have brought, and 

 grasses growing great therefrom, yet ye have not brought forth new 

 life therefor of the flesh of men or the seed of seeds ! (Jome now, let 

 us labor together, iu order that what ye have begun may be perfected. 

 New soil and the seed of its production, the seed of water, yea even 

 the substance of seed itself we had not, yet of the seed of seed we 

 are verily the people, and our maidens are the mothers thereof, as ye 

 shall see." 



Then they, too, set apart eight days, during which to prepare for 

 their cvistom, and they further said, " That we may be perfect in the 

 plenishing and generation of the seed of seeds, send ns forth, O, ye 

 comers, a youth of the kin of Water and of those who hold posses- 

 sion of the precious k^ydetone, which give unto us likewise, that we Join 

 it to the clmetone ye have placed in the midst of the growing plants, 

 according to our understanding of its meaning and relation. And let 

 the youth be goodly and perfect and whole of seed." 



Therefore the fathers of the people chose forth, it is said, YApo- 

 tuluha, of the clans of Water, foster child of the great Sun-priest 

 Yanauluha, and named of him. And into his hand they gave the 

 l-'ydetone and certain of their wands of worship, and sent him to 

 the strangers glorious to look upon. Now there were in the village of 

 the stranger Seed people seven maidens, sisters of one another, virgins 

 of one house, and foster children of Paiyatuma (the God of Dew) him- 

 self. And they were surpassingly beautiful, insomuch so that they 



