400 



ZUNI CREATION MYTHS. 



[ETH. ANN. 13 



brother gazed at her, be became crazed with love of her, greater than 

 that of a brother's, greater than that of kin men for kin ' * * * 



Crazed was he, yea, and bideless of act; and the sister, thus 

 awakened, fled from him in loud aflright, and then, in shame and hot 

 anger turning, upbraided liiiu fiercely. Wondrous beings were they, 

 more than it is the lot of mere men in these days to be, for they were 

 the children of Ka'wimosa the priest, and a priestess- mother in the 

 times of creation and newness. And so, like to the surpassing ones, 

 they were ^hlimnawiho, or changeable-by-will inclined; yea, and all 

 things were h'yaiyuna or formative, when the world was new! Lo, 

 now ! Therefore, as she upbraided him, her eyes grew great and glar- 

 ing and her face spotted and drawn. And he, as he heard and saw 

 her, grew dazed, and stood senseless before her, his head bowed, his 

 eyes red and swollen, his brow bent and burning. 



"Thou shameless of men ! " cried the maiden. " Know tliat thou shalt 

 return to thy people never; nay, nor will I! Lo! I will make by mine 

 the power a deep water dividing this mountain ! Alone on one side 

 shalt thou dwell, alone on the other dwell I ! I will draw a line, and 

 make a swift water between the day-land and the night-laud, between 

 all our people and us ! " She stamped with her sandal as she spake, and 

 deep was the mark thereof; for the mountain was hollow and resound- 

 ing. Then she ran headlong down to the westward end of the moun- 

 tain and drew her foot along the sands from the south to the northward, 

 and deep was the gully she made. And the brother, seeing her flee, 

 ran after her calling hoarsely. But now, as he neared her, he stopped 

 and stared ; and forthwith grew crazed more than ever ; but with anguish 

 and fright this time, at her rage and distortion. As she turned again 

 back, he threw his arms aloft, and beat his head and temples and tore 

 away his hair and garments and clutched his eyes and mouth wildly, 

 until great welts and knobs stood out on his head; his eyes pufi'ed and 

 goggled, his lips blubbered and puckered ; tears and sweat with wet 

 blood bedrenched his whole person, and he cast himself headlong and 

 rolled in the dust, until coated with the dun earth of that plain. And 

 when he staggered to his feet, the red soil adhered to him as skin 

 cleaves to flesh, and his ugliness hardened. 



The maiden stared in wild terror at what she had wrought! And 

 now she, too, was filled with aTiguish and shrieked aloud, tossing her 

 arms and rushing hither and thither, and so great was her grief and 

 despair that her hair all whitened. Lo ! now she lamented plaintively 

 and pitied her brother, for she thought — woman-like! — "But he loved 

 me!" So, she tenderly yearned for him now, and ran toward him. 

 Again he looked at her, for he was crazed, and when he saw her close 

 at hand, so strange looking and ugly, he Laughed aloud, and coarsely, 

 but anon stood still, with his hands clasped in front of him and his 

 head bowed before him, dazed! When he laughed, she too laughed; 

 when he was silent and bowed, she cried and besought him. Thus it 



