404 ZUNI CREATION MYTHS. (eth axn. 13 



ing streams from a wide rain-storm, yet also like rain-streams gather- 

 ing in some great river or lagoon, so they came together and thus abode 

 in seasons of rest. Strong and impetuous, the Bear kindred on the 

 one hand were the first to move and farthest to journey ; on the other 

 hand the Seed kindred led the way; whereas, the heart of them all of 

 the Macaw kindred, deliberately (as was their custom) pursued the 

 middle course of the Sun-father. 



In such order, then, they came, in time, within sight of the great 

 divided mountain of the Ka'yemashi. Seeing smoke and mist rising 

 therefrom, they all, one after another, hastened thither. The Bear 

 peoples were first to approach, and great was their dismay when, on 

 descending into the plain, they beheld a broad river, flowing, not as 

 other waters were wout to flow in that land, from east to west, but 

 straight across their pathway, from toward the south, northward. 

 And lo! on the farther side were the mysterious mountains they sought, 

 but between them rolled swiftly these wide turbid waters, red with the 

 soil of those plains. 



THE ORIGIN OF DEATH BY DYING, AND THE ABODE OF SOULS 



AND THE KA'KA. 



Not for long did the impetuous fathers of the Bear and Crane delib- 

 erate. Nay ! Straightway they strode into the stream and feeling forth 

 with their feet that it e'en might be forded — for so red were its waters 

 that no footing could be seen through them, — they led the way across; 

 yet great was their fearfulness withal ; for, full soon, as they watched 

 the water moving under their very eyes, strange chills did pervade them, 

 as though they were themselves changing in being to creatures mov- 

 ing and having being in the waters; even as still may be felt in the 

 giddiness which besets those who, in the midst of troubled or passing 

 waters, gaze long into them. Nathless, they won their way steadfastly 

 to the farther shore. But the poor women who, following closely with 

 the little children on their backs, were more dya'ive (tender, suscep- 

 tible), became witlessly crazed with these dread fear-feelings of the 

 waters, wherefore, the little ones to whom they clung but the more 

 closely, being k^yaiyuna and all unripe, were instantly changed by the 

 terror. They turned cold, then colder; they grew scaly, fuller webbed 

 and sharp clawed of hands and feet, longer of tail too, as if for swimming 

 and guidance in iinquiet waters. Lo ! They felt of a sudden to the 

 mothers that bore them, as the feel of dead things; and, wriggling, 

 scratched their bare shoulders until, shrieking wildly, these mothers let 

 go all hold on them and were even fain to shake them off — fleeing from 

 them in terror. Thus, multitudes of them fell into the swift waters, 

 wailing shrilly and plaintively, as even still it may be said they are 

 heard to cry at night time in those lone waters. For, no sooner did 

 they fall below the surges than they floated and swam away, still 

 crying — changed verily, now, even in bodily form; for, according to 



