544 RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE ZUNI CHILD. 
and blistered skin. The Kok ko repeat the prayers for rain with their 
intercessions to the Yi-to-tka, the Sun, and by them the plume sticks are 
sent to the same great god. So constantly are the lesser gods employed 
in offering plumes to the great god that at night the sacred road (the 
Galaxy) can be seen filled with feathers, though by day they are in- | 
visible. They believe that the soul or essence of the plumes travels 
over this road, just as the soul from the body travels from Zuni to the 
spirit lake, and in their offerings of food the food itself is not received 
by the gods, but the spiritual essence of the food. 
One of the most important characters in Zuni mythology, the Kiik-l0, 
finding himself alone in the far Northwest, saw many roads, but could 
not tell which one led to his people, and he wept bitterly. The tear 
marks are still to be seen on the Kiik-lo’s face. A duck, hearing some 
one’s cries, appeared and inquired the cause of the trouble. ‘I wish 
to go to my people, but the roads are many, and I do not know the 
right one.” The sagacious duck replied, “ I know all roads, and I will 
lead you to your people.” Having led the Kiik-16 to the spirit lake, he 
said, “* Here is the home of the Kok-ko; I will guide you to the kiva 
and open for you the door.” After entering the kiva the Kiik-ld viewed 
all those assembled and said, ‘Let me see; are all my people here? No; 
the K0-10-00-wit-si (plumed serpent) is not here; he must come,” and two 
of the Kok-k0o (the Soot-ike) were dispatched for him. This curious 
creature is the mythical plumed serpent whose home is in a hot spring 
not distant from the village of Tkap-qué-na, and at all times his voice 
is to be heard in the depths of this boiling water. 
In the days of the old, a young maiden, strolling along, saw a beau- 
tiful little baby boy bathing in the waters of this spring; she was so 
pleased with his beauty that she took him home and told her mother 
that she had found a lovely little boy. ‘The mother’s heart told her it 
was not achild really, and so she said to the daughter; but the daughter 
insisted that she would keep the baby for her own. She wrapped it 
carefully in cotton cloth and went to sieep with it in her arms, In the 
morning, the mother, wondering at her daughter’s absence, sent a second 
daughter to call her. Upon entering the room where the girl had gone 
to sleep she was found with a great serpent coiled round and round her 
body. The parents were summoned, and they said, “This is some god, 
my daughter; you must take him back to his waters,” and the maiden 
followed the serpent to the hot spring, sprinkling him all the while with 
sacred meal. Upon reaching the spring the serpent entered it, the 
maiden following, and she became the wite of the K0-10-00-wit-si. 
The Ko ]0-00-wit-si soon appeared with the two Soot-ike who had been 
dispatched for him. They did not travel upon the earth, but by the 
underground waters that pass from the spring to the spirit lake. Upon 
the arrival of the K6 10-00-wit-si, the Kiak-l6 issued to this assemblage 
his commands, for he is the great father of the Kok-ko. Those who 
were to go to the North, West, South, East, to the Heavens, and to the 

