Myths and Tales from the White Mountain Apache. Goddard Pliny Earle
other boy to catch a horse, wanting to know who had told him which horse to catch. There was a stallion running around the outside of the herd. Its mane reached the ground; he was acting wild but the fly told them that although he acted as if he were mean he was really gentle. He directed them to take both these horses from the Sun. When the other boy started with his rope toward the stallion he was running around the outside of the herd and coming toward the boy. When he came close and saw the boy he stopped and then wheeled back. The boy lassoed it and immediately the horse trotted up to him, nosing his arm. He led the stallion up beside the sorrel horse which was a mare. The Sun said: “There they are, ride them, take them with you to the earth.”
The boys then asked for the horse trappings for which they had also come. The Sun said he did not know what they meant by horse trappings. The younger boy said, “Well, if you do not know what horse trappings are, do not again put them on these horses in the corral.” The Sun asked who it was who had made them as smart as he was himself. They replied that he, the Sun, had made them smart and had made them speak wisely. They then asked by name for bridle, halter, saddle blanket, and saddle.11 Turning his back to the boys he walked away and opened a door, bidding the boys enter. They went in and saw saddles lying there with bridles hanging on the saddle horns. The blankets were lying beneath. Before they went in the fly flew in and selected two out of all the saddles. One was lying at the east and the other at the west. The first was blue and the other yellow. The fly had returned to one of their ears by the time the Sun said: “There are those saddles, take the ones you want.” The fly told the boys that the saddles which looked good really were not, but that they should choose the blue and yellow ones, indicating them, and the blankets, halters, bridles, and ropes of similar colors lying by them. These were the Sun's own particular set of trappings. When the Sun urged them to hurry up each boy stepped toward the saddle he had chosen. When they did so the saddles moved of themselves with the blankets and bridles. There was a sound “gij” of the moving leather and “tsil” as they came to rest.
The Sun turned his face away and took a black silk handkerchief which had two white stripes around the border from his pocket. With this he wiped his eyes. “I raised you for just this purpose,” he said. The Sun started to walk toward the horses. Their fly had told them not to touch the saddles, that the Sun himself would fix them. “They belong to you,” the fly said. “Everything is alive; the rope on the horse moves about of itself. The saddle will jump on of itself.”12 The fly told them this. The halter was gone, the bridle and saddle blanket which had been lying on the saddle were gone. The halter, bridle, and saddle blanket that had been with the blue saddle were also gone. The Sun called them to come where he was standing. They both went out again and the doors of the saddle room and of the stable were shut.
They went to the Sun, who was standing between the two horses so that their heads projected as he held the bridles. They started away, the boys walking in front of the Sun as he directed them to do. They passed through the four doors to a post standing in front of the Sun's house. He led the horses to the post where they stood without being tied.13 There were four chairs standing inside the Sun's house; and one by itself for the woman.14 His children sat on the chairs and his wife sat on the one which was hers. The Sun addressed them as follows: —
“My boys, I will instruct you about the dangerous places you will come to. The horses know the dangerous places on the way back. My wife is pleased with you and treats you well. That is why you are to have these horses, one of which is hers. The other is mine and so is the saddle, bridle, halter, and saddle blanket. They are all mine. You will go back to your kindred. When you are near, hurry. I will give you something.”
The Sun got up and reached inside to a shelf from which he took up an iron knife like a sword. Turning around he took up a bow and arrows having iron heads. There were two of the arrows. “I give these to you,” he said. “You are giving us these! Our mother did not know about them. Why does she not give us something?” the boys said. The Sun's wife said she would speak a few words to them. “You shall be my nephews. Your mother shall be my sister. She shall be like me. Because of this I have treated you well. She shall be the same as I. I become an old woman and at other times I am as if I were two years old. She shall be the same way.15 You shall tell her this before the Sun travels far. I am the one telling you; he did not tell you. I will name my sister. Your father will give you names.” The Sun picked something up and was still holding it. “Wait, I will tell you something and after that he will give you a name. I name her Nigostsanbikayo.16 Every one will call her that. She will come to me. You, too, will come to me. I give a name to your mother. She will be called Ests'unnadlehi and she will help you. I make a name for her, Ests'unnadlehi, and with that she will help you. When she has children again they will be two girls. These girls will belong to the people for there will be people.17 She will help them. I, too, will help them when they come to me. He, too, will help his children. That is why I am telling you and you must remember it well. I have finished. Your father will tell you about the objects he is about to give you.”
The Sun gave the elder boy a weapon saying, “This will be called a 'blue sword.' You will use it against the monsters on the earth. Because of that I gave you the name, Naiyenezgani.” He gave the weapon to him saying, “That is all for you.” Addressing the younger, he said, “Now I give this to you, Tobatc'istcini. You will use this which I give you against those who prey upon people. You are to help each other. I shall be near you watching you. Whatever you do will be known to me. It will be well if you kill these evil ones. The people will live everywhere.” He gave him the bow with the injunction that he should draw the bow three times without releasing the arrow and then he should shoot the dangerous beings and they would fly apart. Having said this, he proposed they should eat something. The Sun's wife was still sitting in her accustomed seat. The men went to the table, well loaded with food prepared by some unknown agency, and began to eat. The Sun's wife gave the elder one a spotted belt with a yellow fringe hanging from its border.
When they had finished the meal, the Sun said he did not know how the visitors were to return. They went where the horses stood and the Sun said, “Children, this stallion will go well in the lead. Now mount the horses.” He held the stirrup and saddle horn and told the boys to get on. They did so and rode away from the Sun's house where towards the east a post stands up with white hair18 which reaches to the ground and turns up again. The rain falls on it. They rode their horses around this post four times and came back where they were standing before, as the Sun directed them to do.
When they had finished, the Sun's wife came up to them and told her husband to count for his sons the two saddle blankets, two halters, two bridles, two ropes, and two saddles. The Sun told them to start home; that he was well acquainted with them. He charged them to take good care of the saddle blankets and directed that the gray horse should go in the lead because he knew the trail to the place midway between the earth and the sky. From that point the sorrel horse was to lead because that one knew the way from there on. When they returned where their mother lived he told them to stake the horses out for four nights. The sorrel was to be staked toward the east and the gray to the west. Having ridden the horses among the people they were to unsaddle them in some good place. A white saddle blanket was to be placed toward the east, a black one to the south, a yellow one to the west, and a blue one to the north.19 The bridles, halters, ropes, and saddles were to be brought to the camp. He charged them to keep in mind what he was telling, for he was telling them this that they might be good men. He divided his property between his boys. He told them after the horses had been running loose four days to go to them early in the morning. This might be in any good place where canyons meet, making a flat. When they came to them they were to hold out their hands, palms upward, towards the horses. They were to catch the horses while they were licking their hands. They were to consider what he told them and when they should go for the horses after four days, the four canyons coming together would be full of horses. When their horses had been caught by holding out their
To know by name things or animals hitherto unknown is often mentioned as a great feat. P. 24.
It is seldom that the Apache conception of animism is so plainly stated. Songs however abound in the designation of objects as “living.”
When a youth went through an adolescence ceremony he did it with a definite career in mind. The normal myth of this type put the emphasis on the weapons secured and feats of warlike prowess in killing the monsters; that is, the warrior idea is uppermost. This version stresses the acquisition of horses and probably is a specialized myth for those who wish to be successful in acquiring and breeding horses.
The house of the Sun with the stable and corral, the furniture of the house, and many other references indicate the home of a European and such seems to be the conception.
The two wives of the Sun are often mentioned. The Navajo account has Esdzanadlehi go to the west where the sun visits her daily. Here and there, especially in the songs, the Moon is coupled with the Sun, and is feminine in sex. That the Moon and the Earth should both be called the “Woman who renews herself” is interesting. These conceptions are generally vague and implied rather than expressed.
Earth, literally “There on the earth.”
The narrator said those mentioned at the beginning of the narrative were not real people but just like shadows. The other versions have only the one family existing at this time.
The reference may be to moss, especially as rain falling on it is mentioned below.
The narrator said it was true that horses would not pass a blanket so placed in a narrow canyon.
This order of the colors and their assignment varies from the one more generally found of black for the east and white for the south. P. 7, and Matthews, 215.