The Navajo Story of Emergence When Again They Sinned
4 Navajo Diné Bahaneʼ
There is not one official version of the Navajo emergence story. This chapter is based on a multifariousness of accounts, particularly Ethelou Yazzie's Navajo History (1971), Paul Thou. Zolbrod's Diné Bahane'(1984), Hastliin Tol'tsi Hee'south oral account (1928), and the oral account told past Hasteen Klah and re-written by Mary C. Wheelright (1942). Refer to those principal sources for the well-nigh administrative versions of the story.
Summary
Diné Bahaneʼ (Navajo:"Story of the People"), the Navajo cosmos myth, describes the prehistoric emergence of the Navajo, and centers on the surface area known as the Dinétah, the traditional homeland of the Navajo. This story forms the ground for the traditional Navajo way of life. The bones outline ofDiné Bahaneʼ begins with the Niłchʼi Diyin (Holy Wind) existence created as the mists of lights which arose through the darkness to animate and bring purpose to the 4 Diyin Dineʼé (Holy People), supernatural and sacred in the dissimilar 3 lower worlds. All these things were spiritually created in the time before the Earth existed and the physical attribute of humans did not be yet, but the spiritual did.
The Commencement or Dark Earth, Niʼ Hodiłhił , was small and centered on an island floating in the middle of four seas. The inhabitants of the commencement world were the fourDiyin Dineʼé, the 2 Coyotes, the iv rulers of the iv seas, mist beings and various insect and bat people, the latter being the Air-Spirit People. The supernatural beings Start Adult female and First Human came into beingness here and met for the start time after seeing each other's fire. The various beings on The First World started fighting with one another and departed by flight out an opening in the east.
They journeyed to the Second or Blue Globe, Niʼ Hodootłʼizh , which was inhabited by various blue-greyness furred mammals and diverse birds, including blueish swallows. The beings from the Commencement World offended Swallow Principal,Táshchózhii, and they were asked to leave. First Homo created a wand of jet and other materials to allow the people to walk upon it upwards into the next globe through an opening in the southward.
In the Third or Yellowish Earth, Niʼ Hałtsooí , in that location were 2 rivers that formed a cross and the Sacred Mountains merely there was notwithstanding no sun. More than creature people lived here too. This fourth dimension it was not discord among the people that collection them away but a not bad flood acquired byTééhoołtsódii when Coyote stole her two children.
When the people arrived in the 4th or White World, Niʼ Hodisxǫs , it was covered in h2o and in that location were monsters (naayééʼ) living hither. The Sacred Mountains were re-formed from soil taken from the original mountains in the Second World. First Man, Showtime Adult female, and the Holy People created the sunday, moon, seasons, and stars. It was hither that true death came into existence via Coyote tossing a rock into a lake and declaring that if it sank then the dead would become dorsum to the previous world.
The First Earth
Of a fourth dimension long ago these things are said. The first world was pocket-sized, and black as soot. In the middle of the four seas there was an isle floating in the mist. On the island grew a pino tree.
Night ants dwelt in that location. Ruddy ants dwelled in that location. Dragonflies dwelled there. Yellow beetles dwelled in that location. Difficult beetles dwelled there. Rock-carrier beetles dwelled at that place. Black beetles dwelled there. Coyote-dung beetles dwelled there. Bats dwelled there. Whitefaced beetles dwelled there. Locusts dwelled there. White locusts dwelled there.
These were the twelve groups of theNíłchʼi Dineʼé, the Air-Spirit People, who lived in the Beginning World.
Effectually the floating island were four seas. Each body of water was ruled by a existence. In the sea to the East dwelledTééhoołtsódii, Big Water Beast, The One Who Grabs Things in the H2o. In the body of water to the south livedTáłtłʼááh álééh, Blue Heron. In the sea to the due west dwelledChʼał, Frog. In the bounding main to the n dwelledIiʼniʼ Jiłgaii, Winter Thunder.
In a higher place each sea appeared a deject. There was a black cloud, a white cloud, a blue deject, and a yellow cloud. The Black Cloud contained the Female spirit of Life. The White Cloud contained the Male spirit of Dawn.
The Black Cloud and the White Cloud came together in the East, and the current of air from the clouds blew. From the breath of wind, First Man,Áłtsé Hastiin, was formed and with him the white corn,Kóhonotʼíinii, perfect in shape, with kernels covering the whole ear. Crystal, symbol of the mind and articulate seeing, was with him.
The Blueish Cloud and the Yellow Cloud came together in the West, and a current of air from the clouds blew. From the breath of wind, Showtime Woman,Áłtsé Asdzą́ą́, was formed, and with her the xanthous corn, perfect in shape, with kernels roofing the whole ear. White shell, and turquoise, and yucca were at that place with her.
First Human being between Black Deject and White Cloud, and First Woman between Blue Cloud and Yellowish Cloud
First Human made a burn with his crystal. Its light was the mind'southward outset awakening. Get-go Woman fabricated a burn down with her turquoise. They saw each other's light in the distance.
When the Blue Cloud and the Yellow Cloud rose loftier in the sky, Outset Woman saw the light of Beginning Man'south fire, and she went out to notice it. Three times she was unsuccessful. The fourth time she found the domicile of Commencement Man. "I wondered what this thing could be," she said. "I saw you walking and wondered why you did not come," First Homo said. "Why exercise y'all non come up with your fire, and nosotros will alive together." Outset Adult female agreed to this. So instead of the human going to the woman, as is the custom at present, the woman went to alive with the man.
Another person,Mąʼiitoʼí Áłchíní, Great Coyote, was formed in the water. He told Outset Human and First Woman that he had been hatched from an egg, and knew all that was under the water and all that was in the skies. First Man believed him. Then a second coyote,Áłtsé Hashké, Showtime Angry, appeared. He said to the three, "Yous believe that yous were the start persons. You lot are mistaken. I was living when yous were formed." Outset Angry brought witchcraft into the world.
The Air-Spirit People became jealous of one another and began to fight. The rulers of the four seas, Blue Heron, Frog, White Thunder, and Big Water Creature could stand information technology no more, and told the beings of the island that they must all leave this globe. Some climbed and some flew until they came to an opening in the sky. They crawled through information technology and into the Second World.
The Second World
First Man, Starting time Adult female, the Peachy-Coyote-Who-Was-Formed-in-the-Water, and the Coyote Kickoff Angry, followed by all the others, climbed up from the Dark World to the 2nd or Blueish World.
Afterwards arriving to the second world, the insect people sent scouts, which were plain locusts, to see if they could find anyone in the area. The scouts were kickoff sent to the east and after two days, they returned and had not found anyone or anything even so. The scouts were then sent south to explore and they were once over again not able to detect anyone or annihilation. The scouts were sent on two more than trips and later they had returned from their fourth trip, the campsite of the Air Spirit people was visited by the Swallow people.
They found a number of people already living at that place: bluebirds, blue hawks, bluejays, blue herons, and all the blue furred beings. The powerful swallow people lived at that place also. They lived in blue houses, scattered beyond a wide, blue plain. The houses were cone-shaped and they were tapered towards the top. The swallow people said to the Air-Spirit People, "Yous are welcome here among us." The Swallow people and Air-Spirit people so treated each other like they were all members of a single tribe, and for 20-3 days they all lived together in harmony. Only on the nighttime of the twenty-fourth day ane of the Air-Spirit People approached the wife of the swallow chief and wished to slumber with her.
The next morning afterward finding out what happened the previous night, the Swallow Chief,Táshchozhii, said to the newcomers, "We welcomed you here among the states. We treated you as kin. Even so this is how you return our kindness. Now you must leave this earth." After the Main told the Air-Spirit people that they must go out, he said "Anyhow, this is a bad land. There is not enough food for all of us. People are dying here every mean solar day from hunger. Even if we allowed you to stay, you could not live here very long." While in the second world, the Air-Spirit people still had not changed their way of life and they were not yet living in balance and harmony.
The Air-Spirit people wandered upwardly looking for a fashion into the adjacent earth.Niłchʼi, The Wind, called to them from the Due south. They followed him and found a slit in the heaven that was upward slanted. The heaven had a difficult trounce similar the world they had previously been to. Starting time Man created a wand of jet and other materials and the Air-Spirit people flew or walked upon information technology up into the side by side earth. One past one they passed through to the other side.
The Tertiary Earth
The bluebird had joined the Air-Spirit People and was the first to accomplish the 3rd or Yellow World. Later him came the Start Iv and all the others.
The great Female River crossed this country from northward to due south. The not bad Male River crossed the land from east to west. The rivers flowed through one some other in the middle, and the name of this identify isTó Ałnáosdlį́į́, Crossing of the Waters.
In the Yellow World were six mountains. In the Due east wasSisnaajiní, Dawn, or White Shell Mountain. In the South wasTsoodził, Blue Bead, or Turquoise Mount. To the West wasDookʼoʼoosłííd, Abalone Shell Mountain. In the N wasDibé Nitsaa, Big Sheep Mountain. Most the Eye of the Xanthous World wasDził Náʼoodiłii, Soft Goods or Banded Stone Mountain. And nearly it, E of center, in that location wasChʼóolʼį́ʼí, Precious Stones, or Great Spruce Mountain.
Holy People lived on the mountains. They were immortal, and could travel past following the path of the rainbow and the rays of the dominicus. One was Haashchʼééłtiʼí, Talking God. His body was white. 1 was Tó Neinilí, Water Sprinkler. He was blue. I was Haashchʼééʼooghaan, Business firm God. His body was yellowish. 1 wasHaashchʼééshzhiní, Black God, the god of burn down. Beyond them to the east lived Turquoise Male child, who was aNádleehi, neither male nor female, who guarded the bully male reed. And far to the Due west, on Abalone Shell Mountain, livedYoołgaii Asdzą́ą́ White Shell Girl, also aNádleeh. With her was the large female person reed, which grew at the water's border with no tassel.
In the autumn, the iv Holy People called to First Man and Showtime Woman, and visited them, but they did non speak. Four days in a row they visited. On the quaternary twenty-four hour period, Black God said, "Yous must cleanse yourselves and we will return in twelve days."
First Human being and Beginning Woman bathed carefully and dried themselves with corn repast. They listened and waited. On the twelfth twenty-four hour period the four Holy People returned. H2o Sprinkler and Black God carried a sacred buckskin. Talking God carried 2 perfect ears of corn, with their points completely covered with kernels. One ear of corn was white, the male person corn belonging to Start Human being. The other ear was yellow, the female corn belonging to Outset Adult female. The gods placed one buckskin on the footing facing west, and on information technology they placed the two ears of corn with their tips pointing e. Under the white ear they put the feather of a white eagle. Nether the yellowish ear of corn they put the feather of a yellow hawkeye. They told the people to stand at a distance so that the air current could enter.
The White Current of air,Níłchʼi Łigai blew between the buckskins, and while the air current blew, each of the Holy People walked iv times around them, and the feathers were seen to move. In this way, they transformed First Human being and First Adult female from spirit people into human beings, with keen powers. "At present," the Holy People said, "alive hither as hubby and wife."
At the end of four days First Woman gave birth to twins. They were neither male nor female person, butNádleeh. Four days later a second set of twins was born, one male and 1 female. Subsequently twenty days a total of 5 pairs of twins had been built-in, half of them male person and half of them female. Nigh at once they were full grown. The Holy People took each gear up of twins to their home on the E Mountain and taught them how to wear masks and pray, and then returned them to their parents. Eight winters passed, and during that time the twins found mates with the Mirage People. Many people came into existence.
Spider Homo, Spider Woman and Weaving
Well-nighTó Ałnáosdlį́į́, Crossing of the Waters, lived Spider Human and Spider Adult female. They knew how to weave the fibers of cotton and hemp and other plants. First Woman asked Spider Human and Spider Woman to teach people how to weave the fibers of plants so they would not have to depend on animal skins for article of clothing. Cotton seeds were planted, and the cotton fiber was gathered. Spider Man taught the people to shape a little wheel, iii or 4 inches in diameter, and put a slender stick through information technology to spin the cotton. Starting time Woman said, "You must spin towards your person, not away, as you lot wish to accept the cute goods come to you. If you spin away from you, the appurtenances volition depart from you." Spider Man named the spindle "yódí yił yaʼhote," meaning "turning around with the beautiful goods." Spider Woman said, "No, it shall exist chosennto is yił yaʼhote, turning effectually with the mixed chips."
After they had spun the thread they rolled it into good-sized balls, and brought straight poles and tied them to make a rectangular frame. Spider Man wound the thread on 2 of the poles from east to due west, over and under the poles. So Spider Man said that the ball of thread should be called "yódí yił nasmas aghaaʼ," meaning "rolling with the beautiful goods." Spider Woman said, "No, it shall be calledntsilí yił nasmas aghaaʼ, rolling with the mixed chips."
After the loom was finished the cross poles were erected and other poles placed on the ground to hold the loom frame solidly, and the loom was stretched into place. Spider Human said, "It shall be calledyótí ilth na daiʼdi, raising with the beautiful goods." Spider Woman said, "No, it shall be calledniltłʼiz na daiʼdi, raising with the mixed chips."
There was a notched stick running across, with a notch holding every other thread. Spider Human being said, "It will exist chosenyódí bił nesłon, looping with the beautiful appurtenances." Spider Woman said, "No, it shall be chosenniltłʼliz bił nesłon, looping with the mixed chips." Then they used a narrow stick about two and a one-half feet long, and wound the yarn or thread over it, and where in that location is no design they ran it along. That was given the same name as the ball of thread. They used the wide flat stick for borer downward the thread. Spider Human being said, "It shall be calledyódí naʼygolte;" but Spider Adult female said, "Information technology shall be calledniltłʼiz naʼygolte."
Spider Man then said, "Now you know all that I have named for you lot. It is yours to work with and to apply following your own wishes. But from at present on when a infant girl is born to your tribe you shall go and observe a web woven at the mouth of some hole; you must take it and rub information technology on the baby's hand and arm. Thus, when she grows up she volition weave, and her fingers and arms will non tire from the weaving."
The Separation of Men and Women
One day Kickoff Homo brought dwelling a fine deer that he had killed. First Woman said, "I thank my vagina for this deer." First Man demanded to know what she meant. "I mean that you bring me food because you wish to have sex activity with me," she said. "Simply we women could alive happily without men. Nosotros are the ones who assemble the nutrient and till the fields. We have no demand of men." Outset Man grew angry and called all the men together. "The women retrieve they can live without usa," he told them. "Let us encounter if that is true."
The men and the 2 hermaphrodite twins crossed the river to the north bank conveying the grinding stones and bowls and baskets that the hermaphrodite twins had made, and the axes and hoes that the men had invented. The women bared themselves along the bank of the river and called out to the men, maxim "See what you are missing?" At that place were occasionally men and women who so longed after the other that some jumped into the river that separated them in a vain endeavour to reunite with their loved ones. Unfortunately the currents of the river were too strong and the swimmers were done down the river, never to be seen over again.
For 4 years the men and the women lived apart. During this time the nutrient that the women harvested became less, because they had no tools, while the men grew more and more than nutrient. But each group longed for the other. The women sought to satisfy themselves with basic and feathers and long stones. The men tried to save their longing with the fresh meat of animals. One man,Kʼíídeesdizí, tried to satisfy himself using the liver of a deer. Owl called out to him to stop. "This is wrong," Owl said. "No expert tin can come of this separation. You must bring the men and the women together once more." As it turns out Owl was right. From the women who had sought to satisfy themselves with foreign objects, monsters were built-in out of this. The monsters would go on the terrorize the people wherever they roamed.
Kʼíídeesdizí spoke to the other men. Finally they all spoke to Kickoff Human. Get-go Homo called across the river to First Adult female, and asked, "Practice you still think you lot can live solitary?" "I no longer believe I tin," she responded. "I am deplorable I let the things you said make me angry," First Man said. And then the men sent a raft to the women'south side of the river to bring the women beyond. The men and women bathed and dried their bodies with corn repast, and remained apart until nightfall. Then they would resume their lives together.
Big Water Creature and the Swell Flood
But a mother and her two daughters had been in the fields and had not seen the raft. Now it was nighttime, and they saw that all of the women had crossed the river to the men'due south side. They began to swim beyond. ButTééhoołtsódii, Big Water Creature, grabbed the two daughters and dragged them to her habitation under the water. For three days and three nights, the people searched the river for the girls, but they could not find them.
On the forenoon of the fourth day, Talking God and H2o Sprinkler appeared with a big bowl of white crush and a big bowl of blue shell. The people gathered around them. They placed the bowls at the h2o's edge, and started to spin them. The spinning bowls created an opening in the water which led downward to a large firm with 4 rooms. Get-go Man and First Woman traveled down the passage and into the house, and backside them crept the Coyote named First Angry. In the north room of the firm, they establish Big Water Creature comatose in a chair. Her ain ii children were there, and besides the two missing daughters. First Man and Get-go Woman took the hands of the girls and led them back through the passage and on to the banking concern. Behind them, Coyote carried the ii children of Big Water Creature, wrapped in his big skin coat with white fur lining. There was cracking celebrating because the lost girls were returned.
The next morning, animals began running past the hamlet from the e. Deer ran by, and turkeys, and antelopes, and squirrels. For iii days, animals ran past, fleeing from something. On the morning of the quaternary day, the people sent locusts flying to the east to find out what was happening. The locusts returned and told that a great wall of water was coming from the east, and a tide of water from the north and from the south. The people ran to the acme of the mountSisnaajiní. First Man ran to each of the other Sacred Mountains, took dirt from each, and summoned the Holy People, and returned toSisnaajiní. Turquoise Boy came begetting the great Male person Reed, and Offset Man planted it in the meridian of the mountain. All the people began to blow on the reed, and it began to grow and grow until it reached the canopy of the sky. Woodpecker hollowed out a passage inside the reed, and the people and Turquoise Boy and the iv Holy People all began to climb up until they came out in the 4th Earth.
The Quaternary World
After the people had all emerged into the Fourth, or White Earth, they saw the water continuing to ascension in the 3rd World beneath them. Big Water Creature pushed her caput through the opening in the reed. Her curly hair floated on the water, and lightning flashed from her black horn and her yellow horn. First Human being asked Large Water Fauna why she had come. She said nix. But the Coyote named Offset Aroused came forrard wearing his skin glaze. He said "Perhaps information technology is considering of this," and drew the ii babies from under his coat. Turquoise Boy took a basket and filled information technology with turquoise. On superlative of the turquoise he placed the blue pollen from blueish flowers and xanthous pollen from the corn, and pollen from water flags, and on superlative of these he placed the crystal, which is river pollen. This basket he gave to Coyote, who put it betwixt the horns of the Large Water Creature, and on the handbasket he placed the ii children. The Big Water Creature disappeared down into the reed, and the water with her.
They saw that they were on an island in the middle of a bubbles lake, surrounded by loftier cliffs. At first the people could not find a way to go across the water to the shore. They chosen on Water Sprinkler to help them. He had brought iv great stones with him from the Tertiary World. He threw one to the east. When it hit the cliff wall, information technology broke a hole through it, and water began to menstruation out of the lake. He threw a stone to the south. He threw one to the west. And to the north he threw one. Each stone created a pigsty in the cliff, and the water of the lake became lower. A lane at present connected the island to the shore to the east, simply information technology was deep with mud. The people called onNíłchʼi Dilkǫǫh, Smooth Current of air, to help them. He blew steadily for a long time, and finally the people were able to leave the island.
Starting time Man and First Woman built a hogan to live in. Information technology was not similar a hogan of today. Kickoff Human dug a shallow pit in the earth and placed poles in it. For the main poles he used 2 parts of the Black Bow,Ałtį́į́ʼ Diłhił. 1 pole he cut from the Male person Reed. One pole he cut from the Female Reed. The structure was covered with globe and grass. Showtime Woman ground white corn and they powdered the poles and sprinkled corn repast inside the domicile from East to W. Get-go Man said, "May my home be sacred and beautiful, and may the days be beautiful and plenty." This was the first hogan-raising ceremony.
Cosmos of Sun and Moon
Inside, First Human being lay with his head to the East, and Showtime Woman lay with her head to the Due west. Their thoughts mingled, and those thoughts were sacred. They began to plan for the time that was to come, and how people would live on the globe. Not bad Coyote-Who-Was-Formed-in-the-Water came in to assist them plan. Together, they planned that in that location should be a sunday, a moon, and 24-hour interval and night. They decided to go along the other Coyote, First Angry, away from their planning, considering it was he who had brought unhappiness.
Beginning Human, Offset Adult female, and Slap-up-Coyote-Who-Was-Formed-in-the-Water covered the flooring of the hogan with a perfect buckskin. On the buckskin the placed a perfect circular turquoise, larger than the height of a human. Below the turquoise they placed a great perfect white beat. At that moment the CoyoteÁłtsé Hashké, Get-go Angry, came and asked them what they were doing. "Zero," they said. "So I see," he said. And he went abroad.
Starting time Homo went looking forHaashchʼééshzhiní, The Blackness Yéʼii, known equally the Fire God. First Man constitute him in a place where there was fire under the world, and called to him. He returned to the first hogan with First Human being. Showtime Man and First Woman too summoned the other three Holy People, Water Sprinkler, House God, and Talking God. Together, they told Turquoise Boy and White Shell Daughter that they were creating the sun and the moon. They asked Turquoise Male child if he would go the dominicus, and they asked White Vanquish Girl if she would become the moon. Again, the Coyote named First Angry came past and asked them what they were doing. "Nothing," they said. "So I see," he said, and he went away.
Kickoff Man, First Woman, Great Coyote, and the Holy People planned that there would exist 12 months. With each month, the moon would pass from dark to light, and the sun would move to a different path in the sky. White Shell Girl was given a whistle made from the Female Reed, with 12 holes in it. Each time she completed her bike she would blow on the whistle, and a new month would brainstorm. The first calendar month was namedGhąąjįʼ, Dorsum-to-Back, or Parting of the Seasons. Today it is called October. The second month was namedNíłchʼitsʼósí, Fourth dimension of Slender Winds. The third month wasNíłchʼitsoh, Great Wind. Information technology is the time to begin to tell the sacred stories. The 4th month, January, wasYas Niłtʼees, Crusted Snowfall. This is the month of many ceremonies, and the time for sacred stories. February, the fifth month, isAtsá Biyáázh, Baby Eagle. After this month, sacred stories must not be told to the immature people. The sixth calendar month,Wóózhchʼį́į́d, is the calendar month of Sudden Spring Storms. Ceremonies are held to bless the fields before seeds are planted. The seventh calendar month wasTʼą́ą́chil, Little Leaves. May,Tʼą́ą́tsoh, was the eighth calendar month. Finally they plannedYaʼiishjááshchilí, When-Few-Seeds-Ripen,Jáátsoh, Great Seed Ripening,Biniʼantʼą́ą́tsʼózí, Little Ripening, and finally September,Biniʼantʼą́ą́tsoh, Harvest Time, when foods are stored for the winter.
Once again, the Coyote named Offset Angry came by and asked what they were doing. "Nothing," they said. "So I see," he said, and he went away.
Fire God, the Black Yéʼii, used his fire to heat the turquoise on the buckskin until it became cherry hot. Then they asked Turquoise Male child to enter the glowing turquoise. "If I do that, I must be paid with the lives of the people of the earth, all the human beings, the animals which take four legs, the birds and insects of the air, the fishes and all the people under the water." And then the White Trounce Girl repeated the same thing. First Woman, First Man, Great Coyote, and the Holy People all agreed. And so Turquoise Boy entered the glowing Turquoise. First Man used his crystal to rut the White Vanquish, and White Shell Daughter entered the White Crush. Four circles were made effectually the inside of the hogan to complete the ceremony. In this way, Turquoise Boy became the sunday,Jóhonaaʼéí, The One Who Rules the 24-hour interval. And White Shell Daughter became the moon,Tłʼéhonaaʼéí, The I Who Rules the Night.Níłchʼi Haʼaʼaahdę́ęʼgo, the East Wind, asked to acquit the newly formed sun to his land so that it could brainstorm its journey there.
The Coyote named First Aroused appeared again. He said, "I know you have been planning great things. I demand to know why I was not included in the planning." First Man and Offset Adult female said nothing. Coyote said, "You believe that I spoiled your living in the lower worlds, merely it is not true. Now I will spoil your plans. The path of the sun and the path of the moon will non return to their beginning subsequently 12 months. The twelve months of the lord's day will exist 13 months of the moon. Sometimes frost volition come early on, and sometimes it will remain late. Sometimes the rains will not come, and you will take to summon the infant of the Big Water Creature to bring h2o." And he left them.
The Coming of Death
Tardily in the outset twenty-four hour period, whenJóhonaaʼéí was finishing his offset journey across the sky, i of the hermaphrodite twins,Nádleeh, stopped breathing. Afraid, the people left her alone. In the morn, the Coyote named First Aroused and the people went to find the twin, butNádleeh was gone. One man looked down the reed into the Third World, and in that location he sawNádleeh sitting by the side of the river combing her hair. He called to his friend, and he looked and likewise saw her. The people asked Coyote what to do. He took a blackness rock,tadzootsé, and threw it intoTódiłhił, the Black Water Lake. He said that if the rock came up and floated, the spirit of the dead person would render to the Fourth World and there would exist no expiry. If the rock sank, the spirit would stay in the earth beneath and there would exist death. The rock sank, and the people knew so that the twin was dead, and Showtime Man remembered the agreement they had made with the sun. Four days after the two witnesses who had looked down on the dead twin besides died. The people learned that it is unsafe to expect at the expressionless. The people were all mad at Coyote for this and gathered effectually to beat him. Coyote said they could trounce him, but first he had something to say. "I threw the rock in the water knowing that information technology would sink." The people darkly muttered nearly this to one some other, the whole of them deciding that Coyote actually did deserve a practiced beating. But quick thinking Coyote finished his explanation. "Without death the world would soon exist overpopulated. The elders would never die and would stay stuck in their infirm bodies. At that place would be no room for new children. We would run out of nutrient and shelter with so many people to feed and intendance for." The gathered group was silent for a bit while all of them contemplated Coyote's rationale and found him to be wise and intelligent.
Stars and Constellations
First Human being, First Woman, Corking Coyote, and the Holy People next planned stars for the dark sky. They gathered as many pieces oftsésǫʼ,rock-star mica, every bit they could find, and put them on a coating. And so Commencement Man made a cartoon in the dirt to program the location of all the stars seeking to make the sky like a woven rug, orderly and counterbalanced.Haashchʼééshzhiní, Blackness Yéʼii, placed theSǫʼtsoh (North Star). First Man placed theNáhookǫs [bikąʼí] (Big Dipper) while First Woman put theNáhookǫs [baʼáádí] (Little Dipper) into the sky. First Man also placed theDilyéhé (Seven Stars, the Pleiades) which Black Yéʼii claimed represented parts of his body. They placedÁłtséʼétsoh, the Big First One. They placedÁłtséʼétsʼósí, Coyote's Feather, or the Slender One (the chugalug and sword of Orion). They placedBaʼáłchíní, the children ofDilyéhé andÁłtséʼétsʼósí; andHastiin Sikʼaiʼí, The-Old-Human being-with Anxiety Apart; and the Rabbit Tracks,Gah Atʼéʼii; andYikáí Sidáhí Moving-toward-the-Dawn; andNáhookǫs Bakąʼí, The-Revolving-Male person-Warrior-with-His-Bow-and-Pointer; and his wife,Náhookǫs Baʼáádí, Who-Carries-the-Fire-in-Her-Basket. The Coyote named Start Angry returned to see what was going on. He took a piece of rock-star mica and placed it on the heaven, and it becameMąʼii bizǫʼ, known by Bilagáana as Canopus. He placed another piece in the south,Sǫʼ Doo Nidisidí, Morning Star. So Coyote said, "This is besides long. I have a improve way." He then snapped the coating and the rest of the rock-star mica was scattered beyond the sky.
The Re-Creation of the Sacred Mountains
Áłtsé hastiin, Showtime Homo, andÁłtsé asdzą́ą́, First Adult female, together withTó Neinilí, H2o Sprinkler, andHaashchʼééshzhiní, Black Yéʼii, the god of fire, set out to create the six sacred mountains from dirt that First Man had brought up from each mount in the third world. They placed them equally they had been in the third world. They re-createdSisnaajiní, Dawn, or White Shell Mountain, in the East. They decorated it with white shells. They decorated it with white lightning. They decorated it with white corn. They decorated information technology with dark clouds that brand male person rain. From stones they had brought they fashionedTséghádiʼnídíinii Ashkii, Stone Crystal Boy, and Tséghádiʼnídíinii atʼééd, Rock Crystal Daughter, to reside there forever.
In the South they re-createdTsoodził, Blue Bead, or Turquoise Mountain. They adorned it with turquoise. They adorned it with nighttime mist. They adorned it with animals. They adorned it with calorie-free clouds that bring female rain. From 2 stones they had brought with them they fashionedDootłʼizhii Náyooʼałí Ashkii, the Boy Who Is Bringing Dorsum Turquoise, andNaadą́ą́ʼ ląʼí Náyooʼáłí Atʼééd, the Girl Who Is Bringing Back Many Ears of Corn. They were created to reside there forever.
To the West they re-createdDookʼoʼoosłííd, Abalone Shell Mountain. They adorned information technology with haliotis shell. They adorned it with animals. They adorned information technology with nighttime clouds that bring the male rain. From material from the Third World they createdNaadą́ą́łgaii Ashkii, the White Corn Boy, andNaadą́ą́łtsoii Atʼééd, the Yellow Corn Girl. They were created to reside at that place forever.
In the N they re-createdDibé Nitsaa, Big Mountain Sheep. They adorned that mountain with black chaplet. They adorned it with many plants. They adorned it with many animals. They adorned it with the grey mist that brings female rain. From materials from below, they fashionedTádídíín Ashkii, Pollen Boy, andNahachagii Atʼééd, Grasshopper Girl. They were created to reside in that location forever.
Near the Heart they re-createdDził Náʼoodiłii, Soft Goods or Banded Rock Mount. They left its acme bare, but they created two beings to reside at that place. They wereYódí Neidiitsi Ashkii, Male child Who Produces Goods, andYódí Neidiitsi Atʼééd, Daughter Who Produces Goods.
East of center they re-createdChʼóolʼį́ʼí, Precious Stones, or Great Spruce Mount. They busy it with pollen and the clouds that bring female rain. On it they created 2 beings,Nitłʼiz Neidiitsi Ashkii, the Boy Who Produces Jewels, andNitłʼiz Neidiitsi Atʼééd, the Girl Who Produces Jewels, to live there forever.
When all was washed, Beginning Man, Starting time Woman, Black Yéʼii and Water Sprinkler returned and taught the people almost the sacred mountains. They taught them that these 6 mountains were their master mountains. From the lower mesa lands they could see them. Chants were made for them. Finally, a smoke was prepared for the mountains and the chants were sung.
The Coming of Monsters
In the Third Earth, there was a fourth dimension when men and women had lived autonomously for a long fourth dimension. During that fourth dimension, some women had used animal horns or long stones or bird feathers for sex activity. Now, in the 4th World, some of those women were pregnant. One woman who had used an antelope horn gave birth to a kid with no head. The people held a quango and decided that this baby would exist abandoned. Information technology was left to dice in a gully. But it lived and grew to goDéélgééd, the Horned Monster.
A woman who had used an eagle's plumage for sex gave birth to a circular, headless child with feathered shoulders. A quango was held, and it was decided that this baby too should exist abandoned. It was left in an alkali pit. Merely information technology lived, and grew to becomeTsé Nináhálééh, Monster Hawkeye. It made its abode on Tséteʼiská, a peak across La Plata Mountains.
A woman who had used an elongated rock for sex activity gave birth to a headless child with hard skin and a pointed neck. The people met in council and decided that this infant should be abandoned in a cleft in a cliff. They placed the child and closed the crack with rocks. But the child lived and grew to becomeTsé dah Hódziiłtáłii, The Monster Who Kicks People Downwards the Cliff. Information technology made its home at a identify chosenKnol ghi nee, across the Carrizos Mountains.
A woman who had skinned a sour cactus and used it for sex gave nascency to twins, headless creatures with no limbs. They had ii depressions at the top that looked similar optics. The people gathered and decided that these infants had to exist abased. They threw them as far equally they could. But the twins found shelter in brush and survived. They grew to becomeBinááʼ yee Aghání, the Monsters That Kill with Their Eyes.
One monster came about in a different way. A adult female named Loose Running Woman went off alone in the management of the sunrise. Afterward defecating, she used a smooth pebble from the river to clean herself. She placed the warm stone in her genitals merely asJóhonaaʼéí, the Sun, rose to a higher place the horizon. Seeing this, the Dominicus sent a ray into her. In merely nine days she gave nativity to a large child. Having no married man, and not knowing who the father of the kid was, she abandoned the child in a rocky identify. MerelyJóhonaaʼéí knew that the baby was his, and he protected it from afar but never visited it. The child grew to be large and powerful and very angry. Information technology was calledYéʼiitsoh, Big Behemothic, by the people.
The monsters hid forth paths, and killed and devoured travelers. They killed many people, and the people began to live in fearfulness.
The Monster Slayer Twins
Almost of the people had been killed. First Man said, "Possibly the Holy People will help us." In the morning, he saw a nighttime deject covering the peak ofChʼóolʼį́ʼí, the Peachy Spruce Mountain. In the night he saw a fire on the mountain. He said to Starting time Adult female, "Someone is at that place. I must go to them." "No," she said. "There are many monsters betwixt here and there. Information technology is non rubber for you." The following day the night cloud remained on the mount, and at night the fire appeared a second time. This happened the third solar day as well. On the fourth day, Starting time Man said, "I must get. I believe at that place is a Holy Person on the mountain who can help united states." He set out forChʼóolʼį́ʼí. As he walked, he sang: I amÁłtsé Hastiin, and I head forChʼóolʼį́ʼí in pursuit of old age and happiness. In pursuit of onetime historic period and happiness I follow the lightning and approach the place where it strikes. In pursuit of former historic period and happiness I follow the rainbow and arroyo the identify where it touches the earth. In pursuit of old age and happiness I follow the dark deject's trail and approach the identify where information technology is thickest. In pursuit of old historic period and happiness I follow the scent of the rain, and approach the identify where the lines of rain are darkest.
At the very summit ofChʼóolʼį́ʼí, he heard the cry of an infant and the crash of lightning, the pouring of rain, and he saw the tip of a rainbow with intense colors in front of the black sky. Suddenly the rain stopped and the sky became light. Where he had heard the cry of a baby there was a turquoise figure of a girl lying on the ground. Kickoff Man picked up the turquoise daughter and carried it dwelling house with him.
The Birth of Changing Woman
Two days subsequently Outset Homo and Showtime Woman were awakened very early in the morning time by the audio "Wu'hu'hu'hu'." They knew it wasHaashch'ééłti'í, Talking God. He told them they must return to the top ofChʼóolʼį́ʼí with the turquoise figure in twelve days.
When they reached a level spot only below the elevation ofChʼóolʼį́ʼí,Haashchʼééłtiʼí was in that location waiting for them.Haashchʼééʼooghaan, House God, was there.Tó Neinilí, Water Sprinkler, was there. With them wasNíłchʼi, the Current of air.Haashchʼééłtiʼí lay a perfect buckskin on the ground with its caput facing the w. On the buckskin Beginning Man lay the turquoise figure of a girl with her head to the west. And thenHaashchʼééłtiʼí placed some other perfect buckskin over the figure, with its head facing East. The Holy People began to sing the sacred song ofHózhǫ́ǫ́jí Sin, andNíłchʼi, the Wind entered between the buckskin blankets. The upper coating was removed, and beneath it was a living infant girl. Her name wasAsdzą́ą́ Nádleehé, Changing Woman.The Holy People told First Man and First Adult female to take her to their home and raise her equally their daughter.
Start Woman and Kickoff human being carriedAsdzą́ą́ Nádleehé to their hogan, and Get-go Man made a cradle board and tied her in it. "Now she volition be my daughter," he said. Start woman took the baby and breathed on her 4 times. "Now," she said, "she will be my daughter." At the end of the 2d day the baby laughed for the first time. The Coyote namedÁłtsé Hashkéarrived and said, "I was told that my grandchild laughed for the outset fourth dimension." First Adult female took charcoal and gave it to the Coyote proverb: "This is the only thing that lasts." He painted his nose with it and said, "I shall know all things. I shall alive long by it." Satisfied with the gift, he departed. Since then persons always receive a gift when a babe laughs for the first time, and the Showtime Express joy Ceremony is performed.
By the thirteenth day,Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé had become a young adult female, and on that twenty-four hours she said to First Adult female, "Something unusual has passed through me." First adult female said, "That is your first race,kinaashdaah." They covered the flooring of the hogan with blankets, and Changing Woman lay on them face downward. Starting time Human pulled her hair downward, and shaped her face, and dressed her in beautiful goods, beads, bracelets, and earrings, and tied her hair with a strip of perfect buckskin. Then Outset Man and Start Woman stepped exterior the hogan and toldAsdzą́ą́ Nádleehé to run her starting time race around a cedar tree and render, from east to west, as the sun does. When she returned, they invited all the people to a sing over her in the hogan calledHooghan Hotłʼeztsoos, Changeable Business firm, on the mountain calledDził Náʼodiłii four days later on. A nifty crowd gathered in the evening of the fourth day. A sweet corn cake was made from different colored corn repast sweetened with yeast. The Night Chant was sung, and in the morning the men received some of the maiden'southward cake as a gift for their chants, andAsdzą́ą́ Nádleehé, Changing Woman sat in the dorsum of the hogan as gifts were piled in front of her. In this way the First Race of every young woman should be historic.
Birth of the Twins
Soon after that, Irresolute Woman wished for a mate. Every morn when the sun rose she lay on her back until noon, her head to the west and her anxiety to the east. At noon she went to the leap. She lay under the ledge and permit spring water baste over her body. This took place each day for four days. On the fourth 24-hour interval, she heard a audio behind her and turned and saw a boyfriend on a great white horse with black eyes. It had a long white mane, and pranced higher up the basis and not on the globe itself. The bridle and the saddle were white. The immature man'south moccasins and leggings were too white. The passenger spoke: "You lot lay towards me each morning until noon. When I am half over the center of the globe, you get to the spring. Your wish could not have two meanings. Go home and tell your father to build a brush hogan to the south of your abode. Fill a basket with meal and prepare it in the hogan. Make a line of pollen from east to w across the handbasket on top of the meal. Make a line of pollen from north to southward drawn effectually the basket. You lot and your father must sit in that location late into the night. He will and then go dwelling house to his wife and yous must stay in that location alone."
Changing Adult female returned home and told what had happened to her parents. First Homo said that information technology could not be true, merely Showtime Woman said that it was indeed the message of a Holy Being and they must obey. And and then First Man andAsdzą́ą́ Nádleehé prepared the hogan and the basket and waited long into the dark. Finally First Man returned home. When Changing Woman returned home in the morning time, Starting time Man asked her at in one case: "Who came last dark?" The girl said, "No i came, but some of the repast has been taken." The same thing happened the 2nd nighttime, and the third. On the morning time subsequently the fourth night, the girl told First Man, "I saw no one, just someone touched me, and I was moved."Iv days later,Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé said, "Mother, something moves inside me." First Adult female answered, "Daughter, that must be your babe moving."
On the ninth day, Changing Woman felt her birth labor begin. Talking God appeared, conveying a rope of sunbeam. Water Sprinkler the Pelting God appeared carrying a rope of rainbow. Proverb nothing, the ii beings gave one end of each rope to Changing Woman and silently bid her pull them with each spasm of labor. This began the custom of giving a rope to a woman who is in labor. A baby male child emerged, and Talking God took it aside and washed it, and severed its cord. A second babe boy emerged, and H2o Sprinkler took information technology aside and done it and severed its cord.
This account is taken from the Wikipedia entry, "Diné Bahaneʼ". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Din%C3%A9_Bahane%CA%BC#cite_ref-16, concluding updated August 2019. CC-SA 3.0. A preface has been added at the beginning to reverberate the unlike versions of the story.
Source: https://openamlitcwi.pressbooks.com/chapter/navajo-emergence-myth/
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