Hopi
In the Underworld all the people were fools. Young men lay with the wives of the elders, and the elder men pursued the virgins. Everything was in confusion, and the chief was deeply troubled. He thought long about the matter, and at sunset he proclaimed that on the next day all the people should assemble before him. On the following morning they all came and said, “You sent for us; perhaps you wish to tell us something.” “Yes,” said the chief. “I have been thinking much, and I am saddened by your evil ways. Therefore I declare that tomorrow morning, at early light, all the women—virgins, girls, and female infants—shall remain here in the village. All the men—youths, elders, and male infants—shall cross the broad river and remain on the other side.” Neither the men nor the women were displeased by this announcement, and they discussed it among themselves through the night. “Now it will be seen who the lazy ones are,” they said. “Perhaps the women, perhaps the men—we shall see.” On the following morning the men swam across the river, carrying the infants upon their backs and leaving the women in the houses that belonged to them. Before they crossed, the men and women divided between them all kinds of seeds; the entire store of seeds was carefully shared.
The men carried hunting weapons, catching deer and antelope to sustain themselves. They even nursed the infants by providing small bits of venison for them to suck, which proved as nourishing as mother's milk; under this care, the children grew fat and strong. The men built houses and took to the fields, and by the end of a single year, they gathered a massive harvest. In contrast, the women possessed little skill in agriculture and obtained only a meager yield. Standing by the river bank, the men displayed their abundant fruits and taunted the women across the water.
It was an evil time, and both the men and the women were foolish. When they became amorous, they resorted to artificial means to satisfy their desires. The women used sticks and cactus, while the men used the liver of deer, squashes, and gourds. After six moons, one of these gourds gave birth to Gourd Girl, a maiden of great beauty. Also during this separation of the sexes, a young woman who was not a virgin imitated intercourse using the primary wing feather of an eagle. She conceived and was carried to the San Francisco Mountains, where she gave birth to the monster known as Giant Eagle.
A young woman, also not a virgin, sat in her gown, which hung over her in ragged shreds, leaving her in great misery. She was infested with lice and spent her time picking the vermin off and scratching herself. While she was doing this, her body was almost entirely exposed. The rays of the sun, shining through a crack in the wall, fell upon her. She moved with pleasure and then fell asleep.
Later, she told the elder women of this experience. When it began to rain and water started to drip through the roof, the elder women said to her, 'Lie over there and let the raindrops fall upon you.' She went over and lay down. As the raindrops fell upon her body, she again moved with pleasure and fell asleep.
Through these encounters, she conceived and gave birth to twins. Within four days, the infants were already able to walk and run around. They were foolish and full of mischief, breaking and destroying food vessels and cooking utensils. They were very dirty, and their noses were always snotty.
When the twins had grown to the size of twelve-year-old boys, they frequently asked their grandmother, Spider Woman, who their father was and where he lived. Spider Woman would initially answer, 'How should I know?' But at last, she told them that the Sun was their father and that he lived at the place of the Sunrise. She offered to go with them so they might see him.
Spider Woman perched herself on the ear of the twins. She spurted medicine, and a filament spread before them, creating a smooth pathway to the door of the Sun’s house. Guarding the entrance sat a Lion, a Bear, and a Rattlesnake, while a Serpent sat upon the hatchway. As the twins approached each watcher, they spurted medicine upon them, saying, 'Our friend, do not be angry.
Each guardian in turn lay down quietly, allowing them to pass until they stood looking down through the hatchway.
Below, they saw many beautiful young women and virgins; these were the daughters of the Sun. Some of them looked up and asked, 'Who are these dirty, snotty-nosed young ones, I wonder?' The Wife of the Sun called out, 'Come in, you two,' and they descended the ladder. In the middle of the floor stood a mound of turquoise, and upon its top was a large abalone shell. This was the seat of the Sun. Around the floor were many other smaller turquoise mounds where the Wife of the Sun and his daughters sat.
The Wife of the Sun grew angry at the twins, and the daughters asked them who they were and where they had come from. The twins, however, sat in silence. Finally, the daughters said,' You may sit there on those two mounds and be as brothers to us until our father comes home; then we will know for certain.
The Sun eventually returned from below, climbing a ladder through a hatchway in the floor. He always entered with a great noise. As he emerged, he exclaimed, 'What do I smell? There are strangers in here!'
The daughters had hidden the twins in the cloud altar before the Sun entered. When the Sun demanded that the strangers be brought forth, the daughters retrieved them from the beautiful altar, where they had been covered by clouds of every color. The twins ran to the Sun, claiming him as their father, but the Sun replied, 'Wait a while.' He brought out his great tobacco and, packing it with a stick, he lit it and gave it to the twins. They smoked it, passing it back and forth and swallowing the smoke—which now appears as the clouds in the sky.
The Trial of the Cold Mountain After the Twins had finished smoking the pipe, they again claimed the Sun as their father. However, he replied, 'Wait a while.' He pointed to a high mountain whose peak nearly touched the sky and commanded the Twins to climb to its summit and sleep there for the night. To protect them, Spider Woman tied a turkey feather to the right side of one Twin and another to the left side of the second. As they reached the top, a freezing wind blew from the North, bringing ice and bitter cold. Had it not been for the magic of the feathers, the Twins would have surely perished; even so, they spent the night nearly frozen, their teeth chattering in the dark. In the morning, the Sun called up to the peak, 'Are you dead yet?' The Twins came running down, and following Spider Woman's advice, they replied, 'Oh, no! We had a wonderful place to sleep—though it was actually a bit too hot. It made us sweat.' To complete the ruse, they pretended to wipe beads of perspiration from their brows. 'Now surely you must know we are your sons,' they insisted. But the Sun only answered, 'Wait a while.'
He led them to a smooth path where four large, hollow spheres of flint rested. Inside each sphere burned a fierce, hot fire. The Sun bowled one of the spheres along the trail and commanded the first Twin to run and catch it. He then bowled a second for the other Twin to pursue and capture. Finally, he bowled the remaining two spheres directly at them, shouting, 'Be sure to stop them!'
The Twins did as they were told, halting the burning spheres in their tracks. He then ordered them to pick the spheres up and bring them back to him. Although the flint was incredibly heavy, the Twins spurted medicine upon them, causing them to become weightless. They lifted the spheres easily and carried them back to the Sun.
At last, the Sun recognized them as his sons. He cleansed and adorned them, and his wife was no longer angry with them. He seated each of them upon a turquoise mound and led them to a room filled with beautiful clouds, asking if they wished to take some. The Twins replied, 'No.' He then showed them exquisite shells, ornaments of all kinds, fine garments, and all manner of animals, offering these as gifts. Yet, the Twins wanted none of them. 'Well,' he said, 'you must desire something. Tell me what it is.' They answered that they sought weapons to destroy the monsters that ravaged their mother’s land. Hearing this, the Sun gave them bows and arrows and the power of resilient lightning.
Meanwhile, the separation had continued for three years. The women’s gowns had grown ragged, and their fields were poorly cultivated. In the fourth year, the men again enjoyed abundant harvests, but the women obtained very little from their fields and remained hungry and unhappy. On the morning of the fifth Winter Solstice ceremony following the separation, the woman chief came to the riverbank and called across to the men, 'I want to tell you something.' A youth heard her and informed the elder men. One of them went to the bank and called back, 'What is it you have to say?' The woman chief stood there in rags, looking miserable. She said, 'I have been thinking. Let all the men and youths assemble on your side, and all the women and virgins on this side, and let us discuss this.' The men agreed, and both groups assembled at the water's edge. The woman chief spoke first: 'We are all in rags, and we have only a few ears of corn left to eat. We have no meat, no intimacy, and no child-bearing. We are sad.' 'True,' replied the male chief. The woman chief then suggested, 'Let some men come over here.' 'No, let the women come over here,' the male chief countered. The women were overjoyed at this; they ran into the water and swam across to the other side. The men received them gladly. Having built fine houses, the men gave them to the women to live in. They had also woven many fine gowns and girdles, which they gave to the women as well. There was an abundance of corn for all, and plenty of meat from the elk, deer, bear, and antelope.
At that time, the sky was wide at sunrise, and the horizon stretched far into the distance. But at noon, the sky began to vibrate, alternately compressing and distending. The horizon was not as distant then as it is in this world today. In the daytime, the Underworld was beautiful, with bubbling waters surrounding the landscape. But at night, the sky contracted, and the environment became disagreeable. Both the sun and the moon existed in those days. Eventually, the bubbling waters increased, encroaching upon the dry land and pressing closer to the people. As the people grew sad and fearful, the chief pondered the situation. At last, he said, 'Perhaps there is a doorway in this sky.'
There were four mountains at the cardinal points. At the mountain in the Northeast lived Spider Woman and the Twins. The Hopi War chief made a war prayer-stick for Spider Woman, a club for the Twins, and prayer-feathers, and sent a youth with these to the mountain. Spider Woman thanked the youth for the prayer-stick and prayer-feathers and asked what he wanted. The Twins danced with joy over their presents. 'What do you wish for these things?' asked Spider Woman.
The youth said, 'We are surrounded by bubbling water, and it is covering all our land. Where is a good place to go to, the good houses. Perhaps you know.' 'Yes,' she said, 'I know. In the above is a good place; tell all your people to hurry and come here.'
The youth returned, and after the elders assembled and smoked, he told all. Women prepared food for the journey, and then all the people started, carrying altar slabs on their backs, and went to the mountain. They all went up the mountain to its peak, and the water followed close behind them. The water covered everything, but the mountain grew a little faster than the rise of the water, and after a time the mountain summit was almost touching the sky.
Spider Woman planted a spruce plant and it grew up against the sky, but the sky was hard and the spruce could not penetrate it. Again Spider Woman thought, 'Perhaps a reed will pass through.' So she planted a reed, and it grew four days and reached the sky and found a small crevice which it penetrated. Badger climbed its stalk and reached its tip, but he could not get through to see anything, so he returned saying, 'I am very tired. I can see nothing but earth.'
The elders thought, 'What man knows? Perhaps Locust.' So they asked him, and he said, 'Yes, I know.' Locust is very brave. He never winks his eyes. So he climbed the stalk and went through and reached the tasseled tip of the reed, and looked around, and there was water everywhere.
Locust carried a flute, slung on his back. He drew it out and began to play on it. At the Northwest the Yellow Cloud chief appeared. He was angry and darted yellow lightning which went close past the eyes of Locust. But Locust never winked, and went on playing his flute. Yellow Cloud said, 'What kind of man have we here? Surely he is brave, surely he is a man!'
Next at the Southwest Blue Cloud chief appeared, and he was angry too and flung blue lightning at Locust and it passed through him from side to side. But Locust continued to play as before, and Blue Cloud said the same about him as had Yellow Cloud. Then at the Southeast, Red Cloud came up very angry and darted red lightning which passed through Locust from belly to back, and he continued playing as if nothing had happened. Red Cloud expressed his wonder and said what the other Clouds had said. At the Northeast White Cloud arose and cast white lightning which passed through Locust from head to tail, and he continued playing as if nothing had happened to him.
The four Cloud chiefs came close to Locust and talked with him, demanding to know where he came from. They said, 'This is the land of the Clouds. What are you doing here? You are a good and brave man. Perhaps you are an orphan.' 'No,' said Locust. 'I have many people behind me in the Underworld.' 'It is well,' said the Cloud chiefs. 'You are brave and deathless. Your heart and those of your people must be good. Go tell them to come and all this land shall be theirs.'
'Thanks,' said Locust, and he then returned and told his people. Then Badger went up and widened the opening so that the people could pass through. While he was doing this, Locust told of his adventures to the people and said that the place above was just like the place they were then at, all water.
The people were saddened at this, but the chiefs thought, and said, 'Well, it is no worse than here and may be better. Let's go up and see.' The people climbed the reed for eight days, stopping each night at a joint from which a great leaf grew out, and the people slept on it. That is why these leaves are called 'sleeps.'
When all had emerged, the Twins, who each possessed resilient lightning, shot it in every direction and created canyons through which the water flowed away. The Twins then made all the rocks from mud, fashioned all the mountains, and created everything that is of stone. Later, they slew the Giant Eagle, the Giant Elk, and other monsters.
