Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/600

 kkwkes] THE AL6SAKA CULT OF THE HOP I INDIA XS 53/

birth to a son who would marry the virgin, and their offspring would redeem the people. The old woman and the virgin obeyed the katcina, and the former gave birth to a son who had two horns upon his head. The people would not believe that the child was of divine origin ; they called it a monster and killed it.

" After this all manner of distressing punishments were in- flicted upon them, and wherever they halted the grass immediately withered and dried. Their wanderings brought them to the foot of the San Francisco mountains, where they dwelt for a long time, and at that place the virgin gave birth to a daughter who had a little knob on each side of her forehead. They preserved this child, and when she had grown to be a woman, the horned katcina x appeared and announced to her that she would give birth to horned twins, who would bring rain and remove the punishment from their people. This woman was married, and the twins, a boy and a girl, were born ; but she concealed their divine origin, fearing they would be destroyed.

" The Patnh [Squash] a now moved to the Little Colorado where they built houses and met some of the Pdtki people to whom they related their distresses. A wise man of the Pdtki came over to them, and on seeing the twins at once pronounced them to be the Aldsaka. They had no horns up to this time, but as soon as this announcement was made, their horns became visible and the twins then spoke to the people and said that it had been or- dained that they were to be unable to help their people until the people themselves discovered who they were. The Patuh were so enraged to think that the Aldsaka had been with them,

��1 The horned katcina is supposed to be either the Sun or other solar deity. The term katcina is often used in a very general way to mean any divine personage, but at Walpi this is believed to be a secondary use of the name. Originally it was applied to certain personifications introduced by clans from the east, and later came to have a general application.

v Throughout the legend these are called the Micofiinovi people, but from the fact that the original settlers of the pueblo were of the Squash clans, the name of these clans is substituted in the remainder of the legend for the name of the pueblo which they founded.

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