Page:Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society V.djvu/137

Rh 319. When the pipe was smoked out and Tsóhanoai saw the boys were not killed by it, he was satisfied and said: "Now, my children, what do you want from me? Why do you seek me?" "Oh, father!" they replied, "the land where we dwell is filled with the anáye, who devour the people. There are Yéitso and Téelgĕt, the Tse‘náhale, the Bĭnáye Aháni, and many others. They have eaten nearly all of our kind; there are few left; already they have sought our lives, and we have run away to escape them. Give us, we beg, the weapons with which we may slay our enemies. Help us to destroy them."

320. "Know," said Tsóhanoai, "that Yéitso who dwells at Tsótsĭl is also my son, yet I will help you to kill him. I shall hurl the first bolt at him, and I will give you those things that will help you in war." He took from pegs where they hung around the room and gave to each a hat, a shirt, leggings, moccasins, all made of pes (iron or knives),114 a chain-lightning arrow, a sheet-lightning arrow, a sunbeam arrow, a rainbow arrow, and a great stone knife or knife club (peshál).115 "These are what we want," said the boys. They put on the clothes of pes, and streaks of lightning shot from every joint.116

321. Next morning Tsóhanoai led the boys out to the edge of the world, where the sky and the earth came close together, and beyond which there was no world. Here sixteen wands or poles leaned from the earth to the sky; four of these were of white shell, four of turquoise, four of haliotis shell, and four of red stone.118 A deep stream flowed between them and the wands. As they approached the stream, Nĭ′ltsi, the Wind, whispered: "This is another trial;" but he blew a great breath and formed a bridge of rainbow,86 over which the brothers passed in safety. Nĭ′ltsi whispered again: "The red wands are for war, the others are for peace;" so when Tsóhanoai asked his sons: "On which wands will ye ascend?" they answered: "On the wands of red stone," for they sought war with their enemies. They climbed up to the sky on the wands of red stone, and their father went with them.118

322. They journeyed on till they came to Yágahoka, the sky-hole, which is in the centre of the sky.119 The hole is edged with four smooth, shining cliffs that slope steeply downwards,&mdash;cliffs of the same materials as the wands by which they had climbed from the earth to the sky. They sat down on the smooth declivities,&mdash;Tsóhanoai on the west side of the hole, the brothers on the east side. The latter would have slipped down had not the Wind blown up and helped them to hold on. Tsóhanoai pointed down and said: "Where do you belong in the world below? Show me your home." The brothers looked down and scanned the land; but they could