Page:Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society V.djvu/153

Rh instantly withdrawn, and the bear went toward the south entrance. The hero ran round fast and lay in wait. In a little while the bear thrust forth his head to look, and Nayénĕzgani cut it off with his great stone knife.

349. He addressed the head, saying: "You were a bad thing in your old life, and tried only to do mischief; but in new shapes I shall make you of use to the people; in the future, when they increase upon the earth, you will furnish them with sweet food to eat, with foam to cleanse their bodies, and with threads for their clothing." He cut the head into three pieces: he threw one to the east, where it became tsási, or haskán (Yucca baccata); he threw another to the west, where it became tsásitsoz (Yucca angustifolia); and he threw the third to the south, where it became nóta (mescal). He cut off the left forepaw to take home as a trophy.

350. "Where shall I find Tsé‘nagahi (Travelling Stone)?" he said after he had returned from his encounter with Pursuing Bear and shown his trophy to his people. "You will find him in a lake near where Tsé‘espai points up," answered Estsánatlehi; but she implored him not to go near the lake. He did not heed her, and next morning he went off to seek the Travelling Stone.

351. He approached the lake on the north side, while the wind was blowing from the south, but he saw nothing of the stone. Thence he went around to the south side of the lake. When he got here the stone scented him, rose to the surface, poised itself a moment, and flew toward Nayénĕzgani as if hurled by a giant hand. Raising his lightning arrow, he held it in the course of the stone and knocked a piece off the latter. When the stone fell he struck another piece off with his knife. Tsé‘nagahi now saw it had a powerful foe to contend against; so, instead of hurling itself at him again, it fled and Nayénĕzgani went in pursuit. He chased it all over the present Navaho land, knocking pieces off it in many places152 as he followed, until at length he chased it into the San Juan River at Tsĭntáhokata, where a point of forest runs down toward the river.

352. Travelling Stone sped down with the current and Nayénĕzgani ran along the bank after it. Four times he got ahead of the stone, but three times it escaped him by dipping deep into the river. When he headed it off for the fourth time, he saw it gleaming like fire under the water, and he stopped to gaze at it. Then the stone spoke and said: "Sawé (my baby, my darling), take pity on me, and I shall no longer harm your people, but do good to them instead. I shall keep the springs in the mountains open and cause your rivers to flow; kill me and your lands will become barren." Nayénĕzgani answered: "If you keep this promise I shall spare you; but if you