Page:Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society V.djvu/169

Rh the White Standing Rock. "We tarried last," replied the strangers, "at To'ĭ′ndotsos, a poor country, where we lived on ducks and snakes.169 We have been here only a few days, and now we live on ground-rats, prairie-dogs, and wild seeds." The new party consisted of twelve persons,—five men, three women, one grown girl, one grown boy, and two small children. The Tse'dzĭnkĭ′ni people took the strangers home with them, and Yolkaí Estsán welcomed them, saying: "Ahaláni sastsíni!" (Greeting, my children!) The place where the Tse'dzĭnkĭ′ni found the strangers encamped was called Tsé'tlana (Bend in a Canyon); so they gave them the name of Tse'tláni, or Tse'tlánidĭne', and from them is descended the present gens of Tse'tláni in the Navaho nation.

383. The next morning after the arrival of the Tse'tláni, Hastséyalti came once more to the lodge of the White Shell Woman; but he talked with her apart from the others, and when he was gone she told no one what he said. In three days he came back again; again they talked apart, and when Hastséyalti was gone she remained silent. It was her custom to sleep with one of the little girls, who was her favorite and companion. In the morning after the second visit of Hastséyalti she said to this little girl: "I am going to leave you. The gods of Tse'gíhi have sent for me; but I shall not forget your people, and shall come often to watch over them and be near them. Tell them this when they waken." When she had spoken she disappeared from the sight of the little girl, and when the people woke they searched, but could find her nowhere. They supposed she had gone to Tse'gíhi and tarried there a while before she went to Depĕ′ntsa to dwell forever in the house of White Shell, which had been prepared for her there. The fourth night after the departure of Yolkaí Estsán the little girl had a dream, which she related to her people in the morning. In the vision she saw Yolkaí Estsán, who said to her: "My grandchild, I am going to Depĕ'ntsa to dwell. I would take you with me, for I love you, were it not that your parents would mourn for you. But look always for the she-rain when it comes near your dwelling, for I shall ever be in the she-rain."

384. While at White Standing Rock the men wandered much around the country in search of food. Some who had been to Todokónzi (Saline Water) said the latter was a better place than than that in which they lived; that there were some porcupines there, an abundance of rats, prairie-dogs, and seed-bearing plants; and that there were steep-sided mesa points in the neighborhood where they might surround large game.170 After the departure of Yolkaí Estsán the people all moved to Todokónzi;171 but they remained here only a few days, and then went to Tsa'olgáhasze.