Page:Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society V.djvu/264

234 travelled much and rarely stayed at home. According to Version B, the monsters were sent by First Woman, who became offended with man.

122. Version A gives, in addition to Tsótsil, the names of the other three hills over which Yéitso appeared. These were: in the east, Sa'akéa'; in the south, Dsĭlsitsí (Red Mountain); in the west, Tse'lpaináli (Brown Rock Hanging Down).

123. Version A.—" Hragh!" said he, with a sigh of satisfaction (pantomimically expressed), "I have finished that."

124. Yiniketóko! No etymology has been discovered for this expression. It is believed to be the equivalent of the "Fee Fa Fum!" of the giants in our nursery tales.

125. Version B.—This bolt rent his armor.

126. It is common in this and all other versions to show that evil turns to good (see pars. 338, 345, 349, et al.), and that the demons dead become useful to man in other forms. How the armor of Yéitso became useful to man, the narrator here forgot to state; but it may be conjectured that he should have said that it furnished flint flakes for knives and arrow-heads.

127. Other versions state, more particularly, that, in accordance with the Indian custom, these names were given when the brothers returned to their home, and the ceremony of rejoicing (the "scalp-dance") was held for their first victory. Nayénĕzgani is derived from na, or ana (alien or enemy: see note 7); yéi, ye or ge (a genius or god; hence anáye, an alien god or giant: see par. 80); nĕzgá' (to kill with a blow or blows, as in killing with a club); and the suffix ni (person). The name means, therefore, Slayer of the Alien Gods, or Slayer of Giants. As the sounds of g and y before e are interchangeable in the Navaho language, the name is heard pronounced both Nayénĕzgani and Nagénĕzgani,—about as often one way as the other. In previous essays the author has spelled it in the latter way; but in this work he gives preference to the former, since it is more in harmony with his spelling of other names containing the word "ye" or "yéi." (See par. 78.) Tó'-ba-dzĭs-tsí-ni is derived from tó' (water), ba(for him), dzĭstsín (born), and the suffix ni. The name therefore means, literally, Born for the Water; but the expression badzĭstsín (born for him) denotes the relation of father and child,— not of a mother and child,—so that a free translation of the name is Child of the Water. The second name of this god, Naídikĭsi, is rarely used.

128. About 40 miles to the northeast of the top of Mt. San Mateo there is a dark, high volcanic hill called by the Mexicans El Cabezon, or The Great Head. This is the object which, according to the Navaho story-tellers, was the head of Yéitso. Around the base of San Mateo, chiefly toward the east and north, there are several more high volcanic peaks, of less prominence than El Cabezon, which are said to have been the heads of other giants who were slain in a great storm raised by the War Gods. (See pars. 358, 359.) Plate V. shows six of these volcanic hills. The high truncated cone in the distance (17 miles from the point of view) is El Cabezon. Captain Clarence E. Dutton, U.S.A., treats of the geologic character of these cones in his work on Mount Taylor.299 Plate V. is taken from the same photograph as his plate XXI. In Lieut. Simpson's report,328 p. 73, this hill is described under the name Cerro de la Cabeza, and a picture of it is given in plate 17 of said report. It is called "Cabezon Pk." on the accompanying map.

129. To the south and west of the San Mateo Mountains there is a great plain of lava rock of geologically recent origin, which fills the valley and presents plainly the appearance of having once been flowing. The rock is dark and has much resemblance to coagulated blood. This is the material which, the Navahoes think, was once the blood of Yéitso. In some places it looks as if the blood were suddenly arrested, forming high cliffs; here the war god is supposed to have