Page:Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society V.djvu/265

Rh stopped the flow with his knife. Plate VI. shows this lava in the valley of the Rio San José, from a photograph supplied by the United States Geological Survey.

130. Version A adds some particulars to the account of the return of the brothers to their home, after their encounter with Yéitso. They first went to Azíhi, the place at which they descended when they came from the sky, and then to Kainipéhi. On their way home they sang twenty songs—the Nidotátsogisĭn—which are sung to-day in the rites of hozóni hatál. Near Dsĭlnáotĭl, just at daybreak, they met Hastséyalti and Hastséhogan, who embraced them, addressed them as grandchildren, sang two songs, now belonging to the rites, and conducted the young heroes to their home.

131. Té-el-gĕt, Té-el-gĕti and Dĕl-gét are various pronunciations of the name of this monster. In the songs he is sometimes called Bĭ-té-ĕl-gĕ-ti, which is merely prefixing the personal pronoun "his" to the name. The exact etymology has not been determined. The name has some reference to his horns; te, or te, meaning horns, and bité, his horns, in Navaho. All descriptions of this anáye are much alike. His father, it is said, was an antelope horn.

132. Arabis holböllii (Hornemann), a-ze-la-dĭl-té-he, "scattered" or "lone medicine." The plants grow single and at a distance from one another, not in beds or clusters. (See "Navajo Names for Plants,"312 p. 770.)

133. Version A relates that they sang, while at work on these kethawns, six songs, which, under the name of Atsós Bigĭ'n, or Feather Songs, are sung now in the rite of hozóni hatál.

134. Version A says that the horns of Téelgĕt were like those of an antelope, and that Nayénĕzgani cut off the short branch of one as an additional trophy.

135. Tse'nă'-ha-le. These mythic creatures, which in a previous paper, "A Part of the Navajos' Mythology,"306 the author calls harpies, from their analogy to the harpies of Greek mythology, are believed in by many tribes of the Southwest. According to Hatáli Nĕz they were the offspring of a bunch of eagle plumes.

136. Tsé'-bĭ-ta-i, or Winged Rock, is a high, sharp pinnacle of dark volcanic rock, rising from a wide plain in the northwestern part of New Mexico, about 12 miles from the western boundary of the Territory, and about 20 miles from the northern boundary. The Navahoes liken it to a bird, and hence the name of Winged Rock, or more literally Rock, Its Wings. The whites think it resembles a ship with sails set, and call it Ship Rock. Its bird-like appearance has probably suggested to the Navahoes the idea of making it the mythic home of the bird-like Tse'nă'hale.

137. There are many instances in Navaho language and legend where, when two things somewhat resemble each other, but one is the coarser, the stronger, or the more violent, it is spoken of as male, or associated with the male; while the finer, weaker, or more gentle is spoken of as female, or associated with the female. Thus the turbulent San Juan River is called, by the Navaho, To'baká, or Male Water; while the placid Rio Grande is known as To'baád, or Female Water. A shower accompanied by thunder and lightning is called nĭltsabaká, or male rain; a shower without electrical display is called nĭltsabaád, or female rain. In the myth of Natĭ'nĕsthani the mountain mahogany is said to be used for the male sacrificial cigarette, and the cliff rose for the female. These two shrubs are much alike, particularly when in fruit and decked with long plumose styles, but the former (the "male") is the larger and coarser shrub. In the myth of Dsĭlyi' Neyáni another instance may be found where mountain mahogany is associated with the male, and the cliff rose with the female. Again, in the myth of Natĭ'nĕsthani a male cigarette is described as made of the coarse sunflower, while its associated female is said to be made of the allied but more slender Verbesina. Instances of