Page:Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society V.djvu/266

236 this character might be multiplied indefinitely. On this principle the north is associated with the male, and the south with the female, for two reasons: 1st, cold, violent winds blow from the north, while gende, warm breezes blow from the south; 2d, the land north of the Navaho country is more rough and mountainous than the land in the south. In the former rise the great peaks of Colorado, while in the latter the hills are not steep and none rise to the limit of eternal snow. A symbolism probably antecedent to this has assigned black as the color of the north and blue as the color of the south; so, in turn, black symbolizes the male and blue the female among the Navaho. (From "A Vigil of the Gods.")323

138. Version A.—The young birds were the color of a blue heron, but had bills like eagles. Their eyes were as big as a circle made by the thumbs and middle fingers of both hands. Nayénĕzgani threw the birds first to the bottom of the cliff and there metamorphosed them. 139. The etymology of the word Tsĕ'-dă-ni (Englished, chedany) has not been determined. It is an expression denoting impatience and contempt.

140. On being asked for the cause of this sound, the narrator gave an explanation which indicated that the "Hottentot apron" exists among American Indians. The author has had previous evidence corroborative of this.

141. Version B here adds: "Giving up her feathers for lost, she turned her attention to giving names to the different kinds of birds as they flew out,—names which they bear to this day among the Navajos,—until her basket was empty."

142. Tse'-ta-ho-tsĭl-tá-li is said to mean He (Who) Kicks (People) Down the Cliff. Some pronounce the name Tse'-ta-yĭ-tsil-tá'-li.

143. In versions A and B, the hero simply cuts the hair of the monster and allows the latter to fall down the cliff.

144. Na-tsĭs-a-án is the Navaho Mountain, an elevation 10,416 feet high, ten miles south of the junction of the Colorado and San Juan rivers, in the State of Utah.

145. Thus does the Navaho story-teller weakly endeavor to score a point against his hereditary enemy, the Pah Ute. But it is poor revenge, for the Pah Ute is said to have usually proved more than a match for the Navaho in battle. In Version A, the young are transformed into Rocky Mountain sheep; in Version B, they are changed into birds of prey.

146. This is the place at which the Bĭnáye Aháni were born, as told in par. 203. The other monsters mentioned in Part II. were not found by Nayénĕzgani at the places where they were said to be born.

147. Other versions make mention, in different places, of a Salt Woman, or goddess of salt, Ásihi Estsán; but the version of Hatáli Nĕz does not allude to her. Version A states that she supplied the bag of salt which Nayénĕzgani carried on his expedition.

148. Tsĭ-dĭl-tó-i means shooting or exploding bird. The name comes, perhaps, from some peculiarity of this bird, which gives warning of the approach of an enemy. 149. Hos-tó-di is probably an onomatopoetic name for a bird. It is said to be sleepy in the daytime and to come out at night.

150. Version B says that scalps were the trophies.

151. In all versions of this legend, but two hero gods or war gods are prominently mentioned, viz., Nayénĕzgani and To'badzĭstsíni; but in these songs four names are given. This is to satisfy the Indian reverence for the number four, and the dependent poetic requirement which often constrains the Navaho poet to put four stanzas in a song. Léyaneyani, or Reared Beneath the Earth (par. 286), is an obscure hero whose only deed of valor, according to this version of the legend, was the killing of his witch sister (par. 281). The deeds of Tsówenatlehi, or the