Page:Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society V.djvu/279

Rh painted blue with symbols of deer-tracks in black. At the bottom of the steps, one of the cigarettes was painted black and dotted with four symbols of fawn-tracks in yellow; the other was painted yellow and dotted with four symbols of fawn-tracks in black. The above was written from the description of the narrator. The writer has never seen such cigarettes; but they are said to be employed in some Navaho ceremonies at the present time. In this series of cigarettes the colors are not in the usual order,18 but there may be a special symbolism for these animals, or the variation may arise because they are the cigarettes of a wizard and therefore unholy.

235. When driving game to a party in ambush, the Navahoes often imitate the cry of the wolf. In this myth the old man is supposed to give the cry, not to drive the bears, but to make Nati'nĕsthani believe that deer are being driven.

236. The name Tsa-na-naí is derived from tsan, which means dung. Tsĕ'-sko-di means Spread-foot. The narrator said the other bears had names, but he could not remember them.

237. "He did not even thank his son-in-law" is an instance of sarcasm.

238. The bear is a sacred animal with the Navahoes; for this reason the hero did not skin the bears or eat their flesh. The old man, being a wizard, might do both.

239. Há-la-dzĭ-ni? means "What are you doing?" but it is a jocose expression, used only among intimate relations, or relations by marriage. In employing this interrogatory the Navaho gave the old man to understand that he was recognized.

240. This episode of the twelve bears is the weakest and least artistic in the tale. Moreover, it details a fifth device on the part of Deer Raiser to kill his son-in-law. Under ordinary circumstances we should expect but four devices. It seems an interpolation, by some story-teller less ingenious than he who composed the rest of the tale, introduced to get the men out together once more, so that, on their way home, the incident of the burnt moccasins might occur. The latter incident has been previously recorded by the writer in another connection. (See note 242.)

241. Among the Navahoes, when a person dies, the suffix ni, or ini, is added to his (or her) name, and thus he is mentioned ever afterwards.

242. Before the story of Nati'nĕsthani was obtained, the writer had already recorded this tale of the burnt moccasins in a version of the Origin Legend. In the latter connection it is introduced as one of the Coyote tales. The mischievous Coyote is made to try this trick on his father-in-law; but the latter, warned by the Wind, foils the Coyote.

243. The ridge which he crosses in the east and also those which he crosses later in the south, west, and north are colored according to the regular order of Navaho symbolism.

244. The narrator described the bird called tsĭ-das-tó-i thus: When a man passes by where this bird is sitting, the latter does not fly off, but sits and looks at the man, moving its head in every direction. It is about the size of a screech-owl.

245. It must not be supposed that in this and the following paragraph, when pale-faced people are mentioned, any allusion is made to Caucasians. The reference is merely symbolic. White is the color of the east in Navaho symbolism: hence these people in the east are represented as having pale faces. For similar reasons the man in the south (par. 551) is said to have a blue face, the man in the west (par. 552) a yellow face, and the man in the north (par. 553) a dark face. (See note 18.)

246. Bĭ-za (his treasure), something he specially values; hence his charm, his amulet, his personal fetich, his magic weapon, something that one carries to mysteriously protect himself. Even the divinities are thought to possess such