Page:Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society V.djvu/55

Rh the myths of klédsi hatál, more than a score of places are named where yéi dwell. There are some reasons for believing that the cult of the yéi is derived from the Cliff-dwellers, or from the Pueblos; but there are arguments, too, against this theory. The subject will not be further considered here. The yéi are supposed to be married and have families. The males are called yébaka; the females, yébaad.200 Hastsézĭni,212 the god of fire, and Hastséoltoi,206 the divine huntress, or goddess of the chase, belong, as their names indicate, to the yéi; while Gánaskĭdi,207 the harvest god, and Tó‘nenĭli96 Water Sprinkler, are associated with them in the legends.

79. Dĭgíni.—Dĭgĭ´n means sacred, divine, mysterious, or holy. It is not quite synonymous with the Dakota wakán or the Hidatsa hopá. It is not applied to the treatment of disease; it is not applied in a general way to religious ceremonial; it has not been heard applied to the anáye, or other things of evil: for this reason it is often translated "holy." Dĭgíni, derived from dĭgĭ´n, means holy people, gods, divinities. It is a name applied to the highest and lowest divinities, including the yéi (see notes 92 and 93).

80. Alien Gods.—Such are the gods that are friendly to the human race; but man has his enemies, too, among the mysterious powers. Chief among the latter are the anáye,7 the alien gods or inimical genii. These, being analogous to the giants and ogres of European folk-lore, are sometimes called giants in this work. They are usually represented as creatures of great size. Many of them are described in the Origin Legend. The worst have been slain, as the story relates; but others, being not unmixed evils, still remain to torment man. The legend, in accounting for their continued existence, shows the philosophic endeavor of our race to reconcile itself to the unwelcome inevitable.

81. Water God.—The position of Tiéholtsodi,8 the water monster, is one of transferred allegiance. He was once the enemy of our race, but now has become friendly to it in certain ways, though it is probable that he is still thought to be responsible for cases of drowning. Other gods, who were once inimical to man but are now his friends, are mentioned in the legends (par. 354). But we are not without evidence that the Navaho fears to offend his most beneficent gods lest the latter may directly punish him, or at least withhold their succor in his hour of need.

82. Devils.—Besides the alien gods, there are evil spirits haunting the earth which men dread; these are the tsĭ´ndi, whose name cannot be better translated than by calling them devils. The Navahoes frequently speak of the tsĭ´ndi (Englished, chindee), and they often use the term as an angry exclamation, just as the profane among ourselves say, "Oh the Devil! " or "You devil!" (see pars.