Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/224

] ki$n$tcs, and with them Väntre might win if he wished to gamble. He placed such magic power in the markings on the sticks that no one could win from Väntre. Elder Brother recognized the power in the sticks and told the people that they were powerless to win from Väntre. Elder Brother told the man at whose house Väntre gambled that if he would let his son and daughter work for him (Elder Brother), he would arrange it so that Väntre could not win from others. The man agreed. Elder Brother sent the sun to a roosting place of large birds to get feathers. The boy brought the feathers to the house. The girl was told to singe the feathers, grind them into a powder, and mix them with some pinole.

The next day Väntre came to the same place to gamble. Elder Brother said to the young woman, "Go to the pool with your kiâhâ and ollas. Take the pinole and make it ready when Väntre goes there." She followed Elder Brother's directions and went to get the water. Väntre said to the man with whom he had been playing on previous days, "I am going to the pool to get a drink of water before we begin playing." The others told him to go into the house to get the drink, but he went off, saying that he wished to see the young woman. When he came to her he said he wanted her for his wife, but she replied that she would not make any promises unless he drank her pinole. So Väntre was glad to take the drink. The first swallow seemed sour or bitter, but he took a second, a third, and a fourth drink. The moment he took the fourth drink feathers began to appear upon his body; these grew out at once and he became a large eagle. The young woman took her basket, returned to the village, and told what had happened. The people then took their bows and arrows, went to the pool, and there found the eagle sitting on the bank. They surrounded him, but he flew away and found refuge in the mountains, whence he came from time to time to carry away men and women to his hiding place. As their numbers decreased the people cried out for help to Elder Brother, who said he would kill the eagle after four days. He told the people to watch a sharp-pointed mountain after his departure and if a cloud appeared at the left of the peak they would know that he had been killed; if the cloud appeared at the right they would know that he had done some great thing. Eagle was so large and strong that when he sat on the mountain top it broke beneath his weight. It used to be all flat and smooth, but it was his sitting on it that made the peaks and rough places. When arrows were shot at him he caught them m his hand. (This must be a true story, for there is a picture of him with the arrows in his hand, on the dollar. So the Americans must have known about him.)