Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/252

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A quail had more than 20 children and with them she wandered over the whole country in search of water and could not find it. It was very hot and they were all crying, "Where can we get some water? Where can we get some water?" but for a long time they could find none. At last, away in the north, under a mesquite tree, they saw a pond of water, but it was very muddy and not fit to drink. But they had been wandering so many days and were so tired that they stopped in the shade, and by and by they went down one by one and drank the water, although it was so bad. But when they had all had enough it made them sick and they died.

An old woman had two bright grandchildren. She ground wheat and corn every morning to make porridge for them. One day as she put the olla on the fire outside the house, she told the children not to fight for fear they would upset the water. But they soon began quarreling, for they did not mind as well as they should, and so spilled the water, and the grandmother had to whip them. They became angry and said they were going away. She tried to make them understand why she had to whip them, but they would not listen and ran away. She ran after them, but could not catch up. She heard them whistling and followed the sound from place to place, until finally the oldest boy said, "I will turn into a saguaro, so I shall last forever, and bear fruit every summer." And the younger said, "Well, I will turn into a palo verde and stand there forever. These mountains are so bare and have nothing on them but rocks, so I will make them green." The old woman heard the cactus whistling and recognized the voice of her grandson; so she went up to it and tried to take it into her arms, and the thorns killed her.

And that is how the saguaro and palo verde came to be.



Out of primeval darkness spirit of Earth Doctor developed. He first created creosote bush from dust. Next created black ants and termites; these caused the world to develop and Earth Doctor created the sky. Then made gray spider and commanded it to spin web connecting edges of earth and sky. Threw blocks of ice into the sky for sun and moon and spray of water for stars; large stars made from magic crystal, and milky way by walking stick dipped in ashes. All living things then created and human beings from images of clay. Earth became overpopulated, as there was no death yet,