Part 13 (1/2)

Is there any connection between the the fact that when Nooee wore a nose-ring of turquoise the earth looked green, and that when he wore a nose-ring of glittering sh.e.l.l the earth looked dry to him?

Could this whole story have been a myth of some great drouth?

EE-EE-TOY'S RESURRECTION AND SPEECH TO JUHWERTA MAHKAI

And after Ee-ee-toy was dead he lay there, as some say for four months, and some say for four years. He was killed, but his winds were not killed, nor his clouds and they were sorry for him, and his clouds rained on him.

And he lay there so long that the little children played on him, jumping from him.

But at last he began to come to life again, holding down the ground--as a wounded man does, moaning, and there was thunder, and an earthquake.

And Ahahnheeattoepahk Mahkai's daughter was grinding corn when this happened, and the corn rolled in the basket, and she said: ”How is it that it thunders when there are no clouds, none to be seen, and that the corn rolls in the basket?”

And her father said: ”You may think this is only thunder, but I tell you wonderful things are going to happen.”

Ee-ee-toy, when he got a little stronger, picked up some stones and examined them, and threw them away. He did this four times, throwing away the stones each time, not liking any of them. And the children went there to play, and found him alive, and asked each other: ”Why is that old man doing that, picking up stones, and throwing them away, and picking up more?”

And he began then to cut up all kinds of sticks, four at a time, and to lay them down and look at them, but he liked none of them. Then he cut arrow weeds, four of them, and he liked their look. And he lit his pipe and blew the smoke over them, and spread his hand above them, and he liked the light of them which came thru his fingers.

And he put those sticks away in his pouch. And then he rose and took a few steps, and began to walk. And all his springs of water had been dried up while he was dead, but when he walked the earth again they gushed forth, and he dipped his fingers in them and stroked his wet fingers over his breast and he did the same to the trees.

And he went on and came to the cliff, where Vandaih once was, and he did the same to it, putting his hand to it and rubbing it. And he went to see the Sun.

He came to where the Sun starts, but the Sun was not there, but he could see the road the Sun takes, and he followed it. And that road was fringed with beautiful feathers and flowers and turquoises.

And he came to the tree which is called The Talking Tree. And the Tree took of its bark thin strips, which curled as owl feathers do when split, and tied them on a little stick, and put them in Ee-ee-toy's hair. And it gave him four sticks, made from that one of its branches which dipped to the south. And from its middle branch it made him a war club, and from a gall, or excrescence, which grew on its limb, it made him a vah-quah, or canteen.

After that he went along the beautiful fringed road which the Sun travels, and came to the place where the Sun drinks. And he took a drink there himself, putting his knee in the spot where the Sun's knee-print is, and his hand where the Sun rests his hand. And in the clear water he saw a stone like the Doctors' Stone, somewhat, but of the color of slate, with a zigzag pattern around it. And he took his four arrow-weeds and placed them under this stone and left them there.

And he went on, and went down where the Sun goes down. And he went to see Juhwerta Mahkai, to the place where he lived with his people, those who sank thru the earth before the flood.

And when Ee-ee-toy came to where Juhwerta Mahkai was, he said to him:--

”There was an Older Brother, and his people were against him; And he had made an earth that was like your earth; And he had made mountains that were like your mountains; And he had made springs of water, like yours, that were satisfactory; And he made trees like yours, and everything that he made worked well.

And they shot him till he bounced, four times on the open ground; And threw him with his face to the earth.

And he lay there, dead, but when he came to life he used the strength of his right arm and rose up.

But things were changed, and looked different from the old times.

He examined the sticks, but none suited him; He eyed along the river, that green snake, which he had made, and found the sticks that pleased him.

And he cut those arrow-weeds, he found there, into four pieces, and blew the smoke over them.

And out of them came sparks of light, that almost reached the Opposite World, the World of the Enemy, where things are different.

And when he saw the light from the sticks he smiled within himself; He was so pleased he had found the sticks that suited him.

And he brought the Black Fog from the West, and stroked the sticks with it, and so finished them, And from the Ocean he brought the Blue Fog, and stroked the sticks with it, and finished them; And from the East he brought the Fog of Light, and stroked the sticks with it and finished them; And from Above brought the Green Fog, and put it in hiding, and there secretly stroked the sticks with it, and finished them; From the West he brought the Black Snake, which he had made, and bound the sticks together, and finished them.

And from the Ocean he brought the Blue Snake, and bound the sticks together, and finished them; From the East he brought the Snake of Light, and bound the sticks together, and finished them; And from Above he brought the Green Snake, and bound them together and finished them.

And then he rose up, and with the first step he stepped on the great doctors of the earth and sank them down; The next step he stepped on the Speaker, and sank him down; The next step he stepped on the Slayer, and sank him down; And the next step he stepped on the rus.h.i.+ng young maid who gathers the fruit to feed the family, and sank her down.

And then he sank down himself, and walked under the earth's crust a little way, and then came out and found the Light's Road, his own proper way, and walked in it.

Where he found his springs of water, which he had made, with their green moss growing, and dipped his hand in them and moistened his heart; And every mountain he came to, which he had made, he entered and there he cooled his heart; And rested his hand on every tree he had made, and so freshened his heart; And came like a ghost to the place, the cliff, where he had killed the man-eagle, and sat there.

And there was Someone there, whom he did not know, who asked him what he wanted, coming there like a ghost; Who said: 'I told you that you would be against my people and the earth!'

And from there he went to the East and strengthened himself four times; When he arrived at where the Sun arises; Where he came to the four notches which the Sun uses when he is rising.

And where the Sun steps it is full of wind; And where the Sun puts his hands it is full of wind.

In spite of that he climbed the way, the way in which the Sun rises.

And he went Westward, stopping and taking his breath four times; Even at the fourth time, still going, still breathing westward.