diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6612.txt | 1607 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6612.zip | bin | 0 -> 34950 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/cs07w10.txt | 1602 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/cs07w10.zip | bin | 0 -> 34882 bytes |
7 files changed, 3225 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6612.txt b/6612.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b70c8b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/6612.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1607 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Along The Rocky Range, by Charles M. Skinner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Along The Rocky Range + Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Volume 7. + +Author: Charles M. Skinner + +Release Date: December 14, 2004 [EBook #6612] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + MYTHS AND LEGENDS + OF + OUR OWN LAND + + By + Charles M. Skinner + + Vol. 7. + + + ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE + + + + +CONTENTS: + +Over the Divide +The Phantom Train of Marshall Pass +The River of Lost Souls +Riders of the Desert +The Division of Two Tribes +Besieged by Starvation +A Yellowstone Tragedy +The Broad House +The Death Waltz +The Flood at Santa Fe +Goddess of Salt +The Coming of the Navajos +The Ark on Superstition Mountains +The Pale Faced Lightning +The Weird Sentinel at Squaw Peak +Sacrifice of the Toltecs +Ta-Vwots Conquers the Sun +The Comanche Rider +Horned Toad and Giants +The Spider Tower +The Lost Trail +A Battle in the Air + + + + + +ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE + + + +OVER THE DIVIDE + +The hope of finding El Dorado, that animated the adventurous Spaniards +who made the earlier recorded voyages to America, lived in the souls of +Western mountaineers as late as the first half of this century. Ample +discoveries of gold in California and Colorado gave color to the belief +in this land of riches, and hunger, illness, privation, the persecutions +of savages, and death itself were braved in the effort to reach and +unlock the treasure caves of earth. Until mining became a systematic +business, prospectors were dissatisfied with the smaller deposits of +precious metal and dreamed of golden hills farther away. The unknown +regions beyond the Rocky Mountains were filled by imagination with +magnificent possibilities, and it was the hope of the miner to penetrate +the wilderness, "strike it rich," and "make his pile." + +Thus, the region indicated as "over the divide" meaning the continental +water-shed-or "over the range" came to signify not a delectable land +alone, but a sum of delectable conditions, and, ultimately, the goal of +posthumous delights. Hence the phrase in use to-day: "Poor Bill! He's +gone over the divide." + +The Indian's name of heaven--"the happy hunting ground"--is of similar +significance, and among many of the tribes it had a definite place in the +far Southwest, to which their souls were carried on cobweb floats. Just +before reaching it they came to a dark river that had to be crossed on a +log. If they had been good in the world of the living they suffered no +harm from the rocks and surges, but if their lives had been evil they +never reached the farther shore, for they were swept into a place of +whirlpools, where, for ever and ever, they were tossed on the torrent +amid thousands of clinging, stinging snakes and shoals of putrid fish. +From the far North and East the Milky Way was the star-path across the +divide. + + + + +THE PHANTOM TRAIN OF MARSHALL PASS + +Soon after the rails were laid across Marshall Pass, Colorado, where they +go over a height of twelve thousand feet above the sea, an old engineer +named Nelson Edwards was assigned to a train. He had travelled the road +with passengers behind him for a couple of months and met with no +accident, but one night as he set off for the divide he fancied that the +silence was deeper, the canon darker, and the air frostier than usual. A +defective rail and an unsafe bridge had been reported that morning, and +he began the long ascent with some misgivings. As he left the first line +of snow-sheds he heard a whistle echoing somewhere among the ice and +rocks, and at the same time the gong in his cab sounded and he applied +the brakes. + +The conductor ran up and asked, "What did you stop for?" + +"Why did you signal to stop?" + +"I gave no signal. Pull her open and light out, for we've got to pass No. +19 at the switches, and there's a wild train climbing behind us." + +Edwards drew the lever, sanded the track, and the heavy train got under +way again; but the whistles behind grew nearer, sounding danger-signals, +and in turning a curve he looked out and saw a train speeding after him +at a rate that must bring it against the rear of his own train if +something were not done. He broke into a sweat as he pulled the throttle +wide open and lunged into a snow-bank. The cars lurched, but the snow was +flung off and the train went roaring through another shed. Here was where +the defective rail had been reported. No matter. A greater danger was +pressing behind. The fireman piled on coal until his clothes were wet +with perspiration, and fire belched from the smoke-stack. The passengers, +too, having been warned of their peril, had dressed themselves and were +anxiously watching at the windows, for talk went among them that a mad +engineer was driving the train behind. + +As Edwards crossed the summit he shut off steam and surrendered his train +to the force of gravity. Looking back, he could see by the faint light +from new snow that the driving-wheels on the rear engine were bigger than +his own, and that a tall figure stood atop of the cars and gestured +franticly. At a sharp turn in the track he found the other train but two +hundred yards behind, and as he swept around the curve the engineer who +was chasing him leaned from his window and laughed. His face was like +dough. Snow was falling and had begun to drift in the hollows, but the +trains flew on; bridges shook as they thundered across them; wind +screamed in the ears of the passengers; the suspected bridge was reached; +Edwards's heart was in his throat, but he seemed to clear the chasm by a +bound. Now the switch was in sight, but No. 19 was not there, and as the +brakes were freed the train shot by like a flash. Suddenly a red light +appeared ahead, swinging to and fro on the track. As well be run into +behind as to crash into an obstacle ahead. He heard the whistle of the +pursuing locomotive yelp behind him, yet he reversed the lever and put on +brakes, and for a few seconds lived in a hell of dread. + +Hearing no sound, now, he glanced back and saw the wild train almost leap +upon his own--yet just before it touched it the track seemed to spread, +the engine toppled from the bank, the whole train rolled into the canon +and vanished. Edwards shuddered and listened. No cry of hurt men or hiss +of steam came up--nothing but the groan of the wind as it rolled through +the black depth. The lantern ahead, too, had disappeared. Now another +danger impended, and there was no time to linger, for No. 19 might be on +its way ahead if he did not reach the second switch before it moved out. +The mad run was resumed and the second switch was reached in time. As +Edwards was finishing the run to Green River, which he reached in the +morning ahead of schedule, he found written in the frost of his +cab-window these words: "A frate train was recked as yu saw. Now that yu +saw it yu will never make another run. The enjine was not ounder control +and four sexshun men wor killed. If yu ever run on this road again yu +will be recked." Edwards quit the road that morning, and returning to +Denver found employment on the Union Pacific. No wreck was discovered +next day in the canon where he had seen it, nor has the phantom train +been in chase of any engineer who has crossed the divide since that +night. + + + + +THE RIVER OF LOST SOULS + +In the days when Spain ruled the Western country an infantry regiment was +ordered out from Santa Fe to open communication with Florida and to carry +a chest of gold for the payment of the soldiers in St. Augustine. The men +wintered on the site of Trinidad, comforted by the society of their wives +and families, and in the spring the women and camp-followers were +directed to remain, while the troops set forward along the canon of the +Purgatoire--neither to reach their destination nor to return. Did they +attempt to descend the stream in boats and go to wreck among the rapids? +Were they swept into eternity by a freshet? Did they lose their +provisions and starve in the desert? Did the Indians revenge themselves +for brutality and selfishness by slaying them at night or from an ambush? +Were they killed by banditti? Did they sink in the quicksands that led +the river into subterranean canals? None will ever know, perhaps; but +many years afterward a savage told a priest in Santa Fe that the regiment +had been surrounded by Indians, as Custer's command was in Montana, and +slain, to a man. Seeing that escape was hopeless, the colonel--so said +the narrator--had buried the gold that he was transporting. Thousands of +doubloons are believed to be hidden in the canon, and thousands of +dollars have been spent in searching for them. + +After weeks had lapsed into months and months into years, and no word +came of the missing regiment, the priests named the river El Rio de las +Animas Perdidas--the River of Lost Souls. The echoing of the flood as it +tumbled through the canon was said to be the lamentation of the troopers. +French trappers softened the suggestion of the Spanish title when they +renamed it Purgatoire, and--"bullwhackers" teaming across the plains +twisted the French title into the unmeaning "Picketwire." But +Americo-Spaniards keep alive the tradition, and the prayers of many have +ascended and do ascend for the succor of those who vanished so strangely +in the valley of Las Animas. + + + + +RIDERS OF THE DESERT + +Among the sandstone columns of the Colorado foot-hills stood the lodge of +Ta-in-ga-ro (First Falling Thunder). Though swift in the chase and brave +in battle, he seldom went abroad with neighboring tribes, for he was +happy in the society of his wife, Zecana (The Bird). To sell beaver and +wild sheep-skins he often went with her to a post on the New Mexico +frontier, and it was while at this fort that a Spanish trader saw the +pretty Zecana, and, determining to win her, sent the Indian on a mission +into the heart of the mountains, with a promise that she should rest +securely at the settlement until his return. + +On his way Ta-in-ga-ro stopped at the spring in Manitou, and after +drinking he cast beads and wampum into the well in oblation to its deity. +The offering was flung out by the bubbling water, and as he stared, +distressed at this unwelcome omen, a picture formed on the surface--the +anguished features of Zecana. He ran to his horse, galloped away, and +paused neither for rest nor food till he had reached the post. The +Spaniard was gone. Turning, then, to the foot-hills, he urged his jaded +horse toward his cabin, and arrived, one bright morning, flushed with joy +to see his wife before his door and to hear her singing. When he spoke +she looked up carelessly and resumed her song. She did not know him. +Reason was gone. + +It was his cry of rage and grief, when, from her babbling, Ta-in-ga-ro +learned of the Spaniard's treachery, that brought the wandering mind back +for an instant. Looking at her husband with a strange surprise and pain, +she plucked the knife from his belt. Before he could realize her purpose +she had thrust it into her heart and had fallen dead at his feet. For +hours he stood there in stupefaction, but the stolid Indian nature soon +resumed its sway. Setting his lodge in order and feeding his horse, he +wrapped Zecana's body in a buffalo-skin, then slept through the night in +sheer exhaustion. Two nights afterward the Indian stood in the shadow of +a room in the trading fort and watched the Spaniard as he lay asleep. +Nobody knew how he passed the guard. + +In the small hours the traitor was roused by the strain of a belt across +his mouth, and leaping up to fling it off, he felt the tug of a lariat at +his throat. His struggles were useless. In a few moments he was bound +hand and foot. Lifting some strips of bark from the low roof, Ta-in-ga-ro +pushed the Spaniard through the aperture and lowered him to the ground, +outside the enclosure of which the house formed part. Then, at the embers +of a fire he kindled an arrow wrapped in the down of cottonwood and shot +it into a haystack in the court. In the smoke and confusion thus made, +his own escape was unseen, save by a guardsman drowsily pacing his beat +outside the square of buildings. The sentinel would have given the alarm, +had not the Indian pounced on him like a panther and laid him dead with a +knife-stroke. + +Catching up the Spaniard, the Indian tied him to the back of a horse and +set off beside him. Thus they journeyed until they came to his lodge, +where he released the trader from his horse and fed him, but kept his +hands and legs hard bound, and paid no attention to his questions and his +appeals for liberty. Tying a strong and half-trained horse at his door, +Ta-in-ga-ro placed a wooden saddle on him, cut off the Spaniard's +clothes, and put him astride of the beast. After he had fastened him into +his seat with deer-skin thongs, he took Zecana's corpse from its wrapping +and tied it to his prisoner, face to face. + +Then, loosing the horse, which was plunging and snorting to be rid of his +burden, he saw him rush off on the limitless desert, and followed on his +own strong steed. At first the Spaniard fainted; on recovering he +struggled to get free, but his struggles only brought him closer to the +ghastly thing before him. Noon-day heat covered him with sweat and blood +dripped from the wales that the cords cut in his flesh. At night he froze +uncovered in the chill air, and, if for an instant his eyes closed in +sleep, a curse, yelled into his ear, awoke him. Ta-inga-ro gave him drink +from time to time, but never food, and so they rode for days. At last +hunger overbore his loathing, and sinking his teeth into the dead flesh +before him he feasted like a ghoul. + +Still they rode, Ta-in-ga-ro never far from his victim, on whose +sufferings he gloated, until a gibbering cry told him that the Spaniard +had gone mad. Then, and not till then, he drew rein and watched the horse +with its dead and maniac riders until they disappeared in the yellow +void. He turned away, but nevermore sought his home. To and fro, through +the brush, the sand, the alkali of the plains, go the ghost riders, +forever. + + + + +THE DIVISION OF TWO TRIBES + +When white men first penetrated the Western wilderness of America they +found the tribes of Shoshone and Comanche at odds, and it is a legend of +the springs of Manitou that their differences began there. This "Saratoga +of the West," nestling in a hollow of the foot-hills in the shadow of the +noble peak of Pike, was in old days common meeting-ground for several +families of red men. Councils were held in safety there, for no Indian +dared provoke the wrath of the manitou whose breath sparkled in the +"medicine waters." None? Yes, one. For, centuries ago a Shoshone and a +Comanche stopped here on their return from a hunt to drink. The Shoshone +had been successful; the Comanche was empty handed and ill tempered, +jealous of the other's skill and fortune. Flinging down the fat deer that +he was bearing homeward on his shoulders, the Shoshone bent over the +spring of sweet water, and, after pouring a handful of it on the ground, +as a libation to the spirit of the place, he put his lips to the surface. +It needed but faint pretext for his companion to begin a quarrel, and he +did so in this fashion: "Why does a stranger drink at the spring-head +when one of the owners of the fountain contents himself with its +overflow? How does a Shoshone dare to drink above me?" + +The other replied, "The Great Spirit places the water at the spring that +his children may drink it undefiled. I am Ausaqua, chief of Shoshones, +and I drink at the head-water. Shoshone and Comanche are brothers. Let +them drink together." + +"No. The Shoshone pays tribute to the Comanche, and Wacomish leads that +nation to war. He is chief of the Shoshone as he is of his own people." + +"Wacomish lies. His tongue is forked, like the snake's. His heart is +black. When the Great Spirit made his children he said not to one, 'Drink +here,' and to another, 'Drink there,' but gave water that all might +drink." + +The other made no answer, but as Ausaqua stooped toward the bubbling +surface Wacomish crept behind him, flung himself against the hunter, +forced his head beneath the water, and held him there until he was +drowned. As he pulled the dead body from the spring the water became +agitated, and from the bubbles arose a vapor that gradually assumed the +form of a venerable Indian, with long white locks, in whom the murderer +recognized Waukauga, father of the Shoshone and Comanche nation, and a +man whose heroism and goodness made his name revered in both these +tribes. The face of the patriarch was dark with wrath, and he cried, in +terrible tones, "Accursed of my race! This day thou hast severed the +mightiest nation in the world. The blood of the brave Shoshone appeals +for vengeance. May the water of thy tribe be rank and bitter in their +throats." + +Then, whirling up an elk-horn club, he brought it full on the head of the +wretched man, who cringed before him. The murderer's head was burst open +and he tumbled lifeless into the spring, that to this day is nauseous, +while, to perpetuate the memory of Ausaqua, the manitou smote a +neighboring rock, and from it gushed a fountain of delicious water. The +bodies were found, and the partisans of both the hunters began on that +day a long and destructive warfare, in which other tribes became involved +until mountaineers were arrayed against plainsmen through all that +region. + + + + +BESIEGED BY STARVATION + +A hundred years before the white men set up their trading-posts on the +Arkansas and Platte, a band of mountain hunters made a descent on what +they took to be a small company of plainsmen, but who proved to be the +enemy in force, and who, in turn, drove the Utes--for the aggressors were +of that tribe--into the hills. Most of them took refuge on a castellated +rock on the south side of Bowlder Canon, where they held their own for +several days, rolling down huge rocks whenever an attempt was made to +storm the height; wherefore, seeing that the mountain was too secure a +stronghold to be taken in that way, the besiegers camped about it, and, +by cutting off the access of the beleaguered party to game and to water, +starved every one of them to death. + +This, too, is the story of Starved Rock, on Illinois River, near Ottawa, +Illinois. It is a sandstone bluff, one hundred and fifty feet high, with +a slope on one side only. Its summit is an acre in extent, and at the +order of La Salle his Indian lieutenant, Tonti, fortified the place and +mounted a small cannon on it. He died there afterward. After the killing +of Pontiac at Cahokia, some of his people--the Ottawas--charged the crime +against their enemies, the Illinois. The latter, being few in number, +entrenched themselves on Starved Rock, where they kept their enemies at +bay, but were unable to break their line to reach supplies. For a time +they secured water by letting down bark vessels into the river at the end +of thongs, but the Ottawas came under the bluff in canoes and cut the +cords. Unwilling to surrender, the Illinois remained there until all had +died of starvation. Bones and relics are found occasionally at the top. + +There is yet another place of which a similar narrative is +extant--namely, Crow Butte, Nebraska, which is two hundred feet high and +vertical on all sides save one, but on that a horseman may ascend in +safety. A company of Crows, flying from the Sioux, gained this citadel +and defended the path so vigorously that their pursuers gave over all +attempts to follow them, but squatted calmly on the plain and proceeded +to starve them out. On a dark night the besieged killed some of their +ponies and made lariats of their hides, by which they reached the ground +on the unguarded side of the rock. They slid down, one at a time, and +made off all but one aged Indian, who stayed to keep the camp-fire +burning as a blind. He went down and surrendered on the next day, but the +Sioux, respecting his age and loyalty, gave him freedom. + + + + +A YELLOWSTONE TRAGEDY + +Although the Indians feared the geyser basins of the upper Yellowstone +country, believing the hissing and thundering to be voices of evil +spirits, they regarded the mountains at the head of the river as the +crest of the world, and whoso gained their summits could see the happy +hunting-grounds below, brightened with the homes of the blessed. They +loved this land in which their fathers had hunted, and when they were +driven back from the settlements the Crows took refuge in what is now +Yellowstone Park. Even here the soldiers pursued them, intent on avenging +acts that the red men had committed while suffering under the sting of +tyranny and wrong. A mere remnant of the fugitive band gathered at the +head of that mighty rift in the earth known as the Grand Canon of the +Yellowstone--a remnant that had succeeded in escaping the bullets of the +soldiery,--and with Spartan courage they resolved to die rather than be +taken and carried away to pine in a distant prison. They built a raft and +placed it on the river at the foot of the upper fall, and for a few days +they enjoyed the plenty and peace that were their privilege in former +times. A short-lived peace, however, for one morning they are aroused by +the crack of rifles--the troops are upon them. + +Boarding their raft they thrust it toward the middle of the stream, +perhaps with the idea of gaining the opposite shore, but, if such is +their intent, it is thwarted by the rapidity of the current. A few among +them have guns, that they discharge with slight effect at the troops, who +stand wondering on the shore. The soldiers forbear to fire, and watch, +with something like dread, the descent of the raft as it passes into the +current, and, with many a turn and pitch, whirls on faster and faster. +The death-song rises triumphant above the lash of the waves and that +distant but awful booming that is to be heard in the canon. Every red man +has his face turned toward the foe with a look of defiance, and the tones +of the death-chant have in them something of mockery no less than hate +and vaunting. + +The raft is now between the jaws of rock that yawn so hungrily. Beyond +and below are vast walls, shelving toward the floor of the gulf a +thousand feet beneath--their brilliant colors shining in the sun of +morning that sheds as peaceful a light on wood and hill as if there were +no such thing as brother hunting brother in this free land of ours. The +raft is galloping through the foam like a racehorse, and, hardened as the +soldiers are, they cannot repress a shudder as they see the fate that the +savages have chosen for themselves. Now the brink is reached. The raft +tips toward the gulf, and with a cry of triumph the red men are launched +over the cataract, into the bellowing chasm, where the mists weep forever +on the rocks and mosses. + + + + +THE BROAD HOUSE + +Down in the canon of Chaco, New Mexico, stands a building evidently +coeval with those of the cliff dwellers, that is still in good +preservation and is called the Broad House. When Noqoilpi, the gambling +god, came on earth he strayed into this canon, and, finding the Moquis a +prosperous people, he envied them and resolved to win their property. To +do that he laid off a race-track at the bottom of the ravine and +challenged them to meet him there in games of chance and strength and +skill. They accepted his challenge, and, as he could turn luck to his own +side, he soon won not their property alone, but their women and children, +and, finally, some of the men themselves. + +In his greed he had acquired more than he wanted, and as the captives +were a burden to him he offered to make a partial restoration if the +people would build this house for him. They did so and he gave up some of +the men and women. The other gods looked with disapproval on this +performance, however, and they agreed to give the wind god power to +defeat him, for, now that he had secured his house, he had gone to +gambling again. The wind god, in disguise as a Moqui, issued a challenge, +and the animals agreed to help him. + +When the contest in tree-pulling took place the wind god pulled up a +large tree while Noqoilpi was unable to stir a smaller one. That was +because the beavers had cut the roots of the larger. In the ball contest +Noqoilpi drove the ball nearly to the bounds, but the wind god sent his +far beyond, for wrapped loosely in it was a bird that freed itself before +touching the ground and flew away. In brief, Noqoilpi was beaten at every +point and the remaining captives left him, with jeers, and returned to +their people. + +The gambler cursed and raged until the wind god seized him, fitted him to +a bow, like an arrow, and shot him into the sky. He flew far out of +sight, and presently came to the long row of stone houses where the man +lives who carries the moon. He pitied the gambler and made new animals +and people for him and let him down to the earth in old Mexico, the moon +people becoming Mexicans. He returned to his old haunts and came +northward, building towns along the Rio Grande until he had passed the +site of Santa Fe, when his people urged him to go back, and after his +return they made him their god--Nakai Cigini. + + + + +THE DEATH WALTZ + +Years ago, when all beyond the Missouri was a waste, the military post at +Fort Union, New Mexico, was the only spot for miles around where any of +the graces of social life could be discovered. Among the ladies at the +post was a certain gay young woman, the sister-in-law of a captain, who +enjoyed the variety and spice of adventure to be found there, and +enjoyed, too, the homage that the young officers paid to her, for women +who could be loved or liked were not many in that wild country. A young +lieutenant proved especially susceptible to her charms, and devoted +himself to her in the hope that he should ultimately win her hand. His +experience with the world was not large enough to enable him to +distinguish between the womanly woman and the coquette. + +One day messengers came dashing into the fort with news of an Apache +outbreak, and a detachment was ordered out to chase and punish the +marauding Indians. The lieutenant was put in command of the expedition, +but before starting he confided his love to the young woman, who not only +acknowledged that she returned his affection, but promised that if the +fortune of war deprived him of life she would never marry another. As he +bade her good-by he was heard to say, "That is well. Nobody else shall +have you. I will come back and make my claim." + +In a few days the detachment came back, but the lieutenant was missing. +It was noticed that the bride-elect grieved but little for him, and +nobody was surprised when she announced her intention of marrying a young +man from the East. The wedding-day arrived. All was gayety at the post, +and in the evening the mess-room was decorated for a ball. As the dance +was in full swing a door flew open with a bang, letting in a draught of +air that made the candles burn dim, and a strange cry, unlike that of any +human creature, sounded through the house. All eyes turned to the door. +In it stood the swollen body of a dead man dressed in the stained uniform +of an officer. The temple was marked by a hatchet-gash, the scalp was +gone, the eyes were wide open and, burned with a terrible light. + +Walking to the bride the body drew her from the arms of her husband, who, +like the rest of the company, stood as in a trance, without the power of +motion, and clasping her to its bosom began a waltz. The musicians, who +afterward declared that they did not know what they were doing, struck up +a demoniac dance, and the couple spun around and around, the woman +growing paler and paler, until at last the fallen jaw and staring eyes +showed that life was also extinct in her. The dead man allowed her to +sink to the floor, stood over her for a moment, wrung his hands as he +sounded his fearful cry again, then vanished through the door. A few days +after, a troop of soldiers who had been to the scene of the Apache +encounter returned with the body of the lieutenant. + + + + +THE FLOOD AT SANTA FE + +Many are the scenes of religious miracles in this country, although +French Canada and old Mexico boast of more. So late as the prosaic year +of 1889 the Virgin was seen to descend into the streets of Johnstown, +Pennsylvania, to save her image on the Catholic church in that place, when +it was swept by a deluge in which hundreds of persons perished. It was +the wrath of the Madonna that caused just such a flood in New Mexico long +years ago. There is in the old Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Santa +Fe, a picture that commemorates the appearance of the Virgin to Juan +Diego, an Indian in Guadalupe, old Mexico, in the sixteenth century. She +commanded that a chapel should be built for her, but the bishop of the +diocese declared that the man had been dreaming and told him to go away. +The Virgin came to the Indian again, and still the bishop declared that +he had no evidence of the truth of what he said. A third time the +supernatural visitor appeared, and told Juan to climb a certain difficult +mountain, pick the flowers he would find there, and take them to the +bishop. + +After a long and dangerous climb they were found, to the Indian's +amazement, growing in the snow. He filled his blanket with them and +returned to the episcopal residence, but when he opened the folds before +the dignitary, he was more amazed to find not flowers, but a glowing +picture painted on his blanket. It hangs now in Guadalupe, but is +duplicated in Santa Fe, where a statue of the Virgin is also kept. These +treasures are greatly prized and are resorted to in time of illness and +threatened disaster, the statue being taken through the streets in +procession when the rainy season is due. Collections of money are then +made and prayers are put up for rain, to which appeals the Virgin makes +prompt response, the priests pointing triumphantly to the results of +their intercession. One year, however, the rain did not begin on time, +though services were almost constantly continued before the sacred +picture and the sacred statue, and the angry people stripped the image of +its silks and gold lace and kicked it over the ground for hours. That +night a violent rain set in and the town was nearly washed away, so the +populace hastened the work of reparation in order to save their lives. +They cleansed the statue, dressed it still more brilliantly, and +addressed their prayers to the Virgin with more energy and earnestness +than ever before. + + + + +GODDESS OF SALT + +Between Zuni and Pescado is a steep mesa, or table-land, with fantastic +rocks weathered into tower and roof-like prominences on its sides, while +near it is a high natural monument of stone. Say the Zunis: The goddess +of salt was so troubled by the people who lived near her domain on the +sea-shore, and who took away her snowy treasures without offering any +sacrifice in return, that she forsook the ocean and went to live in the +mountains far away. Whenever she stopped beside a pool to rest she made +it salt, and she wandered so long about the great basins of the West that +much of the water in them is bitter, and the yield of salt from the +larger lake near Zuni brings into the Zuni treasury large tolls from +other tribes that draw from it. + +Here she met the turquoise god, who fell in love with her at sight, and +wooed so warmly that she accepted and married him. For a time they lived +happily, but when the people learned that the goddess had concealed +herself among the mountains of New Mexico they followed her to that land +and troubled her again until she declared that she would leave their view +forever. She entered this mesa, breaking her way through a high wall of +sandstone as she did so. The arched portal through which she passed is +plainly visible. As she went through, one of her plumes was broken off, +and falling into the valley it tipped upon its stem and became the +monument that is seen there. The god of turquoise followed his wife, and +his footsteps may be traced in outcrops of pale-blue stone. + + + + +THE COMING OF THE NAVAJOS + +Many fantastic accounts of the origin of man are found among the red +tribes. The Onondagas say that the Indians are made from red earth and +the white men from sea-foam. Flesh-making clay is seen in the precipitous +bank in the ravine west of Onondaga Valley, where at night the fairies +"little fellows" sport and slide. Among others, the Noah legend finds a +parallel. Several tribes claim to have emerged from the interior of the +earth. The Oneidas point to a hill near the falls of Oswego River, New +York, as their birthplace; the Wichitas rose from the rocks about Red +River; the Creeks from a knoll in the valley of Big Black River in the +Natchez country, where dwelt the Master of Breath; the Aztecs were one of +seven tribes that came out from the seven caverns of Aztlan, or Place of +the Heron; and the Navajos believe that they emerged at a place known to +them in the Navajo Mountains. + +In the under world the Navajos were happy, for they had everything that +they could wish: there was no excess of heat or cold, trees and flowers +grew everywhere, and the day was marked by a bright cloud that arose in +the east, while a black cloud that came out of the west made the night. +Here they lived for centuries, and might have been there to this day had +not one of the tribe found an opening in the earth that led to some place +unknown. He told of it to the whole tribe. They set off up the passage to +see where it led, and after long and weary climbing the surface was +reached. Pleased with the novelty of their surroundings, they settled +here, but on the fourth day after their arrival their queen disappeared. + +Their search for her was unavailing until some of the men came to the +mouth of the tunnel by which they had reached the upper land, when, +looking down, they saw their queen combing her long, black locks. She +told them that she was dead and that her people could go to her only +after death, but that they would be happy in their old home. With that +the earth shut together and the place has never since been open to the +eye of mortals. Soon came the cannibal giants who ravaged the desert +lands and destroyed all of the tribe but four families, these having +found a refuge in a deep canon of the Navajo Mountains. From their +retreat they could see a beam of light shining from one of the hills +above them, and on ascending to the place they found a beautiful girl +babe. + +This child grew to womanhood under their care, and her charms attracted +the great manitou that rides on a white horse and carries the sun for a +shield. He wooed and married her, and their children slew the giants that +had destroyed the Navajos. After a time the manitou carried his wife to +his floating palace in the western water, which has since been her home. +To her the prayers of the people are addressed, and twelve immortals bear +their petitions to her throne. + + + + +THE ARK ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS + +The Pima Indians of Arizona say that the father of all men and animals +was the butterfly, Cherwit Make (earth-maker), who fluttered down from +the clouds to the Blue Cliffs at the junction of the Verde and Salt +Rivers, and from his own sweat made men. As the people multiplied they +grew selfish and quarrelsome, so that Cherwit Make was disgusted with his +handiwork and resolved to drown them all. But first he told them, in the +voice of the north wind, to be honest and to live at peace. The prophet +Suha, who interpreted this voice, was called a fool for listening to the +wind, but next night came the east wind and repeated the command, with an +added threat that the ruler of heaven would destroy them all if they did +not reform. + +Again they scoffed, and on the next night the west wind cautioned them. +But this third warning was equally futile. On the fourth night came the +south wind. It breathed into Suha's ear that he alone had been good and +should be saved, and bade him make a hollow ball of spruce gum in which +he might float while the deluge lasted. Suha and his wife immediately set +out to gather the gum, that they melted and shaped until they had made a +large, rounded ark, which they ballasted with jars of nuts, acorn-meal +and water, and meat of bear and venison. + +On the day assigned Suha and his wife were looking regretfully down into +the green valleys from the ledge where the ark rested, listening to the +song of the harvesters, and sighing to think that so much beauty would +presently be laid waste, when a hand of fire was thrust from a cloud and +it smote the Blue Cliffs with a thunder-clang. It was the signal. Swift +came the clouds from all directions, and down poured the rain. +Withdrawing into their waxen ball, Suha and his wife closed the portal. +Then for some days they were rolled and tossed on an ever-deepening sea. +Their stores had almost given out when the ark stopped, and breaking a +hole in its side its occupants stepped forth. + +There was a tuna cactus growing at their feet, and they ate of its red +fruit greedily, but all around them was naught but water. When night came +on they retired to the ark and slept--a night, a month, a year, perhaps a +century, for when they awoke the water was gone, the vales were filled +with verdure, and bird-songs rang through the woods. The delighted couple +descended the Superstition Mountains, on which the ark had rested, and +went into its valleys, where they lived for a thousand years, and became +the parents of a great tribe. + +But the evil was not all gone. There was one Hauk, a devil of the +mountains, who stole their daughters and slew their sons. One day, while +the women were spinning flax and cactus fibre and the men were gathering +maize, Hauk descended into the settlement and stole another of Suha's +daughters. The patriarch, whose patience had been taxed to its limit, +then made a vow to slay the devil. He watched to see by what way he +entered the valley. He silently followed him into the Superstition +Mountains; he drugged the cactus wine that his daughter was to serve to +him; then, when he had drunk it, Suha emerged from his place of hiding +and beat out the brains of the stupefied fiend. + +Some of the devil's brains were scattered and became seed for other evil, +but there was less wickedness in the world after Hauk had been disposed +of than there had been before. Suha taught his people to build adobe +houses, to dig with shovels, to irrigate their land, to weave cloth, and +avoid wars. But on his death-bed he foretold to them that they would grow +arrogant with wealth, covetous of the lands of others, and would wage +wars for gain. When that time came there would be another flood and not +one should be saved--the bad should vanish and the good would leave the +earth and live in the sun. So firmly do the Pimas rely on this prophecy +that they will not cross Superstition Mountains, for there sits Cherwit +Make--awaiting the culmination of their wickedness to let loose on the +earth a mighty sea that lies dammed behind the range. + + + + +THE PALE FACED LIGHTNING + +Twenty miles from the capital of Arizona stands Mount Superstition--the +scene of many traditions, the object of many fears. Two centuries ago a +tribe of Pueblo dwarfs arrived near it and tilled the soil and tended +their flocks about the settlements that grew along their line of march. +They were little people, four feet high, but they were a thousand strong +and clever. They were peaceful, like all intelligent people, and the +mystery surrounding their incantations and sun-worship was more potent +than a show of arms to frighten away those natural assassins, the +Apaches. + +After they had lived near the mountain for five years the "little people" +learned that the Zunis were advancing from the south and made +preparations for defence. Their sheep were concealed in obscure valleys; +provisions, tools, and arms were carried up the mountain; piles of stone +were placed along the edges of cliffs commanding the passes. This work +was superintended by a woman with a white face, fair hair, and commanding +form, who was held in reverence by the dwarfs; and she it was--the Helen +of a New-World Troy--who was causing this trouble, for the Zunis claimed +her on the ground that they had brought her from the waters of the rising +sun, and that it was only to escape an honorable marriage with their +chief that she had fled to the dwarfs. + +Be that as it might, the Zunis marched on, meeting with faint resistance +until, on a bright afternoon, they massed on a slope of the mountain, +seven hundred in number. The Apaches, expecting instant defeat of the +"little men," watched, from neighboring hills, the advance of the +invaders as they climbed nimbly toward the stone fort on the top of the +slope, brandishing clubs and stone spears, and bragging, as the fashion +of a red man is--and sometimes of a white one. + +At a pool outside of the walls stood the pale woman, queenly and calm, +and as her white robe and brown hair fluttered in the wind both her +people and the foe looked upon her with admiration. When but a hundred +yards away the Zunis rushed toward her with outstretched arms, whereupon +she stooped, picked up an earthen jar, emptied its contents into the +pool, and ran back. In a moment sparks and balls of fire leaped from +crevices in the rocks, and as they touched the Indians many fell dead. +Others plunged blindly over the cliffs and were dashed to pieces. + +In a few minutes the remainder of the force was in full retreat and not +an arrow had been shot. The Apaches, though stricken with terror at these +pyrotechnics, overcame the memory of them sufficiently in a couple of +years to attempt the sack of the fort on their own account, but the queen +repelled them as she had forced back the Zunis, and with even greater +slaughter. From that time the dwarfs were never harmed again, but they +went away, as suddenly as they had come, to a secret recess in the +mountains, where the Pale Faced Lightning still rules them. + +Some of the Apaches maintain that her spirit haunts a cave on +Superstition Mountain, where her body vanished in a blaze of fire, and +this cave of the Spirit Mother is also pointed out on the south side of +Salt River. A skeleton and cotton robes, ornamented and of silky texture, +were once found there. It is said that electrical phenomena are frequent +on the mountain, and that iron, copper, salt, and copperas lying near +together may account for them. + + + + +THE WEIRD SENTINEL AT SQUAW PEAK + +There is a cave under the highest butte of the Squaw Peak range, Arizona, +where a party of Tonto Indians was found by white men in 1868. The white +men were on the war-path, and when the Tontos fell into their hands they +shot them unhesitatingly, firing into the dark recesses of the cavern, +the fitful but fast-recurring flashes of their rifles illuminating the +interior and exposing to view the objects of their hatred. + +The massacre over, the cries and groans were hushed, the hunters strode +away, and over the mountains fell the calm that for thousands of years +had not been so rudely broken. That night, when the moon shone into this +pit of death, a corpse arose, walked to a rock just within the entrance, +and took there its everlasting seat. + +Long afterward a man who did not know its story entered this place, when +he was confronted by a thing, as he called it, that glared so fearfully +upon him that he fled in an ecstasy of terror. Two prospectors +subsequently attempted to explore the cave, but the entrance was barred +by "the thing." They gave one glance at the torn face, the bulging eyes +turned sidewise at them, the yellow fangs, the long hair, the spreading +claws, the livid, mouldy flesh, and rushed away. A Western paper, +recounting their adventure, said that one of the men declared that there +was not money enough in Maricopa County to pay him to go there again, +while the other had never stopped running--at least, he had not returned +to his usual haunts since "the thing" looked at him. Still, it is haunted +country all about here. The souls of the Mojaves roam upon Ghost +Mountain, and the "bad men's hunting-grounds" of the Yumas and Navajos +are over in the volcanic country of Sonora. It is, therefore, no unusual +thing to find signs and wonders in broad daylight. + + + + +SACRIFICE OF THE TOLTECS + +Centuries ago, when Toltec civilization had extended over Arizona, and +perhaps over the whole West, the valleys were occupied by large +towns--the towns whose ruins are now known as the City of Ovens, City of +Stones, and City of the Dead. The people worked at trades and arts that +had been practised by their ancestors before the pyramids were built in +Egypt. Montezuma had come to the throne of Mexico, and the Aztecs were a +subject people; Europe had discovered America and forgotten it, and in +America the arrival of Europeans was recalled only in traditions. But, +like other nations, the Toltecs became a prey to self-confidence, to +luxury, to wastefulness, and to deadening superstitions. Already the +fierce tribes of the North were lurking on the confines of their country +in a faith of speedy conquest, and at times it seemed as if the elements +were against them. + +The villagers were returning from the fields, one day, when the entire +region was smitten by an earthquake. Houses trembled, rumblings were +heard, people fell in trying to reach the streets, and reservoirs burst, +wasting their contents on the fevered soil. A sacrifice was offered. Then +came a second shock, and another mortal was offered in oblation. As the +earth still heaved and the earthquake demon muttered underground, the +king gave his daughter to the priests, that his people might be spared, +though he wrung his hands and beat his brow as he saw her led away and +knew that in an hour her blood would stream from the altar. + +The girl walked firmly to the cave where the altar was erected--a cave in +Superstition Mountains. She knelt and closed her eyes as the +officiating-priest uttered a prayer, and, gripping his knife of jade +stone, plunged it into her heart. She fell without a struggle. And now, +the end. + +Hardly had the innocent blood drained out and the fires been lighted to +consume the body, when a pall of cloud came sweeping across the heavens; +a hot wind surged over the ground, laden with dust and smoke; the +storm-struck earth writhed anew beneath pelting thunder-bolts; no tremor +this time, but an upheaval that rent the rocks and flung the cities down. +It was an hour of darkness and terror. Roars of thunder mingled with the +more awful bellowing beneath; crash on crash told that houses and temples +were falling in vast ruin; the mountainsides were loosened and the rush +of avalanches added to the din; the air was thick, and through the clouds +the people groped their way toward the fields; rivers broke from their +confines and laid waste farms and gardens! The gods had indeed abandoned +them, and the spirit of the king's daughter took its flight in company +with thousands of souls in whose behalf she had suffered uselessly. + +The king was crushed beneath his palace-roof and the sacerdotal +executioner perished in a fall of rock. The survivors fled in panic and +the Ishmaelite tribes on their frontier entered their kingdom and +pillaged it of all abandoned wealth. The cities never were rebuilt and +were rediscovered but a few years ago, when the maiden's skeleton was +also found. Nor does any Indian cross Superstition Mountains without a +sense of apprehension. + + + + +TA-VWOTS CONQUERS THE SUN + +The Indian is a great story-teller. Every tribe has its traditions, and +the elderly men and women like to recount them, for they always find +listeners. And odd stories they tell, too. Just listen to this, for +example. It is a legend among the tribes of Arizona. + +While Ta-Vwots, the hare god, was asleep in the valley of Maopa, the Sun +mischievously burned his back, causing him to leap up with a howl. "Aha! +It's you, is it, who played this trick on me?" he cried, looking at the +Sun. "I'll make it warm for you. See if I don't." + +And without more ado he set off to fight the Sun. On the way he stopped +to pick and roast some corn, and when the people who had planted it ran +out and tried to punish him for the theft he scratched a hole in the +ground and ran in out of sight. His pursuers shot arrows into the hole, +but Ta-Vwots had his breath with him, and it was an awfully strong +breath, for with it he turned all the arrows aside. "The scamp is in +here," said one of the party. "Let's get at him another way." So, getting +their flints and shovels, they began to dig. + +"That's your game, is it?" mumbled Ta-Vwots. "I know a way out of this +that you don't know." With a few puffs of his breath and a few kicks of +his legs he reached a great fissure that led into the rock behind him, +and along this passage he scrambled until he came to the edge of it in a +niche, from which he could watch his enemies digging. When they had made +the hole quite large he shouted, "Be buried in the grave you have dug for +yourselves!" And, hurling down a magic ball that he carried, he caved the +earth in on their heads. Then he paced off, remarking, "To fight is as +good fun as to eat. Vengeance is my work. Every one I meet will be an +enemy. No one shall escape my wrath." And he sounded his war-whoop. + +Next day he saw two men heating rocks and chipping arrow-heads from them. +"Let me help you, for hot rocks will not hurt me," he said. + +"You would have us to believe you are a spirit, eh?" they questioned, +with a jeer. + +"No ghost," he answered, "but a better man than you. Hold me on those +rocks, and, if I do not burn, you must let me do the same to you." + +The men complied, and heating the stones to redness in the fire they +placed him against them, but failed to see that by his magic breath he +kept a current of air flowing between him and the hot surface. Rising +unhurt, he demanded that they also should submit to the torture, and, +like true Indians, they did so. When their flesh had been burned half +through and they were dead, he sounded his warwhoop and went on. + +On the day following he met two women picking berries, and told them to +blow the leaves and thorns into his eyes. They did so, as they supposed, +but with his magic breath he kept the stuff away from his face. + +"You are a ghost!" the women exclaimed. + +"No ghost," said he. "Just a common person. Leaves and thorns can do no +harm. See, now." And he puffed thorns into their faces and made them +blind. "Aha! You are caught with your own chaff I am on my way to kill +the Sun. This is good practice." And he slew them, sounded his war-whoop, +and went on. + +The morning after this affair some women appeared on Hurricane Cliff and +the wind brought their words to his ears. They were planning to kill him +by rolling rocks upon him as he passed. As he drew near he pretended to +eat something with such enjoyment that they asked him what it was. He +called out, "It is sweet. Come to the edge and I will throw it up to +you." With that he tossed something so nearly within their reach that in +bending forward to catch it they crowded too near the brink, lost their +balance, fell over, and were killed. "You are victims of your own greed. +One should never be so anxious as to kill one's self." This was his only +comment, and, sounding the warwhoop, he went on. + +A day later he came upon two women making water jugs of willow baskets +lined with pitch, and he heard one whisper to the other, "Here comes that +bad Ta-Vwots. How shall we destroy him?" + +"What were you saying?" asked the hare god. + +"We just said, 'Here comes our grandson.'" (A common form of endearment.) + +"Is that all? Then let me get into one of these water jugs while you +braid the neck." + +He jumped in and lay quite still as they wove the neck, and they laughed +to think that it was braided so small that he could never escape, +when--puff! the jug was shattered and there was Ta-Vwots. They did not +know anything about his magic breath. They wondered how he got out. + +"Easily enough," replied the hare god. "These things may hold water, but +they can't hold men and women. Try it, and see if they can." With their +consent, Ta-Vwots began weaving the osiers about them, and in a little +while he had them caged. "Now, come out," he said. But, try as they +might, not a withe could they break. "Ha, ha! You are wise women, aren't +you? Bottled in your own jugs! I am on my way to kill the Sun. In time I +shall learn how." Then, sounding his war-whoop, he struck them dead with +his magic ball and went on. + +He met the Bear next day, and found him digging a hole to hide in, for he +had heard of the hare god and was afraid. "Don't be frightened, friend +Bear," said the rogue. "I'm not the sort of fellow to hide from. How +could a little chap like me hurt so many people?" And he helped the Bear +to dig his den, but when it was finished he hid behind a rock, and as the +Bear thrust his head near him he launched his magic ball at his face and +made an end of him. "I was afraid of this warrior," said Ta-Vwots, "but +he is dead, now, in his den." And sounding his war-whoop he went on. + +It was on the day following that he met the Tarantula, a clever rascal, +who had a club that would deal a fatal blow to others, but would not hurt +himself. He began to groan as Ta-Vwots drew near, and cried that he had a +pain caused by an evil spirit in his head. Wouldn't Ta-Vwots thump it +out? Indeed, he would. He grasped the club and gave him the soundest kind +of a thwacking, but when the Tarantula shouted "Harder," he guessed that +it was an enchanted weapon, and changing it for his magic ball he +finished the Tarantula at a blow. "That is a stroke of your own seeking," +he remarked. "I am on my way to kill the Sun. Now I know that I can do +it." And sounding his war-whoop he went on. + +Next day he came to the edge of the world and looked off into space, +where thousands of careless people had fallen, and there he passed the +night under a tree. At dawn he stood on the brink of the earth and the +instant that the Sun appeared he flung the magic ball full in his face. +The surface of the Sun was broken into a thousand pieces that spattered +over the earth and kindled a mighty conflagration. Ta-Vwots crept under +the tree that had sheltered him, but that was of no avail against the +increasing heat. He tried to run away, but the fire burned off his toes, +then his feet, then his legs, then his body, so that he ran on his hands, +and when his hands were burned off he walked on the stumps of his arms. +At last his head alone remained, and that rolled over hill and valley +until it struck a rock, when the eyes burst and the tears that gushed +forth spread over the land, putting out the flames. The Sun was +conquered, and at his trial before the other gods was reprimanded for his +mischievous pranks and condemned thereafter to travel across the sky +every day by the same trail. + + + + +THE COMANCHE RIDER + +The ways of disposing of the Indian dead are many. In some places ground +sepulture is common; in others, the corpses are placed in trees. South +Americans mummified their dead, and cremation was not unknown. Enemies +gave no thought to those that they had slain, after plucking off their +scalps as trophies, though they sometimes added the indignity of +mutilation in killing. + +Sachem's Head, near Guilford, Connecticut, is so named because Uncas cut +a Pequot's head off and placed it in the crotch of an oak that grew +there. It remained withering for years. It was to save the body of Polan +from such a fate, after the fight on Sebago Lake in 1756, that his +brothers placed it under the root of a sturdy young beech that they had +pried out of the ground. He was laid in the hollow in his war-dress, with +silver cross on his breast and bow and arrows in his hand; then, the +weight on the trunk being released, the sapling sprang back to its place +and afterward rose to a commanding height, fitly marking the Indian's +tomb. Chief Blackbird, of the Omahas, was buried, in accordance with his +wish, on the summit of a bluff near the upper Missouri, on the back of +his favorite horse, fully equipped for travel, with the scalps that he +had taken hung to the bridle. + +When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that +his soul may follow the setting sun into the spirit world the speedier. +His bow, arrows, and valuables are interred with him, and his best pony +is killed at the grave that he may appear among his fellows in the happy +hunting grounds mounted and equipped. An old Comanche who died near Fort +Sill was without relatives and poor, so his tribe thought that any kind +of a horse would do for him to range upon the fields of paradise. They +killed a spavined old plug and left him. Two weeks from that time the +late unlamented galloped into a camp of the Wichitas on the back of a +lop-eared, bob-tailed, sheep-necked, ring-boned horse, with ribs like a +grate, and said he wanted his dinner. Having secured a piece of meat, +formally presented to him on the end of a lodge-pole, he offered himself +to the view of his own people, alarming them by his glaring eyes and +sunken cheeks, and told them that he had come back to haunt them for a +stingy, inconsiderate lot, because the gate-keeper of heaven had refused +to admit him on so ill-conditioned a mount. The camp broke up in dismay. +Wichitas and Comanches journeyed, en masse, to Fort Sill for protection, +and since then they have sacrificed the best horses in their possession +when an unfriended one journeyed to the spirit world. + +Myths and Legends + + + + +HORNED TOAD AND GIANTS + +The Moquis have a legend that, long ago, when the principal mesa that +they occupy was higher than it is now, and when they owned all the +country from the mountains to the great river, giants came out of the +west and troubled them, going so far as to dine on Moquis. It was hard to +get away, for the monsters could see all over the country from the tops +of the mesas. The king of the tribe offered the handsomest woman in his +country and a thousand horses to any man who would deliver his people +from these giants. This king was eaten like the rest, and the citizens +declined to elect another, because they were beginning to lose faith in +kings. Still, there was one young brave whose single thought was how to +defeat the giants and save his people. + +As he was walking down the mesa he saw a lizard, of the kind commonly +known as a horned toad, lying under a rock in pain. He rolled the stone +away and was passing on, when a voice, that seemed to come out of the +earth, but that really came from the toad, asked him if he wished to +destroy the giants. He desired nothing so much. "Then take my horned +crest for a helmet." + +Lolomi--that was the name of him--did as he was bid, and found that in a +moment the crest had swelled and covered his head so thickly that no club +could break through it. + +"Now take my breastplate," continued the toad. And though it would not +have covered the Indian's thumb-nail, when he put it on it so increased +in bulk that it corseleted his body and no arrow could pierce it. + +"Now take the scales from my eyes," commanded the toad, and when he had +done so Lolomi felt as light as a feather. + +"Go up and wait. When you see a giant, go toward him, looking in his +eyes, and he will walk backward. Walk around him until he has his back to +a precipice, then advance. He will back away until he reaches the edge of +the mesa, when he will fall off and be killed." + +Lolomi obeyed these instructions, for presently a giant loomed in the +distance and came striding across the plains half a mile at a step. As he +drew near he flung a spear, but it glanced from the Indian's armor like +hail from a rock. Then an arrow followed, and was turned. At this the +giant lost courage, for he fancied that Lolomi was a spirit. Fearing a +blow if he turned, he kept his face toward Lolomi, who manoeuvred so +skilfully that when he had the giant's back to the edge of a cliff he +sprang at him, and the giant, with a yell of alarm, fell and broke his +bones on the rocks below. So Lolomi killed many giants, because they all +walked back before him, and after they had fallen the people heaped rocks +on their bodies. To this day the place is known as "the giants' fall." +Then the tribe made Lolomi king and gave him the most beautiful damsel +for a wife. As he was the best king they ever had, they treasured his +memory after he was dead, and used his name as a term of greeting, so +that "Lolomi" is a word of welcome, and will be until the giants come +again. + + + + +THE SPIDER TOWER + +In Dead Man's Canon--a deep gorge that is lateral to the once populated +valley of the Rio de Chelly, Arizona--stands a stark spire of weathered +sandstone, its top rising eight hundred feet above its base in a sheer +uplift. Centuries ago an inhabitant of one of the cave villages was +surprised by hostiles while hunting in this region, and was chased by +them into this canon. As he ran he looked vainly from side to side in the +hope of securing a hiding-place, but succor came from a source that was +least expected, for on approaching this enormous obelisk, with strength +well-nigh exhausted, he saw a silken cord hanging from a notch at its +top. Hastily knotting the end about his waist, that it might not fall +within reach of his pursuers, he climbed up, setting his feet into +roughnesses of the stone, and advancing, hand over hand, until he had +reached the summit, where he stayed, drinking dew and feeding on eagles' +eggs, until his enemies went away, for they could not reach him with +their arrows, defended as he was by points of rock. The foemen having +gone, he safely descended by the cord and reached his home. This help had +come from a friendly spider who saw his plight from her perch at the top +of the spire, and, weaving a web of extra thickness, she made one end +fast to a jag of rock while the other fell within his grasp--for she, +like all other of the brute tribe, liked the gentle cave-dwellers better +than the remorseless hunters. Hence the name of the Spider Tower. + + + + +THE LOST TRAIL + +The canon of Oak Creek is choked by a mass of rock, shaped like a +keystone, and wedged into the jaws of the defile. An elderly Ute tells +this story of it. Acantow, one of the chiefs of his tribe, usually placed +his lodge beside the spring that bubbled from a thicket of wild roses in +the place where Rosita, Colorado, stands to-day. He left his +wife--Manetabee (Rosebud)--in the lodge while he went across the +mountains to attend a council, and was gone four sleeps. On his return he +found neither wife nor lodge, but footprints and hoofprints in the ground +showed to his keen eye that it was the Arapahoes who had been there. + +Getting on their trail he rode over it furiously, and at night had +reached Oak Canon, along which he travelled until he saw the gleam of a +small fire ahead. A squall was coming up, and the noise of it might have +enabled him to gallop fairly into the group that he saw huddled about the +glow; but it is not in the nature of an Indian to do that, and, tying his +horse, he crawled forward. + +There were fifteen of the Arapahoes, and they were gambling to decide the +ownership of Manetabee, who sat bound beneath a willow near them. So +engrossed were the savages in the contest that the snake-like approach of +Acantow was unnoticed until he had cut the thongs that bound Manetabee's +wrists and ankles--she did not cry out, for she had expected rescue--and +both had imperceptibly slid away from them. Then, with a yell, one of the +gamblers pointed to the receding forms, and straightway the fifteen made +an onset. + +Swinging his wife lightly to his shoulders Acantow set off at a run and +he had almost reached his horse when his foot caught in a root and he +fell headlong. The pursuers were almost upon him when the storm burst in +fury. A flood of fire rushed from the clouds and struck the earth with an +appalling roar. Trees were snapped, rocks were splintered, and a +whirlwind passed. Acantow was nearly insensible for a time--then he felt +the touch of the Rosebud's hand on his cheek, and together they arose and +looked about them. A huge block of riven granite lay in the canon, +dripping blood. Their enemies were not to be seen. + +"The trail is gone," said Acantow. "Manitou has broken it, that the +Arapahoes may never cross it more. He would not allow them to take you. +Let us thank the Manitou." So they went back to where the spring burst +amid the rose-bushes. + + + + +A BATTLE IN THE AIR + +In the country about Tishomingo, Indian Territory, troubles are foretold +by a battle of unseen men in the air. Whenever the sound of conflict is +heard it is an indication that many dead will lie in the fields, for it +heralds battle, starvation, or pestilence. The powerful nation that lived +here once was completely annihilated by an opposing tribe, and in the +valley in the western part of the Territory there are mounds where +hundreds of men lie buried. Spirits occupy the valley, and to the eyes of +the red men they are still seen, at times, continuing the fight. + +In May, 1892, the last demonstration was made in the hearing of John +Willis, a United States marshal, who was hunting horse-thieves. He was +belated one night and entered the vale of mounds, for he had no scruples +against sleeping there. He had not, in fact, ever heard that the region +was haunted. The snorting of his horse in the middle of the night awoke +him and he sprang to his feet, thinking that savages, outlaws, or, at +least, coyotes had disturbed the animal. Although there was a good moon, +he could see nothing moving on the plain. Yet the sounds that filled the +air were like the noise of an army, only a trifle subdued, as if they +were borne on the passing of a wind. The rush of hoofs and of feet, the +striking of blows, the fall of bodies could be heard, and for nearly an +hour these fell rumors went across the earth. At last the horse became so +frantic that Willis saddled him and rode away, and as he reached the edge +of the valley the sounds were heard going into the distance. Not until he +reached a settlement did he learn of the spell that rested on the place. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Along The Rocky Range, by Charles M. Skinner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE *** + +***** This file should be named 6612.txt or 6612.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/6/6/1/6612/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/6612.zip b/6612.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdb6679 --- /dev/null +++ b/6612.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b5e83d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #6612 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6612) diff --git a/old/cs07w10.txt b/old/cs07w10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cf2a39 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cs07w10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1602 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, v7 +#7 in our series by Charles M. Skinner + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land (Along The Rocky Range) + +Author: Charles M. Skinner + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6612] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on December 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS-LEGENDS, BY SKINNER, V7 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + + MYTHS AND LEGENDS + OF + OUR OWN LAND + + By + Charles M. Skinner + + Vol. 7. + + + ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE + + + + +CONTENTS: + +Over the Divide +The Phantom Train of Marshall Pass +The River of Lost Souls +Riders of the Desert +The Division of Two Tribes +Besieged by Starvation +A Yellowstone Tragedy +The Broad House +The Death Waltz +The Flood at Santa Fe +Goddess of Salt +The Coming of the Navajos +The Ark on Superstition Mountains +The Pale Faced Lightning +The Weird Sentinel at Squaw Peak +Sacrifice of the Toltecs +Ta-Vwots Conquers the Sun +The Comanche Rider +Horned Toad and Giants +The Spider Tower +The Lost Trail +A Battle in the Air + + + + + ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE + + OVER THE DIVIDE + +The hope of finding El Dorado, that animated the adventurous Spaniards +who made the earlier recorded voyages to America, lived in the souls of +Western mountaineers as late as the first half of this century. Ample +discoveries of gold in California and Colorado gave color to the belief +in this land of riches, and hunger, illness, privation, the persecutions +of savages, and death itself were braved in the effort to reach and +unlock the treasure caves of earth. Until mining became a systematic +business, prospectors were dissatisfied with the smaller deposits of +precious metal and dreamed of golden hills farther away. The unknown +regions beyond the Rocky Mountains were filled by imagination with +magnificent possibilities, and it was the hope of the miner to penetrate +the wilderness, "strike it rich," and "make his pile." + +Thus, the region indicated as "over the divide" meaning the continental +water-shed-or "over the range" came to signify not a delectable land +alone, but a sum of delectable conditions, and, ultimately, the goal of +posthumous delights. Hence the phrase in use to-day: "Poor Bill! He's +gone over the divide." + +The Indian's name of heaven--"the happy hunting ground"--is of similar +significance, and among many of the tribes it had a definite place in +the far Southwest, to which their souls were carried on cobweb floats. +Just before reaching it they came to a dark river that had to be crossed +on a log. If they had been good in the world of the living they +suffered no harm from the rocks and surges, but if their lives had been +evil they never reached the farther shore, for they were swept into a +place of whirlpools, where, for ever and ever, they were tossed on the +torrent amid thousands of clinging, stinging snakes and shoals of putrid +fish. From the far North and East the Milky Way was the star-path +across the divide. + + + + + THE PHANTOM TRAIN OF MARSHALL PASS + +Soon after the rails were laid across Marshall Pass, Colorado, where +they go over a height of twelve thousand feet above the sea, an old +engineer named Nelson Edwards was assigned to a train. He had travelled +the road with passengers behind him for a couple of months and met with +no accident, but one night as he set off for the divide he fancied that +the silence was deeper, the canon darker, and the air frostier than +usual. A defective rail and an unsafe bridge had been reported that +morning, and he began the long ascent with some misgivings. As he left +the first line of snow-sheds he heard a whistle echoing somewhere among +the ice and rocks, and at the same time the gong in his cab sounded and +he applied the brakes. + +The conductor ran up and asked, "What did you stop for?" + +"Why did you signal to stop?" + +"I gave no signal. Pull her open and light out, for we've got to pass +No. 19 at the switches, and there's a wild train climbing behind us." + +Edwards drew the lever, sanded the track, and the heavy train got under +way again; but the whistles behind grew nearer, sounding danger-signals, +and in turning a curve he looked out and saw a train speeding after him +at a rate that must bring it against the rear of his own train if +something were not done. He broke into a sweat as he pulled the +throttle wide open and lunged into a snow-bank. The cars lurched, but +the snow was flung off and the train went roaring through another shed. +Here was where the defective rail had been reported. No matter. A +greater danger was pressing behind. The fireman piled on coal until his +clothes were wet with perspiration, and fire belched from the smoke- +stack. The passengers, too, having been warned of their peril, had +dressed themselves and were anxiously watching at the windows, for talk +went among them that a mad engineer was driving the train behind. + +As Edwards crossed the summit he shut off steam and surrendered his +train to the force of gravity. Looking back, he could see by the faint +light from new snow that the driving-wheels on the rear engine were +bigger than his own, and that a tall figure stood atop of the cars and +gestured franticly. At a sharp turn in the track he found the other +train but two hundred yards behind, and as he swept around the curve the +engineer who was chasing him leaned from his window and laughed. His +face was like dough. Snow was falling and had begun to drift in the +hollows, but the trains flew on; bridges shook as they thundered across +them; wind screamed in the ears of the passengers; the suspected bridge +was reached; Edwards's heart was in his throat, but he seemed to clear +the chasm by a bound. Now the switch was in sight, but No. 19 was not +there, and as the brakes were freed the train shot by like a flash. +Suddenly a red light appeared ahead, swinging to and fro on the track. +As well be run into behind as to crash into an obstacle ahead. He heard +the whistle of the pursuing locomotive yelp behind him, yet he reversed +the lever and put on brakes, and for a few seconds lived in a hell of +dread. + +Hearing no sound, now, he glanced back and saw the wild train almost +leap upon his own--yet just before it touched it the track seemed to +spread, the engine toppled from the bank, the whole train rolled +into the canon and vanished. Edwards shuddered and listened. No cry of +hurt men or hiss of steam came up--nothing but the groan of the wind as +it rolled through the black depth. The lantern ahead, too, had +disappeared. Now another danger impended, and there was no time to +linger, for No. 19 might be on its way ahead if he did not reach the +second switch before it moved out. The mad run was resumed and the +second switch was reached in time. As Edwards was finishing the run to +Green River, which he reached in the morning ahead of schedule, he found +written in the frost of his cab-window these words: "A frate train was +recked as yu saw. Now that yu saw it yu will never make another run. +The enjine was not ounder control and four sexshun men wor killed. If +yu ever run on this road again yu will be recked." Edwards quit the +road that morning, and returning to Denver found employment on the Union +Pacific. No wreck was discovered next day in the canon where he had +seen it, nor has the phantom train been in chase of any engineer who has +crossed the divide since that night. + + + + + THE RIVER OF LOST SOULS + +In the days when Spain ruled the Western country an infantry regiment +was ordered out from Santa Fe to open communication with Florida and to +carry a chest of gold for the payment of the soldiers in St. Augustine. +The men wintered on the site of Trinidad, comforted by the society of +their wives and families, and in the spring the women and camp-followers +were directed to remain, while the troops set forward along the canon of +the Purgatoire--neither to reach their destination nor to return. Did +they attempt to descend the stream in boats and go to wreck among the +rapids? Were they swept into eternity by a freshet? Did they lose +their provisions and starve in the desert? Did the Indians revenge +themselves for brutality and selfishness by slaying them at night or +from an ambush? Were they killed by banditti? Did they sink in the +quicksands that led the river into subterranean canals? None will ever +know, perhaps; but many years afterward a savage told a priest in Santa +Fe that the regiment had been surrounded by Indians, as Custer's command +was in Montana, and slain, to a man. Seeing that escape was hopeless, +the colonel--so said the narrator--had buried the gold that he was +transporting. Thousands of doubloons are believed to be hidden in the +canon, and thousands of dollars have been spent in searching for them. + +After weeks had lapsed into months and months into years, and no word +came of the missing regiment, the priests named the river El Rio de las +Animas Perdidas--the River of Lost Souls. The echoing of the flood as +it tumbled through the canon was said to be the lamentation of the +troopers. French trappers softened the suggestion of the Spanish title +when they renamed it Purgatoire, and--"bullwhackers" teaming across the +plains twisted the French title into the unmeaning "Picketwire." But +Americo-Spaniards keep alive the tradition, and the prayers of many have +ascended and do ascend for the succor of those who vanished so strangely +in the valley of Las Animas. + + + + + RIDERS OF THE DESERT + +Among the sandstone columns of the Colorado foot-hills stood the lodge +of Ta-in-ga-ro (First Falling Thunder). Though swift in the chase and +brave in battle, he seldom went abroad with neighboring tribes, for he +was happy in the society of his wife, Zecana (The Bird). To sell beaver +and wild sheep-skins he often went with her to a post on the New Mexico +frontier, and it was while at this fort that a Spanish trader saw the +pretty Zecana, and, determining to win her, sent the Indian on a mission +into the heart of the mountains, with a promise that she should rest +securely at the settlement until his return. + +On his way Ta-in-ga-ro stopped at the spring in Manitou, and after +drinking he cast beads and wampum into the well in oblation to its +deity. The offering was flung out by the bubbling water, and as he +stared, distressed at this unwelcome omen, a picture formed on the +surface--the anguished features of Zecana. He ran to his horse, +galloped away, and paused neither for rest nor food till he had reached +the post. The Spaniard was gone. Turning, then, to the foot-hills, he +urged his jaded horse toward his cabin, and arrived, one bright morning, +flushed with joy to see his wife before his door and to hear her +singing. When he spoke she looked up carelessly and resumed her song. +She did not know him. Reason was gone. + +It was his cry of rage and grief, when, from her babbling, Ta-in-ga-ro +learned of the Spaniard's treachery, that brought the wandering mind +back for an instant. Looking at her husband with a strange surprise and +pain, she plucked the knife from his belt. Before he could realize her +purpose she had thrust it into her heart and had fallen dead at his +feet. For hours he stood there in stupefaction, but the stolid Indian +nature soon resumed its sway. Setting his lodge in order and feeding +his horse, he wrapped Zecana's body in a buffalo-skin, then slept +through the night in sheer exhaustion. Two nights afterward the Indian +stood in the shadow of a room in the trading fort and watched the +Spaniard as he lay asleep. Nobody knew how he passed the guard. + +In the small hours the traitor was roused by the strain of a belt across +his mouth, and leaping up to fling it off, he felt the tug of a lariat +at his throat. His struggles were useless. In a few moments he was +bound hand and foot. Lifting some strips of bark from the low roof, Ta- +in-ga-ro pushed the Spaniard through the aperture and lowered him to the +ground, outside the enclosure of which the house formed part. Then, at +the embers of a fire he kindled an arrow wrapped in the down of +cottonwood and shot it into a haystack in the court. In the smoke and +confusion thus made, his own escape was unseen, save by a guardsman +drowsily pacing his beat outside the square of buildings. The sentinel +would have given the alarm, had not the Indian pounced on him like a +panther and laid him dead with a knife-stroke. + +Catching up the Spaniard, the Indian tied him to the back of a horse and +set off beside him. Thus they journeyed until they came to his lodge, +where he released the trader from his horse and fed him, but kept his +hands and legs hard bound, and paid no attention to his questions and +his appeals for liberty. Tying a strong and half-trained horse at his +door, Ta-in-ga-ro placed a wooden saddle on him, cut off the Spaniard's +clothes, and put him astride of the beast. After he had fastened him +into his seat with deer-skin thongs, he took Zecana's corpse from its +wrapping and tied it to his prisoner, face to face. + +Then, loosing the horse, which was plunging and snorting to be rid of +his burden, he saw him rush off on the limitless desert, and followed on +his own strong steed. At first the Spaniard fainted; on recovering he +struggled to get free, but his struggles only brought him closer to the +ghastly thing before him. Noon-day heat covered him with sweat and +blood dripped from the wales that the cords cut in his flesh. At night +he froze uncovered in the chill air, and, if for an instant his eyes +closed in sleep, a curse, yelled into his ear, awoke him. Ta-inga-ro +gave him drink from time to time, but never food, and so they rode for +days. At last hunger overbore his loathing, and sinking his teeth into +the dead flesh before him he feasted like a ghoul. + +Still they rode, Ta-in-ga-ro never far from his victim, on whose +sufferings he gloated, until a gibbering cry told him that the Spaniard +had gone mad. Then, and not till then, he drew rein and watched the +horse with its dead and maniac riders until they disappeared in the +yellow void. He turned away, but nevermore sought his home. To and +fro, through the brush, the sand, the alkali of the plains, go the ghost +riders, forever. + + + + + THE DIVISION OF TWO TRIBES + +When white men first penetrated the Western wilderness of America they +found the tribes of Shoshone and Comanche at odds, and it is a legend of +the springs of Manitou that their differences began there. This +"Saratoga of the West," nestling in a hollow of the foot-hills in the +shadow of the noble peak of Pike, was in old days common meeting-ground +for several families of red men. Councils were held in safety there, +for no Indian dared provoke the wrath of the manitou whose breath +sparkled in the "medicine waters." None? Yes, one. For, centuries ago +a Shoshone and a Comanche stopped here on their return from a hunt to +drink. The Shoshone had been successful; the Comanche was empty handed +and ill tempered, jealous of the other's skill and fortune. Flinging +down the fat deer that he was bearing homeward on his shoulders, the +Shoshone bent over the spring of sweet water, and, after pouring a +handful of it on the ground, as a libation to the spirit of the place, +he put his lips to the surface. It needed but faint pretext for his +companion to begin a quarrel, and he did so in this fashion: "Why does a +stranger drink at the spring-head when one of the owners of the fountain +contents himself with its overflow? How does a Shoshone dare to drink +above me?" + +The other replied, "The Great Spirit places the water at the spring that +his children may drink it undefiled. I am Ausaqua, chief of Shoshones, +and I drink at the head-water. Shoshone and Comanche are brothers. Let +them drink together." + +"No. The Shoshone pays tribute to the Comanche, and Wacomish leads that +nation to war. He is chief of the Shoshone as he is of his own people." + +"Wacomish lies. His tongue is forked, like the snake's. His heart is +black. When the Great Spirit made his children he said not to one, +'Drink here,' and to another, 'Drink there,' but gave water that all +might drink." + +The other made no answer, but as Ausaqua stooped toward the bubbling +surface Wacomish crept behind him, flung himself against the hunter, +forced his head beneath the water, and held him there until he was +drowned. As he pulled the dead body from the spring the water became +agitated, and from the bubbles arose a vapor that gradually assumed the +form of a venerable Indian, with long white locks, in whom the murderer +recognized Waukauga, father of the Shoshone and Comanche nation, and a +man whose heroism and goodness made his name revered in both these +tribes. The face of the patriarch was dark with wrath, and he cried, in +terrible tones, "Accursed of my race! This day thou hast severed the +mightiest nation in the world. The blood of the brave Shoshone appeals +for vengeance. May the water of thy tribe be rank and bitter in their +throats." + +Then, whirling up an elk-horn club, he brought it full on the head of +the wretched man, who cringed before him. The murderer's head was burst +open and he tumbled lifeless into the spring, that to this day is +nauseous, while, to perpetuate the memory of Ausaqua, the manitou smote +a neighboring rock, and from it gushed a fountain of delicious water. +The bodies were found, and the partisans of both the hunters began on +that day a long and destructive warfare, in which other tribes became +involved until mountaineers were arrayed against plainsmen through all +that region. + + + + + BESIEGED BY STARVATION + +A hundred years before the white men set up their trading-posts on the +Arkansas and Platte, a band of mountain hunters made a descent on what +they took to be a small company of plainsmen, but who proved to be the +enemy in force, and who, in turn, drove the Utes--for the aggressors +were of that tribe--into the hills. Most of them took refuge on a +castellated rock on the south side of Bowlder Canon, where they held +their own for several days, rolling down huge rocks whenever an attempt +was made to storm the height; wherefore, seeing that the mountain was +too secure a stronghold to be taken in that way, the besiegers camped +about it, and, by cutting off the access of the beleaguered party to +game and to water, starved every one of them to death. + +This, too, is the story of Starved Rock, on Illinois River, near Ottawa, +Illinois. It is a sandstone bluff, one hundred and fifty feet high, +with a slope on one side only. Its summit is an acre in extent, and at +the order of La Salle his Indian lieutenant, Tonti, fortified the place +and mounted a small cannon on it. He died there afterward. After the +killing of Pontiac at Cahokia, some of his people--the Ottawas--charged +the crime against their enemies, the Illinois. The latter, being few in +number, entrenched themselves on Starved Rock, where they kept their +enemies at bay, but were unable to break their line to reach supplies. +For a time they secured water by letting down bark vessels into the +river at the end of thongs, but the Ottawas came under the bluff in +canoes and cut the cords. Unwilling to surrender, the Illinois remained +there until all had died of starvation. Bones and relics are found +occasionally at the top. + +There is yet another place of which a similar narrative is extant-- +namely, Crow Butte, Nebraska, which is two hundred feet high and +vertical on all sides save one, but on that a horseman may ascend in +safety. A company of Crows, flying from the Sioux, gained this citadel +and defended the path so vigorously that their pursuers gave over all +attempts to follow them, but squatted calmly on the plain and proceeded +to starve them out. On a dark night the besieged killed some of their +ponies and made lariats of their hides, by which they reached the ground +on the unguarded side of the rock. They slid down, one at a time, and +made off all but one aged Indian, who stayed to keep the camp-fire +burning as a blind. He went down and surrendered on the next day, but +the Sioux, respecting his age and loyalty, gave him freedom. + + + + + A YELLOWSTONE TRAGEDY + +Although the Indians feared the geyser basins of the upper Yellowstone +country, believing the hissing and thundering to be voices of evil +spirits, they regarded the mountains at the head of the river as the +crest of the world, and whoso gained their summits could see the happy +hunting-grounds below, brightened with the homes of the blessed. They +loved this land in which their fathers had hunted, and when they were +driven back from the settlements the Crows took refuge in what is now +Yellowstone Park. Even here the soldiers pursued them, intent on +avenging acts that the red men had committed while suffering under the +sting of tyranny and wrong. A mere remnant of the fugitive band +gathered at the head of that mighty rift in the earth known as the Grand +Canon of the Yellowstone--a remnant that had succeeded in escaping the +bullets of the soldiery,--and with Spartan courage they resolved to die +rather than be taken and carried away to pine in a distant prison. They +built a raft and placed it on the river at the foot of the upper fall, +and for a few days they enjoyed the plenty and peace that were their +privilege in former times. A short-lived peace, however, for one +morning they are aroused by the crack of rifles--the troops are upon +them. + +Boarding their raft they thrust it toward the middle of the stream, +perhaps with the idea of gaining the opposite shore, but, if such is +their intent, it is thwarted by the rapidity of the current. A few +among them have guns, that they discharge with slight effect at the +troops, who stand wondering on the shore. The soldiers forbear to fire, +and watch, with something like dread, the descent of the raft as it +passes into the current, and, with many a turn and pitch, whirls on +faster and faster. The death-song rises triumphant above the lash of +the waves and that distant but awful booming that is to be heard in the +canon. Every red man has his face turned toward the foe with a look of +defiance, and the tones of the death-chant have in them something of +mockery no less than hate and vaunting. + +The raft is now between the jaws of rock that yawn so hungrily. Beyond +and below are vast walls, shelving toward the floor of the gulf a +thousand feet beneath--their brilliant colors shining in the sun of +morning that sheds as peaceful a light on wood and hill as if there were +no such thing as brother hunting brother in this free land of ours. The +raft is galloping through the foam like a racehorse, and, hardened as +the soldiers are, they cannot repress a shudder as they see the fate +that the savages have chosen for themselves. Now the brink is reached. +The raft tips toward the gulf, and with a cry of triumph the red men are +launched over the cataract, into the bellowing chasm, where the mists +weep forever on the rocks and mosses. + + + + + THE BROAD HOUSE + +Down in the canon of Chaco, New Mexico, stands a building evidently +coeval with those of the cliff dwellers, that is still in good +preservation and is called the Broad House. When Noqoilpi, the gambling +god, came on earth he strayed into this canon, and, finding the Moquis a +prosperous people, he envied them and resolved to win their property. +To do that he laid off a race-track at the bottom of the ravine and +challenged them to meet him there in games of chance and strength and +skill. They accepted his challenge, and, as he could turn luck to his +own side, he soon won not their property alone, but their women and +children, and, finally, some of the men themselves. + +In his greed he had acquired more than he wanted, and as the captives +were a burden to him he offered to make a partial restoration if the +people would build this house for him. They did so and he gave up some +of the men and women. The other gods looked with disapproval on this +performance, however, and they agreed to give the wind god power to +defeat him, for, now that he had secured his house, he had gone to +gambling again. The wind god, in disguise as a Moqui, issued a +challenge, and the animals agreed to help him. + +When the contest in tree-pulling took place the wind god pulled up a +large tree while Noqoilpi was unable to stir a smaller one. That was +because the beavers had cut the roots of the larger. In the ball +contest Noqoilpi drove the ball nearly to the bounds, but the wind god +sent his far beyond, for wrapped loosely in it was a bird that freed +itself before touching the ground and flew away. In brief, Noqoilpi was +beaten at every point and the remaining captives left him, with jeers, +and returned to their people. + +The gambler cursed and raged until the wind god seized him, fitted him +to a bow, like an arrow, and shot him into the sky. He flew far out of +sight, and presently came to the long row of stone houses where the man +lives who carries the moon. He pitied the gambler and made new animals +and people for him and let him down to the earth in old Mexico, the moon +people becoming Mexicans. He returned to his old haunts and came +northward, building towns along the Rio Grande until he had passed the +site of Santa Fe, when his people urged him to go back, and after his +return they made him their god--Nakai Cigini. + + + + THE DEATH WALTZ + +Years ago, when all beyond the Missouri was a waste, the military post +at Fort Union, New Mexico, was the only spot for miles around where any +of the graces of social life could be discovered. Among the ladies at +the post was a certain gay young woman, the sister-in-law of a captain, +who enjoyed the variety and spice of adventure to be found there, and +enjoyed, too, the homage that the young officers paid to her, for women +who could be loved or liked were not many in that wild country. A young +lieutenant proved especially susceptible to her charms, and devoted +himself to her in the hope that he should ultimately win her hand. His +experience with the world was not large enough to enable him to +distinguish between the womanly woman and the coquette. + +One day messengers came dashing into the fort with news of an Apache +outbreak, and a detachment was ordered out to chase and punish the +marauding Indians. The lieutenant was put in command of the expedition, +but before starting he confided his love to the young woman, who not +only acknowledged that she returned his affection, but promised that if +the fortune of war deprived him of life she would never marry another. +As he bade her good-by he was heard to say, "That is well. Nobody else +shall have you. I will come back and make my claim." + +In a few days the detachment came back, but the lieutenant was missing. +It was noticed that the bride-elect grieved but little for him, and +nobody was surprised when she announced her intention of marrying a +young man from the East. The wedding-day arrived. All was gayety at +the post, and in the evening the mess-room was decorated for a ball. As +the dance was in full swing a door flew open with a bang, letting in a +draught of air that made the candles burn dim, and a strange cry, unlike +that of any human creature, sounded through the house. All eyes turned +to the door. In it stood the swollen body of a dead man dressed in the +stained uniform of an officer. The temple was marked by a hatchet-gash, +the scalp was gone, the eyes were wide open and, burned with a terrible +light. + +Walking to the bride the body drew her from the arms of her husband, +who, like the rest of the company, stood as in a trance, without the +power of motion, and clasping her to its bosom began a waltz. The +musicians, who afterward declared that they did not know what they were +doing, struck up a demoniac dance, and the couple spun around and +around, the woman growing paler and paler, until at last the fallen jaw +and staring eyes showed that life was also extinct in her. The dead man +allowed her to sink to the floor, stood over her for a moment, wrung his +hands as he sounded his fearful cry again, then vanished through the +door. A few days after, a troop of soldiers who had been to the scene +of the Apache encounter returned with the body of the lieutenant. + + + + + THE FLOOD AT SANTA FE + +Many are the scenes of religious miracles in this country, although +French Canada and old Mexico boast of more. So late as the prosaic year +of 1889 the Virgin was seen to descend into the streets of Johnstown, +Pennsylvania, to save herimage on the Catholic church in that place, +when it was swept by a deluge in which hundreds of persons perished. It +was the wrath of the Madonna that caused just such a flood in New Mexico +long years ago. There is in the old Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in +Santa Fe, a picture that commemorates the appearance of the Virgin to +Juan Diego, an Indian in Guadalupe, old Mexico, in the sixteenth +century. She commanded that a chapel should be built for her, but the +bishop of the diocese declared that the man had been dreaming and told +him to go away. The Virgin came to the Indian again, and still the +bishop declared that he had no evidence of the truth of what he said. +A third time the supernatural visitor appeared, and told Juan to climb +a certain difficult mountain, pick the flowers he would find there, +and take them to the bishop. + +After a long and dangerous climb they were found, to the Indian's +amazement, growing in the snow. He filled his blanket with them and +returned to the episcopal residence, but when he opened the folds before +the dignitary, he was more amazed to find not flowers, but a glowing +picture painted on his blanket. It hangs now in Guadalupe, but is +duplicated in Santa Fe, where a statue of the Virgin is also kept. +These treasures are greatly prized and are resorted to in time of +illness and threatened disaster, the statue being taken through the +streets in procession when the rainy season is due. Collections of +money are then made and prayers are put up for rain, to which appeals +the Virgin makes prompt response, the priests pointing triumphantly to +the results of their intercession. One year, however, the rain did not +begin on time, though services were almost constantly continued before +the sacred picture and the sacred statue, and the angry people stripped +the image of its silks and gold lace and kicked it over the ground for +hours. That night a violent rain set in and the town was nearly washed +away, so the populace hastened the work of reparation in order to save +their lives. They cleansed the statue, dressed it still more +brilliantly, and addressed their prayers to the Virgin with more energy +and earnestness than ever before. + + + + + GODDESS OF SALT + +Between Zuni and Pescado is a steep mesa, or table-land, with fantastic +rocks weathered into tower and roof-like prominences on its sides, while +near it is a high natural monument of stone. Say the Zunis: The goddess +of salt was so troubled by the people who lived near her domain on the +sea-shore, and who took away her snowy treasures without offering any +sacrifice in return, that she forsook the ocean and went to live in the +mountains far away. Whenever she stopped beside a pool to rest she made +it salt, and she wandered so long about the great basins of the West +that much of the water in them is bitter, and the yield of salt from the +larger lake near Zuni brings into the Zuni treasury large tolls from +other tribes that draw from it. + +Here she met the turquoise god, who fell in love with her at sight, and +wooed so warmly that she accepted and married him. For a time they +lived happily, but when the people learned that the goddess had +concealed herself among the mountains of New Mexico they followed her to +that land and troubled her again until she declared that she would leave +their view forever. She entered this mesa, breaking her way through a +high wall of sandstone as she did so. The arched portal through which +she passed is plainly visible. As she went through, one of her plumes +was broken off, and falling into the valley it tipped upon its stem and +became the monument that is seen there. The god of turquoise followed +his wife, and his footsteps may be traced in outcrops of pale-blue +stone. + + + + + THE COMING OF THE NAVAJOS + +Many fantastic accounts of the origin of man are found among the red +tribes. The Onondagas say that the Indians are made from red earth and +the white men from sea-foam. Flesh-making clay is seen in the +precipitous bank in the ravine west of Onondaga Valley, where at night +the fairies "little fellows" sport and slide. Among others, the Noah +legend finds a parallel. Several tribes claim to have emerged from the +interior of the earth. The Oneidas point to a hill near the falls of +Oswego River, New York, as their birthplace; the Wichitas rose from the +rocks about Red River; the Creeks from a knoll in the valley of Big +Black River in the Natchez country, where dwelt the Master of Breath; +the Aztecs were one of seven tribes that came out from the seven caverns +of Aztlan, or Place of the Heron; and the Navajos believe that they +emerged at a place known to them in the Navajo Mountains. + +In the under world the Navajos were happy, for they had everything that +they could wish: there was no excess of heat or cold, trees and flowers +grew everywhere, and the day was marked by a bright cloud that arose in +the east, while a black cloud that came out of the west made the night. +Here they lived for centuries, and might have been there to this day had +not one of the tribe found an opening in the earth that led to some +place unknown. He told of it to the whole tribe. They set off up the +passage to see where it led, and after long and weary climbing the +surface was reached. Pleased with the novelty of their surroundings, +they settled here, but on the fourth day after their arrival their queen +disappeared. + +Their search for her was unavailing until some of the men came to the +mouth of the tunnel by which they had reached the upper land, when, +looking down, they saw their queen combing her long, black locks. She +told them that she was dead and that her people could go to her only +after death, but that they would be happy in their old home. With that +the earth shut together and the place has never since been open to the +eye of mortals. Soon came the cannibal giants who ravaged the desert +lands and destroyed all of the tribe but four families, these having +found a refuge in a deep canon of the Navajo Mountains. From their +retreat they could see a beam of light shining from one of the hills +above them, and on ascending to the place they found a beautiful girl +babe. + +This child grew to womanhood under their care, and her charms attracted +the great manitou that rides on a white horse and carries the sun for a +shield. He wooed and married her, and their children slew the giants +that had destroyed the Navajos. After a time the manitou carried his +wife to his floating palace in the western water, which has since been +her home. To her the prayers of the people are addressed, and twelve +immortals bear their petitions to her throne. + + + + + THE ARK ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS + +The Pima Indians of Arizona say that the father of all men and animals +was the butterfly, Cherwit Make (earth-maker), who fluttered down from +the clouds to the Blue Cliffs at the junction of the Verde and Salt +Rivers, and from his own sweat made men. As the people multiplied they +grew selfish and quarrelsome, so that Cherwit Make was disgusted with +his handiwork and resolved to drown them all. But first he told them, +in the voice of the north wind, to be honest and to live at peace. The +prophet Suha, who interpreted this voice, was called a fool for +listening to the wind, but next night came the east wind and repeated +the command, with an added threat that the ruler of heaven would destroy +them all if they did not reform. + +Again they scoffed, and on the next night the west wind cautioned them. +But this third warning was equally futile. On the fourth night came the +south wind. It breathed into Suha's ear that he alone had been good and +should be saved, and bade him make a hollow ball of spruce gum in which +he might float while the deluge lasted. Suha and his wife immediately +set out to gather the gum, that they melted and shaped until they had +made a large, rounded ark, which they ballasted with jars of nuts, +acorn-meal and water, and meat of bear and venison. + +On the day assigned Suha and his wife were looking regretfully down into +the green valleys from the ledge where the ark rested, listening to the +song of the harvesters, and sighing to think that so much beauty would +presently be laid waste, when a hand of fire was thrust from a cloud and +it smote the Blue Cliffs with a thunder-clang. It was the signal. +Swift came the clouds from all directions, and down poured the rain. +Withdrawing into their waxen ball, Suha and his wife closed the portal. +Then for some days they were rolled and tossed on an ever-deepening sea. +Their stores had almost given out when the ark stopped, and breaking a +hole in its side its occupants stepped forth. + +There was a tuna cactus growing at their feet, and they ate of its red +fruit greedily, but all around them was naught but water. When night +came on they retired to the ark and slept--a night, a month, a year, +perhaps a century, for when they awoke the water was gone, the vales +were filled with verdure, and bird-songs rang through the woods. The +delighted couple descended the Superstition Mountains, on which the ark +had rested, and went into its valleys, where they lived for a thousand +years, and became the parents of a great tribe. + +But the evil was not all gone. There was one Hauk, a devil of the +mountains, who stole their daughters and slew their sons. One day, +while the women were spinning flax and cactus fibre and the men were +gathering maize, Hauk descended into the settlement and stole another of +Suha's daughters. The patriarch, whose patience had been taxed to its +limit, then made a vow to slay the devil. He watched to see by what way +he entered the valley. He silently followed him into the Superstition +Mountains; he drugged the cactus wine that his daughter was to serve to +him; then, when he had drunk it, Suha emerged from his place of hiding +and beat out the brains of the stupefied fiend. + +Some of the devil's brains were scattered and became seed for other +evil, but there was less wickedness in the world after Hauk had been +disposed of than there had been before. Suha taught his people to build +adobe houses, to dig with shovels, to irrigate their land, to weave +cloth, and avoid wars. But on his death-bed he foretold to them that +they would grow arrogant with wealth, covetous of the lands of others, +and would wage wars for gain. When that time came there would be +another flood and not one should be saved--the bad should vanish and the +good would leave the earth and live in the sun. So firmly do the Pimas +rely on this prophecy that they will not cross Superstition Mountains, +for there sits Cherwit Make--awaiting the culmination of their +wickedness to let loose on the earth a mighty sea that lies dammed +behind the range. + + + + + THE PALE FACED LIGHTNING + +Twenty miles from the capital of Arizona stands Mount Superstition--the +scene of many traditions, the object of many fears. Two centuries ago +a tribe of Pueblo dwarfs arrived near it and tilled the soil and tended +their flocks about the settlements that grew along their line of march. +They were little people, four feet high, but they were a thousand strong +and clever. They were peaceful, like all intelligent people, and the +mystery surrounding their incantations and sun-worship was more potent +than a show of arms to frighten away those natural assassins, the +Apaches. + +After they had lived near the mountain for five years the "little +people" learned that the Zunis were advancing from the south and made +preparations for defence. Their sheep were concealed in obscure +valleys; provisions, tools, and arms were carried up the mountain; piles +of stone were placed along the edges of cliffs commanding the passes. +This work was superintended by a woman with a white face, fair hair, and +commanding form, who was held in reverence by the dwarfs; and she it +was--the Helen of a New-World Troy--who was causing this trouble, for +the Zunis claimed her on the ground that they had brought her from the +waters of the rising sun, and that it was only to escape an honorable +marriage with their chief that she had fled to the dwarfs. + +Be that as it might, the Zunis marched on, meeting with faint resistance +until, on a bright afternoon, they massed on a slope of the mountain, +seven hundred in number. The Apaches, expecting instant defeat of the +"little men," watched, from neighboring hills, the advance of the +invaders as they climbed nimbly toward the stone fort on the top of the +slope, brandishing clubs and stone spears, and bragging, as the fashion +of a red man is--and sometimes of a white one. + +At a pool outside of the walls stood the pale woman, queenly and calm, +and as her white robe and brown hair fluttered in the wind both her +people and the foe looked upon her with admiration. When but a hundred +yards away the Zunis rushed toward her with outstretched arms, whereupon +she stooped, picked up an earthen jar, emptied its contents into the +pool, and ran back. In a moment sparks and balls of fire leaped from +crevices in the rocks, and as they touched the Indians many fell dead. +Others plunged blindly over the cliffs and were dashed to pieces. + +In a few minutes the remainder of the force was in full retreat and not +an arrow had been shot. The Apaches, though stricken with terror at +these pyrotechnics, overcame the memory of them sufficiently in a couple +of years to attempt the sack of the fort on their own account, but the +queen repelled them as she had forced back the Zunis, and with even +greater slaughter. From that time the dwarfs were never harmed again, +but they went away, as suddenly as they had come, to a secret recess in +the mountains, where the Pale Faced Lightning still rules them. + +Some of the Apaches maintain that her spirit haunts a cave on +Superstition Mountain, where her body vanished in a blaze of fire, and +this cave of the Spirit Mother is also pointed out on the south side of +Salt River. A skeleton and cotton robes, ornamented and of silky +texture, were once found there. It is said that electrical phenomena +are frequent on the mountain, and that iron, copper, salt, and copperas +lying near together may account for them. + + + + + THE WEIRD SENTINEL AT SQUAW PEAK + +There is a cave under the highest butte of the Squaw Peak range, +Arizona, where a party of Tonto Indians was found by white men in 1868. +The white men were on the war-path, and when the Tontos fell into their +hands they shot them unhesitatingly, firing into the dark recesses of +the cavern, the fitful but fast-recurring flashes of their rifles +illuminating the interior and exposing to view the objects of their +hatred. + +The massacre over, the cries and groans were hushed, the hunters strode +away, and over the mountains fell the calm that for thousands of years +had not been so rudely broken. That night, when the moon shone into +this pit of death, a corpse arose, walked to a rock just within the +entrance, and took there its everlasting seat. + +Long afterward a man who did not know its story entered this place, when +he was confronted by a thing, as he called it, that glared so fearfully +upon him that he fled in an ecstasy of terror. Two prospectors +subsequently attempted to explore the cave, but the entrance was barred +by "the thing." They gave one glance at the torn face, the bulging eyes +turned sidewise at them, the yellow fangs, the long hair, the spreading +claws, the livid, mouldy flesh, and rushed away. A Western paper, +recounting their adventure, said that one of the men declared that there +was not money enough in Maricopa County to pay him to go there again, +while the other had never stopped running--at least, he had not returned +to his usual haunts since "the thing" looked at him. Still, it is +haunted country all about here. The souls of the Mojaves roam upon +Ghost Mountain, and the "bad men's hunting-grounds" of the Yumas and +Navajos are over in the volcanic country of Sonora. It is, therefore, +no unusual thing to find signs and wonders in broad daylight. + + + + + SACRIFICE OF THE TOLTECS + +Centuries ago, when Toltec civilization had extended over Arizona, and +perhaps over the whole West, the valleys were occupied by large towns-- +the towns whose ruins are now known as the City of Ovens, City of +Stones, and City of the Dead. The people worked at trades and arts that +had been practised by their ancestors before the pyramids were built in +Egypt. Montezuma had come to the throne of Mexico, and the Aztecs were +a subject people; Europe had discovered America and forgotten it, and in +America the arrival of Europeans was recalled only in traditions. But, +like other nations, the Toltecs became a prey to self-confidence, to +luxury, to wastefulness, and to deadening superstitions. Already the +fierce tribes of the North were lurking on the confines of their country +in a faith of speedy conquest, and at times it seemed as if the elements +were against them. + +The villagers were returning from the fields, one day, when the entire +region was smitten by an earthquake. Houses trembled, rumblings were +heard, people fell in trying to reach the streets, and reservoirs burst, +wasting their contents on the fevered soil. A sacrifice was offered. +Then came a second shock, and another mortal was offered in oblation. +As the earth still heaved and the earthquake demon muttered underground, +the king gave his daughter to the priests, that his people might be +spared, though he wrung his hands and beat his brow as he saw her led +away and knew that in an hour her blood would stream from the altar. + +The girl walked firmly to the cave where the altar was erected--a cave +in Superstition Mountains. She knelt and closed her eyes as the +officiating-priest uttered a prayer, and, gripping his knife of jade +stone, plunged it into her heart. She fell without a struggle. And +now, the end. + +Hardly had the innocent blood drained out and the fires been lighted to +consume the body, when a pall of cloud came sweeping across the heavens; +a hot wind surged over the ground, laden with dust and smoke; the storm- +struck earth writhed anew beneath pelting thunder-bolts; no tremor this +time, but an upheaval that rent the rocks and flung the cities down. It +was an hour of darkness and terror. Roars of thunder mingled with the +more awful bellowing beneath; crash on crash told that houses and +temples were falling in vast ruin; the mountainsides were loosened and +the rush of avalanches added to the din; the air was thick, and through +the clouds the people groped their way toward the fields; rivers broke +from their confines and laid waste farms and gardens! The gods had +indeed abandoned them, and the spirit of the king's daughter took its +flight in company with thousands of souls in whose behalf she had +suffered uselessly. + +The king was crushed beneath his palace-roof and the sacerdotal +executioner perished in a fall of rock. The survivors fled in panic and +the Ishmaelite tribes on their frontier entered their kingdom and +pillaged it of all abandoned wealth. The cities never were rebuilt and +were rediscovered but a few years ago, when the maiden's skeleton was +also found. Nor does any Indian cross Superstition Mountains without a +sense of apprehension. + + + + + TA-VWOTS CONQUERS THE SUN + +The Indian is a great story-teller. Every tribe has its traditions, and +the elderly men and women like to recount them, for they always find +listeners. And odd stories they tell, too. Just listen to this, for +example. It is a legend among the tribes of Arizona. + +While Ta-Vwots, the hare god, was asleep in the valley of Maopa, the Sun +mischievously burned his back, causing him to leap up with a howl. +"Aha! It's you, is it, who played this trick on me?" he cried, looking +at the Sun. "I'll make it warm for you. See if I don't." + +And without more ado he set off to fight the Sun. On the way he stopped +to pick and roast some corn, and when the people who had planted it ran +out and tried to punish him for the theft he scratched a hole in the +ground and ran in out of sight. His pursuers shot arrows into the hole, +but Ta-Vwots had his breath with him, and it was an awfully strong +breath, for with it he turned all the arrows aside. "The scamp is in +here," said one of the party. Let's get at him another way." So, +getting their flints and shovels, they began to dig. + +"That's your game, is it?" mumbled Ta-Vwots. "I know a way out of this +that you don't know." With a few puffs of his breath and a few kicks of +his legs he reached a great fissure that led into the rock behind him, +and along this passage he scrambled until he came to the edge of it in a +niche, from which he could watch his enemies digging. When they had +made the hole quite large he shouted, "Be buried in the grave you have +dug for yourselves!" And, hurling down a magic ball that he carried, he +caved the earth in on their heads. Then he paced off, remarking, "To +fight is as good fun as to eat. Vengeance is my work. Every one I meet +will be an enemy. No one shall escape my wrath." And he sounded his +war-whoop. + +Next day he saw two men heating rocks and chipping arrow-heads from +them. "Let me help you, for hot rocks will not hurt me," he said. + +"You would have us to believe you are a spirit, eh?" they questioned, +with a jeer. + +"No ghost," he answered, "but a better man than you. Hold me on those +rocks, and, if I do not burn, you must let me do the same to you." + +The men complied, and heating the stones to redness in the fire they +placed him against them, but failed to see that by his magic breath he +kept a current of air flowing between him and the hot surface. Rising +unhurt, he demanded that they also should submit to the torture, and, +like true Indians, they did so. When their flesh had been burned half +through and they were dead, he sounded his warwhoop and went on. + +On the day following he met two women picking berries, and told them to +blow the leaves and thorns into his eyes. They did so, as they +supposed, but with his magic breath he kept the stuff away from his +face. + +"You are a ghost!" the women exclaimed. + +"No ghost," said he. "Just a common person. Leaves and thorns can do +no harm. See, now." And he puffed thorns into their faces and made +them blind. "Aha! You are caught with your own chaff I am on my way to +kill the Sun. This is good practice." And he slew them, sounded his +war-whoop, and went on. + +The morning after this affair some women appeared on Hurricane Cliff and +the wind brought their words to his ears. They were planning to kill +him by rolling rocks upon him as he passed. As he drew near he +pretended to eat something with such enjoyment that they asked him what +it was. He called out, "It is sweet. Come to the edge and I will throw +it up to you." With that he tossed something so nearly within their +reach that in bending forward to catch it they crowded too near the +brink, lost their balance, fell over, and were killed. "You are victims +of your own greed. One should never be so anxious as to kill one's +self." This was his only comment, and, sounding the warwhoop, he went +on. + +A day later he came upon two women making water jugs of willow baskets +lined with pitch, and he heard one whisper to the other, "Here comes +that bad Ta-Vwots. How shall we destroy him?" + +"What were you saying?" asked the hare god. + +"We just said, 'Here comes our grandson.'" (A common form of +endearment.) + +"Is that all? Then let me get into one of these water jugs while you +braid the neck." + +He jumped in and lay quite still as they wove the neck, and they laughed +to think that it was braided so small that he could never escape, when-- +puff! the jug was shattered and there was Ta-Vwots. They did not know +anything about his magic breath. They wondered how he got out. + +"Easily enough," replied the hare god. "These things may hold water, +but they can't hold men and women. Try it, and see if they can." With +their consent, Ta-Vwots began weaving the osiers about them, and in a +little while he had them caged. "Now, come out," he said. But, try as +they might, not a withe could they break. "Ha, ha! You are wise women, +aren't you? Bottled in your own jugs! I am on my way to kill the Sun. +In time I shall learn how." Then, sounding his war-whoop, he struck +them dead with his magic ball and went on. + +He met the Bear next day, and found him digging a hole to hide in, for +he had heard of the hare god and was afraid. "Don't be frightened, +friend Bear," said the rogue. "I'm not the sort of fellow to hide from. +How could a little chap like me hurt so many people?" And he helped the +Bear to dig his den, but when it was finished he hid behind a rock, and +as the Bear thrust his head near him he launched his magic ball at his +face and made an end of him. "I was afraid of this warrior," said +Ta-Vwots, "but he is dead, now, in his den." And sounding his war-whoop +he went on. + +It was on the day following that he met the Tarantula, a clever rascal, +who had a club that would deal a fatal blow to others, but would not +hurt himself. He began to groan as Ta-Vwots drew near, and cried that +he had a pain caused by an evil spirit in his head. Wouldn't Ta-Vwots +thump it out? Indeed, he would. He grasped the club and gave him the +soundest kind of a thwacking, but when the Tarantula shouted "Harder," +he guessed that it was an enchanted weapon, and changing it for his +magic ball he finished the Tarantula at a blow. "That is a stroke of +your own seeking," he remarked. "I am on my way to kill the Sun. Now I +know that I can do it." And sounding his war-whoop he went on. + +Next day he came to the edge of the world and looked off into space, +where thousands of careless people had fallen, and there he passed the +night under a tree. At dawn he stood on the brink of the earth and the +instant that the Sun appeared he flung the magic ball full in his face. +The surface of the Sun was broken into a thousand pieces that spattered +over the earth and kindled a mighty conflagration. Ta-Vwots crept under +the tree that had sheltered him, but that was of no avail against the +increasing heat. He tried to run away, but the fire burned off his +toes, then his feet, then his legs, then his body, so that he ran on his +hands, and when his hands were burned off he walked on the stumps of his +arms. At last his head alone remained, and that rolled over hill and +valley until it struck a rock, when the eyes burst and the tears that +gushed forth spread over the land, putting out the flames. The Sun was +conquered, and at his trial before the other gods was reprimanded for +his mischievous pranks and condemned thereafter to travel across the sky +every day by the same trail. + + + + + THE COMANCHE RIDER + +The ways of disposing of the Indian dead are many. In some places +ground sepulture is common; in others, the corpses are placed in trees. +South Americans mummified their dead, and cremation was not unknown. +Enemies gave no thought to those that they had slain, after plucking off +their scalps as trophies, though they sometimes added the indignity of +mutilation in killing. + +Sachem's Head, near Guilford, Connecticut, is so named because Uncas cut +a Pequot's head off and placed it in the crotch of an oak that grew +there. It remained withering for years. It was to save the body of +Polan from such a fate, after the fight on Sebago Lake in 1756, that his +brothers placed it under the root of a sturdy young beech that they had +pried out of the ground. He was laid in the hollow in his war-dress, +with silver cross on his breast and bow and arrows in his hand; then, +the weight on the trunk being released, the sapling sprang back to its +place and afterward rose to a commanding height, fitly marking the +Indian's tomb. Chief Blackbird, of the Omahas, was buried, in +accordance with his wish, on the summit of a bluff near the upper +Missouri, on the back of his favorite horse, fully equipped for travel, +with the scalps that he had taken hung to the bridle. + +When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that +his soul may follow the setting sun into the spirit world the speedier. +His bow, arrows, and valuables are interred with him, and his best pony +is killed at the grave that he may appear among his fellows in the happy +hunting grounds mounted and equipped. An old Comanche who died near +Fort Sill was without relatives and poor, so his tribe thought that any +kind of a horse would do for him to range upon the fields of paradise. +They killed a spavined old plug and left him. Two weeks from that time +the late unlamented galloped into a camp of the Wichitas on the back of +a lop-eared, bob-tailed, sheep-necked, ring-boned horse, with ribs like +a grate, and said he wanted his dinner. Having secured a piece of meat, +formally presented to him on the end of a lodge-pole, he offered himself +to the view of his own people, alarming them by his glaring eyes and +sunken cheeks, and told them that he had come back to haunt them for a +stingy, inconsiderate lot, because the gate-keeper of heaven had refused +to admit him on so ill-conditioned a mount. The camp broke up in +dismay. Wichitas and Comanches journeyed, en masse, to Fort Sill for +protection, and since then they have sacrificed the best horses in their +possession when an unfriended one journeyed to the spirit world. + +Myths and Legends + + + + + HORNED TOAD AND GIANTS + +The Moquis have a legend that, long ago, when the principal mesa that +they occupy was higher than it is now, and when they owned all the +country from the mountains to the great river, giants came out of the +west and troubled them, going so far as to dine on Moquis. It was hard +to get away, for the monsters could see all over the country from the +tops of the mesas. The king of the tribe offered the handsomest woman +in his country and a thousand horses to any man who would deliver his +people from these giants. This king was eaten like the rest, and the +citizens declined to elect another, because they were beginning to lose +faith in kings. Still, there was one young brave whose single thought +was how to defeat the giants and save his people. + +As he was walking down the mesa he saw a lizard, of the kind commonly +known as a horned toad, lying under a rock in pain. He rolled the stone +away and was passing on, when a voice, that seemed to come out of the +earth, but that really came from the toad, asked him if he wished to +destroy the giants. He desired nothing so much. "Then take my horned +crest for a helmet." + +Lolomi--that was the name of him--did as he was bid, and found that in a +moment the crest had swelled and covered his head so thickly that no +club could break through it. + +"Now take my breastplate," continued the toad. And though it would not +have covered the Indian's thumb-nail, when he put it on it so increased +in bulk that it corseleted his body and no arrow could pierce it. + +"Now take the scales from my eyes," commanded the toad, and when he had +done so Lolomi felt as light as a feather. + +"Go up and wait. When you see a giant, go toward him, looking in his +eyes, and he will walk backward. Walk around him until he has his back +to a precipice, then advance. He will back away until he reaches the +edge of the mesa, when he will fall off and be killed." + +Lolomi obeyed these instructions, for presently a giant loomed in the +distance and came striding across the plains half a mile at a step. As +he drew near he flung a spear, but it glanced from the Indian's armor +like hail from a rock. Then an arrow followed, and was turned. At this +the giant lost courage, for he fancied that Lolomi was a spirit. +Fearing a blow if he turned, he kept his face toward Lolomi, who +manoeuvred so skilfully that when he had the giant's back to the edge of +a cliff he sprang at him, and the giant, with a yell of alarm, fell and +broke his bones on the rocks below. So Lolomi killed many giants, +because they all walked back before him, and after they had fallen the +people heaped rocks on their bodies. To this day the place is known as +"the giants' fall." Then the tribe made Lolomi king and gave him the +most beautiful damsel for a wife. As he was the best king they ever +had, they treasured his memory after he was dead, and used his name as a +term of greeting, so that "Lolomi" is a word of welcome, and will be +until the giants come again. + + + + + THE SPIDER TOWER + +In Dead Man's Canon--a deep gorge that is lateral to the once populated +valley of the Rio de Chelly, Arizona--stands a stark spire of weathered +sandstone, its top rising eight hundred feet above its base in a sheer +uplift. Centuries ago an inhabitant of one of the cave villages was +surprised by hostiles while hunting in this region, and was chased by +them into this canon. As he ran he looked vainly from side to side in +the hope of securing a hiding-place, but succor came from a source that +was least expected, for on approaching this enormous obelisk, with +strength well-nigh exhausted, he saw a silken cord hanging from a notch +at its top. Hastily knotting the end about his waist, that it might not +fall within reach of his pursuers, he climbed up, setting his feet into +roughnesses of the stone, and advancing, hand over hand, until he had +reached the summit, where he stayed, drinking dew and feeding on eagles' +eggs, until his enemies went away, for they could not reach him with +their arrows, defended as he was by points of rock. The foemen having +gone, he safely descended by the cord and reached his home. This help +had come from a friendly spider who saw his plight from her perch at the +top of the spire, and, weaving a web of extra thickness, she made one +end fast to a jag of rock while the other fell within his grasp--for +she, like all other of the brute tribe, liked the gentle cave-dwellers +better than the remorseless hunters. Hence the name of the Spider +Tower. + + + + + THE LOST TRAIL + +The canon of Oak Creek is choked by a mass of rock, shaped like a +keystone, and wedged into the jaws of the defile. An elderly Ute tells +this story of it. Acantow, one of the chiefs of his tribe, usually +placed his lodge beside the spring that bubbled from a thicket of wild +roses in the place where Rosita, Colorado, stands to-day. He left his +wife--Manetabee (Rosebud)--in the lodge while he went across the +mountains to attend a council, and was gone four sleeps. On his return +he found neither wife nor lodge, but footprints and hoofprints in the +ground showed to his keen eye that it was the Arapahoes who had been +there. + +Getting on their trail he rode over it furiously, and at night had +reached Oak Canon, along which he travelled until he saw the gleam of a +small fire ahead. A squall was coming up, and the noise of it might +have enabled him to gallop fairly into the group that he saw huddled +about the glow; but it is not in the nature of an Indian to do that, +and, tying his horse, he crawled forward. + +There were fifteen of the Arapahoes, and they were gambling to decide +the ownership of Manetabee, who sat bound beneath a willow near them. +So engrossed were the savages in the contest that the snake-like +approach of Acantow was unnoticed until he had cut the thongs that bound +Manetabee's wrists and ankles--she did not cry out, for she had expected +rescue--and both had imperceptibly slid away from them. Then, with a +yell, one of the gamblers pointed to the receding forms, and straightway +the fifteen made an onset. + +Swinging his wife lightly to his shoulders Acantow set off at a run and +he had almost reached his horse when his foot caught in a root and he +fell headlong. The pursuers were almost upon him when the storm burst +in fury. A flood of fire rushed from the clouds and struck the earth +with an appalling roar. Trees were snapped, rocks were splintered, and +a whirlwind passed. Acantow was nearly insensible for a time--then he +felt the touch of the Rosebud's hand on his cheek, and together they +arose and looked about them. A huge block of riven granite lay in the +canon, dripping blood. Their enemies were not to be seen. + +"The trail is gone," said Acantow. "Manitou has broken it, that the +Arapahoes may never cross it more. He would not allow them to take you. +Let us thank the Manitou." So they went back to where the spring burst +amid the rose-bushes. + + + + + A BATTLE IN THE AIR + +In the country about Tishomingo, Indian Territory, troubles are foretold +by a battle of unseen men in the air. Whenever the sound of conflict is +heard it is an indication that many dead will lie in the fields, for it +heralds battle, starvation, or pestilence. The powerful nation that +lived here once was completely annihilated by an opposing tribe, and in +the valley in the western part of the Territory there are mounds where +hundreds of men lie buried. Spirits occupy the valley, and to the eyes +of the red men they are still seen, at times, continuing the fight. + +In May, 1892, the last demonstration was made in the hearing of John +Willis, a United States marshal, who was hunting horse-thieves. He was +belated one night and entered the vale of mounds, for he had no scruples +against sleeping there. He had not, in fact, ever heard that the region +was haunted. The snorting of his horse in the middle of the night awoke +him and he sprang to his feet, thinking that savages, outlaws, or, at +least, coyotes had disturbed the animal. Although there was a good +moon, he could see nothing moving on the plain. Yet the sounds that +filled the air were like the noise of an army, only a trifle subdued, as +if they were borne on the passing of a wind. The rush of hoofs and of +feet, the striking of blows, the fall of bodies could be heard, and for +nearly an hour these fell rumors went across the earth. At last the +horse became so frantic that Willis saddled him and rode away, and as he +reached the edge of the valley the sounds were heard going into the +distance. Not until he reached a settlement did he learn of the spell +that rested on the place. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS-LEGENDS, BY SKINNER, V7 *** + +********* This file should be named cs07w10.txt or cs07w10.zip ********* + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, cs07w11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, cs07w10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* diff --git a/old/cs07w10.zip b/old/cs07w10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6bfe84c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cs07w10.zip |