As yet the myths of the Hopi have not been systematically collected, hence our view of the deeper workings of the Hopi mind is a limited one. No observer familiar with the language has lived with the Good People in order to hear from the wrinkled sages the tales of beginnings and the explanations of things that must be stored in their minds, if the fragmentary utterances that are extant may give indication. A few myths collated principally from the writings of Dr. J. Walter Fewkes are given as examples, displaying the range and depth of the imagination of these Indians.[11]

[11] Since writing this Rev. H. R. Voth has published a valuable collection of folk-tales and myths. Field Mus. Pub. 96.

In the early days when the world was young, many monsters, most of whom were hostile to man, roamed the earth or infested the sky, and particularly harassed the Hopi. These monsters were gigantic in size and possessed special weapons of tremendous power to assist them in their supernatural craft. Long the people groaned under the ravages of the [180] monsters, and the time and manner of their deliverance they delight to recount in many weird stories during the winter nights by their flickering fires of pi?on wood.

In the earth lived the Spider Woman, ancient of days, full of wisdom, and having a tender regard for her people, the Hopi. Born to her from a light-ray and a drop of rain were the Twins; one, the son of light, was the little war-god called the Youth; the other was Echo, the son of the cloud.

The Youth became the savior of the people; his heroic deeds of the old times in slaying the monsters cause him still to be held in reverence by the Hopi and remembered in their ceremonies.

The conquests of the Twins gave rise to many strange adventures. The transformation of the man-eagle by the Twins is a favorite legend of the Hopi.

In the above, in the heart of the sky, lived the Man-Eagle. On the people of the whole earth he swooped down, carrying aloft women and maidens to his house, where after four days he devoured them. The Youth, journeying to the San Francisco Mountains, met at the foot-hills the Pi?on maids dressed in mantles of pi?on bark and grass, and here likewise he met the Spider Woman and the Mole. “You have come,” said they in greeting; “sit down; whence go you?” Then said the Youth, “Man-Eagle has carried away my bride and I seek to bring her back.” “I will aid you,” said the Spider Woman.

[181] She bade the Pi?on maids to gather pi?on gum, wash it, and make a garment in exact imitation of the flint arrow head armor which rendered Man-Eagle invulnerable. So did they, and the Spider Woman gave it, with charm flour, to the Youth. As a spider, then, so small as to be invisible, she perched on the right ear of the Youth that she might whisper advice. Mole led the way to the top of the mountains, but the Pi?on maids remained behind.

When they reached the summit, Eagle swooped down; they got on his back and he soared aloft with them till he was tired. Hawk came close by, and on his back he carried them still higher in the sky. When he was weary, Gray Hawk took them and mounted to the heavens with them till he could go no farther, and Red Hawk received the burden; thus, for an immense distance, upward they flew, until the adventurers reached a chasm in the sky through which the Youth, Spider Woman, and Mole passed, and saw the great white house in which Man-Eagle lived.

The ladder which led into the house had for rungs sharp flint knives. The Spider Woman advised the Youth, before mounting the ladder, to gather a handful of sumach berries and give them to Lizard, who received them with thanks, chewed them and gave him back the cud. The Youth rubbed the sharp rungs with the chewed berries and they became dull at once, and he was able to climb the ladder without cutting himself. When he entered the house of Man-Eagle [182] he saw hanging the monster’s flint arrow head armor, on a peg in a recess, and he at once exchanged it for the false armor the Pi?on maids had given him. In another recess he saw Man-Eagle and his lost wife. He called out to her that he had come to rescue her from the monster, and she replied that she was glad, but that he could not do so, as no one ever left the place alive. The Youth replied, “Have no fear; you will soon be mine again.”

The Spider Woman’s charm was so powerful that the Man-Eagle did not hear what was said, but he soon awoke, and put on the imitation flint armor without detecting the fraud. He then for the first time became aware of the Youth’s presence, and demanded what he wished. “I have come to take my wife home,” answered the hero. Man-Eagle said, “We must gamble to decide that, and if you lose I shall slay you,” to which the Youth agreed. Man-Eagle brought out a huge pipe, larger than a man’s head, and having filled it with tobacco, gave it to the hero, saying, “You must smoke this entirely out, and if you become dizzy or nauseated, you lose.” So the Youth lit the pipe and smoked, but exhaled nothing. He kept the pipe aglow and swallowed all the smoke and felt no ill effect, for he passed it through his body into an underground passageway that Mole had dug. Man-Eagle was amazed and asked what had become of the smoke. The Youth, going to the door, showed him great clouds of dense smoke issuing from [183] the four cardinal points, and the monster saw that he had lost.

But Man-Eagle tried a second time with the hero. He brought two deer-antlers, saying, “We will each choose one, and he who fails to break the one he chooses loses.” The antler which he laid down on the northwest side was a real antler, but that on the southeast was an imitation made of brittle wood. Spider Woman prompted the Youth to demand the first choice, but Man-Eagle refused him that right. After the youth had insisted four times, Man-Eagle yielded, and the hero chose the brittle antler and tore its prongs asunder, but Man-Eagle could not break the real antler, and thus lost a second time.

Man-Eagle had two fine, large pine trees growing near his house, and said to the hero, “You choose one of these trees and I will take the other, and whoever plucks one up by the roots shall win.” Now Mole had burrowed under one of them and had gnawed through all its roots, cutting them off; and had run through his tunnel and was sitting at its mouth, peering through the grass, anxious to see the Youth win. The hero, with the help of his grandmother, chose the tree that Mole had prepared and plucked it up, and threw it over the cliff, but Man-Eagle struggled with the other tree and could not move it, so he was unhappy in his third defeat.

Then Man-Eagle spread a great supply of food on the floor and said to the Youth that he must eat all [184] at one sitting. The Youth sat and ate all the meat, bread, and porridge, emptying one food basin after another, and showed no sign of being satisfied before all was consumed; for Mole had again aided him and dug a large hole below to receive it, and the Youth was a winner the fourth time.

Man-Eagle then made a great wood-pile and directed the Youth to sit upon it, saying he would ignite it and that if he were unharmed he would submit himself to the same test. The Youth took his allotted place, and Man-Eagle set fire to the pile of wood at the four cardinal points, and it speedily was ablaze. The arrow heads of which the flint armor was made were coated with ice, which melted so that water trickled down and prevented the Youth from being burnt, and all the wood-pile was consumed, leaving the Youth unharmed.

The monster was filled with wonder and grieved very much when he saw the Youth making another great pile of wood. Still thinking that he wore his fire-proof suit, he mounted the wood-pile, which the Youth lit at the four cardinal points. The fuel blazed up, and as soon as the fire caught the imitation armor of gum, it ignited with a flash and the monster was consumed. At the prompting of the Spider Woman, the Youth approached the ashes, took the charm in his mouth, and spurted it over them, when suddenly a handsome man arose. The Spider Woman said to him, “Will you refrain from killing people, and will you [185] forsake your evil habits?” The Man-Eagle assented with a fervent promise, and the Youth, rejoicing, ran to his wife, embraced her, and set free all the captive women wives of the Hopi and other peoples, of whom there were many. Eagle and Hawk carried them to the ground on their broad pinions.

Over the plains and through the mountains roamed the Giant Elk. Many times larger was he than an ordinary elk, and an enemy to the Hopi, whom he slew with his great horns, laughing at their arrows and flint knives.

No one was safe from this roaming monster, enemy to living beings, so the Twins set out to have a trial of strength and skill with him. As it chanced, the Giant Elk was lying down in a beautiful valley, under the aspen trees of the San Francisco Mountains. Near the house of the Youths was this valley, and as they sought to stalk the Giant Elk the Mole met them and said, “Do not encounter him, for he is mighty and may kill you; wait here and I will help you.”

The Mole then excavated four chambers in the earth, one below another, and made the Twins remain in the upper one. He dug a long tunnel and coming up under the Elk, plucked a little soft hair from over his heart, at which the Elk turned his head and looked down, but the Mole said, “Be not angry, I only want a little soft hair to make a bed for my children.” So the Elk allowed him to continue the plucking. But the Mole took away enough fur to leave the skin quite [186] bare over the heart, and expose the Elk to death. He then returned to the Twins and told them what he had done, and they threw bolts of lightning and wounded the Elk, who sprang to his feet and charged fiercely. But the Twins concealed themselves in the upper chamber, and when the Elk tried to gore them his horns were not long enough; again he charged, and thrust his horns downward, but the Twins had safely retreated to the second chamber; again he tried to reach them, but they were safe in the third room. They retreated to the fourth chamber, and when the Elk made another attempt he fell dead.

The Chipmunk who had witnessed the fight hurried up, and after thanking the Twins said he had come to show them how to cut up the monster’s body, which with his sharp teeth he soon accomplished. One of the Twins thanked Chipmunk, and, stooping, he dipped the tips of the first two fingers of his right hand in the Elk’s blood and drawing them along the body of the Chipmunk, made on it the marks which he still bears.

This is the story of how the Twins killed Chaveyo, who was a giant of the old times, clad in armor made of flint and seeking always for people to devour.

One day the Twins went to a great pool near Mt. Taylor, and soon Chaveyo came there likewise; he knelt down and drank four times, emptying the pool. He then arose and smelt the Twins and threw his weapon at them, but one of the Twins sprang in [187] the air and as the weapon passed under him he caught it in his hand. Chaveyo then flung his lightning at the hero, but one of the Twins caught this as he had the weapon. The little war-god now flung his weapon at Chaveyo, but it glanced off his flint shirt. Then the Youth threw the lightning, but it only staggered him. After this they threw more lightning at Chaveyo, which knocked him down and killed him outright.

Another story tells how the Twins visited the sun.

The Twins lived with Spider Woman, their mother, on the west side of Mt. Taylor, and desired to see the home of their father. Spider Woman gave them as a charm a kind of meal, and directed that when they met the guardians of the home of the Sun, to chew a little and spurt it upon them.

The Twins journeyed far to the sunrise where the Sun’s home is entered through a canyon in the sky. There Bear, Mountain Lion, Snake, and Canyon Closing keep watch. The sky is solid in this place, and the walls of the entrance are constantly opening and closing, and would crush any unauthorized person who attempted to pass through.

As the Twins approached the ever-fierce watchers, the trail lay along a narrow way; they found it led them to a place on one side of which was the face of a vertical cliff, and on the other a precipice which sunk sheer to the Below (Underworld). An old man sat there, with his back against the wall and his knees [188] drawn up close to his chin. When they attempted to pass, the old man suddenly thrust out his legs, trying to knock the passers over the cliff. But they leaped back and saved themselves, and in reply to a protest the old man said his legs were cramped and he simply extended them for relief. Whereupon the hero remembered the charm which he had for the southwest direction, and spurted it upon the old man, forcing the malignant old fellow to remain quite still with legs drawn up, until the Twins had passed.

They then went on to the watchers, guardians of the entrance to the Sun’s house, whom they subdued in the same manner. They also spurted the charm on the sides of the cliff, so that it ceased its oscillations and remained open until they had passed.

These dangers being past, they entered the Sun’s house and were greeted by the Sun’s wife, who laid them on a bed of mats. Soon Sun came home from his trip through the underworld, saying,

    I smell strange children here; when men go away their wives receive the embraces of strangers. Where are the children whom you have?

So she brought the Twins to him, and he put them in a flint oven and made a hot fire. After a while, when he opened the door of the oven, the Twins capered out laughing and dancing about his knees, and he knew that they were his sons.[12]

[12] From “The Destruction of the Tusayan Monsters,” by J. Walter Fewkes; Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, April-June, 1895, pp. 136-137.

[189] Dr. J. Walter Fewkes says:

    The Hopi, like many people, look back to a mythic time when they believe their ancestors lived in a “paradise,” a state or place where food (corn) was plenty and rains abundant—a world of perpetual summer and flowers. Their legends recount how, when corn failed or rains ceased, culture heroes have sought this imaginary or ideal ancestral home to learn the “medicine” which blessed this happy land. Each sacerdotal society tells the story of its own hero, who generally brought from that land a bride who transmitted to her son the knowledge of the altars, songs, and prayers which forced the crops to grow and the rains to fall in her native country. To become thoroughly conversant with the rites he marries the maid, since otherwise at his death they would be lost, as knowledge of the “medicine” is transmitted not through his clan, but to the child of his wife. So the Snake hero brought the Snake maid (Corn-rain girl) from the underworld, the Flute hero, her sister, the Little War God the Lakone mana. A Katcina hero, in the old times, on a rabbit hunt, came to a region where there was no snow. There he saw other Katcina people dancing amidst beautiful gardens. He received melons from them and carrying them home told a strange story of a people who inhabited a country where there were flowering plants in midwinter. The hero and a comrade were sent back and they stayed with these people, returning home loaded with fruit during February. They had learned the songs of those with whom they had lived and taught them in the kiva of their own people.[13]

[13] The Journ. Amer. Eth. and Arch., Vol. II, p. 152. The Kachina hero in this story would appear not to have brought a wife from this people.

[190] Most of the migration traditions are full of mythic elements which have been incorporated with what has often been found to be veritable history. One of these, recounting the wanderings of certain Southern clans, is given by Dr. Fewkes.

    At the Red House in the south internecine wars prevailed, and the two branches of the Patki people separated from the other Hopi and determined to return to the fatherland in the north. But these two branches were not on the best of terms, and they traveled northward by separate routes, the (later settlers of) Miconinovi holding to the east of the (later settlers of) Walpi.

    The Patki traveled north until they came to the Little Colorado River, and built houses on its banks. ............