SONG SCHEME AND NARRATIVE OUTLINE

[70]A pottery dish, blackened with charcoal and filled with water, used in face painting; a minor ethnographic detail, interesting because of the prehistoric Hohokam mirrors of pyrites in the Gila valley.80. The boy stood there: he left these things there in the playing field (matāre). He wanted to see his body. He wanted to look in his mirror. He thought, "I want to see what sort of a looking boy I am." When he looked; he said, "I have no clothes: I am a bad-looking boy." (2 songs.)81. He had no long hair, only short hair like a boy: he saw that. He went to the bathing place and dived in northward. He came out again and dived westward. Then he dived to the south. Then he dived to the east.[71]He came out and now his hair fell below his hips. Then he wanted to make a little wind to dry his hair. He did not sit down, he did not lie down, he stood. Then the wind dried his hair. He came back and looked in his mirror. He said, "I think I will wear eagle-down (θume)." He put his hand out to the north and got eagle-down. Then he put that on and looked at himself. "That is good," he said. Then he put out his hand to the east and got a woven ("Navaho") shirt, tolyekô-pa, and a woven strip of wool cloth (tolyekô-hare-hare) for a breech-clout. "Now I have all that," he said. He put his hand out to the west[72]and got beads (nyapūka). He thought, "When I was a boy I did not know what was good: I did not wear anything. Now I know what is good and am wearing what I have never worn before. I am ready now and it is good." He was standing where he had bathed. The four women were crying (at the house); he heard them. Tasekyêlkye, the oldest, was thinking about the three persons (the boy, Kwayū, Sun), wondering which of them had been turned into something and killed, for none of them had come back yet. "Perhaps the boy has done that," she thought. Then she said to her youngest sister, "Get water! You have a jar you made yourself." "Yes, I have one," she said, and went to get water. When she saw the boy all dressed up, she dropped her jar and went and embraced and kissed him. She was away for some time. The oldest sister said, "What is the matter with her that she does not come back? What did she see when she went to get water?" And she sent another. When the other woman came and saw Ahta-nye-masape embracing and kissing the boy, she too threw away her jar and hugged him. "He is a good-looking boy: I want to marry him," she said. Then Tasekyêlkye sent her other sister. She came and saw the boy: he was not embracing the two girls; they were holding him, and saying, "I want him." "No, I want him." Then she also dropped her jar, for she wanted him too. Now the three were gone and did not come back. Then the oldest sister thought, "Well, there were three of them, but they have not brought water. I will go myself and drink and then return here to cry." She took her jar, went there, and saw the three women surrounding the boy, embracing him; but the boy was not moving, not saying a word. When she saw it she ran up: "Did I not know it? You like that boy: all of you want him: I knew it!"[73]She too wanted him, but could not take him away from the others. Now they had all come there to get water and there was no one at the house. Then the four women said, "We will take you to the house. We do not want you to walk: we will stand, you lie down, and we will carry you." So the boy lay down and they carried him in their hands. Four times they became tired and laid him down. When they came to the house they spread a woven blanket, hatš-hārke, and laid him with his head against a post in the middle of the house. (4 songs.)[71]Anti-sunwise circuit, contrasting with the W-E, N-S pairing of Tšitšuvare's and Pukehane's wives.[72]Not a ceremonial circuit in this case, but a reaching out to where the articles came from, to the Mohave: cloth from the Hopi to the east, shell beads from the Shoshoneans to the west.[73]Mohave tales do not weary of I-told-you-so's.82a. The boy said, "I want the sky-sack in the house. I have many things in it." The youngest went out and got the sack. Then the three youngest ground corn, for they thought, "I think he is hungry." The boy thought, "You three did not like me before: you thought I was rotten. Now when you grind corn and make bread or mush and give it to me I will not eat it." They made bread (môδīlya) and gave it to him but he would not eat. Then Tasekyêlkye, the oldest, ground aksamta[74]seeds and made bread of them and gave them to him and he ate: he did not eat the other bread that the three younger sisters made. At sunset they went to bed: two of them lay on each side of him. From each side they tried to embrace him. He paid no attention to them except to the oldest who lay next to him on the right side. That night she said, "Will you stay here and live in this house, or go away? The man who lived here eats people. We are afraid of that. When he goes hunting without luck, he is hungry, and then I am afraid he will eat me; I fear that every day." Then the boy said, "When I was north I told my mother, 'I am going far to the south, but I am coming back.' My mother is thinking of me, thinking I am coming to see her. I must go north to where she lives and stay there. I will start in the morning."[74]One of the "wild" seeds planted by the Mohave.—Handbook of California Indians, p. 736.I. Return to Mother, Half-Brother, and Father's Ghost82b. In the morning he said, "I think that man (Kwayū) will come back today." They said, "He has enough to eat: plenty of people's dried meat and people's bones ground up." The boy said, "I do not think he will follow me. Now I am ready to start. Are you ready?" All the women said, "Yes." He said,"Take your baskets." Then they each took a basket. He said, "I did not come here to gamble, I came to see my relatives. When I came he wanted to play with me. He wanted to bet everything,[75]his house, his property, and you, and I won you too. It was not I who wanted to gamble, it was he." Then they went east on the desert along a valley. After a while he stood still with the four women. He thought, "When I am traveling, women make too much trouble. They do not travel fast. If I kill them, I can go fast. I think I will make it rain on them and they may die. It will become cold and they will freeze and die from that." (2 songs, about clouds.)[75]This must be Sun, whereas just before, in this paragraph and the preceding, it is clearly Kwayū the cannibal that is being referred to.83. They went on and soon it rained. It rained heavily and continued to rain. They went farther and the water was deep. The four women were wet. Their clothes were wet and they could not go fast. The boy thought, "Some men do wrong. I was thinking something bad. It is not right: I do not like it. I said of Kwayū that his was a bad way. I do not want to do anything bad. That is what I said, but now I am doing a bad thing. I brought a heavy rain and made the four women wet. I will stop the rain. If the rain stops and the sun shines, the women will sit for awhile and their dresses will become dry; then we will start again and go on." He thought like this and the rain stopped, and they sat and rested. (1 song.)84. They sat in the shade with their clothes off hanging in a tree to dry. When their clothes were dry they went on again. There was much mud from the rain. Their sandals (haminyo)[76]were full of mud. The boy ran around the women. "Your feet are full of mud," he said, and laughed. (1 song.)[76]In recent generations sandals were made of horse rawhide, but not very often worn.85. They did not rest but went on. The four women wore frog shell-gorgets (hanye),[77]with strings of shell beads at the back of their necks. Then the boy told of what they wore. (1 song.)[77]Standard woman's ornament. Cf. note50.86. They went on east and came to a valley and saw a basket-like cage hanging; there was a masohwaṭ bird in it; the cage was red and white striped. The bird saw the boy and came flying toward him. He said, "This bird is my mother's. That is why it came to me. It belongs to her." Then the bird flew back to its cage. (2 songs.)87. He went on east and came to his mother's house at sunset. He took the bird, put it down at the door, and stood to one side. The bird walked around at the door, and made a noise. The woman came out and saw the boy. "My son, it is you," she said. "Yes, it is I," he told her. She said, "I thought you had died long ago. I thought somebody had killed you. You have dreamed well: I did not think I would see you again." She embraced him and cried. The four women stood off, looking at them. (2 songs.)88. The boy said, "You left me and I stayed in the house. When you left me, I hid. The people playing shinny did not see me. I lay there and took their ball. When I got it I went back to my house and struck it to the west with my shinny stick. The ball fell in the mountains and broke them, killing many people. Then I said to the old man, 'My uncle, I am going to leave you. I am going to follow my mother. I am going to go to her house. If I am not sick I will come back to see you.' That is what I told the old man. Then I left and saw many dangerous things, rattlesnakes and other dangers, but I was not afraid. I saw animals and people but I overcame them all. I came to Sun's house. When I came there this woman knew what I would be like. She saved me. No one knew me, but she knew me. I killed Sun and turned him into the sun, to be two suns. I did that; then I came here. I myself killed my uncle (the sun): no one else did it." (1 song.)[78][78]On being asked the mother's name, the narrator said it was Kuvahā; that the dead father's first wife's name was Tšese'ilye, and that the two were half-sisters, daughters of Sun by different mothers. Apparently either I or my experienced interpreter misunderstood on Tšese'ilye's first mention, and recorded "Tšese'ilye's daughter" instead of "Tšese'ilye, Sun's daughter" (note14). However, it is also possible that names and relationships changed in the narrator's mind. His story was recorded for three days, with an empty day's interval. In any event, it is clear that names mean little to the Mohave in these narratives: they talk chiefly in terms of boy, old man, woman, brother, etc. Cf. note87.89. When she heard what her son had done, his mother said, "You have come far and are tired. You have stood long and your legs are tired. Sit down. I have corn and wheat. Grind it and make mush or eat it whatever way you like. Take as much as you want." Then the oldest of his wives went into the house and took corn and parched it. The three other sisters were ashamed and stood with their heads hanging. His mother put her hands on them, saying, "My daughters-in-law." (1 song.)90. When Sun[79]came home, his daughter (the boy's mother) told him what her son had told her. She said, "He says he has killed Sun and turned him into the sun. He has made him be two suns." Then the old man, the boy's grandfather, said, "If he has killed him, it is well. Even though it was his kinsman, it is well. If a relative is bad and is killed it is right." Then the boy asked him, "Are there any dangerous things to the east?" He said, "Yes: thunder and lightning. One cannot do anything to them. Look out!" The boy wanted them to kill somebody with. He wanted to make them be something to take with him when he went to war. So they talked that night. In the morning he rolledup his blanket and carried it on his back, going east. He did not say where he was going. When he was gone, his mother asked his wife, "Did you hear him say anything? Did he tell you?" His wife said, "I heard him say, 'When I come to my mother's house, Sun's house, I will not stay because I do not know the old man there.' That is all I heard him say." Meanwhile the boy went on east. (2 songs.)[79]"Another Sun, brother of the one" that the boy had chased to the sky and turned into the luminary.91. When he came to Thunder's place, he went into a hole made by lightning when it struck the ground. In the hole he found a (piece of) cane. Then he split it with his fingernail into four splints. (2 songs.)[80][80]The only words in the two songs are: īδauk, I hold; kwatša, a chief in the north (note82); hanyô, enter hole; oδik, I bring. These words are considerably twisted and added to by meaningless syllables like -ngau.92. When he had that cane, he brought it back to his mother's house, at noon. He carried it in a bundle and hung it outdoors. His wife gave him to eat. That night he said nothing. In the morning the woman wanted to see what he had got. He said, "If I show it to you you will all die quickly. So I will not show it to you: I will put it away." Next day he said, "You know what they did to me long ago.[81]I am going to have war with them. I am alone, but I am going, going north." The women said, "If you go, we will go." Sun said, "I will stay." The boy was going to war with Pukehane, Nume-peta, Tinya-kwaθpi, and Kwatša-kwatša.[82]In the morning they started. (1 song.)[81]When they killed his father. Perhaps the indirect allusion to the dead is preferred.[82]The two last are mentioned here for the first time. The Mohave like groups of four. Tinya-m is "night." Kwatša-kwatša's name, unreduplicated, occurs in the songs about getting the lightning-cane (note80).93. They went north. Tšese'ilye had also had a boy.[83]That boy said, "I am wise too. I have dreamed well: I know everything." He called himself Ahta-kwasume.[84]He gave himself that name: no one else gave it to him. Around his neck he wore cane, and he wore it on his belt and in his ears. When he walked, the cane in front and behind him rattled. Now he went east: He came to Hatšakwanakwe. There he burned the grass[85]and stayed, wanting to see his half-brother from the south. Then that one from the south came. Ahta-kwasume had a little fire over which he was stooping and did not see him. Then when he saw him he did not know him: he thought he was of some other tribe and not his brother. He was afraid and ran off east, and the other chased him, saying, "You do not know who I am: I am your brother." That one continued to run; at last he stood and waited; he saw it was his brother, and they talked. He went back with him to where the women were. (The one from the south) said; "You are my brother. I did not think I should see you. You did not expect to see me, did you? I met you on the desert. How do you live?" (1 song.)[83]Here the woman, not her father, is again called Tšese'ilye. This boy would of course be our hero's half-brother.[84]Ahta is cane.[85]Perhaps as a signal?94. "Who are you? Whose boy are you?" he said. Ahta-kwasume did not say, but asked him the same. He also would not tell. Then Ahta-kwasume sang. In the song he mentioned his father's (sic) name. Then the one who had come from the south said, "I stand on Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše" (circumlocution for: he is kin of my father).[86](1 song by each of them.)[86]Names of the dead are not mentioned. Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše was his father's older kinsman and still alive.95. Then Ahta-hane,[87]who had come from the south, said, "We met here. We will cry together for a little while." Then they took hotū paint;[88]with that they painted. Then they cried. They burned their clothes and their baskets and all they had;[89]but Ahta-hane did not burn the cane he had got from the lightning hole. (1 song.)[87]Here at last we have the name of our boy hero. The narrator gave it when he was asked it at this point. When asked previously, in the part of the story where the boy is coming near Yuma tribal territory in his southward travels, the narrator said that as yet he had no name.[88]Not ordinary black paint, but micaceous, and glittering when ground. Perhaps a mourning paint.[89]In mourning. The reunion, recognition of kinship, and reference to their dead father finally brings on this expression of emotion.96. He sprinkled water on the ashes and walked on the ashes and made the ground open wide in four places. Their father was deep down and they wanted him to come up. They heard him come. He continued to come and they heard him nearer. Soon he emerged. He had no bones, only flesh.[90]The two boys embraced him and cried. Ahta-kwasume sat to the west of him, Ahta-hane to the east. (2 songs.)[90]A curious expression of unsubstantiality. This whole Witch of Endor episode seems strange in Mohave culture.J. Revenge on Father's Foes97. Ahta-hane said, "You cannot walk. You cannot come with me. I wanted to see you, to see your face and your body. That is all. I am going north." Their father said, "It is well. I have seen you both." Soon he went back (down), he who had been Tšitšuvare. Then the two brothers and the women went north. They went north until they came to Selye'aya-kumītše.[91]They stood there. Then Ahta-hane saw dust in the north, and his father's scalp tied on a pole, and the wind raising the dust.[92](1 song.)[91]Near Fort Mohave, to the east of it.[92]Presumably from people dancing about it.98. Then word was brought to Pukehane and Nume-peta and Kwatša-kwatša and Tinya-kwaθpi, who were living at Avikwame with many people. Then Pukehane and Nume-peta sent Kwatša-kwatša to the two boys to say that they wanted to meet them: he came southward and met them at Qara'êrve.[93]They said, "Tell them that we shall be there. We will see them: we are going there." (2 songs.)[93]A mile or so northeast of Fort Mohave.99. Kwatša-kwatša said, "All have heard that you are coming. All know it: the news was brought to them. When you arrive they want to try something with you. There is a large rock with roots far down in the ground. Takse[94]has dug under the rock and broken the roots. He is to roll it, pick it up in his hand, and put it back where it belongs. There is another: Halye'anekītše:[95]he will obey you. Your father's scalp is on the pole: he will climb up to get it. If he can bring it down, we shall lose, but if he cannot bring it we shall win." The two boys said, "The people who live in the north do not think as we do. They ridicule me because they have killed my father. We shall arrive about noon." Then Kwatša-kwatša went back. (2 songs.)[94]A ground-squirrel or large rat.[95]The blue-tailed lizard. Cf. note40.100. That day they went up the river and came near the others. Halye'anekītše went to meet them. He said, "I will climb up to get the scalp. If you win you will get everything, their clothes, the men and women, the boys and the girls. But if I climb and cannot bring down the scalp, you will lose your bodies and everything you have. Then again, if Takse can dig under the large rock and cut its roots and carry it and throw it, you will lose, but if he cannot move the rock, you will win. You will win the houses, the dishes, and all the property of those people." Now Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše wanted to see the two boys. He said, "I want to see my two nephews." He met them, embraced them, and felt them over.[96](1 song.)[96]Tactifying his emotion, as it were. He did not cry, the narrator said.101. Now the two boys came there.[97]Then they argued what they should do first. The two boys wanted Halye'anekītše to make his trial first. The people who lived there wanted Takse to be first. Then Takse tried first. He took the rock, but could not throw it and it fell down just where he stood. So the people who lived there lost. Now Halye'anekītše was ready to climb: they told him to try. He climbed and brought down the scalp. So the two boys won again. The people there had lost everything. But they did not give up everything that they had lost; they gave up only part. They gave up their clothes and dishes and property but they did not give up their bodies. (1 song.)[97]Where the others lived "at Avikwame" or Avi-mota (note98). Subsequently, the narrator said that when he threw his fire, the hero stood at Tšohatave and δokupīta-tuδūmpe, two spots at the east end of Avi-mota. Presumably this is where the contest took place. It is not clear why the localization of this important scene was not given spontaneously.102. Then they said they wanted to bet again. They wanted to bet their bodies. They too had lightning. Ahta-hane's lightning (horrave) was not like theirs. They said to him, "Show yours." He said, "No, show yours." Then they showed it. It was only light and did no harm. Then he showed his: it was brighter than theirs, and quick, and struck the ground, and entered it. So he won everything that they had bet. Then he started to go away. But before that he had sent the five women back, his four wives and his mother; and Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše and Axta-hane (sic, for Ahta-kwasume); seven people in all. Now, when he went, he took one of his four pieces of cane and threw it west over Avi-mota.[98]It burned up everything and killed every one: Pukehane, Nume-peta, Kwatša-kwatša, Tinya-kwaθpi, and their people. Then he ran to the south. The fire had nearly overtaken his seven people. Only a plant like bulrushes, nyaveδi-ny-ipa, ghost arrow, did not burn. It stopped the fire at I ō-kuva'ire and saved those seven people. (2 songs.)[98]It was on Avi-mota, not on Avikwame, that these people lived, the narrator said later, in explanation. Cf. note97.K. Transformation103. Ahta-hane had made this plant grow. Now his brother stood by him, and Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše, and the five women in a row. They wanted to know what he would do. He took off the covering of his cane, showed it to them, put the pieces of cane together between his hands, and it thundered. He wanted to turn them into something. Then the five women flew up to the sky. They stayed there and were the Pleiades, hatša. Then he wanted to do something for his brother. "I think it will be best if I take him to a little lake full of mud and throw him in to be a bird and he will shake his head, and we shall call him teristeris."[99]Then he did that, and now Ahta-kwasume was that sort of a bird. Then he wanted to do something with the old man, Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše. He thought, "I will throw him into the same place. I want him to be called soθêrqe."[100]Then he did that with the old man. (10 songs.)[99]With a banded neck, in flocks. Elsewhere recorded as mīn-turīs-turīs. Perhaps a snipe.[100]Probably the snowy owl; with "gray" feathers.104. Now he alone was left. No one was there. He thought, "What am I going to be? I think I will fly up and go through the air. I will be a meteor, kwayū,[101]and fly into the sea." Then he changed his mind. He thought, "No, I will not gointo the sea. When I fly up I will go south." Then he went south. Just below Mukiampeve is Kway-ū-namau,[102]where Kwayū's father's mother had turned to rock. He went by there southward a little, jumped into the water, and sank to the bottom, to stay there. But, "I do not think it is good here," he said, came out, and went to the east side of the river. There he sat down. He is sticking up there now. He has been there forever, turned to rock. We call it Mêkoaṭa. (2 songs.)[101]A checked start toward another doublet name.[102]The name means meteor's paternal grandmother.SONG SCHEME AND NARRATIVE OUTLINEAs usual for Mohave myths, a list of song topics also provides a sort of skeleton or framework of the story, and, although somewhat imperfectly, it serves conveniently as an outline of the plot.The list that follows is in a sense the informant's. Wherever he said: "one song," or "four songs here," a paragraph has been terminated. The sections thus indicated by him normally deal with a single episode or thought, and are presented as consecutively numbered paragraphs. The only departure I have made from this procedure has been to break a paragraph into "a" and "b" when its first part consists of the conclusion of an incident without songs, and its second part deals with a new incident to which there are songs; as,1a,1b,7a,7b, etc. This minor formal device in the interest of clarity in the outline of the tale makes it that there are 111 actual paragraphs of narrative as against 104 numbered ones.The informant listed 182 songs as due to be sung at the 104 stations or stages of incident: an average of less than two per station. This is low for Mohave song-narratives. There was only a single song for 54 stations, or more than half of them. He sang two songs at 38 stations, three at five, four and five at three each, and ten songs only once, at the next to final incident of the story.The narrative breaks naturally into sections or chapters of unequal length. To these I have given titles, and have entered these captions, for convenience of orientation, both in the text of the narrative and in the song scheme outline. The latter follows.The Cane Song SchemeParagraphSongsA. Placement in the Cosmogony1a..Kamaiavêta killedB. Two Brothers Go Off1b4At Avikwame: parts of the house23To North: Ground-squirrel32A little north. Rat43Rat eaten; house built51Uncle "Yellow-Pima" joins the brothers61Betting arrows7a..Corn and wheat from eastC. They Get Wives7b1Girl in west has hwetše-hwetše bird81Quarrel over the girl91Tšitšuvare gets her101Bring her to uncle11a..He sends them to Sun in east11b2Cock sings in cage12a..Tšitšuvare gets Sun's daughter12b2About her house132About the stars141She grinds corn152Uncle sends them north for a third wife; yellowhammer in cage161Pukehane gets her17a..Uncle sends them south17b1Hotokoro in cage18a..Bring fourth wifeD. Quarrel over Cane: Elder Kills Younger18b1Go for cane191Find cane201Quarrel for butt212Elder makes knife to cut cane222They fight over it231Return home241Elder makes younger ill251Elder spoils younger's birds261Nume-peta arrives for the death271Younger tells of his bones281Killed by elder and Nume-petaE. Birth of the Hero Ahta-hane291Younger brother's son sings inside his mother301The unborn child makes rain311He emerges321Spared because disguised as girl331Suckled as if a girlF. Shinny Game with Father's Foes342Shinny played with his father's kneecap352Boy grieves, sends his mother away361Steals the shinny ball372Knocks it west as meteor into mountainsG. Journey South to Sea381Crosses river on four sand piles392Sleeping at Qara'êrve, wakened by birds401South to Selye'aya-kumītše412Frightened by rattlesnake at Hanyo-kumasθeve425Wears snake as belt, sees wildcats at Kamahnūlye431Met by horsefly at Aha-kuminye441Hummingbird nest at Hotūrveve451On southward to Sampulya-kwuvare461Wants cooling clouds as he goes east up Sacramento Wash471Cloudy as he goes south to Gourd Mountain481Proceeding south495To Screw-mesquite spring at Akokehumī mountain502To petrified dancers at Ahwaṭa-kwimātše512Finds wild grapes at Kuhultoṭve521Eastward up Bill Williams Fork, meets badger531South again to Avi-su'ukwilye, watches jack rabbit543South along sand ridge to Avi-melyehwêke552After sleeping, north to Avi-hupo561Northerly to river at Selye'aya-'ita573Crosses on sand piles to Kuvukwīlye581South to Aha-kumiθe spring591On south to Earth-Mouth gap601On to Tôske611On to Goosefoot mesa622Near Yuma land, sees cane in bottoms631Breaks off cane, travels on down past Cocopa Mountains643To Gulf of California, sees surf and crane652Plays with sea shells662East along shore, sees ducks672Sees Hatōmpa'auve monster in lagoon681Turns inland northeast to catsclaw acaciasH. Marriage, and Contests with Meteor and Sun695Tracks of four women in desert702Reaches their empty house, hides as piece of cane712Returning, the sisters are warned of him by the eldest722Youngest sister finds him, rotten732Eldest revives him741Feeds him tobacco754Women go gathering, warn him of their husband Meteor762Meteor comes, fails to kill him, gives tobacco772Meteor leaves, Sun comes, wants to gamble781Sun loses belongings, then body, escapes to sky792Boy inspects his winnings802His mirror shows him he is ugly814Beautiful from diving, he is found and wanted by the four women82a..Selects the eldestI. Return to Mother, Half-Brother, and Father's Ghost82b2Going homeward, he wishes rain to get rid of wives831Repents, brings out sun841Laughs at mud in wives' sandals851The wives wear frog-shaped shell-gorgets862Mother's masohwat bird flies to meet him872Reunion with his mother881He tells her what happened891She calls the wives daughters-in-law902Boy questions his mother's father (another Sun)912Goes east to get lightning cane921Travels east to war on father's relatives931Meets his half-brother942They identify their relationship951Mourn together962Call up their dead fatherJ. Revenge on Father's Foes971Traveling north again to father's killers982Foe sends messenger to meet at Qara'êrve992Conditions of contest arranged1001Old man Yellow-Pima embraces both boys1011Hero boy wins the contest1022Destroys foes with his cane lightningK. Transformation10310Transforms wives and mother into Pleiades, brother and old man into birds1042Flies south as meteor, turns into rock Mêkoaṭa by riverMOVEMENT OF THE NARRATIVEBluebird was a competent narrator in making his story move while retaining concrete and vivid detail. There is not the actionlessness of Raven, the bald outline manner of Vinimulye-pātše, the constant self-communing of Deer, or the deliberate repetitive prolixity of Mastamho. The tale always progresses. Either there are incidents crowding into a situation of emotional interest; or, when this flags, as in a long journey, the stages of travel are passed through with conciseness. The direct story appeal of Cane seems to me greater than that of the other Mohave narratives here presented.APPARENT INCONSISTENCIESThere are a number of internal inconsistencies or contradictions. Some of these are almost certainly due to misunderstandings by either the interpreter or myself; for others I strongly suspect the narrator to be responsible; but in any given case it is almost impossible to be sure. After all, the story is so long that it took three days to tell and English it, and these three days were interrupted by a fourth. There was thus much provocation for the narrator to change his plot in spots through forgetting what he had said before.One of these doubts concerns whether Tšese'ilye is the name of Tšitšuvare's first wife from the west or of her father (cf. n.14); also that Tšitšuvare also married Sun's daughter in theeast; that this woman went home after Tšitšuvare died, whereas Tšese'ilye gave birth to the hero Ahta-hane (29-31), who in35sends her off to the west; but in82bfollowing, he travelseastward(after having gone south and east!) to meet his mother, whose father is Sun (90): which would make her the second wife. See footnotes14,35,36,52,54,58,63,68,75,78,79,83,87.There are two Suns (11a,90;77,78). Analogous is the fact that the hero strikes his shinny ball away as a meteor (37), overcomes Kwayū, the cannibal Meteor (75,76), and flies off as a meteor himself on his way to his final transformation,104.Relationship terms are not always used consistently. See especially75-77, footnotes58,60,62-64. However, we do not know how strict and consistent Mohave usage in daily life is. In11b, Sun's daughter, Tšitšuvare's second wife, has a tame cock, kwaluyauve, as her pet, but in86it is a masohwaṭ bird; or, if in86the woman is Tšese'ilye, Tšitšuvare's first wife, the change is from a hwetše-hwetše bird in7bto a masohwat.In2and3, the two brothers are said to have gone north only a short distance from their origin at Avikwame. They must however have proceeded farther, and then have turned to the south, as may be inferred from what follows. Thus, in37, the younger brother's son goes north from where his father was killed and he was born, to Avi-kwutapārva, crosses the Colorado river there, and then goes downstream a little on the east side to Iδô-kuva'ire and Qara'êrve, all three places being in northern Mohave valley near Fort Mohave.—The evil older brother is at Avikwame, according to5,24,28,98, when his nephew hero returns, but is killed by him at Avi-mota in102; cf. footnotes97,98.—The hero sends his mother away to the west in35, though his father got her in the east; he starts on a long journey south in38, then east along the seacoast, and inland northeast in68to find his wives and his adversaries. When he returns to his mother in82b, he ought accordingly to be going north or northwestward, but is said to be traveling east. Is it a case of a slip of the narrator's mind, of the interpreter's tongue, or of my pencil? Or possibly did the hero follow an indirect course which escaped mention? An emendation might simplify the situation—such as assuming an intended "east" for recorded "west" when the mother was sent away in35; but there would be no control of the guesses. And it may well be that as much contradiction as this is expectable in so long a narrative acquired supposedly by dreaming, retained without mnemonic device, and probably told only a very few times in a life.In any event, none of these discrepancies of factual statement, if they are discrepancies, seriously affect the plot interest, the feeling tone, or the hearer's ability to participate in the story.

80. The boy stood there: he left these things there in the playing field (matāre). He wanted to see his body. He wanted to look in his mirror. He thought, "I want to see what sort of a looking boy I am." When he looked; he said, "I have no clothes: I am a bad-looking boy." (2 songs.)

81. He had no long hair, only short hair like a boy: he saw that. He went to the bathing place and dived in northward. He came out again and dived westward. Then he dived to the south. Then he dived to the east.[71]He came out and now his hair fell below his hips. Then he wanted to make a little wind to dry his hair. He did not sit down, he did not lie down, he stood. Then the wind dried his hair. He came back and looked in his mirror. He said, "I think I will wear eagle-down (θume)." He put his hand out to the north and got eagle-down. Then he put that on and looked at himself. "That is good," he said. Then he put out his hand to the east and got a woven ("Navaho") shirt, tolyekô-pa, and a woven strip of wool cloth (tolyekô-hare-hare) for a breech-clout. "Now I have all that," he said. He put his hand out to the west[72]and got beads (nyapūka). He thought, "When I was a boy I did not know what was good: I did not wear anything. Now I know what is good and am wearing what I have never worn before. I am ready now and it is good." He was standing where he had bathed. The four women were crying (at the house); he heard them. Tasekyêlkye, the oldest, was thinking about the three persons (the boy, Kwayū, Sun), wondering which of them had been turned into something and killed, for none of them had come back yet. "Perhaps the boy has done that," she thought. Then she said to her youngest sister, "Get water! You have a jar you made yourself." "Yes, I have one," she said, and went to get water. When she saw the boy all dressed up, she dropped her jar and went and embraced and kissed him. She was away for some time. The oldest sister said, "What is the matter with her that she does not come back? What did she see when she went to get water?" And she sent another. When the other woman came and saw Ahta-nye-masape embracing and kissing the boy, she too threw away her jar and hugged him. "He is a good-looking boy: I want to marry him," she said. Then Tasekyêlkye sent her other sister. She came and saw the boy: he was not embracing the two girls; they were holding him, and saying, "I want him." "No, I want him." Then she also dropped her jar, for she wanted him too. Now the three were gone and did not come back. Then the oldest sister thought, "Well, there were three of them, but they have not brought water. I will go myself and drink and then return here to cry." She took her jar, went there, and saw the three women surrounding the boy, embracing him; but the boy was not moving, not saying a word. When she saw it she ran up: "Did I not know it? You like that boy: all of you want him: I knew it!"[73]She too wanted him, but could not take him away from the others. Now they had all come there to get water and there was no one at the house. Then the four women said, "We will take you to the house. We do not want you to walk: we will stand, you lie down, and we will carry you." So the boy lay down and they carried him in their hands. Four times they became tired and laid him down. When they came to the house they spread a woven blanket, hatš-hārke, and laid him with his head against a post in the middle of the house. (4 songs.)

[71]Anti-sunwise circuit, contrasting with the W-E, N-S pairing of Tšitšuvare's and Pukehane's wives.

[72]Not a ceremonial circuit in this case, but a reaching out to where the articles came from, to the Mohave: cloth from the Hopi to the east, shell beads from the Shoshoneans to the west.

[73]Mohave tales do not weary of I-told-you-so's.

82a. The boy said, "I want the sky-sack in the house. I have many things in it." The youngest went out and got the sack. Then the three youngest ground corn, for they thought, "I think he is hungry." The boy thought, "You three did not like me before: you thought I was rotten. Now when you grind corn and make bread or mush and give it to me I will not eat it." They made bread (môδīlya) and gave it to him but he would not eat. Then Tasekyêlkye, the oldest, ground aksamta[74]seeds and made bread of them and gave them to him and he ate: he did not eat the other bread that the three younger sisters made. At sunset they went to bed: two of them lay on each side of him. From each side they tried to embrace him. He paid no attention to them except to the oldest who lay next to him on the right side. That night she said, "Will you stay here and live in this house, or go away? The man who lived here eats people. We are afraid of that. When he goes hunting without luck, he is hungry, and then I am afraid he will eat me; I fear that every day." Then the boy said, "When I was north I told my mother, 'I am going far to the south, but I am coming back.' My mother is thinking of me, thinking I am coming to see her. I must go north to where she lives and stay there. I will start in the morning."

[74]One of the "wild" seeds planted by the Mohave.—Handbook of California Indians, p. 736.

82b. In the morning he said, "I think that man (Kwayū) will come back today." They said, "He has enough to eat: plenty of people's dried meat and people's bones ground up." The boy said, "I do not think he will follow me. Now I am ready to start. Are you ready?" All the women said, "Yes." He said,"Take your baskets." Then they each took a basket. He said, "I did not come here to gamble, I came to see my relatives. When I came he wanted to play with me. He wanted to bet everything,[75]his house, his property, and you, and I won you too. It was not I who wanted to gamble, it was he." Then they went east on the desert along a valley. After a while he stood still with the four women. He thought, "When I am traveling, women make too much trouble. They do not travel fast. If I kill them, I can go fast. I think I will make it rain on them and they may die. It will become cold and they will freeze and die from that." (2 songs, about clouds.)

[75]This must be Sun, whereas just before, in this paragraph and the preceding, it is clearly Kwayū the cannibal that is being referred to.

83. They went on and soon it rained. It rained heavily and continued to rain. They went farther and the water was deep. The four women were wet. Their clothes were wet and they could not go fast. The boy thought, "Some men do wrong. I was thinking something bad. It is not right: I do not like it. I said of Kwayū that his was a bad way. I do not want to do anything bad. That is what I said, but now I am doing a bad thing. I brought a heavy rain and made the four women wet. I will stop the rain. If the rain stops and the sun shines, the women will sit for awhile and their dresses will become dry; then we will start again and go on." He thought like this and the rain stopped, and they sat and rested. (1 song.)

84. They sat in the shade with their clothes off hanging in a tree to dry. When their clothes were dry they went on again. There was much mud from the rain. Their sandals (haminyo)[76]were full of mud. The boy ran around the women. "Your feet are full of mud," he said, and laughed. (1 song.)

[76]In recent generations sandals were made of horse rawhide, but not very often worn.

85. They did not rest but went on. The four women wore frog shell-gorgets (hanye),[77]with strings of shell beads at the back of their necks. Then the boy told of what they wore. (1 song.)

[77]Standard woman's ornament. Cf. note50.

86. They went on east and came to a valley and saw a basket-like cage hanging; there was a masohwaṭ bird in it; the cage was red and white striped. The bird saw the boy and came flying toward him. He said, "This bird is my mother's. That is why it came to me. It belongs to her." Then the bird flew back to its cage. (2 songs.)

87. He went on east and came to his mother's house at sunset. He took the bird, put it down at the door, and stood to one side. The bird walked around at the door, and made a noise. The woman came out and saw the boy. "My son, it is you," she said. "Yes, it is I," he told her. She said, "I thought you had died long ago. I thought somebody had killed you. You have dreamed well: I did not think I would see you again." She embraced him and cried. The four women stood off, looking at them. (2 songs.)

88. The boy said, "You left me and I stayed in the house. When you left me, I hid. The people playing shinny did not see me. I lay there and took their ball. When I got it I went back to my house and struck it to the west with my shinny stick. The ball fell in the mountains and broke them, killing many people. Then I said to the old man, 'My uncle, I am going to leave you. I am going to follow my mother. I am going to go to her house. If I am not sick I will come back to see you.' That is what I told the old man. Then I left and saw many dangerous things, rattlesnakes and other dangers, but I was not afraid. I saw animals and people but I overcame them all. I came to Sun's house. When I came there this woman knew what I would be like. She saved me. No one knew me, but she knew me. I killed Sun and turned him into the sun, to be two suns. I did that; then I came here. I myself killed my uncle (the sun): no one else did it." (1 song.)[78]

[78]On being asked the mother's name, the narrator said it was Kuvahā; that the dead father's first wife's name was Tšese'ilye, and that the two were half-sisters, daughters of Sun by different mothers. Apparently either I or my experienced interpreter misunderstood on Tšese'ilye's first mention, and recorded "Tšese'ilye's daughter" instead of "Tšese'ilye, Sun's daughter" (note14). However, it is also possible that names and relationships changed in the narrator's mind. His story was recorded for three days, with an empty day's interval. In any event, it is clear that names mean little to the Mohave in these narratives: they talk chiefly in terms of boy, old man, woman, brother, etc. Cf. note87.

89. When she heard what her son had done, his mother said, "You have come far and are tired. You have stood long and your legs are tired. Sit down. I have corn and wheat. Grind it and make mush or eat it whatever way you like. Take as much as you want." Then the oldest of his wives went into the house and took corn and parched it. The three other sisters were ashamed and stood with their heads hanging. His mother put her hands on them, saying, "My daughters-in-law." (1 song.)

90. When Sun[79]came home, his daughter (the boy's mother) told him what her son had told her. She said, "He says he has killed Sun and turned him into the sun. He has made him be two suns." Then the old man, the boy's grandfather, said, "If he has killed him, it is well. Even though it was his kinsman, it is well. If a relative is bad and is killed it is right." Then the boy asked him, "Are there any dangerous things to the east?" He said, "Yes: thunder and lightning. One cannot do anything to them. Look out!" The boy wanted them to kill somebody with. He wanted to make them be something to take with him when he went to war. So they talked that night. In the morning he rolledup his blanket and carried it on his back, going east. He did not say where he was going. When he was gone, his mother asked his wife, "Did you hear him say anything? Did he tell you?" His wife said, "I heard him say, 'When I come to my mother's house, Sun's house, I will not stay because I do not know the old man there.' That is all I heard him say." Meanwhile the boy went on east. (2 songs.)

[79]"Another Sun, brother of the one" that the boy had chased to the sky and turned into the luminary.

91. When he came to Thunder's place, he went into a hole made by lightning when it struck the ground. In the hole he found a (piece of) cane. Then he split it with his fingernail into four splints. (2 songs.)[80]

[80]The only words in the two songs are: īδauk, I hold; kwatša, a chief in the north (note82); hanyô, enter hole; oδik, I bring. These words are considerably twisted and added to by meaningless syllables like -ngau.

92. When he had that cane, he brought it back to his mother's house, at noon. He carried it in a bundle and hung it outdoors. His wife gave him to eat. That night he said nothing. In the morning the woman wanted to see what he had got. He said, "If I show it to you you will all die quickly. So I will not show it to you: I will put it away." Next day he said, "You know what they did to me long ago.[81]I am going to have war with them. I am alone, but I am going, going north." The women said, "If you go, we will go." Sun said, "I will stay." The boy was going to war with Pukehane, Nume-peta, Tinya-kwaθpi, and Kwatša-kwatša.[82]In the morning they started. (1 song.)

[81]When they killed his father. Perhaps the indirect allusion to the dead is preferred.

[82]The two last are mentioned here for the first time. The Mohave like groups of four. Tinya-m is "night." Kwatša-kwatša's name, unreduplicated, occurs in the songs about getting the lightning-cane (note80).

93. They went north. Tšese'ilye had also had a boy.[83]That boy said, "I am wise too. I have dreamed well: I know everything." He called himself Ahta-kwasume.[84]He gave himself that name: no one else gave it to him. Around his neck he wore cane, and he wore it on his belt and in his ears. When he walked, the cane in front and behind him rattled. Now he went east: He came to Hatšakwanakwe. There he burned the grass[85]and stayed, wanting to see his half-brother from the south. Then that one from the south came. Ahta-kwasume had a little fire over which he was stooping and did not see him. Then when he saw him he did not know him: he thought he was of some other tribe and not his brother. He was afraid and ran off east, and the other chased him, saying, "You do not know who I am: I am your brother." That one continued to run; at last he stood and waited; he saw it was his brother, and they talked. He went back with him to where the women were. (The one from the south) said; "You are my brother. I did not think I should see you. You did not expect to see me, did you? I met you on the desert. How do you live?" (1 song.)

[83]Here the woman, not her father, is again called Tšese'ilye. This boy would of course be our hero's half-brother.

[84]Ahta is cane.

[85]Perhaps as a signal?

94. "Who are you? Whose boy are you?" he said. Ahta-kwasume did not say, but asked him the same. He also would not tell. Then Ahta-kwasume sang. In the song he mentioned his father's (sic) name. Then the one who had come from the south said, "I stand on Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše" (circumlocution for: he is kin of my father).[86](1 song by each of them.)

[86]Names of the dead are not mentioned. Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše was his father's older kinsman and still alive.

95. Then Ahta-hane,[87]who had come from the south, said, "We met here. We will cry together for a little while." Then they took hotū paint;[88]with that they painted. Then they cried. They burned their clothes and their baskets and all they had;[89]but Ahta-hane did not burn the cane he had got from the lightning hole. (1 song.)

[87]Here at last we have the name of our boy hero. The narrator gave it when he was asked it at this point. When asked previously, in the part of the story where the boy is coming near Yuma tribal territory in his southward travels, the narrator said that as yet he had no name.

[88]Not ordinary black paint, but micaceous, and glittering when ground. Perhaps a mourning paint.

[89]In mourning. The reunion, recognition of kinship, and reference to their dead father finally brings on this expression of emotion.

96. He sprinkled water on the ashes and walked on the ashes and made the ground open wide in four places. Their father was deep down and they wanted him to come up. They heard him come. He continued to come and they heard him nearer. Soon he emerged. He had no bones, only flesh.[90]The two boys embraced him and cried. Ahta-kwasume sat to the west of him, Ahta-hane to the east. (2 songs.)

[90]A curious expression of unsubstantiality. This whole Witch of Endor episode seems strange in Mohave culture.

97. Ahta-hane said, "You cannot walk. You cannot come with me. I wanted to see you, to see your face and your body. That is all. I am going north." Their father said, "It is well. I have seen you both." Soon he went back (down), he who had been Tšitšuvare. Then the two brothers and the women went north. They went north until they came to Selye'aya-kumītše.[91]They stood there. Then Ahta-hane saw dust in the north, and his father's scalp tied on a pole, and the wind raising the dust.[92](1 song.)

[91]Near Fort Mohave, to the east of it.

[92]Presumably from people dancing about it.

98. Then word was brought to Pukehane and Nume-peta and Kwatša-kwatša and Tinya-kwaθpi, who were living at Avikwame with many people. Then Pukehane and Nume-peta sent Kwatša-kwatša to the two boys to say that they wanted to meet them: he came southward and met them at Qara'êrve.[93]They said, "Tell them that we shall be there. We will see them: we are going there." (2 songs.)

[93]A mile or so northeast of Fort Mohave.

99. Kwatša-kwatša said, "All have heard that you are coming. All know it: the news was brought to them. When you arrive they want to try something with you. There is a large rock with roots far down in the ground. Takse[94]has dug under the rock and broken the roots. He is to roll it, pick it up in his hand, and put it back where it belongs. There is another: Halye'anekītše:[95]he will obey you. Your father's scalp is on the pole: he will climb up to get it. If he can bring it down, we shall lose, but if he cannot bring it we shall win." The two boys said, "The people who live in the north do not think as we do. They ridicule me because they have killed my father. We shall arrive about noon." Then Kwatša-kwatša went back. (2 songs.)

[94]A ground-squirrel or large rat.

[95]The blue-tailed lizard. Cf. note40.

100. That day they went up the river and came near the others. Halye'anekītše went to meet them. He said, "I will climb up to get the scalp. If you win you will get everything, their clothes, the men and women, the boys and the girls. But if I climb and cannot bring down the scalp, you will lose your bodies and everything you have. Then again, if Takse can dig under the large rock and cut its roots and carry it and throw it, you will lose, but if he cannot move the rock, you will win. You will win the houses, the dishes, and all the property of those people." Now Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše wanted to see the two boys. He said, "I want to see my two nephews." He met them, embraced them, and felt them over.[96](1 song.)

[96]Tactifying his emotion, as it were. He did not cry, the narrator said.

101. Now the two boys came there.[97]Then they argued what they should do first. The two boys wanted Halye'anekītše to make his trial first. The people who lived there wanted Takse to be first. Then Takse tried first. He took the rock, but could not throw it and it fell down just where he stood. So the people who lived there lost. Now Halye'anekītše was ready to climb: they told him to try. He climbed and brought down the scalp. So the two boys won again. The people there had lost everything. But they did not give up everything that they had lost; they gave up only part. They gave up their clothes and dishes and property but they did not give up their bodies. (1 song.)

[97]Where the others lived "at Avikwame" or Avi-mota (note98). Subsequently, the narrator said that when he threw his fire, the hero stood at Tšohatave and δokupīta-tuδūmpe, two spots at the east end of Avi-mota. Presumably this is where the contest took place. It is not clear why the localization of this important scene was not given spontaneously.

102. Then they said they wanted to bet again. They wanted to bet their bodies. They too had lightning. Ahta-hane's lightning (horrave) was not like theirs. They said to him, "Show yours." He said, "No, show yours." Then they showed it. It was only light and did no harm. Then he showed his: it was brighter than theirs, and quick, and struck the ground, and entered it. So he won everything that they had bet. Then he started to go away. But before that he had sent the five women back, his four wives and his mother; and Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše and Axta-hane (sic, for Ahta-kwasume); seven people in all. Now, when he went, he took one of his four pieces of cane and threw it west over Avi-mota.[98]It burned up everything and killed every one: Pukehane, Nume-peta, Kwatša-kwatša, Tinya-kwaθpi, and their people. Then he ran to the south. The fire had nearly overtaken his seven people. Only a plant like bulrushes, nyaveδi-ny-ipa, ghost arrow, did not burn. It stopped the fire at I ō-kuva'ire and saved those seven people. (2 songs.)

[98]It was on Avi-mota, not on Avikwame, that these people lived, the narrator said later, in explanation. Cf. note97.

103. Ahta-hane had made this plant grow. Now his brother stood by him, and Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše, and the five women in a row. They wanted to know what he would do. He took off the covering of his cane, showed it to them, put the pieces of cane together between his hands, and it thundered. He wanted to turn them into something. Then the five women flew up to the sky. They stayed there and were the Pleiades, hatša. Then he wanted to do something for his brother. "I think it will be best if I take him to a little lake full of mud and throw him in to be a bird and he will shake his head, and we shall call him teristeris."[99]Then he did that, and now Ahta-kwasume was that sort of a bird. Then he wanted to do something with the old man, Hatpa-'aqwaoθtše. He thought, "I will throw him into the same place. I want him to be called soθêrqe."[100]Then he did that with the old man. (10 songs.)

[99]With a banded neck, in flocks. Elsewhere recorded as mīn-turīs-turīs. Perhaps a snipe.

[100]Probably the snowy owl; with "gray" feathers.

104. Now he alone was left. No one was there. He thought, "What am I going to be? I think I will fly up and go through the air. I will be a meteor, kwayū,[101]and fly into the sea." Then he changed his mind. He thought, "No, I will not gointo the sea. When I fly up I will go south." Then he went south. Just below Mukiampeve is Kway-ū-namau,[102]where Kwayū's father's mother had turned to rock. He went by there southward a little, jumped into the water, and sank to the bottom, to stay there. But, "I do not think it is good here," he said, came out, and went to the east side of the river. There he sat down. He is sticking up there now. He has been there forever, turned to rock. We call it Mêkoaṭa. (2 songs.)

[101]A checked start toward another doublet name.

[102]The name means meteor's paternal grandmother.

As usual for Mohave myths, a list of song topics also provides a sort of skeleton or framework of the story, and, although somewhat imperfectly, it serves conveniently as an outline of the plot.

The list that follows is in a sense the informant's. Wherever he said: "one song," or "four songs here," a paragraph has been terminated. The sections thus indicated by him normally deal with a single episode or thought, and are presented as consecutively numbered paragraphs. The only departure I have made from this procedure has been to break a paragraph into "a" and "b" when its first part consists of the conclusion of an incident without songs, and its second part deals with a new incident to which there are songs; as,1a,1b,7a,7b, etc. This minor formal device in the interest of clarity in the outline of the tale makes it that there are 111 actual paragraphs of narrative as against 104 numbered ones.

The informant listed 182 songs as due to be sung at the 104 stations or stages of incident: an average of less than two per station. This is low for Mohave song-narratives. There was only a single song for 54 stations, or more than half of them. He sang two songs at 38 stations, three at five, four and five at three each, and ten songs only once, at the next to final incident of the story.

The narrative breaks naturally into sections or chapters of unequal length. To these I have given titles, and have entered these captions, for convenience of orientation, both in the text of the narrative and in the song scheme outline. The latter follows.

ParagraphSongsA. Placement in the Cosmogony1a..Kamaiavêta killedB. Two Brothers Go Off1b4At Avikwame: parts of the house23To North: Ground-squirrel32A little north. Rat43Rat eaten; house built51Uncle "Yellow-Pima" joins the brothers61Betting arrows7a..Corn and wheat from eastC. They Get Wives7b1Girl in west has hwetše-hwetše bird81Quarrel over the girl91Tšitšuvare gets her101Bring her to uncle11a..He sends them to Sun in east11b2Cock sings in cage12a..Tšitšuvare gets Sun's daughter12b2About her house132About the stars141She grinds corn152Uncle sends them north for a third wife; yellowhammer in cage161Pukehane gets her17a..Uncle sends them south17b1Hotokoro in cage18a..Bring fourth wifeD. Quarrel over Cane: Elder Kills Younger18b1Go for cane191Find cane201Quarrel for butt212Elder makes knife to cut cane222They fight over it231Return home241Elder makes younger ill251Elder spoils younger's birds261Nume-peta arrives for the death271Younger tells of his bones281Killed by elder and Nume-petaE. Birth of the Hero Ahta-hane291Younger brother's son sings inside his mother301The unborn child makes rain311He emerges321Spared because disguised as girl331Suckled as if a girlF. Shinny Game with Father's Foes342Shinny played with his father's kneecap352Boy grieves, sends his mother away361Steals the shinny ball372Knocks it west as meteor into mountainsG. Journey South to Sea381Crosses river on four sand piles392Sleeping at Qara'êrve, wakened by birds401South to Selye'aya-kumītše412Frightened by rattlesnake at Hanyo-kumasθeve425Wears snake as belt, sees wildcats at Kamahnūlye431Met by horsefly at Aha-kuminye441Hummingbird nest at Hotūrveve451On southward to Sampulya-kwuvare461Wants cooling clouds as he goes east up Sacramento Wash471Cloudy as he goes south to Gourd Mountain481Proceeding south495To Screw-mesquite spring at Akokehumī mountain502To petrified dancers at Ahwaṭa-kwimātše512Finds wild grapes at Kuhultoṭve521Eastward up Bill Williams Fork, meets badger531South again to Avi-su'ukwilye, watches jack rabbit543South along sand ridge to Avi-melyehwêke552After sleeping, north to Avi-hupo561Northerly to river at Selye'aya-'ita573Crosses on sand piles to Kuvukwīlye581South to Aha-kumiθe spring591On south to Earth-Mouth gap601On to Tôske611On to Goosefoot mesa622Near Yuma land, sees cane in bottoms631Breaks off cane, travels on down past Cocopa Mountains643To Gulf of California, sees surf and crane652Plays with sea shells662East along shore, sees ducks672Sees Hatōmpa'auve monster in lagoon681Turns inland northeast to catsclaw acaciasH. Marriage, and Contests with Meteor and Sun695Tracks of four women in desert702Reaches their empty house, hides as piece of cane712Returning, the sisters are warned of him by the eldest722Youngest sister finds him, rotten732Eldest revives him741Feeds him tobacco754Women go gathering, warn him of their husband Meteor762Meteor comes, fails to kill him, gives tobacco772Meteor leaves, Sun comes, wants to gamble781Sun loses belongings, then body, escapes to sky792Boy inspects his winnings802His mirror shows him he is ugly814Beautiful from diving, he is found and wanted by the four women82a..Selects the eldestI. Return to Mother, Half-Brother, and Father's Ghost82b2Going homeward, he wishes rain to get rid of wives831Repents, brings out sun841Laughs at mud in wives' sandals851The wives wear frog-shaped shell-gorgets862Mother's masohwat bird flies to meet him872Reunion with his mother881He tells her what happened891She calls the wives daughters-in-law902Boy questions his mother's father (another Sun)912Goes east to get lightning cane921Travels east to war on father's relatives931Meets his half-brother942They identify their relationship951Mourn together962Call up their dead fatherJ. Revenge on Father's Foes971Traveling north again to father's killers982Foe sends messenger to meet at Qara'êrve992Conditions of contest arranged1001Old man Yellow-Pima embraces both boys1011Hero boy wins the contest1022Destroys foes with his cane lightningK. Transformation10310Transforms wives and mother into Pleiades, brother and old man into birds1042Flies south as meteor, turns into rock Mêkoaṭa by river

Bluebird was a competent narrator in making his story move while retaining concrete and vivid detail. There is not the actionlessness of Raven, the bald outline manner of Vinimulye-pātše, the constant self-communing of Deer, or the deliberate repetitive prolixity of Mastamho. The tale always progresses. Either there are incidents crowding into a situation of emotional interest; or, when this flags, as in a long journey, the stages of travel are passed through with conciseness. The direct story appeal of Cane seems to me greater than that of the other Mohave narratives here presented.

There are a number of internal inconsistencies or contradictions. Some of these are almost certainly due to misunderstandings by either the interpreter or myself; for others I strongly suspect the narrator to be responsible; but in any given case it is almost impossible to be sure. After all, the story is so long that it took three days to tell and English it, and these three days were interrupted by a fourth. There was thus much provocation for the narrator to change his plot in spots through forgetting what he had said before.

One of these doubts concerns whether Tšese'ilye is the name of Tšitšuvare's first wife from the west or of her father (cf. n.14); also that Tšitšuvare also married Sun's daughter in theeast; that this woman went home after Tšitšuvare died, whereas Tšese'ilye gave birth to the hero Ahta-hane (29-31), who in35sends her off to the west; but in82bfollowing, he travelseastward(after having gone south and east!) to meet his mother, whose father is Sun (90): which would make her the second wife. See footnotes14,35,36,52,54,58,63,68,75,78,79,83,87.

There are two Suns (11a,90;77,78). Analogous is the fact that the hero strikes his shinny ball away as a meteor (37), overcomes Kwayū, the cannibal Meteor (75,76), and flies off as a meteor himself on his way to his final transformation,104.

Relationship terms are not always used consistently. See especially75-77, footnotes58,60,62-64. However, we do not know how strict and consistent Mohave usage in daily life is. In11b, Sun's daughter, Tšitšuvare's second wife, has a tame cock, kwaluyauve, as her pet, but in86it is a masohwaṭ bird; or, if in86the woman is Tšese'ilye, Tšitšuvare's first wife, the change is from a hwetše-hwetše bird in7bto a masohwat.

In2and3, the two brothers are said to have gone north only a short distance from their origin at Avikwame. They must however have proceeded farther, and then have turned to the south, as may be inferred from what follows. Thus, in37, the younger brother's son goes north from where his father was killed and he was born, to Avi-kwutapārva, crosses the Colorado river there, and then goes downstream a little on the east side to Iδô-kuva'ire and Qara'êrve, all three places being in northern Mohave valley near Fort Mohave.—The evil older brother is at Avikwame, according to5,24,28,98, when his nephew hero returns, but is killed by him at Avi-mota in102; cf. footnotes97,98.—The hero sends his mother away to the west in35, though his father got her in the east; he starts on a long journey south in38, then east along the seacoast, and inland northeast in68to find his wives and his adversaries. When he returns to his mother in82b, he ought accordingly to be going north or northwestward, but is said to be traveling east. Is it a case of a slip of the narrator's mind, of the interpreter's tongue, or of my pencil? Or possibly did the hero follow an indirect course which escaped mention? An emendation might simplify the situation—such as assuming an intended "east" for recorded "west" when the mother was sent away in35; but there would be no control of the guesses. And it may well be that as much contradiction as this is expectable in so long a narrative acquired supposedly by dreaming, retained without mnemonic device, and probably told only a very few times in a life.

In any event, none of these discrepancies of factual statement, if they are discrepancies, seriously affect the plot interest, the feeling tone, or the hearer's ability to participate in the story.

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