THE GREAT COUNCIL OF MEN AND THE BEINGS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE TRUE MIDDLE.
Nay, they called a great council of men and the beings, beasts, birds and insects of all kinds ‘hlímna; these were gathered in the council.
After long deliberation it was said:
"Where is K‘yanäs´tïpe, the Water-skate? Lo! legs has he of great extension, six in number. Mayhap he can feel forth with them to the uttermost of all the six regions, thereby pointing out the very Middle." And K‘yanäs´tïpe, being summoned, appeared in semblance, growing greater; for lo! it was the Sun-father himself (K‘yanäs´tïpe through ‘hlímna being). And he answered their questions ere he was bespoken, saying, "Yea, that can I do." And he lifted himself to the zenith, and extended his finger-feet six to all of the six regions, so that they touched to the north, the great waters; and to the west, and the south, and the east, the great waters; and to the northeast, the waters above; and to the southwest, the waters below.
But to the north, his finger-foot grew cold, so he drew it in; and to the west, the waters being nearer, touched his finger-foot thither extended, so he drew that in also. But to the south and east far reached his other finger-feet. Then gradually he settled downward and called out, "Where my heart and navel rest, beneath them mark ye the spot and there build ye a town of the midmost, for there shall be the midmost place of the earth-mother, even the navel; albeit not the center, because of the nearness of cold in the north and the nearness of waters in the west." And when he descended (squatting), his belly rested over the middle of the plain and valley of Zuñi; and when he drew in his finger-legs, lo! there were the trail-roads leading out and in like stays of a spider's net, into and forth from the place he had covered.