Seven Mohave Myths

by A. L. Kroeber

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

SONG SCHEME AND NARRATIVE OUTLINE

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.

The Cane Song Scheme

Paragraph	Songs
		A. Placement in the Cosmogony
[1a]	..	Kamaiavêta killed
		B. Two Brothers Go Off
[1b]	4	At Avikwame: parts of the house
[2]	3	To North: Ground-squirrel
[3]	2	A little north. Rat
[4]	3	Rat eaten; house built
[5]	1	Uncle "Yellow-Pima" joins the brothers
[6]	1	Betting arrows
[7a]	..	Corn and wheat from east
		C. They Get Wives
[7b]	1	Girl in west has hwetše-hwetše bird
[8]	1	Quarrel over the girl
[9]	1	Tšitšuvare gets her
[10]	1	Bring her to uncle
[11a]	..	He sends them to Sun in east
[11b]	2	Cock sings in cage
[12a]	..	Tšitšuvare gets Sun's daughter
[12b]	2	About her house
[13]	2	About the stars
[14]	1	She grinds corn
[15]	2	Uncle sends them north for a third wife; yellowhammer in cage
[16]	1	Pukehane gets her
[17a]	..	Uncle sends them south
[17b]	1	Hotokoro in cage
[18a]	..	Bring fourth wife
		D. Quarrel over Cane: Elder Kills Younger
[18b]	1	Go for cane
[19]	1	Find cane
[20]	1	Quarrel for butt
[21]	2	Elder makes knife to cut cane
[22]	2	They fight over it
[23]	1	Return home
[24]	1	Elder makes younger ill
[25]	1	Elder spoils younger's birds
[26]	1	Nume-peta arrives for the death
[27]	1	Younger tells of his bones
[28]	1	Killed by elder and Nume-peta
		E. Birth of the Hero Ahta-hane
[29]	1	Younger brother's son sings inside his mother
[30]	1	The unborn child makes rain
[31]	1	He emerges
[32]	1	Spared because disguised as girl
[33]	1	Suckled as if a girl
		F. Shinny Game with Father's Foes
[34]	2	Shinny played with his father's kneecap
[35]	2	Boy grieves, sends his mother away
[36]	1	Steals the shinny ball
[37]	2	Knocks it west as meteor into mountains
		G. Journey South to Sea
[38]	1	Crosses river on four sand piles
[39]	2	Sleeping at Qara'êrve, wakened by birds
[40]	1	South to Selye'aya-kumītše
[41]	2	Frightened by rattlesnake at Hanyo-kumasθeve
[42]	5	Wears snake as belt, sees wildcats at Kamahnūlye
[43]	1	Met by horsefly at Aha-kuminye
[44]	1	Hummingbird nest at Hotūrveve
[45]	1	On southward to Sampulya-kwuvare
[46]	1	Wants cooling clouds as he goes east up Sacramento Wash
[47]	1	Cloudy as he goes south to Gourd Mountain
[48]	1	Proceeding south
[49]	5	To Screw-mesquite spring at Akokehumī mountain
[50]	2	To petrified dancers at Ahwaṭa-kwimātše
[51]	2	Finds wild grapes at Kuhultoṭve
[52]	1	Eastward up Bill Williams Fork, meets badger
[53]	1	South again to Avi-su'ukwilye, watches jack rabbit
[54]	3	South along sand ridge to Avi-melyehwêke
[55]	2	After sleeping, north to Avi-hupo
[56]	1	Northerly to river at Selye'aya-'ita
[57]	3	Crosses on sand piles to Kuvukwīlye
[58]	1	South to Aha-kumiθe spring
[59]	1	On south to Earth-Mouth gap
[60]	1	On to Tôske
[61]	1	On to Goosefoot mesa
[62]	2	Near Yuma land, sees cane in bottoms
[63]	1	Breaks off cane, travels on down past Cocopa Mountains
[64]	3	To Gulf of California, sees surf and crane
[65]	2	Plays with sea shells
[66]	2	East along shore, sees ducks
[67]	2	Sees Hatōmpa'auve monster in lagoon
[68]	1	Turns inland northeast to catsclaw acacias
		H. Marriage, and Contests with Meteor and Sun
[69]	5	Tracks of four women in desert
[70]	2	Reaches their empty house, hides as piece of cane
[71]	2	Returning, the sisters are warned of him by the eldest
[72]	2	Youngest sister finds him, rotten
[73]	2	Eldest revives him
[74]	1	Feeds him tobacco
[75]	4	Women go gathering, warn him of their husband Meteor
[76]	2	Meteor comes, fails to kill him, gives tobacco
[77]	2	Meteor leaves, Sun comes, wants to gamble
[78]	1	Sun loses belongings, then body, escapes to sky
[79]	2	Boy inspects his winnings
[80]	2	His mirror shows him he is ugly
[81]	4	Beautiful from diving, he is found and wanted by the four women
[82a]	..	Selects the eldest
		I. Return to Mother, Half-Brother, and Father's Ghost
[82b]	2	Going homeward, he wishes rain to get rid of wives
[83]	1	Repents, brings out sun
[84]	1	Laughs at mud in wives' sandals
[85]	1	The wives wear frog-shaped shell-gorgets
[86]	2	Mother's masohwat bird flies to meet him
[87]	2	Reunion with his mother
[88]	1	He tells her what happened
[89]	1	She calls the wives daughters-in-law
[90]	2	Boy questions his mother's father (another Sun)
[91]	2	Goes east to get lightning cane
[92]	1	Travels east to war on father's relatives
[93]	1	Meets his half-brother
[94]	2	They identify their relationship
[95]	1	Mourn together
[96]	2	Call up their dead father
		J. Revenge on Father's Foes
[97]	1	Traveling north again to father's killers
[98]	2	Foe sends messenger to meet at Qara'êrve
[99]	2	Conditions of contest arranged
[100]	1	Old man Yellow-Pima embraces both boys
[101]	1	Hero boy wins the contest
[102]	2	Destroys foes with his cane lightning
		K. Transformation
[103]	10	Transforms wives and mother into Pleiades, brother and old man into birds
[104]	2	Flies south as meteor, turns into rock Mêkoaṭa by river

MOVEMENT OF THE NARRATIVE

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.