THE DRYING OF THE WORLD.
In the days when all was new, men lived in the four caverns of the lower regions (Á-wi-tën té-huthl-na-kwïn=the "Four Wombs of the World"). In the lowermost one of these men first came to know of their existence. It was dark, and as men increased they began to crowd one another and were very unhappy. Wise men came into existence among them, whose children supplicated them that they should obtain deliverance from such a condition of life.
It was then that the "Holder of the Paths of Life," the Sun-father, created from his own being two children, who fell to earth for the good of all beings (Ú-a-nam átch-pi-ah-k'oa). The Sun-father endowed these children with immortal youth, with power even as his own power, and created for them a bow (Á-mi-to-lan-ne,=the Rain Bow) and an arrow (Wí-lo-lo-a-ne,=Lightning). For them he made also a shield like unto his own, of magic power, and a knife of flint, the great magic war knife (Sá-wa-ni-k'ia ä′-tchi-ë-ne). The shield (Pí-al-lan-ne) was a mere network of sacred cords (Pí-tsau-pi-wi,=cotton) on a hoop of wood, and to the center of this net-shield was attached the magic knife.
These children cut the face of the world with their magic knife, and were borne down upon their shield into the caverns in which all men dwelt. There, as the leaders of men, they lived with their children, mankind.
They listened to the supplications of the priests. They built a ladder to the roof of the first cave and widened with their flint knife and shield the aperture through which they had entered. Then they led men forth into the second cavern, which was larger and not quite so dark.
Ere long men multiplied and bemoaned their condition as before. Again they besought their priests, whose supplications were once more listened to by the divine children. As before, they led all mankind into the third world. Here it was still larger and like twilight, for the light of the Sun himself sifted down through the opening. To these poor creatures (children) of the dark the opening itself seemed a blazing sun.
But as time went on men multiplied even as they had before, and at last, as at first, bemoaned their condition. Again the two children listened to their supplications, and it was then that the children of men first saw the light of their father, the Sun.
The world had been covered with water. It was damp and unstable. Earthquakes disturbed its surface. Strange beings rose up through it, monsters and animals of prey. As upon an island in the middle of a great water, the children of men were led forth into the light of their father, the Sun. It blinded and heated them so that they cried to one another in anguish, and fell down, and covered their eyes with their bare hands and arms, for men were black then, like the caves they came from, and naked, save for a covering at the loins of rush, like yucca fiber, and sandals of the same, and their eyes, like the owl's, were unused to the daylight.
Eastward the two children began to lead them, toward the Home of the Sun-father.
Now, it happened that the two children, saw that the earth must be dried and hardened, for wherever the foot touched the soil water gathered—as may be seen even in the rocks to-day—and the monsters which rose forth from the deep devoured the children of men. Therefore they consulted together and sought the advice of their creator, the Sun-father. By his directions, they placed their magic shield upon the wet earth. They drew four lines a step apart upon the soft sands. Then the older brother said to the younger, "Wilt thou, or shall I, take the lead?"