PREY GODS OF THE SIX REGIONS.
THEIR ORIGIN.
Therefore it happens that the use of these fetiches is chiefly connected with the chase. To this, however, there are some exceptions. One of these may be partly explained by the following myth concerning Pó-shai-aŋ-k'ia, the God (Father) of the Medicine societies or sacred esoteric orders, of which there are twelve in Zuñi, and others among the different pueblo tribes. He is supposed to have appeared in human form, poorly clad, and therefore reviled by men; to have taught the ancestors of the Zuñi, Taos, Oraibi, and Coçonino Indians their agricultural and other arts, their systems of worship by means of plumed and painted prayer-sticks; to have organized their medicine societies; and then to have disappeared toward his home in Shí-pä-pu-li-ma (from shi-pí-a=mist, vapor; u-lin=surrounding; and i-mo-na=sitting place of—"The mist-enveloped city"), and to have vanished beneath the world, whence he is said to have departed for the home of the Sun. He is still the conscious auditor of the prayers of his children, the invisible ruler of the spiritual Shí-pä-pu-li-ma, and of the lesser gods of the medicine orders, the principal "Finisher of the Paths of our Lives." He is, so far as any identity can be established, the "Montezuma" of popular and usually erroneous Mexican tradition.
PÓ-SHAI-AŊ-K'IA.
In ancient times, while yet all beings belonged to one family, Pó-shai-aŋ-k'ia, the father of our sacred bands, lived with his children (disciples) in the City of the Mists, the middle place (center) of the Medicine societies of the world. There he was guarded on all sides by his six warriors, Á-pi-thlan shí-wa-ni (pí-thlan=bow, shí-wa-ni=priests), the prey gods; toward the North by the Mountain Lion (Long Tail); toward the West by the Bear (Clumsy Foot); toward the South by the Badger (Black Mark Face); toward the East by the Wolf (Hang Tail); above by the Eagle (White Cap); and below by the Mole. When he was about to go forth into the world, he divided the universe into six regions, namely, the North (Pï′sh-lan-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Swept or Barren place); the West (K'iä′-li-shi-ïn-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Home of the Waters); the South (Á-la-ho-ïn-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Place of the Beautiful Bed); the East (Té-lu-a-ïn-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Home of Day); the Upper Regions (Í-ya-ma-ïn-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Home of the High); and the Lower Regions (Ma-ne-lam-ïn-kwïn táh-na=Direction of the Home of the Low)."
PREY GOD FETICHES OF THE SIX REGIONS.