The Tale
NOW, the Twain Little-ones, Áhaiyúta and Mátsailéma,[30] were ever seeking scenes of contention; for what was deathly and dreadful to others was lively and delightful to them; so that cries of distress were ever their calls of invitation, as to a feast or dance is the call of a priest to us.
[30] For the mythic origin of these two chief gods under the Sun, as his right- and left-hand being, their relation to chance, war, games, etc., I again refer the reader to the Zuñi Creation Myths. [Back]
On a day when the world was quiet, they were sitting by the side of a deep pool. They heard curious sounds coming up through the waters, as though the bubbles were made by moans of the waters affrighted.
“Uh!” cried the elder. “What is that?”
The younger brother turned his ear to the ground and listened.
“There is trouble down there, dire trouble, for the people of the Underworld are shrieking war-cries like daft warriors and wailing like murder-mourners. What can be the matter? Let us descend and see!”
“Just so!” said Áhaiyúta.
Then they covered their heads with their cord-shields[31]—turned upside down—and shut their eyes and stepped into the deep pool.
[31] Pi-a-la-we (cord or cotton shields), evidently an ancient style of shield still surviving in the form of sacrificial net-shields of the Priesthood of the Bow. But the shields of these two gods were supposed to have been spun from the clouds which, supporting the sky-ocean, that in turn supported the sky-world (as this world is believed to be supported by under-waters and clouds), were hence possessed of the power of floating—upward when turned up, downward when reversed. [Back]